The Pelicans have an extremely strong top six:
- Jrue Holiday
- Eric Gordon
- Tyreke Evans
- Anthony Davis
- Omer Asik
- Ryan Anderson
But beyond that, it’s pretty dicey. So, New Orleans continues to search for reinforcements.
Caleb Wygal of The Register-Herald.com:
Shams Charania of RealGM:
Ex-Pistons PF Vernon Macklin has reached agreement with the New Orleans Pelicans on a non-guaranteed camp deal, league source tells RealGM.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 8, 2014
The Pelicans have 12 players with guaranteed contracts. Jones and Macklin will be competing with Luke Babbitt, Darius Miller and Patric Young – each of whom has a partially guaranteed salary – for the final three roster spots.
Jones went undrafted in 2012, signed with the Cavaliers and spent much of the season in the D-League. He again played in the D-League, this time without an NBA contract, last season. The West Virginia product is a bit small for a power forward, but he plays hard and has good scoring skills inside.
Macklin also signed as an undrafted free agent, going from Florida to the Pistons in 2011. In his lone year in Detroit, he scored and rebounded extremely efficiently in very limited minutes, so it’s tough to evaluate Macklin based on that. You’d think a 25-41 team could have found more than 135 minutes to see what it had in Macklin, but the Pistons didn’t. He’s since played overseas and in the D-League.
Jones and Macklin are unlikely to make the team, but there are openings for each if they impress in the preseason.