New Orleans Pelicans: Best Draft Fit at Each Position

New Orleans Pelicans: Best Draft Fit at Shooting Guard

Though he played the three a lot in college, Aaron Nesmith projects as a shooting guard in the NBA, where he has been compared to Klay Thompson.

This is because Nesmith can shoot the rock better than just about anyone in the country, shooting an absurd 52 percent from 3-point range.

The Pelicans have a glut of shooting guards already, though they are likely to lose E’Twaun Moore to free agency.

Scoring and 3-point shooting are not the Pelicans’ biggest needs, but Nesmith also has a 6-foot-10 wingspan, so has the physical tools to be a defender as well, though he does lack blazing speed.

With J.J. Redick coming into the final year of his contract, the Pelicans will have to look for a replacement, and may even look to trade him in the offseason to get out from the $13 million he is owed.

Redick is worth that and the Pelicans should probably just let him play out his contract, but what better player to mentor Nesmith in the art of finding a sliver of daylight to get off a 3-pointer?

Redick has made a career as a slow, not particularly athletic shooter, which is what Nesmith projects to be, so he is the perfect guy to mentor the rookie.

With Zion clogging the lane, the Pelicans will always be looking for guys who can space the floor and all teams want to add more shooting. He could be quite a weapon in the Pelicans’ offense, and though he might not fit their biggest need (defense) he is too good to pass up.

Ask all the teams who said Klay Thompson wasn’t athletic enough, that he wouldn’t be able to defend or get his shot off in the NBA how they feel about that now.

Nesmith could be the guy a lot of teams miss on and in a year where pretty much every guy is an unknown, his upside as a 3-point shooter is worth the risk.