NBA Draft: Zion Williamson still first in 2019 Redraft

In the 2019 NBA Draft the New Orleans Pelicans had just completely remade their roster. Anthony Davis was now in Los Angeles, and in his place was a new young core of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart. After taking Zion Williamson and Jaxson Hayes in the top-10, the Pelicans had one more first-round pick at 17 and needed to fill one last need: a guard with shot-creation ability.

They took Virginia Tech guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, a cousin to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and an excellent option for what they were looking for. Alexander-Walker has stepped into the league and largely been what the Pelicans hoped for, averaging 17.5 points per 36 minutes largely coming off the bench.

The problem with Alexander-Walker has been the efficiency. He has shot just 40.1 percent from the field for his career, and 34.7 percent from 3-point range. Those numbers have ticked up in his second season, as has his free-throw percentage, but he has a long way to go to be an efficient scorer.

He does have good size, at 6’6″ able to hold up well against opposing wings when he is playing alongside another point guard, but with the speed to check most 1s if he’s playing alongside Zion Williamson as the nominal point guard. If he can consolidate his defensive chops and improve the efficiency he jumps up a tier here.

The Boston Celtics originally took Romeo Langford at 14, a pick they received from the Sacramento Kings. Langford has dropped significantly in this redraft, so the Celtics take advantage and add a guard with size to add to their rotation.