The New Orleans Pelicans' emerging rookies make their mark on the league's prestigious newcomer ranking, showcasing potential despite the team's focus elsewhere.
The New Orleans Pelicans have shifted their focus away from feeding the rookies as they try to pick up as many wins as possible down the stretch with a mostly healthy roster, but they still have a couple of very intriguing youngsters for the future of their team.
NBA.com's Steve Auschburner has kept a running ranking of the league's top newcomers all season long in his Rookie Ladder. It has been kinder to one of the Pelicans' first-round picks than the other, but they are both on the list for the first time in a couple of weeks.
The top three rookies in the league have been the same group for a while now, but there has been a change at the top. Charlotte Hornets sharpshooter Kon Knueppel has taken over the top spot, followed by Cooper Flagg and VJ Edgecombe in that order.
Derik Queen took the No. 4 spot over from Cedric Coward a couple of weeks ago, and he has remained there again in this update.
The New Orleans games that counted for this version of the were all the way from the February 11 loss to the Miami Heat to this past Tuesday's win over the Golden State Warriors, because of the All-Star break.
Over those four games, Queen averaged 12.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.0 blocks per night on 47.2/33.3/70.6 shooting splits. All in all, it was a pretty standard week for the center outside of the low playmaking numbers.
From the first game of the year to February 9, Queen had six appearances with zero assists (five in the first two weeks or so). In this stretch of games, it happened twice.
The 21-year-old also just got benched for the first time since halfway through November. It'll be interesting to see how he responds. Earlier signs from the team say that it is being handled well.
After Queen, it is Maxime Raynaud, Dylan Harper, Coward, Ace Bailey and Egor Demin at Nos. 5 through 6. Jeremiah Fears re-entered the ranking this week, tied with Collin Murray-Boyles at No. 10.
Fears got benched a couple of games before his rookie teammate, and he has responded fantastically. He may have had bigger numbers as a starter, but the quality of play has been much higher off the bench.
Over these four games, he averaged 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and 1.3 steals on 35.3/14.3/46.2 shooting splits. That efficiency is obviously low, but the increased playmaking makes up for it a little bit. It's at least showing he can grow as a passer.
Before the next ranking update, the Pelicans will face the Utah Jazz twice, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers.