Pelicans' Tyreke Evans back at practice, likely to start at small forward

Tyreke Evans returned to practice with the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday, marking his first action since going down with a hamstring strain in September.

It hasn't taken Evans long to assert himself, with head coach Monty Williams expressing Sunday that Evans is likely to be his guy at the starting small forward position.

"Tyreke right now in my head, that's where he is going to play," Williams said, with The Times-Picayune adding the context that Evans is the likely starter. Williams also later referred to the team searching to find Evans's backup at the spot, more or less confirming that notion.

Evans is hardly a typical small forward at 6-foot-6, but it's a position he's spent time at in each of his five seasons. He spent the majority of his time there last year, too, occasionally sliding to the two. Williams suggested Evans compensates for his size disadvantage in other areas.

"Conversely," Williams said, "those guys have to guard him in transition and in pick and roll. Do we have a prototype three? No. But we have some guys who can play that position."

With the Pelicans deep at the guard positions, it makes sense to see what's workable with Evans at the three. They have the option to run some deadly offensive lineups that go small, with Evans alongside Ryan Anderson and Anthony Davis in the frontcourt, and a pair of guards - Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon, primarily - flanking them.

While Evans's numbers weren't terrific by his standards last season - he averaged a career-low 14.5 points and shot just 43.6 percent, but managed five assists and a career-high 18.4 player efficiency rating - the team found success with some of these smaller looks: