New Orleans Pelicans: 3 Players Who Stood Out in the Scrimmages

The New Orleans Pelicans need Nicolo Melli to make shots.

Nicolo Melli

Nicolo Melli was forced into the starting lineup with Zion Williamson absent, and his play earned  mixed reviews.

He tried to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo early in the first half, which did not go well, with Melli getting pushed all over the place as The Freak bullied his way into the lane.

Melli isn’t going to get minutes because of his defense though and last night showed just how important he is for the offense.

Melli got a ton of wide open looks in the first half but couldn’t buy one, which was reminiscent of the cold streak he was on before play was suspended.

After going six of seven from long-range against the Warriors back in February, Melli went a combined 7 of 34 from three before things were mercifully shut down.

The Pelicans need Melli to knock down open shots because he gets so many of them. With Zion Williamson drawing double teams and the Pels’ guards ability to get into the lane, Melli is the guy most teams are going to make beat them.

He’s going to get open three’s all game and has to knock them down at a higher rate than 20.5 percent for the Pelicans’ offense to function at maximum capacity.

Melli hit just two of his seven 3-pointers against the Bucks and all of them were wide open. This is something to keep an eye on, as the Pelicans are really hard to stop offensively when Melli is knocking them down.

The Pelicans have to keep feeding him when he is open, but Melli has to shoot the ball more consistently from long-range, otherwise he doesn’t do enough else to warrant minutes.