The New Orleans Pelicans still have some needs after the draft and free agency.
The New Orleans Pelicans will have a lot of new faces when the NBA season kicks off in a few weeks. They added one player in the draft, three via trade, two by two-way contract and three in free agency.
That means 20-year-old Zion Williamson is now the longest-tenured member of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Even with all of these new faces, the Pelicans still have needs. They came into the offseason needing depth at both forward positions, center and backup point guard.
They got their center Steven Adams in the Jrue Holiday trade and he should be a significant upgrade over Derrick Favors on both ends of the floor.
They got some depth at power forward and center by signing Wenyen Gabriel, Willy Hernangomez and Will Magnay and the Pels hopefully drafted their point guard of the future in Kira Lewis Jr.
So what does that leave?
New Orleans Pelicans: 3 biggest needs to fill this offseason
Wing Depth
The Pelicans added some depth at power forward and center (though the quality is debatable) but failed to really boost their small forward depth.
If you look at the depth chart it goes Brandon Ingram and then a big question mark. Josh Hart can play some wing to be sure, but he is best suited at shooting guard.
Sindarius Thornwell was re-signed but he hasn’t proven his fit yet though he did play decently in the bubble. Undrafted rookie Naji Marshall could be one of the gems of the draft, but do the Pels even expect him to make the rotation?
The Pelicans got bigger and stronger in the paint with the additions of Adams, Hernangomez, Gabriel and Magnay but they are still very thin at small forward, arguably the most important position in the game.
With Ingram’s health history, it is not the smartest move to enter the season without a backup and the Pels don’t really have one.
They entered the offseason hoping to find a big wing defender, and who knows, maybe Marshall or Thornwell could be that, but right now they are unproven.
The Pelicans needed more wing depth and they still do.
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.
New Orleans Pelicans: Needs after the draft and free agency
A playmaker off the bench
The New Orleans Pelicans came into the offseason needing a backup point guard and they still do.
Sure, they already have Lonzo, Bledsoe and NAW, all of whom have played point guard, but who is going to run the second unit?
NAW is still unproven, has poor shot selection and turns the ball over way too much, though he has the ability to get to the rim and use his size to finish.
Lewis Jr. is a 19-year-old rookie who hasn’t played a minute in the NBA, so he can’t be counted on to come right in and start making plays off the bench.
Redick and Melli are slow. Jaxson Hayes doesn’t really have an offensive game to speak of. Josh Hart is more of a slasher and spot-up shooter.
So who exactly on this team is going to make plays off the bench?
The Pelicans are putting an awful lot of pressure on a teenage rookie to be the savior in this department and it was an area where the Pelicans were already weak.
The bench unit was stagnant offensively at times last season, relying way too much on contested 3-point shots that look great when they are falling but put the team into big holes when they aren’t.
The Pels were great at blowing leads with their bench last season, mostly when they had no one to come in and make a play for a teammate.
Lewis Jr. may come right in and be that guy but until he proves he can do it, the Pels do not have much in the way of playmakers off their bench.
This could cause Stan Van Gundy to use some different starting lineups, possibly putting Bledsoe on the bench. He will definitely be staggering Ingram, Ball and Zion so that there is always a playmaker on the floor, but it would be nice to have that spark off the bench that the Pels currently lack.
We’ll have to wait and see if these holes turn into problems as the season progresses, but the Pels did nothing to address their need at wing and the bench is still thin.