The New Orleans Pelicans stayed undefeated in Summer League, beating the OKC Thunder 80-65, and the hype is starting to build around the young Pels.
Summer League is not to be taken too seriously, as a lot of these guys aren’t going to be in the league, so you can’t overreact too much either way.
But there are certain things you want to see from the young players, mostly things like how they deal with the increased speed and physicality, shot selection and a general eye test for whether they look like a real NBA player.
So far the young New Orleans Pelicans are passing the tests and it looks like they have a couple who will be meaningful role players for the Pels this season.
New Orleans Pelicans: So far, so good for the Pelicans NBA Draft
We won’t really know anything until we see how the Pelicans’ draft picks play with Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and the rest of the roster, but so far so good for the Pelicans draft.
Both Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones have passed the eye test and both look physically ready for the NBA.
I was actually surprised at how strong Murphy looks, as he was able to get into the paint a few times and finish in the post, as well as with floaters, parts of his game I hadn’t really seen having watched very little of him in college.
Most importantly, both guys look like they will be plus defenders when the games get real. Murphy and Jones have great length and really get after it on the defensive end.
They had five steals between them and were both flying around off the ball looking to help and make blocks on the weak side.
It’s still early days but the “David Griffin can’t draft!” narrative may be starting to change.
New Orleans Pelicans: Turning defense into offense
I’ll repeat the “It’s only Summer League” disclaimer, but the Pelicans have shown exciting defensive potential in their two wins.
The Pelicans’ bench was terrible last season and often gave up leads, which is one of the reasons New Orleans lost ten games in which they blew double-digit advantages.
This year’s bench has the chance to be a weapon, as Kira Lewis Jr. looks poised for a bigger role, Murphy looks like a legit scoring threat, and both he, Jones and Naji Marshall can make the types of defensive plays that lead to points, especially with Kira pushing the pace as he does here.
https://twitter.com/FanSided/status/1425618305901993984
Murphy used his length to get a blocked shot and the Pels were off. Once Lewis Jr. gets the ball in transition it’s over, as he blows past everyone and finds the streaking Jones for the alley-oop.
The Pelicans’ bench was a lot slower last season with guys like J.J Redick and Nicolo Melli, who were also terrible defensively.
This season the Pels are going to be more athletic, faster and use their defense to create easy buckets on the other end.
New Orleans Pelicans: Inside the box scores for Pelicans vs. Thunder
Summer League numbers are often wonky so you can’t take too much from them, but I like to look at trends as they relate to the Pelicans’ strengths and weaknesses from last season.
The Pels had 19 turnovers against OKC, which is not good, and has been a problem that has plagued them for a few seasons. But 10 of them came from two guys, one which (Anzejs Pasecniks) won’t even be on the team when the games are real.
For the most part the Pelicans have taken care of the ball well in their first two games, so I won’t look too deeply into Summer League turnovers, as these guys just met each other and the games are going to be sloppy.
The New Orleans Pelicans had 10 steals and 7 blocks to make up for it, which was nice, as steals and blocks lead to easy points. I can’t wait to see some of these guys flying around in a bench unit with Zion. I think it’s safe to say that Willie Green is not going to play the same methodical style and that this team is going to be a lot more fun to watch.
The Pelicans made 38 percent of their 3-point shots as as team but only shot 21 of them, numbers that we will be revisiting a lot as the season progresses.