Michael and I spend the first couple minutes of the podcast talking about bright spots! And if you know how long these things typically go . . .
We also talk Tanking, AD being damn good, the disaster that is our backcourt, and make predictions for the upcoming games.
Enjoy the podcast!
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2 responses to “In the NO Podcast Ep. 232: Looking for Bright Spots”
Facts are stubborn things, but here are a few:
Fact:The current
Pelicans management, coaching staff and trainers inherited a playoff team that
had a couple of very solid playoff game performances in April 2015 against the eventual
NBA champions.
Fact:With excitement
and high expectations, the Pelicans players took the intiative on their own to
begin working out at the team’s training facility and were all ready to go
before training camp began (see http://www.nola.com/pelicans/index.ssf/2015/09/alvin_gentry_already_convinced.html#incart_river
)
Fact:The current
coaching and training staff inherited a relatively healthy team.Omer Asik played 11 minutes during a
preseason game on Oct. 3, 2015.Tyreke
Evans played 24 minutes during a preseason game on Oct. 9, 2015.Norris Cole played 20 minutes during a
preseseason game on Oct. 9, 2015.Tyreke
Evans played 24 minutes during a preseason game on Oct. 12, 2015.
Fact:When his $3.7
million contract with the Pelicans expired at the end of the 2013-14 season,
the Pelicans reliquished their Bird rights to Al-Farouq Aminu, who then signed
a two year contract with Dallas for $2.1 million.Aminu has now scored 16 points in 3 straight
games this season as a Portland Trailblazer.
Fact:Current
Pelicans starting SF Luke Babbitt is not an effective defender and often shoots
3 pointers flat footed.
Fact:The small
forward position has been a glaring weakness on the Pelicans roster ever since
the team let Aminu go.While Quincy
Pondexter had a positive impact on the team last season after being traded back to New
Orleans in Jan. 2015, the truth is he’s unreliable because of his spotty history
from an injury perspective.He played in
only 59 games during the 2012-13 season and in only 15 games during the 2013-14
season.
Fact:The 2015-16
Pelicans have had 4 different starting lineups in 6 games.
Fact:It wasn’t until
the 4th game this season (against the Magic) that the current Pelicans coaches realized
that Eric Gordon’s strength as a scorer was as a catch-and-shoot guard, a role
he played with the Pelicans during the entirety of last season.
Fact:It wasn’t until
the 5th game of this season that the current Pelicans coaches
realized that Anthony Davis’ inside game should be emphasized offensively:”I had a lot more space.We changed some things up and I had more room
in the lane and felt very comfortable.” – AD23, after scoring 43 points against
the Hawks on Nov. 6, 2015.
Fact:The Golden
State Warriors are better this year with Luke Walton as their interim head coach
than they were previously when Alvin Gentry and Darren Erman were on their
coaching staff.
Fact:Without some
wins soon, attendance for Pelicans home games in the Smoothie King Center will
start dwindling dramatically.I already noticed
during the Magic game that 4 seats owned by a friend and long-time season
ticket holder were empty the entire game.
Another great show guys, funny that you say that the show is therapy for you guys, likewise when driving home listening to the cast.
I wrote this in a previous post… we have our 1st (Jrue), 2nd (Tyreke), 3rd (Norris) choice PG missing, your ring protector (Asik) and defensive wing (Pondexter) missing… everyone is scratching their head trying to figure out why defense is so bad… its probably because we’re playing with our ‘3rd unit’ against GSW, Hawks etc… of course they’re going to be lambs to the slaughter.
My biggest concern about the whole thing is the pressure that it’s putting on not only Dell (as discussed in the cast) but also Gentry… I’m worried that we might see some long term goals kerbed inorder to shortcut a way to a win, rather than trusting the system.