Who should lead the New Orleans Pelicans in scoring?
The New Orleans Pelicans have had a balanced offensive attack this season with different players stepping up in just about every game.
They currently have six players averaging double figures, with Zion Williamson leading the way with 22.4 points per game.
The Pelicans’ offense has been evolving, as they’ve been shooting more 3-point shots over the last six games and Zion has been getting fewer attempts.
New Orleans has had five different players lead the team in scoring this season, as Zion, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Jonas Valanciunas and Trey Murphy III have all led the team in games.
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Willie Green preaches sharing the ball as one of his non-negotiable rules, but will the Pelicans eventually have a go-to player? And who should it be? It’s early, but the numbers are leaning in one direction.
New Orleans Pelicans leading scorers
Each of the five players who have led the New Orleans Pelicans in scoring have done it at least two times, with Brandon Ingram leading the way.
Here are the number of times each player has done it, along with the Pels’ record in those games:
- Brandon Ingram (6): 4-2
- CJ McCollum (5): 3-2
- Zion Williamson (4): 2-2
- Jonas Valanciunas (2): 1-1
- Trey Murphy III (2)L 1-1
The surprising number is that Zion has only led the team in scoring in four games even though he leads the team in points per game overall. This is probably an indication that Zion should be getting more shot attempts, as he has averaged just 11.8 per game over his last seven games, far too few for a guy as dominant and efficient as he is.
It’s still fairly early in the season, but so far the Pelicans are at their best when Ingram leads the team in scoring, with a 4-2 record in those games.
Having a lot of different weapons makes the Pelicans difficult to stop, but I do wonder if they will start to defer to either BI or Zion more as the season goes on or late in games when they need a hoop.
While I do love coach Green’s team concept of sharing the ball, I do think Zion and BI should be leading the team in shot attempts and currently they are not.
It will be interesting to see how this develops as the season progresses and if one guy starts taking the reins more often.
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