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Looking at the Pelicans’ Defensive Decline
In Monty Williams’ first season as head coach of the New Orleans NBA franchise the team’s MO was defense. That slow grind it out style led to a playoff berth, a 6 game series against the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, and a defensive ranking of 10th in the league. Since that 2010-2011 season, […]
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In the NO Podcast Episode 179: Season Wrap
The season is ovah! Michael and I talk about how fun those last two games were, Austin Rivers ejection, whether Tyreke and Austin should be focusing on mid-range shooting in the off-season, and Brian Roberts winning the Free Throw crown! Then, we talk about Dell Demps closing comments for the season, Melvin Ely replacing the […]
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Would a Big Cap Increase Help or Hurt the Pelicans?
Yesterday, Larry Coon projected quite a massive increase in next years’ salary cap and the natural question to ask is: What does this mean for the Pelicans? Well, first let’s talk numbers. Coon projects the salary cap to go from $58.7 million to $63.2 million. That is a 7.7% increase, which is higher than the […]
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What if the New Orleans Pelicans Won the NBA Draft Lottery?
The New Orleans Pelicans hold a 1.1% chance of winning the top pick in the 2014 draft. Talk about long odds. It seems like you’re more likely to get hit by an asteroid than the Pelicans have of winning the lotto. But, that’s not the case. One in one hundred is still a chance… The […]
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Weakside Eyes: The Legend of Austin Rivers
I dunno know what the answer is. There’s something ’bout his game dat doesn’t make my eyes feel good –Lenny the Cabbie Since Jrue Holiday went down with an injury, the point guard debate has caused families to engage in dinner hour food fights. The surprise in all of this is the fact that I […]
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Does Tyreke Really Need to Improve His Jump Shot?
No matter how good a player is, the focus always seems to be on what he needs to improve. And make no mistake, even the all-time greats had weaknesses; nobody is a perfect basketball player. The tendency then, is to talk about what the player needs to improve in order to get better, but what […]
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FIN (Pelicans beat Rockets)
It was a fun game for a season wrap. While the Rockets organization weren’t taking the game that serious (Dwight Howard chucked a three?) their scrubs were taking it as seriously as the Pelicans scrubs were taking it. Most of those guys were playing to try to leave some sort of impression out there. In […]
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Game On: Rockets @ Pelicans – and Keys to the Off-season
The season ends tonight against the Rockets in a meaningless game for both teams, since the Rockets are locked into the four seed even if the lose due to owning the tie-breaker over the Trail Blazers. Expect a lot of end of bench players to be on the court – the Rockets because they want […]
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In the NO Podcast Episode 178: Things fall apart fast
Michael and I don’t spend too much time talking about the games and all the missing players. Instead we talk about line-ups the team fielded this season, (and how few minutes any of them got) how best to stretch Eric Gordon, what to do with Morrow, what makes Stiemsma great, and what could make us […]
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Pelicans M.A.S.H. Unit Can’t Close Out Rockets
With 2:47 left, the Pelicans led the Rockets 104-96. When the horn sounded, the Rockets looked up and the scoreboard read 111-104 Houston. The 15-0 run was part Pelicans collapse, part Rockets clutch offense, and a whole lot of questionable decisions by the zebras. After Dwight Howard split two free throws to bring the Rockets […]
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Poking the Bear
And I know it’s my own damn fault — Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville With just a few games left of the season, I’ve been looking at some of the season stats for the New Orleans Pelicans. Yes, I know there are some games left. Yes, I know I’m still recapping games from a month ago on […]
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Game On: New Orleans Pelicans at Houston Rockets
Are you ready for some defense? No? Good, because you won’t see any tonight. The Pelicans defense has been terrible all season, but the Rockets have come along lately and made this Pelicans D look like the 2004 Pistons. 118, 105, 107, 107, 125, 130, 123, 112 Those aren’t the coordinates to some island near […]
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Thunder Beat Pelicans, Basketball Gods are Merciless
The most important things that happened tonight were unfortunately injuries to Brian Roberts (ankle) and Tyreke Evans (bone bruise in knee). Each player did not return to the game after his injury. Their statuses will be monitored and we will keep you up to date. More importantly: what in the world did New Orleans do to […]
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Game On: Pelicans @ Thunder
“4 games left, 4 games left..” I mutter to myself as I write this game preview. The 32-46 New Orleans Pelicans travel to OKC to face the playoff-bound Thunder, who are fresh off of a road win against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Thunder are unequivocally one of the best teams in basketball: they are […]
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Stretching Eric Gordon Part Two: The Michael Beasley Model
Yesterday, I took a look at the basics of the stretch provision and how the Pelicans could use this CBA loophole on Eric Gordon next summer if they can not trade him. But what if they want to take that step this year? Is there a way they could part with Gordon sooner and take […]
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The Beauty of Gray
This is not a black and white world To be alive, I say that the colors must swirl And I believe that maybe today We will all get to appreciate The beauty of gray — Live, The Beauty of Gray As many have noticed, the next phase of renovations of the Smoothie King Center have […]
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Afternoon Roundup: Davis, Gordon, A New Player, and More
Couple of Pelicans related stories with just less than a week to go in the season. Davis and Gordon Done for the Season The Pelicans have shut down both Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon for the final four games of the season. Davis is still having issues with back spasms, but nothing to worry about […]
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Stretching Eric Gordon
At this point, there is no more debate. It was fun going back and forth with readers about whether Eric Gordon would ever live up to the contract or whether he was a key ingredient for the future of this Pelicans team. But now, it’s just boring. There is literally nobody on the other side […]
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Pelicans go small, can’t handle Suns
Down three and under a minute to go, I certainly wouldn’t have drawn up a pull-up three pointer from Tyreke Evans tonight. Of course, neither did Monty as the Pelicans had a little bit of Hero Ball going at the end as each guy tried something that maybe wasn’t their best skill to win the […]
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Anthony Morrow emerges for the New Orleans Pelicans
I don’t even think about that [contract situation], I’m just trying to focus on winning these last few games. But I appreciate this opportunity because it’s been a blessing for me. — Anthony Morrow, April 6, 2014, The Advocate. Anthony Morrow came into the NBA shooting 46 per cent from three in his rookie season. […]