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

New Orleans Pelicans: Player Grades for the centers.

Centers

Jaxson Hayes is not ready to be a rotation player in the NBA, sorry, but that’s the truth. He’s out of place constantly on defense, can’t handle or shoot the ball and his energy and athleticism do not make up for it. He only played ten minutes and turned the ball over twice, once with yet another out of control charge. Hayes has a lot of talent and will get much better. I don’t want to grind on him too much, as he is not being put in a position to succeed and needs more reps before he is ready for big minutes.

One thing has been made clear in the bubble: the Pelicans need bigs. Derrick Favors was slow, couldn’t grab a rebound or stop anyone and is an absolute zero on offense. The Kings had 58 points in the paint and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, many of them right in front of Favors, who looked like he was standing in cement for most of the game. The Pelicans inexplicably tried to run pick-and-roll with Favors after two successful PNR plays for Zion and it predictably failed. Why is Favors even touching the ball on offense?

Part of this is not Favors’ fault, as he is the only real big on the entire team, the only one with any strength and is basically asked to guard the other teams’ entire roster of centers and power forwards by himself. If the Pels had a power forward who could defend or another big, Favors might be effective, but they don’t.

Favors’ time with the Pels is nearly over, as they will almost certainly look for someone more athletic, who can at least dunk the ball or catch a lob.