New Orleans Pelicans Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Notes: Rondo, Bickerstaff, Mavs, Grizzlies

December 9th, 2017 at 8:48am CST by marksuleymanov

Rajon Rondo is making his mark on the Pelicans, using his veteran presence and playmaking abilities to help the team, William Guillory of NOLA.com writes. Rondo missed the start of the season due to a sports hernia but is now drawing praise from his teammates for his teammates.

“I’ve said it many times, once Rondo is on the floor he makes the game easier for a lot of guys. He takes guys’ games to the next level,” DeMarcus Cousins said. “Since Rondo has been back, I think Jrue (Holiday) and E’Twaun (Moore)’s game has gone to the next level. Darius Miller, his game has gone to a whole other level. It’s just making the game easier for everybody.”

The Pelicans are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference with a 13-13 record. Rondo, 31, brings NBA championship experience and one of the most respected basketball minds in the NBA. As Cousins, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and the rest of the team compete for the playoffs, Rondo is clearly establishing himself as a vital presence for the team.

Check out other news and notes from the Southwest Division:

This season hasn’t gone smoothly for the Grizzlies as the team has endured the firing of head coach David Fizdale, a deteriorating relationship with All-Star Marc Gasol, and an 11-game losing streak, putting the team close to the Western Conference cellar. However, interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff thinks the team is trending in the right direction, Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal writes.
Speaking of changes with the Grizzlies, the team hired former player Greg Bucker as an assistant coach, per Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal. Bucker has served as an analyst for FOX Sports and played for the Grizzlies during the 2008/09 season.
After improved play — including recent wins over the Clippers and Nuggets — the Mavericks are starting to find their identity on both sides of the floor, Eddie Sefko of Dallas Sports Day writes.

Rajon Rondo Helps Bring Out Best In Jrue Holiday

December 7th, 2017 at 9:04pm CST by Austin Kent

The addition of Rajon Rondo to the Pelicans‘ lineup has helped bring out the best in Jrue Holiday. William Guillory of The Times-Picayune writes that the converted shooting guard is playing some of the best basketball of his New Orleans tenure.

Holiday has established himself as a desperately needed perimeter scoring option, especially now that the presence of Rondo allows him to focus on scoring. The extra offensive output comes at an ideal time for the Pelicans, as they’ve been without Anthony Davis for the past three games..

“I think Jrue is one of the best. He’s easily one of the top three 1-on-1 players in our game today,” Rondo, who signed with the Pelicans in the offseason, said. Since Rondo has slid into the lineup, Holiday has averaged 20 points and 4.4 assists per game with a .483 field-goal percentage.

“His aggression and just taking advantage of being a bigger guard. He’s one of the best two-way players in this league when he’s aggressive. That’s the guy we need for our team to go to the next level,” Pelicans big man DeMarcus Cousins added. “He’s been playing great, he’s taken our team to another level and we’re a tough team to beat when he’s playing that way.”

Alexis Ajinca Likely Out For Season

December 7th, 2017 at 5:57pm CST by Austin Kent

The Pelicans have been without reserve center Alexis Ajinca all season and that isn’t likely to change for the rest of the year. As Christian Boutwell of the New Orleans Advocate writes, the 29-year-old underwent knee surgery on his right patellar tendon and is expected to miss four to six months.

While the news may not come as a surprise to the franchise, it’s an added blow to a team that has struggled to keep its big men healthy. Ajinca averaged 5.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game last season, but that’s of little help when he can’t stay on the floor.

Ajinca has failed to play 70 games in each of his seven NBA seasons and that doesn’t include this lost campaign or the two years he bounced around Europe from 2011-2013. He has appeared in over 60 games just once.

The Pels will pay Ajinca $5MM this season – the third year of a four-year, $20MM deal he signed with the team back in 2015 – and will give him a slight raise up to $5.3MM in 2018/19.

Davis Relieved By Injury Diagnosis

December 4th, 2017 at 10:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pelicans star forward Anthony Davis is relieved that his left adductor injury is nothing more than a strain, William Guillory of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Davis felt a sharp pain when suffering the injury last week but is listed as day-to-day. “I‘m getting better every day, I’m not quite there yet,” Davis told Guillory. “But I’ve been getting better for the most part. … On certain movements, the main ones are fine, but a lot of cutting and stuff like that are where the pain comes up.”

Latest On Anthony Davis

December 4th, 2017 at 11:31am CST by Austin Kent

DECEMBER 4, 11:31am: The MRI results on Davis’ injured groin came back negative, and he’ll be considered day-to-day for now, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Pelicans have confirmed that timetable, announcing that Davis will miss Monday’s game against Golden State and will be listed as day-to-day going forward. The team clarifies that the big man’s injury is a left adductor strain.

