NBA Draft: How the New Orleans Pelicans Should Use Their Picks

What The New Orleans Pelicans Should Do With Pick #39: Find A Back-Up Point Guard

Like I had mentioned before, this is draft is very deep at the guard positions which means it would be wise for the New Orleans Pelicans to wait until pick 42 to pick a guard.

As it stands right now, after you get past the top tier of guards in this class, they’re all interchangeable in terms of ranking. This is because once you reach the second tier each guard has one strong trait and then a raw game that’ll need developing.

For the New Orleans Pelicans, it would be a good idea to scoop up a guard at this draft pick who could potentially be a strong back-up point guard. Right now, Frank Jackson is on the team and has performed well as a back-up point guard but if the Pelicans want to jump into contention upgrading Jackson could be a wise move.

There’s a list of guards that go about seven to eight players deep in terms of fit with the New Orleans Pelicans. If the team could strike on a guard who can come in and play very well right away it would be another good move for the team’s front office.

Finding a back-up point guard in the second round will also help the team save cap-space as they would only be paying a rookie contract rather than the $5-$8 million a good back-up point guard would cost in free agency. A big deal since Brandon Ingram will likely be getting a max contract this offseason.