New Orleans Pelicans: Should Josh Hart have made ESPN’s top-100?

The ESPN top-100 player list is out and Josh Hart of the New Orleans Pelicans didn’t make it.

This was not a surprise, as Hart is not a well-known name, doesn’t have gaudy scoring numbers, the Pelicans haven’t been very good and there are a lot of quality players in the NBA.

A couple of Hart’s teammates came in at the back-end of the top-100, and Zion Williamson (23) and Brandon Ingram (26) both cracked the top-30 giving the New Orleans Pelicans four players in the top-100. which is not bad.

If you look at some of the guys at the very end of the list (Norman Powell, Danilo Gallinari, Steven Adams, Will Barton and Jalen Green) it’s hard to make a case for Hart against any of them, as all put up better numbers than Hart or in Green’s case, probably will.

But Hart is a quality role player, a good defender and one of the best rebounding guards in the league, so I think you could also make an argument that he deserves to be in there when you factor in all aspects of his game.

But Josh Hart remains on the fringe, and if he wants to be on the list next season, his job is simple.

New Orleans Pelicans: Josh Hart needs to be more than the scrappy guy who hustles

Every team can use a guy like Josh Hart, as he plays hard, is a versatile and willing defender and rebounds his position as well as just about anyone.

But if you want to be considered one of the top-100 players in the league, you have to be more than just scrappy role player.

Hart needs to hit a higher percentage of his 3-point shots, as he did when he was a rookie and showed a lot of promise as a shooter, hitting 39.6 of his long-range attempts.

It’s been downhill ever since for Hart as a shooter, culminating with last season when he shot a career-low 32.6 percent. These were often uncontested shots as well, so Hart really needs to improve as a shooter if he’s going to find another level in his career.

Hart does enough of the little things that he could be a 6th man of the year candidate if he just scores more points. He should get plenty of open looks again this season off Zion Williamson’s kick outs, but he has to knock them down.

If the top-100 player list were expanded by 20-30 players, Hart would probably be on it, and he is a 3-point shot away from being there next year.