New Orleans Pelicans: 3 biggest areas of need after draft, free agency

New Orleans Pelicans: What are Pels biggest needs after the draft and free agency?

Shooting

The Pelicans were one of the top three-point shooting teams in the NBA last season in both percentage and shots made per game.

But like all teams in the NBA, they could use more shooting.

The projected starting five of Lonzo Ball, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson and Steven Adams doesn’t have a great shooter in it, though all three of Ball, Bledsoe and Ingram are decent.

Lonzo and Ingram both took huge steps last season, improving to over 38 percent from the 3-point line but neither of them are lights-out shooters.

This could cause some spacing issues in the starting five, as Zion and Adams are lane cloggers and the Pels traded away their best dribble penetrator in Holiday.

My worry is that teams are going to pack the lane and dare this group to shoot 3-pointers, a strategy that will work if the Pels aren’t knocking them down.

The second unit has all-time great shooter J.J. Redick, and Nicolo Melli, who was one of the streakiest shooters in the league and can’t be trusted from night to night.

Will Lewis Jr. be a better shooter than advertised? Can Josh Hart and Nickeil Alexander-Walker make a leap?

There are a lot of question marks for the Pelicans when it comes to shooting, which is why it would have been nice to land a big 3-and-D wing in the offseason to kill two birds with one stone.

The Pels have other question marks though.