The New Orleans Pelicans have one of the worst records in the Western Conference. Only six teams in the entire league have a lower record than the Pelicans. The Pelicans should start preparing for next season by evaluating what other talent they have on the team. Anthony Davis should start getting fewer minutes so that he doesn’t get injured and so that the team has a worse record (in order to land a high draft pick). But if there is one player who should get more time, it is Luke Babbitt.
Babbitt is averaging a disappointing 3.7 points per game in 13.5 minutes of play. On a positive note, Babbitt is shooting 37.3 percent from the 3-point line (slightly above average). Babbitt is seeing less time on the court under first-year head coach Alvin Gentry and he is having a lot of DNP-CDs (did not play – coach’s decision).
Babbitt may need to work on his defense, but last regular season he shot 51.3 percent from the 3-point line. Babbitt was the leader in 3-point shooting percentage. He was ahead of great shooters like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and J.J. Redick. His minutes per game may be around the same (13.2 last season and 13.5 this season), but he isn’t playing in as many games.
Shooters need rhythm to be consistently very good or else their percentages will go down. Shooters like Ray Allen, Reggie Miller and even Jason Kidd played in many games and that is why they were such great shooters for such a long time.
Now that the Pelicans don’t have a realistic chance of making the playoffs, Gentry needs to play Babbitt to prepare him for next season. Babbitt will be a free agent at the end of next season and he will surely want to prove that he is a valuable asset to any team. If the Pelicans were smart, they would want Babbitt to keep his 3-point shooting in New Orleans.
