The Pels’ 2016 draft was a crucial one. Their 2015-2016 campaign was disappointing, with consistent injuries leading New Orleans to a 30-52 record and fourth from the bottom in the Western Conference standings.
Possessing a bonafide superstar in Anthony Davis while being a small-market team means the Pelicans will always be in the insecure position of “Win-now,” at least as long as that combo of factors is in place.
At the end of the day, this is a good problem to have. Just as most people that have created great things in this world can tell you, greatness exists as a direct response to insecurity.
For Dell Demps and the Pelicans, achieving this greatness is going to take more than just getting their current roster healthy. With some free agents leaving and holes in the roster, a healthy Pelicans roster is a fringe-playoff team at best. Coming into the draft last week, it was important for New Orleans to start filling in some of the cracks and find at least one player that can contribute right away and get them on the path to winning now.
So with the No. 6 overall pick, the New Orleans Pelicans drafted last year’s NCAA Player of the Year, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield. Hield, who was the best shooter in college last season, fills an immediate need in the Pelicans’ lineup. With Eric Gordon most likely leaving in free agency and the unreliability of Tyreke Evans’s shooting and health, Hield is a perfect fit to take over as the Pels’ primary outside shooter. They faced a tough decision in having the option of either Hield or one-and-done Kentucky guard, Jamal Murray. Ultimately, New Orleans felt that Hield’s defensive potential outweighed the ceiling that the significantly younger Murray could someday reach.
Later in the night, Dell Demps and company traded picks No. 39 and 40 to move up in the draft and select Kansas’ Cheick Diallo at No. 33. Diallo, a 19-year-old, 6-9 big man, is by all means a project. Growing up in Mali, Cheick only started playing basketball about six years ago in 2010. On top of that, he played very limited minutes in his freshman year at Kansas due to NCAA suspensions because of low grades. His decision to leave Kansas and declare himself eligible for the draft was questioned by many who felt that he wasn’t ready for the big-time stage yet. Many of those concerns were assuaged, certainly to Demps at least, at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. Showcasing a 7-4 wingspan, Diallo has the motor and mobility that the modern GM salivates over in this day and age of smaller and faster centers. He also appeared to have developed a decent jump shot in the few months between his college career and his workouts in May.
These two picks seem to be in direct odds of each other, at least on the surface. Hield, who is clearly an established college star, was questioned by many about how high his ceiling could be. While most believe that Hield is going to be a solid starter in the NBA, he is slightly undersized and was a late bloomer in college, leading those same people to believe that he is simply going to be solid and that’s it. A lot of pundits and scouts preferred Murray over him, believing his ceiling to be much higher. Diallo, on the other hand, could have one of the highest ceilings in the draft, yet there are many questions about whether he has any business being near an NBA court. His freakish athleticism, measurements, and motor foreshadow an exciting future, yet his lack of experience and unproven ability at a high level raise a lot of questions.
At the end of the day, the initial assessments and perceived discrepancies between the two players are probably overstated. Just because Buddy Hield, who played all four years at Oklahoma, didn’t really break out until his final year, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a high ceiling. By all accounts, Hield is one of the hardest working players in the game and saw dramatic improvement in all areas over his four years in college. In his first year at Oklahoma, he had a broken jump shot, shooting 38.8 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from three. He steadily improved his shooting percentages every year from then on, culminating in a 50.1 total field-goal percentage and 45.7 percent on threes. His feel for the game, quick release, and ability to perform in the big moment all draw comparisons to Steph Curry. Steph and guys like Dwayne Wade and Tim Duncan would all like to have a word with the critics of players that play a couple extra years in college. Hield’s biggest focus going forward should be fixing defensive woes, which are certainly a question mark and probably the biggest cause for concern. But, if Hield has proven anything, his work ethic and feel for the game should make it a lot easier for him to adapt and learn to catch up to the other two-guards in the NBA.
On the same token, Diallo is probably a little more NBA-ready than expected. After he declared for this year’s draft, many analysts believed that if he had stayed in college one more year, he would have been a sure-fire top-10 pick next year. Despite the issues he had at Kansas, watching a couple videos and interviews from this guy show that he has the right attitude and style to contribute pretty early on. He works his tail off on the court, and he’s a guy who doesn’t try to go far out of his lane, always trying to make the right play in the situation. His natural athleticism and body will make it easier for him to start contributing early, at least cleaning up boards, getting a couple blocks, and slamming home some putback jams. This should help any average Pelicans’ fan sleep a little better at night as their dreams are currently marred with nightmares of Asik consistently lumbering over a second too late on help defense, or his failed attempts of getting any kind of putback shot, let alone putback dunks. Diallo has shown an ability to improve quickly, as his performances at the combine have indicated with his jump shot seemingly developing out of nowhere. He is not ready to be a main contributor just yet, but with a lot of openings down low in the Pelicans roster, the idea of a Davis-Diallo starting frontcourt doesn’t seem too unrealistic or far away.
With almost all New Orleans’ free agents on their way out, the drafting of Hield and Diallo seems like a great start to a offseason that still has a lot of questions. Backup point guard, a real starting small forward, and another couple bigs to add to the mix are just a part of the improvements that the Pelicans need to make. Hield has the ability to become something really special for New Orleans and at the very minimum becomes the next J.J. Redick. Having a core of Jrue Holiday, Buddy Hield, and Anthony Davis is a great variety of styles that compliments each other extremely well. If Chieck Diallo can develop nicely over the next couple seasons, he certainly has the ability to become the next Tristan Thompson. The balance of these two players allows the Pelicans to get into the “win-now” mode while still looking at the prospect of a championship a couple years down the line.
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