27. New Orleans Pelicans
Starters – Jrue Holiday, Buddy Hield, Solomon Hill, Terrence Jones, Anthony Davis
Bench – Langston Galloway, E’Twaun Moore, Tyreke Evans, Dante Cunningham, Alexis Ajinca
#SaveADsPrime #PlsAlvinGentry
While they weren’t as bad as the Grizzlies, the Pelicans suffered some injuries to key contributors for their team, including franchise cornerstone Anthony Davis. As a result, the team finished with a 30-52 record, and their need for reinforcements showed. Luckily, they came.
The Pelicans drafted Buddy Buckets to be their 2-guard of the future, and made some other savvy signings (Terrence Jones on a 1-yr, vet. min. deal, and the signing of hopefully playoff Solomon Hill not Solomon Grundy).
Then, they added depth with combo guards Langston Galloway and E’Twaun Moore. While either player could potentially become a starter if Jrue Holiday goes down for a major period of time, they’re depth additions and thus must be judged by me. MWAHAHAHAHA. (But seriously).
Galloway latched on with the Knicks after a mini-Linsanity explosion, and played fairly consistently during his tenure there. E’Twaun Moore was buried on the depth chart in Chicago, but has shown flashes of his potential.
Tyreke Evans has been with the Pelicans for a few seasons, but has probably only played an entire season combined with the time he’s missed. Cunningham is a tweener-forward, but has some range and will pair nicely with (the way better than the shell of Omer Asik) Alexis Ajinca.
All in all, this bench unit is deeper in recent memory, but Evans likes to have the ball in his hands, and Galloway and Moore still aren’t used to receiving big minutes, even off the bench. I’m leaning towards these birds being in a tornado rather than the shelter if you catch my drift.
Next: No. 26