The New Orleans Pelicans have plenty to sort out around Jeremiah Fears, and his second season should tell them a lot.
New Orleans took the point guard with the No. 7 overall pick last year, and he showed flashes right away. Fears put up 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting 43.4/33.0/78.9.
For a rookie, that’s a strong opening act. But the bigger picture was messier, because his minutes - along with Derik Queen’s - didn’t translate into much winning.
Both players finished near the bottom of the rookie class in total plus-minus, with Fears and Queen sitting side by side in the bottom 10. Some of that comes down to the Pelicans being a bad team overall, and both players logging heavy minutes for most of the season. Queen missed one game, while Fears didn’t miss any.
That’s also part of what made Fears such a typical rookie roller coaster. He had bright stretches, rough stretches and plenty of material to build on. If he can answer the right questions this season, New Orleans could have something special on its hands.
The first issue is the three-point shot. Fears hit 33% from deep as a rookie, which is a decent place to start, but the numbers bounced around a lot.
He shot 39.3% in November, which was his best month and also the month he spent the most time on the floor. Then came a drop to 26.7% in December, his worst month.
He climbed back to 39.0% in March before finishing April at 31.8%. He can clearly make shots, but the Pelicans would love more steadiness there because it would open up the floor.
Then there’s the decision-making. Fears deserves credit for the growth he already showed as a point guard.
Early on, he played a lot like he did in college and leaned into hero ball. New Orleans wasn’t going to let that fly with the talent around him, and as the season went on, he got better at setting up teammates.
That was one reason the team benched him, and he handled that well. Another leap would make sense after a full offseason, but turning that work into game action is the real test.
Camp will be where that starts to show.
The last piece is defense, and that may be the biggest reason he’s widely expected to begin the season on the bench. Fears was targeted regularly on that end because he’s seen more as quick than physical.
Even so, he still finished with 1.2 steals per game, which shows he can use his activity to help. He’s reportedly been in the gym consistently this offseason, and if that work helped him add strength, it could matter a lot.
If Fears can clean up those three areas, the Pelicans won’t just have a promising young guard. They’ll have a future superstar to work with.
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