Pelicans NBA Draft projection replaces Brandon Ingram and gives Zion Williamson new life
It has been a remarkably bad season for the New Orleans Pelicans, but the last week has provided some respite from the doom and gloom. The Pels are winners of four straight, with Zion Williamson back from injury and looking quite good.
New Orleans tanking its draft odds to finish 12th or 13th in the West is not what fans want, but seeing competent basketball after months of aimless drifting is akin to finding water in the desert. It's a reminder of what this team is capable of at full strength, as elusive as "full strength" has been since Zion's arrival.
The Pelicans are not a rebuilding team. Not yet. There's a case for trading Williamson and initiating a full teardown, but that clearly won't happen before the trade deadline. There's a good chance it won't happen next offseason. Instead, the Pelicans are probably hoping to bottom out, land an impact player in the 2025 NBA Draft, then rebound in the standings next season. New Orleans won 49 games in 2023-24, mind you.
This is a good draft for a temporary tank. New Orleans has bonafide star-power with Zion, not to mention the likes of Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, and (for now) Brandon Ingram. We can expect a few trades ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline, with Ingram most blatantly on the block, but NOLA won't necessarily be looking for an offensive cornerstone on draft night. The goal is to build a deep, cohesive, complementary roster.
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Pelicans select Ace Bailey with No. 4 pick in latest NBA mock draft
FanSided's latest NBA mock draft has the Pelicans selecting Rutgers wing Ace Bailey with the No. 4 pick.
This is the ideal outcome for all parties involved. Bailey is a special talent, listed at 6-foot-10 with one of the purest shooting strokes out there. He is an insanely gifted shot-maker, capable of pulling from virtually anywhere on the court. His versatility and dynamism as a shooter would pair beautifully with Zion's constant rim pressure.
There are imperfections, of course. Concerns about Bailey's low assist rate and erratic decision-making are plenty valid. The Scarlet Knights star is averaging 2.1 turnovers to 0.9 assists, which is a horrendous ratio. For every mesmerizing pull-up over a hapless defender, there's an example of Bailey twirling into a long, contested fadeaway with ample time left on the shot clock. He needs to develop a better feel for when to shoot and when to pass. Heliocentric tunnel vision is something Bailey needs to overcome in the NBA.
New Orleans, however, might be the best possible fit for Bailey in the lottery. For all his shot-making juice, Bailey struggles to generate consistent advantages with his handle. It doesn't always matter when he can just shoot over the top, but Bailey's not an on-ball generator. He's not creating for teammates and, most of the time, he's really not creating for himself either. Bailey needs a strong playmaking apparatus around him, ideally spoon-feeding clean looks from 3 and letting Bailey attack open space on the weak side.
The Pelicans can provide exactly that. Zion gets to the rim at will. Dejounte Murray is a point guard through and through, comfortable dropping dimes out of pick-and-rolls and leveraging his dribble penetration to set up teammates. New Orleans has built-in stars who can tilt the defense and set the offense in motion, allowing Bailey to step naturally into clean looks while, ideally, limiting his early-shot clock freestyling.
He's a solid defender, too, with enough length and mobility to wreak serious havoc as a roaming forward. New Orleans has arguably the best perimeter defender in all of basketball in Herb Jones, with Yves Missi quickly taking up the mantle of primary rim deterrent. If Bailey can tap into his two-way ceiling as a fluid, rangy wing with a 7-foot wingspan, the Pels are cooking with gas.
This is, again, a tremendous outcome for all involved. Bailey and the Pelicans should both benefit from this union.