The New Orleans Pelicans could have made a big mistake selecting Kira Lewis Jr. in the 2020 NBA Draft.
The 2020 NBA Draft didn’t turn out the way many fans of the New Orleans Pelicans were hoping or expecting.
The Pels entered the draft with four picks but only walked away with one player, Kira Lewis Jr. a speedy point guard from Alabama.
Lewis Jr. is an exciting young player, a guy with game-changing speed who will undoubtedly add some excitement to Pelicans’ fast breaks for years to come.
But was he the right call?
First off, David Griffin and Trajan Langdon know their team better than me and also have insight into their overall vision for what it can be.
The Pelicans traded their 24th, 39th and 42nd picks for future draft picks, which means they either didn’t like much of the talent in this draft or think they should collect picks to use in a future blockbuster deal.
I am ok with either of those choices, but choosing Kira Lewis Jr. was still a bit baffling and it showed in my final grades for the Pelicans’ draft. Here are three reasons he was the wrong choice.
#1: Too many guards
The Pelicans were guard-heavy before the Jrue Holiday trade and now they’ve added three more point guards.
If you count Nickeil Alexander-Walker as a point guard, then the Pelicans now have five on the roster: Lonzo Ball, Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, NAW and Kira Lewis Jr.
This is a team that got throttled in the paint last season and is likely to lose their only interior defender who can grow a mustache (Derrick Favors).
If the goal is to go small, the Pels have certainly done it, as they added another undersized tweener point guard to a team that desperately needs depth at both forward positions and center.
What are they going to go with all of these guards?
The obvious answer is to trade one of them and Eric Bledsoe seems the most likely candidate given his age, production and salary.
Either way, Griffin is going to have his work cut out for him if he wants to balance this roster, which currently has one wing, two power forwards and one 20-year-old center.