This summer, the Pelicans, blocked by their limited room for maneuver financially, let go of more players than they recruited. So, with the exception of Herb Jones’ contract extension, the club’s offseason New Orleans was mainly marked by a wave of departures: Garrett Temple was cut to save money, while Jaxson Hayes and Willy Hernangomez were left free by management.
The departures of the two pivots (Lakers for the first, Barcelona for the second) have also particularly reduced the depth of Willie Green’s rotation on position 5, on which only Jonas Valanciunas, who is entering his last year of contract, has been kept, and whose sole understudy will be Cody Zeller.
All in all, it’s still quite modest, compared to some other racquets in the league, and so the club’s management is still, unsurprisingly, considering strengthening the position, according to The Athletic.
Bismack Biyombo and Christian Wood are free…
Among the club’s targets? Jarrett Allen, tracked by the club for several weeks already. Problem: the Cavaliers were obviously not interested in the idea of recovering Jonas Valanciunas in exchange, and therefore nothing concrete materialized. Another track: Isaiah Stewart, except that the latter has meanwhile extended his contract with the Pistons.
Interesting options are therefore beginning to run out at this advanced stage of the offseason for the Pelicans, who, to make matters worse, are currently above the “luxury tax”. They can still sign a minimum-wage player from the still-free pivots, and if Christian Wood is untouchable, on the other hand, someone like Bismack Biyombo might fit.
A last possible option: the transfer of young Kira Lewis Jr, who was soon to be sacrificed to ease these tight finances, and perhaps at the same time recruit a pivot…
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Zion Williamson | 29 | 33.0 | 60.8 | 36.8 | 71.4 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 4.6 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 26.0 |
| Brandon Ingram | 45 | 34.2 | 48.4 | 39.0 | 88.2 | 0.5 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 24.7 |
| Cj Mccollum | 75 | 35.3 | 43.7 | 38.9 | 76.9 | 0.7 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 5.7 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 20.9 |
| Trey Murphy III | 79 | 31.0 | 48.4 | 40.6 | 90.5 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 14.5 |
| Jonas Valanciunas | 79 | 24.9 | 54.7 | 34.9 | 82.6 | 2.8 | 7.3 | 10.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 14.1 |
| Herb Jones | 66 | 29.5 | 46.9 | 33.5 | 76.4 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 9.8 |
| Naji Marshall | 77 | 23.3 | 43.3 | 30.3 | 78.9 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 9.1 |
| jose alvarado | 61 | 21.5 | 41.1 | 33.6 | 81.3 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 9.0 |
| Josh Richardson | 23 | 23.2 | 41.9 | 38.4 | 76.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 7.5 |
| Willy Hernangomez | 38 | 12.0 | 52.7 | 27.3 | 77.9 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 6.9 |
| Larry Nance, Jr. | 65 | 21.2 | 61.0 | 33.3 | 69.6 | 1.6 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 6.8 |
| Devonte Graham | 53 | 15.3 | 36.8 | 34.7 | 74.6 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 5.3 |
| Jaxson Hayes | 47 | 13.0 | 55.1 | 10.3 | 69.9 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 5.0 |
| Kira Lewis, Jr. | 25 | 9.4 | 45.5 | 44.1 | 86.4 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.6 |
| Dyson Daniels | 59 | 17.7 | 41.8 | 31.4 | 65.0 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 3.8 |
| Garrett Temple | 25 | 6.5 | 40.0 | 42.3 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 2.0 |
| Dereon Seabron | 5 | 2.3 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
