Pelicans: Herro has made leap we hoped from Nickeil Alexander-Walker

The 2019 NBA Draft was one of the most important in the history of the New Orleans Pelicans.

They bucked the odds to land #1 pick Zion Williamson and then did some wheeling and dealing to move back and take Jaxson Hayes with #8 and Nickeil Alexander-Walker with the 17th pick.

It’s easy to go back and do a 2019 re-draft with the benefit of hindsight, as there are several guys that were taken after Hayes who are making a much bigger impact, including Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat.

In the offseason I looked at Tyler Herro but compared him to Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who appears to have a much higher ceiling than Jaxson Hayes.

I am one of the people who thought NAW was going to have a big breakout season, but so far it’s been Herro who has made the leap, though Alexander-Walker has again flashed signs of his immense potential.

The two will likely be matched up at points in the game tonight and NAW would love to get the better of Herro, who is having a breakout season.

New Orleans Pelicans: Tyler Herro has made the leap Nickeil Alexander-Walker hopes to make

Tyler Herro has been great this season, averaging 21.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists while shooting 46 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from 3-point range.

Herro has averaged over 33 minutes per game, mostly off the bench as the primary backup to both guard spots.

In other words, he’s done everything we hoped NAW would do.

Alexander-Walker has made a small leap of his own, as he is having a career year in minutes (31), points per game (15) and rebounds per game (4.6) with a slight uptick in assists.

The problem is that he is doing it inefficiently, shooting just 37.7 percent from the field and a brutal 27.7 percent fro 3-point range.

The worst part is that NAW (7.5) is actually taking more long-range attempts than Herro (7.1) even though that is not really his game.

It’s clear that Alexander-Walker needs to shoot fewer threes and drive more, as he is shooting over 50 percent on drives for the season.

The Miami Heat will potentially be missing several players tonight, so Tyler Herro will likely be featured in the offense. It would be nice to see NAW lock him up, play to his strengths on offense and win this matchup so the NAW vs. Herro debate isn’t so lopsided, as right now, Herro is looking like the guy the New Orleans Pelicans missed on in the 2019 NBA Draft.