13. New Orleans Pelicans – Precious Achiuwa, F, Memphis
With Stan Van Gundy being named the new head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, there’s no question that this is going to be a team that heads into the 2021 season with the goal of making the playoffs in the Western Conference.
I don’t think Stan Van Gundy was hired to simply rebuild. Stan Van Gundy was hard to win and to win now, and to try to develop the current young players on this roster. With that said, and assuming that the team isn’t going to make any big trades that will hurt this team’s ability to compete in the Western Conference in 2021, I believe that this team will try to invoke a defensive mentality which stems from Van Gundy’s system.
Drafting Precious Achiuwa with the 13th pick makes sense. Even though there are some questions about his ability to be an effective player on the offensive end of the floor, there’s no question that he’s going to be an immediate difference-maker on defense.