Archie Goodwin will play right away with Pelicans, coach says

The New Orleans Pelicans officially signed Archie Goodwin on Monday, and Coach Alvin Gentry said he won’t waste any time finding minutes for the former University of Kentucky point guard.

“We sign a guy; we play him,” Gentry told The Times Picayune. “That’s what we’ve done when we’ve gotten guys and we’ve signed them. It’s been because of a need situation, and we don’t need anybody to come sit on the bench.

The Pelicans, which also have ex-Cats Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones on the roster, will face the Golden State Warriors on Monday night at 10:30 p.m. Eastern.

“Great athlete, he’s just a young player that needs that experience of being on the floor,” Gentry told the Associated Press. “He’s still trying to find himself in this league but great young man, very athletic. He has some areas he has to improve in but hard-working kid, so we’re lucky to have him.”

Goodwin, who spent his first three NBA seasons with the Phoenix Suns and averaged 8.9 points per game last season, was waived just before the season started.

He’s looking forward to a fresh start with New Orleans.

“I’ll shock a lot of people,” Goodwin told The Times Picayune. “I’m a lot more capable of doing a lot of things that people don’t know, and they’ll see that this year.”

He said it was hard to watch games from home as the season started without him.

“I love to play basketball,” he said. “Like my head was pretty much everywhere, but now that I’m back on a team, I’m fine. I just needed to get somewhere because basketball is all I ever did. I’m very fortunate for this chance, and I promise I’m going to take advantage.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2016 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Archie Goodwin will play right away with Pelicans, coach says."