DECEMBER 3, 10:37pm: There has been an unnerving sense of uncertainty in New Orleans since Anthony Davis left the team’s Friday night loss against the Jazz with a pelvis injury. Now, Scott Kushner of The Advocate writes, the Pelicans’ season seems to hinge on the pending medical report.

Davis fell to the floor in agony after jostling with Jazz big man Derrick Favors for a rebound. Disconcertingly, despite relatively little contact between the two on the play, Davis couldn’t get off the floor on his own power and had to be taken to the locker room in a wheel chair.

An MRI conducted on Saturday failed to reveal the full scope of the injury, though there seems to be consensus that the big man has at least pulled his groin.

“He had an MRI that was a little inconclusive, but he will take one when we get back to New Orleans and we’ll find out the full depth of the injury,” head coach Alvin Gentry said.

Davis, who was spotted on crutches prior to the team’s Saturday night contest, per William Guillory of The Times-Picayune, has already been ruled out for the Pelicans’ Monday night contest

Davis To Be Re-Examined Sunday

December 2nd, 2017 at 7:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

Anthony Davis will undergo further examination on his groin injury when the Pelicans return to New Orleans tomorrow, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. He will be held out of tonight’s game in Portland.

Anthony Davis Fined $25K After Ejection

December 2nd, 2017 at 11:13am CST by marksuleymanov

Pelicans‘ star Anthony Davis received a $25,000 fine along with his ejection for not leaving the court in a timely manner during Wednesday loss to the Timberwolves, the NBA announced.

Community Shootaround: Anthony Davis

December 1st, 2017 at 10:40pm CST by Austin Kent

The Pelicans may be without superstar big man Anthony Davis for the foreseeable future, a painful realization that’s become all too familiar for the New Orleans franchise.

Although no details about Davis’ latest set back – an apparent groin injury – have been announced, he appeared to be in considerable pain in the fourth quarter of the team’s loss to the Jazz Friday night and allegedly left the locker room on crutches.

While Davis was jostling to box out Jazz center Derrick Favors at the time of the injury, it didn’t look as though the pain was related directly to the contact, although that’s merely a non-medical observation.

For the first five seasons of his career, Davis struggled to stay consistently healthy, suffering a series of unrelated injuries that suggest a general fragility more than any one particular troublesome area. Last year, however, he managed to stick it out through a career high 75 contests.

Our question for readers is a simple one, will Davis – unbelievably still just 24 years old – ever shed the injury prone level that has dogged him throughout his career? If you were at the helm of an NBA franchise, could you ever trust investing substantially in a player with Davis’ track record?

It won’t be long before the details as to the extent of the injury are made public and hopefully it’ll have simply looked worse than it actually was.

Unfortunately in Davis’ case, it’s only natural to expect bad news.

Solomon Hill 'Ahead Of Schedule' In Recovery

November 29th, 2017 at 8:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

Pelicans forward Solomon Hill is improving after surgery in August for a torn hamstring, tweets Scott Kushner of The Advocate. Coach Alvin Gentry told reporters tonight that Hill is a “little bit ahead of schedule” in the rehab process. “We talk to him and communicate with him to try to see what’s going on,” Gentry said. “But it’s just a time injury. You can’t work harder to come back quicker.” Hill was mainly a starter for New Orleans last season, averaging 7.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in 80 games.

Extension Talks Never Got Serious For Jazz, Favors

November 28th, 2017 at 11:20am CST by Luke Adams

While not many veteran NBA players qualify for contract extensions, Derrick Favors has been extension-eligible for each of the last two seasons, and came into the 2016/17 campaign hoping to sign a new deal. However, as Favors tells ESPN’s Zach Lowe, he and the Jazz never got close to working out an agreement, despite the fact that Utah had excess cap room to renegotiate his contract.

“They wanted to re-sign Gordon [Hayward], maybe extend George Hill,” Favors said. “And I got hurt. I understand the business part of it. If they had come to me, I’d have been open to it.”

Unrestricted free agency is fast approaching for Favors, who is earning $12MM in 2017/18 on an expiring deal. Considering the Jazz didn’t show much interest in extending Favors’ contract last season when they had plenty of cap flexibility, it’s probably safe to assume the team won’t make an effort to lock him up to an in-season extension this year either, even though he remains eligible. In fact, though he doesn’t cite any sources, Lowe suggests that Utah is more likely to explore the trade market for the 26-year-old.

According to Lowe, it’s not clear if the Jazz could even extract a low first-round pick or an equivalent young player for Favors at this point. Lowe names the Pistons, Pelicans, Bucks, and Nuggets as teams that might be among the potential fits, but cautions that none of those clubs are likely to give up much for a rental.

Favors’ production has been up and down since the start of the 2016/17 season, though he has played well over the last couple weeks with Rudy Gobert sidelined. Having seen more playing time at center during that stretch, Favors has averaged 15.9 PPG and 8.8 RPG in eight games.