Trade Lonzo and Favors for a good PG

Let's look at the roster problems for the Pels, and their solutions. Our biggest problem has been that our starting PF (Zion) and our starting C (Favors) have missed almost all of our games so far. But both of those problems will come to an end soon: Favors in the next couple of days (probably tomorrow), and Zion by Christmas.

The lack of rim protection that Zion and Favors offer has meant that opposing wings have had little difficulty getting to the rim. We knew that Redick, Moore, and Frank were poor on-ball defenders, but we thought that problem would be mitigated by the ability to erase shots at the rim.

Jaxson Hayes does have the ability to erase shots at the rim, but he's prone to fouls and also lacks the core strength to box out for defensive rebounds (leading to lots of 2nd-chance points for the opponent) and to prevent big centers from pushing him out of the way and getting easy shots at the rim.

But Jaxson's weaknesses will be greatly reduced when he's on the court with Zion, as Zion can guard the Dwight Howard, Rudy Gobert, and Marc Gasol's of the world -- the big centers who can push Jaxson around can't push Zion around. And Zion can also box out for DREBs, Jaxson's other weakness.

Here's another thing I want you to consider:

Jrue + Ingram together
With Kenrich on the floor: net rating of +4.4
Without him on the floor: net rating of -11.7

One of the stories that's been lost in all the defeats and general suckiness is the incredible development of Kenrich Williams. If you look at any kind of advanced stats, you see that Kenrich has been phenomenal. His overall BPM has gone from -0.3 last year to +0.7 this season. The RAPTOR ratings at 538 have Kenrich as our 2nd-best player so far -- even ahead of Ingram (though I think this is because Ingram's defensive rating has been hurt so much by playing at PF). But the point remains that Kenrich is really good and needs to be on the floor. It's not just his own stats -- he makes his teammates a lot better.

But Kenrich can't be on the floor if Zion and Favors are out there. And don't forget that this is only Kenrich's 2nd NBA season and that he spent a fair amount of last year in the G-League. He's improved so much and is getting better every single day.

Finally, consider that what we saw in the preseason was that Zion's numbers were much better when he played C instead of PF. He had more clear paths to the rim and was much more efficient. Favors cannot go out to the 3-pt line and create space for Zion, and so Favors is really not a good fit long-term next to Zion.

In concluding Part 1 of this essay, I think that I've established that, once Zion returns, we really don't need Derrick Favors. A big-man rotation of Kenrich, Zion, and Jaxson will work extremely well. We'll have Melli to sub in for minutes at PF (will be much less of a defensive disaster with Zion at C) and Okafor to sub in at C.

Finally, some have said that trading Favors would deter others from wanting to play in New Orleans. I think that's ridiculous. The Pels have treated Favors well in giving him time, and he's only played a total of 189 minutes through 23 games.

Part 1 conclusion: Derrick Favors is not a long-term answer for the Pelicans at C. He will be a free agent next summer, and if he's still on the team, we would let him walk. We can get something for him now, and we really don't need him once we get Zion back.

And we really do need a quality starting guard right now, and trading him could help us get one (next post).