New Orleans Pelicans: 1 goal for each Pelican in the 2021-22 season
New Orleans Pelicans: 1 goal for each guard
Didi Louzada: Be a menace on defense
Louzada is a tweener guard/forward and will likely be involved in one of the most interesting roster battles this offseason.
Didi is a plus athlete with a raw offensive game, but the Pelicans don’t really need his offense, what they need are guards and wings who can defend. Louzada’s goal should be to become one of them, to be a menace on defense who makes an impact when he gets minutes.
Louzada may eventually round into a good all-around player, but the only realistic way he’ll get minutes next season is with his defense.
Tomas Satoransky: Increase his 3-point volume and accuracy
Satoransky has always been more of a playmaker and facilitator than a spot-up shooter, but that is going to need to change if he wants to get minutes with the Pelicans, as Zion and Brandon Ingram are going to have the ball in their hands a lot of the time.
The Pelicans still lack 3-point shooting, and Satoransky can provide some, but he has to shoot more of them and at a higher clip, especially on catch-and-shoot 3’s. He did shoot 38.2 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers last season but only shot 1.8 of them per game, which needs to go up since he’ll get a lot of open looks.
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Kira Lewis Jr.: Develop a go-to move on offense
Lewis Jr. played decently in his rookie season, doing a good job of taking care of the ball and playing pretty good on-the-ball defense.
But he struggled shooting the ball from all over the floor and never really had a go-to play or move on offense. He wasn’t great in the pick-and-roll and couldn’t finish once he got into the lane.
He has the quickness to get there, so Lewis Jr. needs to develop either a mid-range shot or floater to take advantage of his speed.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: Be a consistent third scoring option
The Pelicans struggled last season partly because they didn’t have a consistent third scoring option.
Some nights Lonzo Ball would light it up, but others he’d stink it up. Same with NAW, who looked like an All-Star at times and completely lost others.
Alexander-Walker needs to score 15-18 points per game this season and step up to become that third scoring option the Pelicans have lacked. He has the chance to have a breakout season but he has to be more consistent.
Devonte’ Graham: Embrace the role
Devonte’ Graham and Lonzo Ball have a lot of similarities in that they are point guards who were asked to embrace a different role off the ball last season. The results were up and down, as both had big games but were prone to disappear as well.
Graham needs to embrace the fact that he is now a spot-up 3-point shooter and not the guy who is going to run the offense. If he does that, and his shooting continues to improve, then he will thrive in New Orleans with Zion an Ingram drawing most of the attention.