From a big-picture perspective, Derik Queen's rookie campaign has been pretty incredible.
Queen made history, passing DeMarcus Cousins as the rookie center with the most assists this century, with 298 assists to Boogie's 204 back in 2010-2011. He also jumped up to fourth on the all-time rookie center assist list, behind Brad Daugherty, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Alvin Adams. On top of that, he only missed one game this season and has shown the potential of being someone New Orleans can trust to run their offense long-term.
Although the offensive side of Queen's game has left Pelicans fans satisfied, the defensive and rebounding front can't say the same thing. At 6-foot-9, DQ is undersized for the center spot, and that is evident when he is trying to protect the rim or close out possessions with a defensive rebound.
Queen has shown that when paired next to a true center in the frontcourt, he is more comfortable on the glass. On Friday, when Kevon Looney started next to DQ, he pulled in 11 rebounds. However, for him to become an elite frontcourt player, those two parts of his game need to be consistent, and it appears he plans to take steps this summer to do so. According to Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson, Queen confirmed he is set to train in LA with Pelicans veteran center DeAndre Jordan this summer.
Jordan’s strengths, Queen’s weaknesses
DeAndre Jordan's reputation speaks for itself.
During his prime, he was consistently in the 95+ percentile in defensive rebounding percentage, was a 2x All-Defensive Team player, and was a legit candidate for Defensive Player of the Year several times. For many years, Jordan was rivaled by only Andre Drummond as the league's top rebounder, and if he can even pass a little bit of that on to Queen, then his potential will only climb higher.
We've seen over the course of this season that Jordan has had a great impact not just on Queen but on this entire Pelicans team. So, could you imagine the type of imprint he can leave on Queen this summer when it's just the two of them training and working on his game? Rebounding is mostly effort, but it's also about learning how to read shots and the rim. If Jordan can pass some of his tricks on to Queen, the rookie big man would be just one step closer to becoming one of the league's most well-rounded frontcourt players.
There was no question in the mind of any die-hard Pelicans fan that Queen’s offseason would focus heavily on improving his rebounding, strength, and defense. Now, knowing he’ll have an all-time great in DeAndre Jordan guiding him on that journey, should leave fans stoked for his sophomore campaign.