For years, ever since they paired Zion Williamson with Brandon Ingram, the New Orleans Pelicans have been a team that has failed to live up to their roster reputation. Since reuniting their young star duo, they have continued to amass more talent that was supposed to take the team to the next level, but they have failed to do so time and time again.
Supporting players like Jonas Valanciunas, Larry Nance Jr., and Josh Hart have come and gone, with minimal impact on the Pelicans’ overall ceiling. Currently, the franchise has surrounded Zion and BI with an extremely encouraging supporting cast, including CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy III, and Herb Jones.
And yet, despite a seemingly deep roster, optimism is in order. In fact, there’s more talk about a potential Ingram trade than the Pelicans’ championship chances next season. This time, though, the team will have a legitimate roster complaint if New Orleans were to fall short again: their lack of depth at center. As of this writing, they have two centers on the active roster: German veteran Daniel Theis and Baylor rookie Yves Missi.
Daniel Theis is one of several NBA talents who have raised their stock at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Playing for Germany, which narrowly fell to Serbia for the bronze medal, he averaged 7.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. More importantly, he played 22.7 minutes per game, proving that he is healthy enough to play significant minutes against top-tier opponents again.
That said, counting on 32-year-old Daniel Theis after several serious injuries is a recipe for disaster. And yet, the only other center the Pelicans will have to open the season is their first-round pick, Yves Missi.
Missi has quickly skyrocketed ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft thanks to his relentless physicality and motor. In a relatively weak draft, his combination of effort and athleticism has him close to a safe pick at age 21. Even the most optimistic believers in his talent didn’t expect him to be a major contributor to a playoff prospect in Year 1. And yet, that’s exactly what he’ll need to be if the Pelicans are going to make any noise next season.
In his first year with the Bears, Missi proved to be an impact player, on par with some of the more prominent big men drafted before him like Alexandre Sarr and Kel’el Ware. At Baylor, he averaged 10.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 61 percent in just under 23 minutes per game.
Top rookies are increasing their production thanks to the NBA’s faster pace and more graceful spacing. Big men, however, can often struggle to keep up with their fitness. They can also fail to avoid fouls against the league’s litany of pro scorers. There’s a reason 2023-24 Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama has played just 29 minutes a night.
Expecting Missi and Theis to play 48 minutes of passable center time, game after game, is an ambitious proposition for New Orleans. They may have some contingency plans in their back pocket, like playing small with Zion or even Herb Jones at center or targeting a true stalwart in an Ingram trade later.
Whatever the plan, the Pelicans need to make sure they don’t leave Missi on the sidelines. A slow start for New Orleans due to an unstable center rotation could end their season before it even really begins. Worse yet, placing high expectations on a 20-year-old rookie that he fails to meet could shatter his confidence and stunt his development.
