The New Orleans Pelicans have been hit hard by injuries so far this preseason, so they have been making a lot of roster moves recently to try and prepare for possible absences when the regular season starts. The biggest problem for the Pelicans so far has been at center, where both their starter (Omer Asik) and backup (Alexis Ajinca) are out, but they also are thin at the point guard spot. Jrue Holiday is expected to be on a hard minutes cap early on, so the Pelicans are looking to add depth at the point guard spot by possibly adding former University of New Orleans star Bo McCalebb, according to Andrew Lopez of The Times-Picayune.
The talks between the Pelicans and McCalebb are reportedly very serious, and a deal might get done by the end of Thursday. McCalebb has never played in the NBA, but he was a prolific scorer in college, although his career at UNO ended in 2008.
The 6-foot point guard has played overseas since finishing college, but it seems as though he might finally get his chance in the NBA. From 2009 until this year in Europe, McCalebb averaged 13.3 points and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 54 percent from the field and 35 percent from three. McCalebb also won championships in Serbia, Turkey and Italy while also being named Italian League MVP in 2012.
The Pelicans currently only have two point guards on their roster in Holiday and Norris Cole, but as mentioned before, Holiday is expected to be very limited early on and Cole is dealing with a high ankle sprain that will cause him to miss about six weeks. Due to these injuries, it seems like McCalebb has a decent shot to make the team just due to the lack of healthy point guards on the roster.
McCalebb is now 30 years old, but he is familiar with the New Orleans area and has thrived there before. In his senior year at UNO, McCalebb averaged 23.2 points per game while making more than 50 percent of his field goal attempts and more than 40 percent of his three-point attempts.
