A look at potential New Orleans Pelicans draft pick, Tennessee State Tigers forward Aaron Nkrumah.
The New Orleans Pelicans have a great talent evaluator in Troy Weaver and an aggressive leader in Joe Dumars, so they should never be counted out to grab a player that they like.
They have a second-round pick from the Detroit Pistons to work with in this year's draft, but have not ruled out the possibility of going higher. Right now, though, the focus should be on the players who will be available in the second round, whom the Pelicans could consider.
Continuing to go through second-round options, one player who makes sense is Tennessee State Tigers forward Aaron Nkrumah. He's someone New Orleans could potentially end up with if they don't move out of the No. 58 spot, as his draft stock seems to be around the second half of the second round.
Nkrumah jumped around a couple of Division III schools before ending up with the Tigers two years ago. He became a starter right away, but his role in the offense didn't really blossom until this past season. The forward averaged 17.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists 43.8/35.1/78.6 shoot splits.
The Massachusetts native checks the box of a potential floor spacing wing. His 35.1% on 4.6 attempts isn't great, but it's a solid baseline and leaves open some space for improvement. He is at least a serviceable shooter for now.
Maybe most importantly, from Nkrumah, is that he posted 2.8 steals per game. He was second in the country with 92 steals on the year. That level of defensive involvement is exactly what the coaching staff is going to be asking for from whoever they end up walking out of the draft with. It's at least something they won't have to worry about with Nkrumah.
The Pelicans were actually a top-10 steals team last season, but they would certainly never complain about adding more. Right now, Jamahl Mosley just wants players who buy in on defense.
Nkrumah doesn't have the biggest numbers in the world and didn't play top competition, but he has reportedly put on a show for scouts in the pre-draft process and at least has some interesting tools. As far as value in a pick that late in the draft, the forward has plenty to like.
