SB Nation Reacts: Pelicans fans think Nickeil Alexander-Walker most likely to rebound

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The Pelicans are off to a 1-11 start and fingers can be pointed at a number of people. David Griffin has seemingly once again put together an incomplete roster, and not surprisingly, he sits squarely on the hot seat for the team’s woeful performance to date, per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

As the New Orleans Pelicans remain mired in one of the poorest starts to this NBA season, league-wide speculation has only increased about the job security of executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin.

The rumblings began following the Pelicans’ 0-3 start (currently a league-worst 1-11 after Wednesday’s loss to OKC), coupled with Griffin’s public handling of All-Star forward Zion Williamson’s prolonged recovery from offseason foot surgery.

Zion Williamson didn’t do any favors by announcing on media day that he would be ready for the first game of the regular season. We’re now nearly in the middle of November and there’s strong speculation that he’s going to be sidelined for a lot longer, possibly not returning until sometime in December at the earliest.

Lastly, nearly all of the young Pelicans have struggled when they’ve been on the floor. Outside of Herbert Jones, the contributions have been spotty, so much so, there’s a number of players who have looked entirely unplayable some nights.

In the interests of looking ahead for sanity’s sake, we put it to a vote a few days ago: Which young role player do you have the most confidence in turning things around and making a greater positive impact for the rest of the season?

Fans gave the slight edge to Nickeil Alexander-Walker over Trey Murphy III in the voting results.

As if on cue, Alexander-Walker responded with his biggest game of the season in the 108-100 loss to the Thunder last night, dropping a line of 33 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. Additionally, he went to the free throw line 11 times — the number of trips he totaled through the first 11 games.

Now if only there was a guide available detailing how to apply this type of voodoo magic to the NBA standings, flipping all future Pelican L’s to W’s, right?!

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