The New Orleans Pelicans kick off training camp in under a month, which means it is time to start preparations for the season. As the roster comes into shape, it's important to take stock of where everyone is heading into camp.
The Pelicans hoped adding Jordan Poole to their team would turn their offense around, giving them another high-profile scorer. Poole had just come off a great individual season with the Washington Wizards , where he put up a career-high 20.5 points per game on 43.2/37.8/88.3 shooting splits, but his first season in New Orleans did not go as well.
Poole is coming off the third-least productive year of his career. It would probably be classified as his worst , given the context. He posted 13.4 points, 2.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists on 37.2/33.3/86.0 shooting splits. There is no one who would try to say that it was a good season.
The 26-year-old never found his rhythm on offense and was seemingly battling injuries the entire season. He said he played hurt before his first few games hurt before going on the IL. He battled a few different injuries and was taken out of the lineup in the lead-up to the trade deadline, in hopes of getting a deal done .
Now, he's back, making $34 million and has a tough path to serious minutes.
If Poole wants to crack the rotation, he has to make his shots again. All of those inconsistent minutes can make it hard to find his shot, but he'll get reps in training camp.
The 27-year-old has finished with an above-average points-per-shot average in four of his seven years in the NBA. He can be somewhat efficient, but inconsistent.
His biggest issue last year wasn't even his three-point shooting, which still wasn't great; he wasn't able to score at the rim. He had a 51% rim accuracy, which was in the 16th percentile in the NBA, per CleaningTheGlass .
The best-case scenario for him right now is still on the bench. There is little to no chance he would be able to win his way back to being a starter right now over Dejounte Murray or Jeremiah Fears, especially given more so with how those two are viewed.
He does still get a fresh start with this new coaching staff and can potentially win some of his minutes back if he finds that efficiency at the rim again with a full offseason to reset his health.
