New Orleans Pelicans: Player Grades in Disappointing Loss to the Kings

New Orleans Pelicans: Player Grades for the power forwards.

Power Forwards

Nicolo Melli defenders need to stay off my timeline, as I am dead sick of watching him brick wide open shot after wide open shot. He’s a stretch-four who can’t do the one thing he is paid to do, which is make threes. He had three WIDE OPEN, and I mean WIDE OPEN threes in the first half and bricked them all, ending the game with yet another o’fer from behind the arc. Melli has now made exactly one three in the bubble and is eight for his last 48 overall. He can’t defend anyone, especially in the paint, so if he’s not making three’s he can’t be on the floor. Mercifully he only played 15 minutes to limit the damage. One of the biggest offseason needs is to bring a power forward who can defend to compete for Melli’s minutes, as he is just not getting it done.

Zion Williamson was the best Pelican on the floor yesterday and showed that he is the best rookie by far. He was unstoppable when he got the ball, getting to the rim at will for layup after layup. He ended the game 10 for 12 for 24 points in just 22 minutes. He didn’t miss his first shot until sometime in the second half. My only complaint would be that Zion doesn’t get on the defensive glass enough. He grabs a lot of his own misses on the offensive end and really puts out the effort, but not so much on the defensive glass, only grabbing two for the game. This is huge when your defense is having a hard time closing out possessions. The Pelicans are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league, but they stink at the other end and this is something Zion has to improve.

Overall he dominated with simple, power basketball and the Pelicans should have gone to him literally every time down the floor, as the Kings had no answer.