The Pelicans have A LOT of young talent and a not so easy choice to make among that talent! Particularly in the back court, there is a lot of positional overlap with that young talent. Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball, J.J. Redick, and Josh Hart each have an en-grained spot in the rotation and play a good portion of their minutes in the back court. E’Twaun Moore also gets some run, in-part because Alvin Gentry trusts him, but also because he is on a valuable expiring contract that could be used in a trade before the deadline. Playing Moore some maintains his trade value around the league. Then comes two developmental talents that have split the fan base into taking sides on who should get playing time!

Frank getting minutes before NAW is absurd at this point. 🤮 — Zed (@ZedTenorio) December 15, 2019

NAW

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a rookie who the Pelicans drafted with the 17th pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. He exploded onto the scene with some highly impressive outings during the NBA Summer League as well during the Pre-Season. Those performances earned NAW a bit of a cult following among the fan base, with many fans calling for him to play significant minutes right away during the regular season.

Frankie Flash

Frank Jackson is the other young guard who is vying for playing time and a spot in the team’s future plans. Frankie Flash was the 1st pick of the second round in the 2017 NBA Draft. As a result of injury, he spent the entire 2017-18 Season on the sideline. So, this essentially made 2018-19 his rookie season. Thanks to an ill-timed trade request by the team’s star, Frank was able to get on the floor during the second half of his rookie season and show his chops as a scorer. The new regime was high on Jackson coming into the 2019-20 season, thanks to his continued improvement.

Given this underlying story-line that has developed this season that has pitted the two young guards against each other (they are actually friends and are regularly seen supporting each other), let’s dive in and take a look at each side of this battle!

Youth

There is a notion among the fan base that NAW should get more minutes simply because he is younger. The truth may surprise many! While they were drafted 2 years apart, Frankie Flash is just 4 months older than NAW. They are both 21-years-old. This essentially puts them on an even playing field in the age department as well as where they are when looking at their potential to develop as basketball players going forward.

Position

Many people like to point to Frank’s height and call him a Point Guard. He’s not. Frank does not excel as a play-maker. He can play the position in the sense that he can bring the ball up and make a pass. He can drive and find an open man. Frank is not a point guard. You can call him a guard, scoring guard, combo guard or shooting guard… but DO NOT mistake him for a point guard! NAW, on the other hand, has the height and length of an NBA wing player. However, NAW is best with the ball in his hands as a playmaker. He is a lead guard who is capable of carrying the burden of being the primary ball-handler.

Stats as of DEC 14

2019 Stats NAW Frank Advantage MIN 291 321 — PER 7.8 8.1 Frank TS% 44% 49% Frank FTR 11% 22.9% Frank TRB% 8.4% 5% NAW AST% 19.5 9.9 NAW TOV% 13.1 12 Frank USAGE 24.7 22.4 NAW WinShares -0.4 -0.2 Frank Box +/- -6.9 -7.4 NAW FG% 33.1 37.1 Frank FT% 68.8% 81.3% Frank FTA (PER 100) 2.5 4.6 Frank TRB (PER 100) 7.3 4.3 NAW AST (PER 100) 6.2 3.2 NAW STL (PER 100) 1.1 1.3 Frank TOV (PER 100) 3.6 3 Frank PTS (PER 100) 21.1 21.6 Frank Ortg 89 94 Frank Drtg 116 117 NAW NetRtg -28 -23 Frank

Nickeil’s Case

Alexander-Walker is, flat out, the better passer and rebounder. Let’s just state that and get it out of the way. His assist and rebounding rates absolutely crush Frank’s. NAW has elite size for his position, and he uses that size well along with his natural feel for the game to affect the game in those areas. And, while both NAW and Frank each shoot below average from three-point land, NAW holds a 3% advantage in that area. However, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for NAW. For instance, He ranks in the bottom 4% of the league while playing in isolation as well as transition. Opponents also shoot 3.9% better than their average while NAW is guarding them.

Frank’s Case

Frankie Flash, on the other hand, has a more effective and diverse scoring arsenal. He converts on a higher percentage of shots than NAW around the rim and from the mid-range. Frank holds a huge lead on NAW in both free throw rate and free throw percentage. Jackson is one of only 3 Pelicans who have a positive impact as an on-ball defender, as he ranks second on the team, forcing opponents to shoot 3.4% worse than their average while he is guarding them. He also edges out NAW in PER, Win Shares, steal rate, turnover rate, scoring, true shooting percentage, and NET Rating. Now, just like NAW, Frank has his warts. He isn’t just worse than NAW in rebounding. In fact, he’s atrocious at grabbing boards! He ranks in the bottom 15 of 302 qualifying players in the NBA.

Flashes!

It is a fair statement to say that both players have had bad seasons, thus far. Neither has really stood out, but each has their own claim to redeeming, as well. Prior to a neck injury, Frank was one of the most consistent sources of scoring for the Pels through the first 11 games. He averaged 11.2PPG during that stretch as one of the first players off the bench. NAW saw his shooting percentages trend upwards during the month of November. During that month, he played in 11 games and shot 40% from three-point range and 75% from the free-throw line.

"The shots he's made have been of great variety. He's a very composed player." JVG on Frank Jackson who scored 10 points in 15 minutes with a team-high +7 last night.



NAW-FJ-KW-JH-NM are +6.5 in two games. They'll need to step up again tonight. pic.twitter.com/m2kDBuQ085 — Preston Ellis (@PrestonEllis) October 26, 2019

Conclusion

These two players fill different roles on the court. The actual not so easy choice should be between NAW and Lonzo Ball instead of Frank Jackson. It would seem that NAW should actually be competing with Ball for minutes as a lead guard since those two players bring a lot of the same skill set to the floor. Meanwhile, Frank should be competing for minutes as the back-up shooting guard.

The truth is that Frank and Nickeil form one of the few 2-man combos who have produced a positive NET Rating for the Pelicans. Among combinations who have spent more than 100 minutes on the floor together, Frankie Flash and NAW have produced an offensive rating of 114 and a defensive rating of 113.7. That’s not a wide margin! Yet, it’s still a positive margin. In fact, it’s truly promising given both players are just 21-years old. Given that this season has become more developmental than competitive, the focus should be on seeing how to properly maximize these two young talents together instead of splitting them apart!

‘Til next time, Hold It! Ghost, out!