New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for the first month of the season

New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for the shooting guards after the first month

Shooting Guards

Eric Bledsoe hasn’t shot the ball well but has mostly been what the Pelicans expected.

He’s had a couple of great games, a couple of bad ones but has mostly just been there. He hasn’t killed the Pels but he hasn’t done much to impact the games either.

Bledsoe has been trying to do too much lately which has led to some bad shots. I’m not worried about Bledsoe, as he is a role player and will play his role once everyone else is.

The Pelicans’ bench has been the worst in the NBA this season, highlighted by the play of JJ Redick.

Redick is shooting a career-worst from 3-point range through the first month of the season and just hasn’t been able to contribute much else.

He has shown some life lately but the shots still aren’t falling, which has really hurt the Pelicans’ bench unit which was already thin.

Josh Hart does things that contribute to winning basketball.

He is one of, if not the best, rebounding guard in the NBA and is pulling down 7.6 per game, the highest of his career.

He is also being asked to take on tough defensive assignments, especially when the Pels go small and he is stuck defending forwards.

It’s tough to ask more of Hart but the Pels really need him to score more than he has been. His points per game are the lowest of his career and he is only shooting 34 percent from 3-point range.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker has been one of the pleasant surprises of the season, though he is still wildly inconsistent.

NAW has looked amazing at times but then reverts back to some of his old habits of turning the ball over too much and taking bad shots.

He has doubled his scoring average through the first month but still needs to be more efficient with the ball. NAW will likely continue to see more minutes, especially if his defense continues to improve.