Tonight’s 8/7CT affair marks an interesting twist for the careers of many on this Pelicans team. Take James Ennis, the most recent addition to the flock. He had played less than an hour’s worth of minutes all season. After 24 last night tho, he could well double his total minutes in 2 days. Dell Demps and Alvin Gentry have tried to bring in guys who have familiarity with the intended style of play, and they seem to have made some good choices.

Tim Frazier has shown nicely after being dumped by Portland earlier this season. In over 25 minutes a night, Frazier is putting up 12 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds a night, hitting over half of his shots. Jordan Hamilton, now going into his 4th game in a Pelican uniform, is shooting 43.3% and averaging 10-3-4. Even James Ennis, in his first game last night, put up 13-4-5. The fact of the matter is that even though these guys aren’t going to get a bunch of wins, they’ve been consistently competing and making some nice plays that you would expect from a Gentry style system to keep games close and interesting.

But with just a few games left, what impact will it have on the Pelicans’ final record and draft? With just 8 games left, it looks unlikely the Pels will finish any higher than the 5th worst record, as both the Kings and Knicks would have to make up 3 wins on New Orleans. Minnesota sits 2 wins below the Pels, but New Orleans plays all 5 teams below them ending in matchup with the Wolves for the last game of the season. Things could get interesting. It might end up playing no part in the draft at all, but it could also be the exact opposite.

Toney Douglas, Jordan Hamilton, Dante Cunningham, Alexis Ajinca, and Omer Asik are the probably starters tonight for New Orleans. The Nuggets still have a fading, glimmer of hope for the Playoffs, so they’ll look to take advantage of tired legs for some Pelicans who have probably never seen this many minutes in 2 days in their careers. Tune in at 7CT to see if the new comers can ruin their hopes.