But I won’t cry for yesterday
There’s an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive— Duran Duran, Ordinary World
News
This Tuesday, the Pelicans participated in the first NBA draft under than name, receiving the most likely outcome: the sixth pick in the NBA draft on Thursday, June 27. While perceived as a `move back’ due to the Pelicans having the 5th highest chance of receiving the first pick, this idea and this so-called logic is befuddling. While the NBA draft requires teams to experience outcomes that are not their most likely (someone picks first, second, and third, and none of those are the most likely outcomes for any team with a single pick), it should never be surprising when the most likely even occurs.
What is slightly more surprising is the surgery on both Greivis Vasquez’s ankles.
The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that point guard Greivis Vasquez underwent a successful arthroscopic procedure on his right ankle to remove bone spurs. The procedure was performed by Dr. Richard Ferkel of the Southern California Orthopedic Institute in Los Angeles, CA.
Vasquez is currently recovering from the procedure and will begin rehabilitation immediately while returning to basketball activities later in the summer.
This is the same surgeon who performed Gordon’s recent ankle procedure. The fact that they returned to this doctor bodes well for Gordon’s procedure. Well, as well as possible.
Vasquez should be back for camp but may miss FIBA ball for Venezuela. That’s a tough blow for Greivis and his motherland.
On the domestic front, New Orleans Pelicans forwards Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson are expected to attended the Team USA minicamp in Vegas July 22 – 25.
Around the Site
Now that the lottery is in the rearview mirror and we are running down the draft on our NBA speeder bikes, the Sixth Pick Tournament has been unveiled and will entertain everyone but me up to and through the draft.
Preparing for that, Kevin Hetrick joined In the NO to discuss what the NBA Draft Combine results can tell us about draft prospects.
Looking forward, Mike also advocates trading out of next year’s Draft . . . now.
Also, we had some fun pieces this week. In honor of all the surgery going on, Ryan produced a satire on the topic that is top notch. Chris Trew gave us a Lottery Day Diary and broke down Rivers’ breaking down of some weak attacks on the Pelicans name on national TV.
`Voices’ of the People
Well if the organization is trying to project Rivers as the PG of the future why go and draft a PG. Or even if they are going for a Jennings/Bledsoe, it just seems to be crowding that position. The way I see it is that we need a SF or a good defender which would be Porter or Dipo. If neither are there, we could trade down to get multiple picks (whether that be for this year or next) and draft someone who fits one of those two criteria. This draft may not have that one superstar but it has a lot of underrated quality that could have some unnoticed talent. I just don’t want to see us crowding up the PG position or the PF if they drafted Bennet.
— mrcatz22
Relax guys, doubt it will affect his stock at all.
Clean up procedures are relatively non invasive and usually only arthroscopic so there should be no repercussions at all. Particularly for someone who in no way relied on athleticism of explosiveness.
He will have waited in the hope that the inflaimation would go down without surgery being required so nothing he could have really done there either.
— macs21
Good podcast as always – the points about Len’s foot and previous big men having issues with this does put me off taking him at 6.
The other thing I was thinking was that points about Porter being too frail to hold up make sense, but then Kevin Durant has a similar body makeup to Porter (and similar basketball IQ) and he is the 2nd best player on the planet.
42 Sense
As Hornets247 and now as Bourbon Street Shots, I have continuously looked at the aspects of the franchise that are boring and unsexy. I do this because I not only find it to be less boring and less unsexy, but because I firmly believe that these are critical things to the franchise’s success that are otherwise uncovered.
As the new CBA’s second wave of rules rushes toward the NBA’s shores and the number of teams with players whose shoes are squeaking on the floors under the lights, people are starting to take notice.
Ken Berger, whose coverage of these matters is quite good, has an article about the Pacers, Knicks, and Heat that looks not only at factors in their current success, but also how these factors look as time marches on, as it tends to do.
As it turns out, the Knicks’ salary situation is not so hot going into the next two years. The same goes for the Heat, but worse. One can focus on the options they have and pretend that equates to flexibility, but the cap hold for their key players eliminate that.
The Pacers, however, are a little better off next season, especially if they can find a home for Granger. They have a few avenues to improve since they are far from the tax and apron. Also, their situation is greatly improved in the following off-season, so they can keep getting better while the Knicks (who Walsh helped to build) and Heat have to tread water.
Why do we care? Well, the Pelicans’ salary situation is much closer to that of the Pacers. If they can make a good move this offseason, they’ll be a playoff team (assuming no major injuries), and will go forward with a Pacer-like future (or better!). Pelicans fans are rightly despondent looking at the so-called large market teams (no one has explained the Clippers history to me in a way that makes market-size really seem more important than ownership) and their success, but looking at the Pacers, Grizzlies, and resurgence of the Spurs, along with the few votes against the new CBA, should shift focus to basketball talent and talent+salary management, as it should be.
If you trust Benson, Lauscha, Loomis, Dell, etc., then what you see unfolding the playoffs and what you see looming on the horizon should bring a sense of hope. Real hope.
4 responses to “Quiescent Quotidian Quandaries”
@Jason Calmes Why will you not be entertained by the 6th Pick Tournament?
More just poking fun at my oddball thoughts about the draft and all things related.
I thought about Granger the past few days, would Pacers just want to dump him for a 2?
A two? As in a second-round pick or a shooting guard?