Trade Review: Pelicans Aquire Quincy Pondexter

On January 9^th Adrian Wojnarowski dropped his first bomb claiming that the Grizzlies and Celtics had agreed upon a Jeff Green trade. Wojnarowski later added that the Pelicans would be the third team in the trade and would likely give up John Salmons for Quincy Pondexter. Finally, he reported the Pelicans had insisted Austin Rivers be included instead of Salmons.

The final trade details are as follows

Pelicans give: Austin Rivers, Russ Smith

Pelicans receive: Quincy Pondexter, 2015 2^nd rounder (Grizzlies)

Celtics give: Jeff Green

Celtics get: Austin Rivers, Tayshaun Prince, 2015 1^st rounder (Grizzlies)

Grizzlies give: Quincy Pondexter, 2015 1^st, 2015 2^nd

Grizzlies get: Jeff Green, Russ Smith

Nov 3, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday (11) drives against Memphis Grizzlies guard Quincy Pondexter (8) during the second half at FedExForum. Memphis defeated New Orleans 93-81. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

So what does this mean for the Pelicans?

The Pelicans are a team of specialists. Jrue Holiday is a fantastic all-around player, and Anthony Davis is the best two-way player in the league, but outside of them almost everyone on this team has a specific and specialized role.

Tyreke gets to the rim, Anderson shoots threes, Asik defends, and none of these three can do much else. Almost every good offensive player we have is bad defensively, and almost every good defensive player we have is bad offensively. Going down the list, Jrue and Davis are the only guys you can definitely say are good on both ends of the floor.

So what does Quincy Pondexter excel at? Truth is he doesn’t really excel at anything. Quincy is an average shooter, average defender, a mediocre ball handler, he is not a playmaker,  he is not a rebounder, and all of these reasons are exactly why I love the fact we traded for him.

Quincy Pondexter is a small forward, he has played exactly 70% of his career at the small forward position and it’s clearly where he is most effective. His role is a 3 and D wing player who occasionally will surprise you with a quick drive to the rim or a transition dunk.

Pondexter was fantastic in the 2012/2013 season, he averaged 10.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per 36 minutes on 42% from the floor and 39% from three.

If he was guaranteed to play at that level the Pelicans would be in great shape, unfortunately he was injured almost all of the 2013/2014 season and has shown signs of rapid digression since then.

Pondexter has played in 30 games for the Memphis Grizzlies this season and has averaged 4.5 points while shooting 35% from the field and 23% from three, Yikes!

There’s still a very real chance that this change of scenery can propel Pondexter back to form though, multiple reports have come forth reporting that Quincy has struggled with his role on the team and even had a verbal altercation with the team’s head coach.

DeMarre Carroll struggled coming off the bench in Utah but quickly became a consistent 3 and D player when the Hawks gave him a chance to start. As much as I love Dante Cunningham and the fact he would probably jump into the scorer’s table to save a ball during a blowout, Pondexter could very well overtake his spot as the team’s starting small forward.

Jan 9, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Dante Cunningham (44) and Memphis Grizzlies center Kosta Koufos (41) scramble for a loose ball during the second half of a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Grizzlies 106-95. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Pondexter is also an extremely good shooter form the corners, in his impressive 2012/2013 season he shot 41.7% and 48.1% from the left and right corners respectively. If he can shoot anywhere close to that in addition to his defense he will solidify himself a role on this team.

Flexibility might be an issue, and if Pondexter succeeds then we have a stop gap at SF at least until the 2016 cap jump. But, if he continues to regress and falls out of our rotation we will have to deal with the fact that he has a 4 year guaranteed contract.

He’s only making slightly over 3 million, but until 2016 that could seriously limit our options considering Eric Gordon will most certainly pick up his option, and we will have to sign Asik and go over the cap to see a return on our investment.

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The Pelicans didn’t lose any significant assets though, Rivers has been terrible by many analysts’ opinions and Russ Smith is a D-leaguer. New Orleans also ended up with a 2^nd rounder, which I’m guessing will most likely be traded for a backup PG. Jameer Nelson and Mo Williams are strong candidates who could be acquired easily.

This trade was a gamble, not a dangerous one, but a gamble nonetheless. Pondexter is a somewhat unproven player since his injury and it will be hard to grade the trade until after we see what he can provide, regardless Pondexter very well could be exactly what this team needs.