6: Pelicans’ NBA rank in team three-point percentage last season
Despite a slew of injuries to key players in 2013-14, the New Orleans Pelicans still were an above-average offensive team, ranking 13th of 30 NBA teams in offensive efficiency (107.2 points per 100 possessions). One factor behind the overachievement was the Pelicans’ sixth-place finish in accuracy from the three-point stripe – four players shot at least 39.0 percent, contributing greatly to the team’s 37.3 overall success rate. Only NBA champion San Antonio, Dallas, the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State and Washington were more accurate than New Orleans percentage-wise.
In 2014-15, the Pelicans will have to overcome the departure in free agency of Anthony Morrow (45.1 percent last season), who signed with Oklahoma City. However, New Orleans is expected to have Ryan Anderson (40.9) and Jrue Holiday (39.0) back at 100 percent from injuries, after the pair combined to miss 108 games in 2013-14. Eric Gordon rounded out the quartet of stellar shooters by connecting on 39.1 percent of his treys last season.
Help is also on the way via the free-agent signing of Jimmer Fredette, a career 40.1 percent shooter from beyond the arc. Based on Basketball-Reference.com’s qualifying minimums, Fredette does not have enough three-pointers for his name to appear on the list, otherwise he’d rank 16th among all active NBA players in that statistic, slightly ahead of Ray Allen (40.0).