New Orleans Pelicans: Nickeil Alexander-Walker must improve his ball handling.
The Handles
Nickeil Alexander-Walker was given primary ball handling duties for most of his minutes in the bubble, which was a surprise.
The results were very mixed, as NAW looked amazing getting to the rim at times. He showed the ability to finish in traffic and was able to find teammates for open shots.
At his height, there is a lot to like about him as a point guard, as he has the size to bully a lot of guys.
The bad side was that NAW was extremely sloppy with the ball, and turned it over way too many times, offsetting any positives that he brought to the position.
NAW averaged 1.1 turnovers per game in just 12.6 minutes on average, which is not good.
It looks especially bad when you see that his cousin SGA turned the ball over just 1.9 times per game in 34 minutes on average.
SGA is often used to start sets in the half court, handles the ball a lot, and takes care of it, which is something NAW must improve.
One of his problems is that NAW stands very straight up when he dribbles, leaving a lot of space between the floor and his hand on the bounce.
He needs to get lower into his stance, not stand so straight up and reduce the distance between the floor and his hand. NBA defenders are too good to give that much opportunity.
If NAW Is going to play big minutes then he must improve his ball handling, cut down the turnovers and stop being so sloppy with the ball.