New Orleans Pelicans: Final Grades for Every Player in the Bubble

The New Orleans Pelicans have a lot to work on in the offseason.

Right about now the New Orleans Pelicans should be preparing to stomp the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in games, instead they are going home.

It was a disappointing eight games for the Pels, especially in the face of what Portland, Phoenix and San Antonio did with their time.

The young Suns and Spurs got their players valuable reps, and watched them get better, while veteran Portland showed all of the youngsters the kind of effort it takes to win in the NBA.

It was a learning experience, just not the one the Pelicans wanted to have, as they were hoping to get their young guys some playoff reps of their own.

That didn’t happen and some heads are probably going to roll in the offseason, starting with head coach Alvin Gentry, whose seat is as hot as it’s been in awhile.

There were some bright spots in the bubble, but also a lot of disappointment, regression and bad basketball.

Here are the final bubble grades for every player on the New Orleans Pelicans.

Point Guards

Frank Jackson was one of the aforementioned bright spots in the bubble. He didn’t play much in the first two games, but then Gentry started using him to inject energy off the bench, and he provided it, though not always effectively. Typical for his season, the more run Frank got, the better he was, culminating with last night’s game against the Magic in which he scored 31 points and added five assists. He did all of this while playing good defense, pushing the pace and without committing a turnover. Jackson played well when called upon and was one of only a couple of Pelicans who played hard every minute he was on the floor. He probably got himself a future job in the process. We’re going to have more on Jackson later today, but he is a guy I hope the Pelican re-sign in the offseason.

Lonzo Ball has taken a lot of heat over the last few days as people look for someone to blame. Lonzo took responsibility for his play, had a good game to finish his season, and is already preparing to prove the haters wrong.

It was nice to see him fire back, even if it was only on Twitter.

Lonzo shot the ball poorly but what was really disappointing is that he allowed it to affect his entire game.

His body language was horrible, he gave up some mindless turnovers, didn’t play great defense and really didn’t look like the same confident Lonzo from March.

He’ll get his swagger back and will go into the offseason with a big chip on his shoulder, which should motivate him to improve.

Lonzo is a huge part of the future of this team and I have a feeling he’s going to be on a mission next season.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker was often used as the primary ball handler in the bubble, playing point guard while Jackson played the two, so I am going to list him here.

I’m not sure how I feel about this, as NAW does not have great handles and turned the ball over quite a lot in his short time on the floor.

He also showed why the Pelicans are so intrigued with him running the offense. NAW has the quickness and size to get to the hoop on a lot of point guards and he has shown that he can finish or make good passes once he does.

NAW’s passing was much improved over the last two games and he added seven dimes to go along with his 29 points, but he also had six turnovers, which really shows the highs and lows NAW brings.

If he improves his ball handling, NAW could be a force as a backup combo guard in this league.