The Pelicans clearly need to change their lineup after the loss to the Spurs

After the New Orleans Pelicans’ tough 120-116 overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, it’s clear that a change is needed in the group’s starting five. With Yves Missi, Kevon Looney and Karlo Matkovic all injured, head coach Willie Green decided to play Zion Williamson at the five.

I didn’t dislike this call from Green, as I was excited to see Williamson get a chance to run small ball five. That said, for a team already struggling to rebound, small ball is clearly not the way to go, and with the performance Derik Queen had against the Spurs, I think he earned the right to start Monday night against Boston.

For a prospect like Queen, who was expected to come into the league as a below-average rim protector, he looked excellent defensively last night. He faced a lot of competition and did an excellent job as a help defender on the weak side, which led to him recording one steal and two blocks.

DQ was also the main reason this team went to overtime. On the final possession, Victor Wembanyama looked to take Zion Williamson off the dribble. Still, Queen overshot as a help defender, forcing him to miss a dying jumper, sending the Pels to OT.

Offensively, he remains as advertised

While his defensive effort and rebounding are the reasons why I think he should be the team’s starter next game, his offensive game continues to look exactly the same as what the Pelicans signed up for. Queen finished the night with 15 points, six rebounds, one assist and just one turnover.

His 15 points came in a variety of ways. DQ scored off the pick-and-roll, off dump-offs, putting the ball on the floor and creating his own offense, on put-backs, hook shots, you name it, he did it. This is what makes Queen so unique: he can legitimately score in so many ways and can act as an extra guard for New Orleans because of his ability to put the ball on the floor.

Something else that is extremely important to highlight about this performance is that he only had 1 turnover.

I expected that after averaging 5.7 turnovers per game in Summer League, Queen would likely be an extremely high turnover guy during his rookie year, but it looks like that won’t be the case. Since returning from his wrist injury, he has been patient and letting the game come to him.

If Yves Missi is still going to be out Monday night when the Boston Celtics come to the Big Easy, there is only one real option for Willie Green, which is starting Derik Queen.