Jeremiah Fears selected No. 7 overall by the Pelicans | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Jeremiah Fears selected No. 7 overall by the Pelicans | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Back here on CBS sports HQ on the clock presented by Jeep with the seventh overall selection, the New Orleans Pelicans select Jeremiah Fears out of Oklahoma. Point guard was SEC all freshman last year. Ranked seventh among D1 freshmen in points per game, assists and steals this past season. And look, Pelicans need need to hit on a draft pick. They need to get it going here. They really do because they’ve had such high expectations with Zion with Anthony Davis of course A.D is gone. He’s in Dallas after multiple trades there. But now Jeremiah fears headed to New Orleans back here in studio Adam Finkelstein, Gary Parrish, Avery Johnson and Matt Norlander along as well throughout the hour here on CBS sports HQ. Our coverage presented by Jeep as. Look, we’re at the 9:00 hour. We’ve had the first six selections. Number seven is Jeremiah Fears. A lot of people like Jeremiah Fears. What is your grade for this pick? Yeah, he had a chance to go as high as number five tonight. I’ll be honest here. I’m skeptical. And let’s be clear, fears is one of the most polarizing prospects in this draft. If it goes well, this would be an A, but there is bust potential, in which case it would be an F. So I’m going to split the difference, and I’m going to give it a C and round up to a C. Plus, when you take a guard like fears, who has incredible burst is a paint touch waiting to happen. At this point in the draft, you are saying that you believe he has a chance to be your primary creator in New Orleans. I see fears the most likely outcome being more like an instant offense type guy in your second unit. And I have major questions about how a guy who doesn’t shoot it well from three and is a little ball dominant fits next to Zion Williamson. So I don’t love the fit. And I think given the archetype, it’s a really risky bet here at number seven, the fit is a little risky because the obvious thing to do if you’re trying to still build around Zion Williamson is just surround him with as many shooters as possible. So when you use the seventh pick in the draft on somebody who just shot 28% from three and has one season of college basketball, that hammers home everything Fink’s saying. But take that. Set it aside. On my board. This was the best player available. He’s very difficult to stay in front of, like put the ball in his hands. You’re going to have a hard time keeping him from getting those paint touches Fink talks about. But the question is that shot now? There’s some other numbers, the free throw percentage that suggest there is some touch there. But if he cannot develop into a real threat, shooting the ball from that backcourt, then like Fink said, this will be too high to take him. So if you’re a Pelicans fan, which I don’t know a ton of Pelicans fans, I think I know like one. Are you excited about this selection, Gary? I can get excited about it because I think what grade would you give it? Garrett. Like this is the part I would struggle with giving grades in a previous career. This is who I had best available prospect on my board at this moment. In fact, the first seven players who have come off the board tonight are the first seven players I had in my mock draft. Different order, but the same seven players. So yeah, I think this is the best talent available. I can get excited, but I understand why Fink and others would be skeptical because the shooting concerns, they’re real concerns. What if you motivate him? What if what if he what if he looks at you? He goes, Adam Finkelstein gave me a C plus on draft night. And you know what happened. Tyrese Haliburton unfortunately got injured. But the whole poll about him being underrated and he turned into I’m not saying he’s turned into a superstar, but he turned into a star this playoffs. Like these guys will listen. Yeah, zoom in on me for this part, okay? No one will be happier than me if I’m wrong here. Okay. When you’re the guy who does the rankings throughout high school, and then you do the draft stuff too, you want to be wrong. You want these guys to prove you wrong. I want Jeremiah fears to be great here. I’m just skeptical of the process of drafting a paint touch point guard with a low finishing rate. In addition to the shooting concerns. Who needs the ball in his hands? He’s a high volume guy who has not proven that he can acclimate to playing with less of a less volume with the ball in his hands. Those are my concerns. I hope I’m wrong. And another area of concern would be he only weighs 180 pounds. He’s very thin, and if he doesn’t get stronger andost 18 year olds do, but he’s

Adam Finkelstein and Gary Parrish join CBS Sports HQ to grade Jeremiah Fears being selected No. 7 overall to the New Orleans Pelicans.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CBSSports

WATCH
CBS Sports HQ: https://www.cbssports.com/live/
Paramount Plus: https://www.paramountplus.com

FOLLOW US ON:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CBSSports/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cbssports/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/CBSSports

#2025nbadraft #neworleanspelicans #jeremiahfears