After touching previously on the season goals for Derik Queen and Kevon Looney, it’s time to round out the Pelicans center rotation with Yves Missi.
Now, if you’ve been keeping up with my work lately, I've definitely not been shy about expressing that I think New Orleans should be shopping the sophomore big. He is coming off a disappointing Summer League, where I saw more negatives than positives.
That being said, I’m excited to see what he brings to the Pelicans in his second year, especially after shattering all expectations in his rookie season. Missi appeared in 73 games, which was the most on the team, and averaged 9.1 points per game, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 26.8 minutes a night. He was a force on both ends as a threat in the pick and roll and as a rim protector, ranking second best among rookie centers in defensive field goal percentage.
Missi was very effective at the rim offensively during his rookie year, making his poor below 30% field goal percentage during Summer League surprising. This poor shooting is why I'm concerned about Missi and his future with the Pelicans.
New Orleans was awful last season, and since someone had to fill the stat sheet, Missi might have been a beneficiary of that. We’ve also seen players have great rookie seasons and then completely fall off. This is why his struggles in Vegas against lesser competition this summer concern me, because maybe that was the real Yves Missi.
His goal for this season should be to prove people like me wrong by balling out and establishing himself as a long-term option at center for this team. He needs to prove that he belongs in the future, especially with Joe Dumars bringing in two bigs in Queen and Looney this offseason.
Prove to the front office that he is too valuable to be let go
I’ve talked about how should Kevon Looney strive to extend his prime by one more year, or how Saddiq Bey needs to improve his efficiency. However, for Missi, it’s much simpler; he needs to make things uncomfortable for Looney and Queen.
It’s rare to say someone is in a prove-it year in only their second season, but I really do believe that's the case for Missi. If he doesn’t show the Pelicans front office that he is just as good or better than Looney and Queen, he's going to be traded by the deadline.
If he can maintain a similar production level to his rookie season, Dumars could be forced to pivot and make him part of the team's future; if not, he will likely be gone. This is a big season for Yves Missi, and he needs to strive to make things difficult for his competition at the five.