New Orleans Pelicans: With Lonzo, Bledsoe out, Kira Lewis Jr. should start
We may see the backcourt of the future if Kira Lewis Jr. starts for the New Orleans Pelicans.
The New Orleans Pelicans are likely to be shorthanded when they face the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center, which could open a door for Kira Lewis Jr.
Both Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe are expected to miss the game, which leaves the Pelicans dangerously thin on depth.
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The Pelicans usually only play four, maybe five guys off the bench, so Stan Van Gundy is either going to have to run with a seven-man rotation, or some different guys are going to see minutes.
The most likely beneficiaries of these extra minutes will be J.J. Redick and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who are already part of the rotation.
But there is a strong argument that rookie Kira Lewis Jr. should be the one who steps up.
New Orleans Pelicans: Kira Lewis Jr. should get the start with Lonzo Ball out
There are a couple of reasons that Kira Lewis Jr. should get his first NBA start against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The first is simply that the Pelicans don’t really have anyone else. If Bledsoe and Ball are both out then that leaves the Pelicans with four guards total, five if you count Sindarius Thornwell.
And Kira Lewis Jr. is the only one of them that is an actual point guard.
The other reason to give him the start tonight is to see if he can crack the rotation full time. The Pelicans’ bench has been awful this year and Lewis Jr. might show that he should be a part of it if he can get some minutes.
He certainly can’t be much worse.
The last reason he should start is for what I call the “Popovich Game.” Every year Pop chooses one high-profile game to rest most of his starters.
I think he does this partially just to irritate the NBA, but he has also said that he likes to get his bench run against good teams so that if they ever need to step up later they will have played in some big games.
This is a good chance for the New Orleans Pelicans to see what they have in Kira Lewis Jr. and to get him some reps against a playoff team.
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