New Orleans Pelicans: E’Twaun Moore’s Impact on Seeding Games
By Tim Burke
E’Twaun Moore provides a steadying presence in the New Orleans Pelicans’ second unit.
The New Orleans Pelicans are ramping up for their eight seeding games that will determine whether they have a shot at the playoffs or go home early.
Those eight games are the de-facto playoffs for teams like New Orleans, Memphis, and Portland as whichever team winds up with the eighth seed will be heavy underdogs against the Los Angeles Lakers in round one.
New Orleans Pelicans’ head coach Alvin Gentry has been using the team’s scrimmages to put the finishing touches on his seeding game rotations.
In the two games so far the Pelicans’ starters and key rotation players have only played about one-quarter of each game, allowing the young guys to get more experience against NBA teams and in some cases All-Star level players.
In each game so far, E’Twuan Moore has played just under 14 minutes. That’s the biggest indicator that Moore will be part of the team’s “playoff” rotation when the real games begin. He didn’t seem to have any rust to shake off when the scrimmages began, going 5-8 from the field against the Nets including 2-2 from three.
In the game against Denver, he didn’t put up the same stats and I think the weirdness of Denver’s scrimmage roster is the main reason for that. In both games, Denver has used just eight players and almost all of them are bigs. Nikola Jokic has been running point for the Nuggets in these scrimmages as their traditional guards are either not with the team or injured.
E’Twaun Moore can be a weapon off the New Orleans Pelicans’ bench.
Moore is at his best when spotting up from three and knocking down jumpers. He’s a career 39% three-point shooter, though he’s been slightly below that mark this year (37.5%). Moore fits with what Gentry likes to do on offense, as he’s more likely to move the ball than dribble it into the ground for a contested shot.
Even when he does attack the rim, Moore seems to pull out a floater more often than a layup or pull-up jumper. While the floater is often talked about as an inefficient shot, once a player learns the shot it can be unstoppable. The shot allows a player to shoot over much taller defenders who would normally block their shot, remember the floater was one of Derrick Rose’s key weapons during his MVP season.
If you watched the scrimmages you know that the E’Twaun Moore floater is alive and well today. Moore may be more willing to attempt that shot than to move the ball to a teammate better equipped to attack the rim but it’s a fun shot to watch each time he pulls it out.
Not just a spot-up shooter, Moore does bring some value on the defensive end. While he’s not a lockdown defender like Jrue Holiday or Lonzo Ball, he stills gets his fair share of steals while on the floor. His 1.4% steal rate may not seem like much but it’s good for sixth on the team and in his limited playing time is very valuable.
His ability to guard and shoot over bigger players is key in the small-ball lineups that Gentry likes to run with his bench.
When the seeding games start Moore will likely fall into the fourth guard role behind Jrue, Lonzo, and J.J. Redick. I’m not counting Hart as a guard for this as Gentry said he’ll be used at every position but point and center.
That means Moore can carve out a role in the backcourt. Moore is most often used as the shooting guard in lineups next to Lonzo Ball with Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram and either Jaxson Hayes or Derrick Favors at the center.
Don’t expect Moore to get more than the 18.8 minutes per game than he did during the regular season (what are we supposed to call everything that happened before March 12th?), he might see that number shrink a little bit as the starters will see more playing time during the restart and hopefully playoffs. Any increase in playing time would be more dependent on game situations than game plan.
But the limited time he sees will carry a heavy burden as his time on the court will likely come without Zion Williamson (the two have only played 135 minutes together). Since Zion has debuted the Pelicans have been demonstrably better with him on the court. For the Pels to win enough games to qualify for the play-in game the minutes without Zion will be key.
Moore along with other veterans Favors, Redick, and Holiday will be counted on to lead the young Pelicans through this crazy restart. Those four have all the playoff experience of the expected playoff rotation for New Orleans; don’t forget, Moore averaged 31 minutes over nine playoff games for the Pels in 2018 which featured a four-game sweep over the higher-seeded Portland Trailblazers.
E’Twaun Moore will be a player to watch over the first few seeding games, as his performance could affect how the Pelicans will fare.