The New Orleans Pelicans have been focusing their attention recently on trying to bring back Norris Cole for next season. Cole has a qualifying offer that he has yet to accept but he likely will at some point. While they wait on Cole the Pelicans have reportedly gone out and made another addition to their roster by giving a one year deal to Jeff Adrien, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports.
The reported deal between the Pelicans and Adrien is for the veteran's minimum and it will make Adrien the 14th player on the Pelicans roster. Adrien also reportedly had interest from the Orlando Magic, the Dallas Mavericks, the New York Knicks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Charlotte Hornets and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Adrien is a 6 foot-7 power forward who went undrafted after playing four years at UConn but has been able to stick around in the NBA. Adrien is undersized for a power forward but he has held his own on the glass in his time as a professional. In his five year career Adrien has played for five different teams but has never played in more than 77 games for one team.
The former UConn star has dominated in his time in the D-League averaging more than 18 points and more than 11 rebounds in 32 D-League games but hasn't had that kind of success in the NBA. Adrien has career numbers of 4.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 14 minutes per game between the five NBA teams. Adrian had his best stretch with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013-14 when he averaged 10.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in 28 contests before moving onto Minnesota where he played 17 games last season.
Adrien is now 29 years old and looking to finally stick with a team and as of right now he has a very good shot to make the Pelicans because even after they re-sign Cole they will only have 15 players. It is still possible that the Pelicans will bring in other players to compete in training camp though so Adrien's roster spot isn't exactly guaranteed yet.
