Who is going to step up for the New Orleans Pelicans down the stretch?

The New Orleans Pelicans have gotten solid contributions from their starting lineup all season, the problem is that it takes more than five guys to win consistently in the NBA.

Even before the CJ McCollum trade, the Pels’ starters were among the league’s best, but their bench among the NBA’s worst, a problem that has only gotten worse since the trade.

The Pelicans traded two rotation players for one, and even though McCollum was the best player in the deal, losing that additional depth hurt a team whose reserve unit was already thin, and caused a ripple effect on the rotation.

Coach Green only has 23 games to figure out how to make the pieces work, but it won’t matter unless one or more of the reserves steps up and starts making a positive impact.

We pretty much know what we are going to get from McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones and Jonas Valanciunas at this point, but players 5-9 are a question mark.

Who will step up for the New Orleans Pelicans?

Jaxson Hayes

Hayes has been moved into the starting lineup, which is a change I like and one that should benefit the young big. Can he play well enough to stay there? And more importantly, can the New Orleans Pelicans figure out their guard rotation with him in the starting five?

Garrett Temple

I don’t have many things to criticize about Willie Green this season, but one of them would be his continued reliance on Temple for minutes. Temple has the second-worst offensive rating on the team next to Naji Marshall and has the worst defensive rating. The Pelicans are simply better when he’s not on the floor, and though his veteran mentorship is important, New Orleans cannot keep giving him minutes. I don’t blame Temple, as he wasn’t supposed to be this big a part of the rotation, but I do blame the rest of these guys for not being able to supplant him and Willie Green for not giving them much of a chance.

Devonte’ Graham

Graham has moved to the bench which should give him a little more freedom in the offense. This is guy the Pelicans need to step up, as he has the scoring chops to win them a game or two, so hopefully he will thrive in his new role.

Tony Snell

I’ve never been much of a fan of Snell. It is far too easy to forget he is even on the court sometimes, as he doesn’t offer much but 3-point shooting from the corner. However, the Pels desperately need shooting and he has hit 46 percent of his 3-point shots so far, though it’s only been three games. Can he have a couple of big bench games for the Pelicans?

Jose Alvarado

Jose has been great this season, but it’s unclear how his minutes are going to be affected by Graham’s move to the bench. Alvarado might be better with the starters, where he can initiate the offense and not have to worry about scoring, but the question is whether an increased role would expose him, particularly on defense. He is a very good on-the-ball defender, but he’s also small and bigger guards might be able to take advantage if he is out there too long.

Gary Clark

Clark has been fine this season, but the fact that he has played at all is more of an indictment of the next two guys, who have probably been the team’s biggest disappointments.

Trey Murphy III

The fact that TM3 hasn’t been able to win minutes over Garrett Temple is not a ringing endorsement from the coaching staff. I know he’s a rookie, but this is a team starved for shooting, which he was drafted to provide. I wish I knew more behind-the-scenes information about why he can’t get off the bench. Is it his defense? Hustle? Attitude? It’s been a weird season for Murphy III.

Naji Marshall

It’s possible that Naji is just a Summer League guy, but I really thought he was going to make an impact this season. There are wing minutes there to be grabbed by someone, but Marshall has been flat-out awful when he’s gotten the chance. He’s shooting 37 percent overall and just 21 percent from 3-point range while committing twice as many turnovers as assists. He’s really regressed in a season in which he could have been a big part of the rotation.

So who is it going to be? Teams can’t win with just four productive players, so some of the role players are going to have to start playing well for the New Orleans Pelicans to finish strong and make the postseason.