There was plenty of conversation in recent weeks that New Orleans center Alexis Ajinca had gotten himself into excellent shape and looked primed to begin 2016-17, but it was probably easy to dismiss that as just talk. There are plenty of instances in the NBA where summer optimism about a player doesn’t carry over in the fall to the hardwood.
Given an initial chance Wednesday night to show what he can do – in front of more than a thousand Pelicans fans at the Smoothie King Center – the 7-foot-2 native of France performed very well, finishing with 18 points in a 40-minute intrasquad scrimmage. Ajinca, who is vying with 7-footer Omer Asik for minutes at the center spot, delivered one of the better showings at the team’s annual open practice. He regularly connected on 20-foot jumpers, part of his above-average skill set for a player of his immense stature. On Media Day, Ajinca confidently predicted that he will earn the starting role.
“Alexis played great,” Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said. “He’s had a good training camp already, and I thought he had a good preseason as far as pickup games and stuff like that. It’s a long time before you have to make a decision for the starting lineup on opening night. That (center) position is up for grabs.”
Ajinca’s 18-point game helped lift the Blue team to a 90-88 victory over the White squad, with Tim Frazier providing the game-winning mid-range shot at 0:02. A deep three-pointer from the White team’s E’Twaun Moore (20 points) missed at the buzzer.
A look at some of the other highlights from Wednesday’s intrasquad scrimmage:
Pelicans free-agent guard pickup Langston Galloway came out red-hot from the perimeter, sinking three three-pointers among his 15 points in the first quarter alone. The Baton Rouge native totaled 25 points and buried a total of five treys. The former New York Knick is a 34.8 percent career three-point shooter in the NBA, with only one regular season game of five-plus trifectas (he made six at Atlanta on the final day of 2014-15). …
Lottery pick Buddy Hield notched 15 points, scoring equally from the perimeter and around the hoop. “Buddy did a great job,” Gentry said. “The thing I liked best tonight was he played within himself; he didn’t try to get outside the box. He’s going to have games where he makes 10, 12 shots; he’s also going to struggle some. I think he works hard enough though that he’s going to be a good player.” …
Anthony Davis played only in the first half, but that didn’t keep him from producing his usual highlight reel, featuring four dunks. The three-time All-Star scored 18 points prior to intermission.