The New Orleans Pelicans are unfortunately dealing with a lot of injuries as they enter training camp including their point guard Jrue Holiday. Holiday is going to be extremely limited in training camp and early in the season but he will still be available. Another big injury that's flying under the radar for the Pelicans is Quincy Pondexter. Pondexter will not be ready for the beginning of the season and in his absence Dante Cunningham is expected to take over as the starter, according to John Reid of the Times Picayune.
Pondexter had knee surgery in May and the earliest the Pelicans hope to have him back is November and even then he would likely not be at full strength. The fact that Cunningham is the projected starter with Pondexter out is a bit of a surprise because small forward is not his natural position and he provides nothing in terms of outside shooting. Cunningham has been in the league for six years and has spent most of his time as a power forward but with Anthony Davis and Omer Asik in the frontocurt he will have to play small forward.
The Pelicans do have other options to start at small forward which makes this decision even more curious. Newly signed Chris Douglas-Roberts and Alonzo Gee are small forwards on the roster as is Luke Babbitt who actually started 19 games for the Pelicans a year ago at the small forward spot.
Babbitt is coming off a much better year than Cunningham is and is much better suited for the small forward role than Cunningham. Babbitt made more than 50 percent of his three pointers last year while Cunningham has only attempted 38 threes in his career and made two. Nowadays it is almost a requirement for small forwards in the NBA to knock down threes but the Pelicans clearly don't see it that way.
Cunningham has been able to stick around the NBA and find minutes but he has been very unspectacular in his career. In his first season with the Pelicans last year he played in 66 games (27 starts) and averaged 5.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 25 minutes per game while shooting 46 percent from the field. It will be interesting to see how Cunningham's inability to stretch the floor as a wing will impact the Pelicans early in the season until Pondexter comes back. Although this isnt set in stone this is a very questionable call for a team that has enromous aspirations.
