New Orleans Pelicans: Positives and Negatives from the Final Scrimmage

Here’s the good and bad from the New Orleans Pelicans’ final scrimmage.

The New Orleans Pelicans are ready for the games to be real.

They steamrolled the Bucks in the second half to run away with a 124-103 victory in the final tune up before the re-start begins for real on Thursday against the Utah Jazz.

You don’t want to read too much into these scrimmage games, after all, we’ve seen Summer League All-Stars turn into G-League players pretty quickly, but the Pelicans have to be excited about the way they played.

The Bucks were their first real test, as both the Nets and Nuggets were missing key players and had short benches. The Bucks played their starters well into the fourth quarter and the Pelicans were still smoking them, so New Orleans has to feel confident.

It was also good for the young Pels to face some adversity, as they got down 11-0 to start the game and had to battle back.

There were lots of positives in a game where the Pelicans ended up blowing out the best team in the NBA, but there were also some things that didn’t go so well.

The Bench

The New Orleans Pelicans’ bench has been a strength so far. They are talented, deep and can throw a lot of different looks at teams. Here’s the good and bad from the Pels’ bench.

The Good: The Pelicans have real depth. Just about every guy they put in the game knew his role, executed and played hard. Frank Jackson was one of the standouts of the last two scrimmages, as he brought energy off the bench, knocked down some open shots and looked very solid playing off the ball along with Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Jackson ended the game with 16 points on five of nine shooting, including three of five from long-distance. If Jackson continues to play aggressively off the bench, he is likely to get more playing time once things get real in Orlando.

The Bad: NAW had his moments in the scrimmage games. He had some nice takes, flashed into passing lanes for a couple of steals and mostly looked comfortable. NAW once again struggled shooting though, hitting only three of nine shots and missing all of his 3-pointers. NAW’s shot selection and handles have been poor in every game, though he did have a nice two-man game with Jackson at times. I’m not sold on NAW as a primary ball handler and am not sure why Gentry has Jackson playing off the ball when the two share the floor. NAW ended up leading all Pelicans in minutes during the scrimmages but it’s hard to imagine him getting much run in real games.