With the No. 14 pick in the lottery last night, the Pelicans opted to play it safe in drafting Connecticut shooting guard Jordan Hawkins. William Guillory of The Athletic considers the 6’5″ swingman, who won a title with the Huskies this past spring, the ideal new addition to the club heading into the 2023/24 season.
New Orleans had been floated in potential trade scenarios for the Trail Blazers’ eventual No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson, as the team has clearly been hamstrung by major injury issues plaguing star forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.
“He takes pride in what gets him on the court, and he understands what his game really is,” team president David Griffin said of Hawkins. “I think the winning nature of his background and the way he approaches the game really fits well with us. I know our coaching staff was really excited when they saw him work out.”
There’s more out of New Orleans:
- Pelicans general manager Trajan Langon is not anticipating major personnel changes this summer after the team opted to hold onto its draft pick, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “I don’t foresee a whole lot of change between now and then,” Langdon said. “I think we are happy with our roster.” Griffin, meanwhile, offered a hint into what skills New Orleans is looking to add during the rest of the offseason. “We were looking for rim protection and shooting [in assessing draft candidates],” Griffin said. “We feel like we certainly addressed part of that [during the draft]. But I think as we go through, if we’re able to address that other portion, we would.”
- New Trail Blazers point guard Henderson, the third pick in Thursday’s draft, explained his pre-draft meeting with the Pelicans, who reportedly had some interest in trading up to acquire him, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Henderson indicated that the encounter amounted to “just making sure I wasn’t missing on any opportunity or anything like that.”
- The Pelicans continue to build out their bench for 2023/24 behind third-year head coach Willie Green. Marc J. Spears of Andscape reports (Twitter link) that New Orleans is expected to hire ex-Celtics assistant coach Aaron Miles, a former colleague of Green’s when both were assistants on the Warriors.
Which sweet shooter had/will have the best pro career, Kevin Martin, Jordan Hawkins, Kevin Huerter, Jett Howard or JR Smith? Rank a top3 if possible…
Kev Martin – 12 year career, lovely
Hawkins- Big fan, he’ll never be a Rip Ham or Baby Jesus but if he can be 80% of a cross between that be awesome- Wanted him badly at 17 for LAL
Huerter – Solid
Jett- Dont know much tbh
Jr- He really got lost early career in Den, Lbj added some spice to his resume but I dont think he really ever reached his own full potential (which was sky high early, damn Aaron Afflalo for this (jk he was coo as well)
I got one for you Sank (or anyone)
Rank these 6 2023 guards in your preference for best career
Dick
Hawkins
Bufkin
Hood Schfino
Nick Smith
Keonte George
*Cason Wallace tier above Imo, feel free to dispute that if so as well
My order is
D!ck
Podziemski
Sheppard
Hawkins (I see him as a Kemba Walker type more than Rip Hamilton type).
Hood-Schfino
George
Bufkin
Howard
Smith Jr
JR seriously ….. come on now.
I like Kevin Martin too ….
Hawkins is a nice talent. He’s a future starter . He was a solid pick. Great shooter with good size at the 2.
Pelicans do the same thing every year.
Have a good draft pick, shop it and then don’t trade it. Take a good young kid and then won’t give him any opportunities to succeed.
They are a team trying to win now but are loaded up on kids. It doesn’t help that their best player is injured 80% of the time and not because he’s weak or unlucky more due to being overweight and lack of conditioning. They don’t know how to go from rebuilding to contending. And the need to hold onto good draft picks every year just holds them back.
Just look at the young guys they’ve taken with good draft picks ..
Kira Lewis (13th), Jaxson Hayes (8th), Dyson Daniels (8th), NAW (17th) and now Hawkins (14th).
They do better with second round picks and undrafted free agents. Jose Alvarado and Naj Marshall are both undrafted and Herb was found in the second round.
That’s 5 picks first round picks all inside the top 20 they should’ve just used in trades to actually get better.
Then after the draft someone from the front office comes out and says we don’t expect any big personal changes. Have fun running it back again, not making the playoffs and getting another pick in and around the top 10.