The New Orleans Pelicans have been described as a team that has been trying to split between two timelines for the past two years. They want to win games with the core of Dejounte Murray, Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy while also propping up the development of Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen.

Through three games, the Pelicans have fallen short each time. Now that they have a few days until their next matchup, there's a chance to sit back and re-evaluate how things have gone up to this point. How have the two sophomores looked so far this season?

After a great camp and preseason, Fears earned a spot in the starting lineup. Through three games, though, he has yet to put up a solid performance. He is averaging 8.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists on 29.0/18.2/83.3 shooting splits. The shots are not falling and the playmaking has not been good enough. He has six turnovers to four assists.

The game plan and approach in the backcourt with he and Dejounte Murray has not looked good. Both have been ball-dominant players and haven't really worked in tandem. Fears has not been productive off the ball, and his touches haven't been efficient.

Fears was never expected to be a defensive ace, but he has been hunted in each game and isn't forcing turnovers at the same rate.

All of this is to say that Fears is still clearly a very talented guard, but has not fit into his role on this team right now. He has been taken off the floor down the clutch over the past two games, despite the coach wanting to go with that starting lineup. Things will turn around for the guard, but the first few games have suggested that they need to tweak some thigns.

On the flip side, Queen wasn't going into this season with very high expectations. This is a team that wants to play hard on defense, and that was the biggest question mark about him after his rookie year. Not that Queen has become some all-defense player, but there has been a clear improvement and the effort is up. He had a couple of clutch defensive possessions late against the Denver Nuggets.

Queen is up to 13.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per night on 52.2/33.3/93.3 shooting splits. He is a total +8 on the year and has won his minutes in each game. That's all this team can really ask for right now.

The big's responsibility is on the rise, as well, as the team is without Yves Missi for an unknown amount of time. They aren't the same player, at all, but New Orleans will need Queen to keep up the positive play in a larger role than they were expecting right now.