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It is no secret that the New Orleans Pelicans are a young squad. Their core of Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, and Trey Murphy III among others still lack as much playing experience. That is why general manager Trajan Langdon brought CJ McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas for some veteran leadership. Fans have yet to see this whole young squad unleash their true potential. However, a lot of their future rotation players were on show during the 2023 NBA Summer League.
Young stars like Jordan Hawkins, Dyson Daniels, and Dereon Seabron got the minutes they needed to flourish. Some of them might be cracking the rotation to join the main Pelicans squad come the regular season. Others may be relegated to the Birmingham squadron but they all still have a shot to win in Vegas if they beat Brandon Miller's Charlotte Hornets. The young squad they fielded in the NBA Summer League was good and showed great flashes of cohesiveness together. Here are the few takeaways fans might observe from their previous games.
Dyson Daniels is becoming more efficient
Pelicans faithful did not have as much opportunity to see Dyson Daniels on the court a lot last season. He only played in 59 games on a 17.7-minute average. The main drawback that he experienced from his previous stint was that he was not knocking down the looks given to him. His main weakness specifically came from the three-point range. Daniels only knocked down 31.4% of his shots from beyond the arc.
His 2023 NBA summer league stint is quite different. He was not forcing as many three-pointers in their matchup against the Phoenix Suns. Shot selection has also been a huge improvement for Daniels. This rewarded him with a 50% field goal shooting percentage against the Suns.
Playmaking is also one of his huge improvements. Dyson was able to facilitate huge volumes of their plays in Las Vegas. He netted eight assists in their 82-73 victory against Phoenix because of this. If he is able to keep this up, earning the role of third-string guard might come more easily.
Jordan Hawkins needs to work on shotmaking
The national champion from the University of Connecticut Huskies had much hype entering the 2023 NBA Draft. Coming off a college title even pushed him inside the draft lottery. Although, his impact may not be as immediate as most people think.
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The Pelicans rookie suffers from long stretches of scoring droughts. His looks on the floor are fine and his shot selection is only questionable at a controlled amount of times. However, he is just not knocking them down. Jordan Hawkins only knocked down five of his two shots entering the matchup against the Hornets. His most recent slump saw him go one of twelve from the field in their matchup against Phoenix.
A lot can change in the national champion's rookie season. Pelicans faithful can only hope that one of those is his shotmaking.
Dereon Seabron has an all-around player upside
The 2022 rookie only saw five games in his previous stint with the Pelicans. He is starting to show his capabilities on the floor by popping off in all of their matchups. Dereon Seabron had an amazing scoring run that may continue in their matchup to vie for a semifinal spot against the Hornets. He notched 25 points from the field and was highly efficient. Seabron knocked down eight of 11 of his shots against the Warriors.
His defensive prowess was also on show. He cleared up the boards well with seven rebounds. Playmaking may also be one of his skills that were not seen in his rookie campaign. Dereon had three assists on 28 minutes of playing time.
Cracking the rotation might be hard but if he keeps these statistics high, there may be a chance.
