New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for loss vs. Knicks

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Knicks: Grades for the guards

Bledsoe didn’t really do anything wrong, but it’s just that he barely did things at all.

The former Kentucky guard was a hologram against the Knicks on both ends of the floor. He only scored six points, missed all of his threes, and didn’t have any assists either. Simply put, Bledsoe was a non-factor offensively.

On defense, Bledsoe did not stand out, but it did not go unnoticed on me that Elfrid Payton got the best of him on some occasions. A former first team all-defense guard like Bledsoe should be eating Payton up, rather than playing so passively.

As some Pels fans pointed out on Wednesday night, the contrast between Bledsoe and Knicks veteran guard Derrick Rose was stark. Rose was a legit contributor to his team’s win, providing them with scoring and energy off the bench.

The former MVP is not an efficiency savant or anything, but he is usually there to give the Knicks something. The same cannot be said for Bledsoe, who should be moved on this summer.

As my grades reflect, it was an ugly night overall for the Pels’ guards.

Kira Lewis Jr. is having a very good rookie season—one that, as I’ve argued before, is going under the radar—but he did not have an equally solid outing against the Knicks.

Lewis’ shot wasn’t falling on offense, even if he was taking the right shots. He missed both of his threes and didn’t create much for others either. Lewis had two assists, meaning that both of the Pels’ point guards had a total of… two assists.

Those are evidently very poor numbers. Stan Van Gundy doesn’t rely on his point guards to create a lot, tasking Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson with that most of the time, but they should at least add some auxiliary playmaking if their shot isn’t going in.

This is something that Lewis in particular has to work on.