Two games in, Pelicans’ season has yet to take flight

 

 

It’s hard to tell which is scarier, the opening of the Pelicans’ season or their mascot.

The schedule makers certainly didn’t do the New Orleans Pelicans any favors.

The Pels have started the season 0-2 after blowout road losses to the defending champion Golden State Warriors on opening night and to the Portland Trailblazers last night.

This isn’t the start that the team or the fans anticipated.  Sure, injuries have played their part.  Point guard Jrue Holiday was absent against the Warriors and neither Tyreke Evans nor Omer Asik has played a minute thus far, but still.  It wasn’t supposed to look like this.

The defense, which was below average last season (ranking 21st in the NBA in 2014-15), has bottomed out.  The Pelicans have allowed an average of 111.5 points in their first two games, 25th best in the league.  Opponents are shooting better than 46 percent from the field and are making 10.5 three pointers per game.  New Orleans has held opponents under 25 points in a quarter just three times in two games.  Guards in particular have torched the Pelicans.  Steph Curry scored 40 in the opener and last night Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum (yes, C.J. McCollum!) combined for 58 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds.  McCollum’s 37 points were a career-high.

Superstar Anthony Davis is just one of several Pelicans who have yet to find their rhythm in the early going this season.

Offensively, the area where improvement was most expected, the Pelicans have been just as frustrating.  New Orleans is averaging only 94.5 points per game.  In three of the eight quarters played so far this season, the Pelicans have scored 20 points or less.  Anthony Davis has not looked comfortable.  The Warriors held The Brow to 18 points on 4-20 shooting from the floor and Davis, a career 80 percent free throw shooter coming into the season, has already missed seven of his 19 attempts from the line.  It’s only been two games, so it’s no time to panic, but the franchise player’s numbers are down in all the wrong categories.

Davis will rebound (surely at a better rate than he has so far), but there are legitimate concerns across the rest of the roster.

Eric Gordon has played 39 minutes per game so far, probably too many for someone with his injury history.  He’s shooting 11-30 (.367) from the floor including just 5-15 (.333) on three pointers.

Jrue Holiday didn’t look good in his return last night.  He struggled with his shot, making only five of his 14 attempts for 12 points and did little in the way of running the offense,  Holiday had just three assists in 21 minutes.  It’s hard to know if it was rust from inactivity or the continued decline of a player racked by his own set of aches and pains.

Backup point guard has been a mixed bag as well.  Ish Smith, signed hours before the season began,  has had his moments.  After a solid shooting night against Golden State (17 points on 7-13 ) he misfired against the Blazers (3-14 from the field in 29 minutes).  But Smith has been the team’s best creator on offense, handing out 17 assists in two games with only five turnovers.  He also leads the team with five steals.  The signing of Nate Robinson has not worked out as well.  After going scoreless in 19 minutes on opening night, Robinson only played four minutes against Portland.  He’s taken one shot in two games and has five fouls in 23 minutes.  It would have seemed that Robinson would be a perfect fit for Alvin Gentry’s free-flowing style, but his trademark aggressiveness is nowhere to be found thus far.

The supposed front court depth hasn’t materialized.  Kendrick Perkins has played 19 minutes, and aside from looking like Hakeem Olajuwon for a few minutes of the first half against the Warriors, hasn’t been a factor.  Alexis Ajinca has eight points and six rebounds in two games, Alonzo Gee has a combined +/- of -38 so far, and Ryan Anderson is shooting 40 percent from the floor and 33 percent from long distance, both marks off of his career averages.

So far the Pelicans can’t shoot, they can’t defend, and they can’t rebound.  That isn’t how championship teams are made.

Alvin Gentry will get some leniency as his players get familiar with his system and come back from their myriad of injuries (Evans will miss a few more weeks after surgery, backup point guard Norris Cole is day-to-day with a bum ankle, and shooter Luke Babbitt is the same with a hamstring injury).  But if the mandate for Monty Williams was clear then it has to be completely transparent for Gentry:  Win now.  Win now with this roster, flaws and all.

The Pelicans get their third chance for their first win on Saturday night when the Warriors come to the Smoothie King Center.  There’d be no better treat this Halloween for New Orleans, both the team and the city, than a victory.  A third straight loss to open the year?  Now that would be scary.

The Last Hurrah?

 

 

Michael Mauti’s blocked punt gave the Saints the spark they needed for a big home win over the Falcons. (Photo courtesy NOLA.com)

There may not be another important game this season, the New Orleans Saints are still just 2-4, but Thursday night at the Superdome looked and felt like old times.

Especially when it comes to their history with the Atlanta Falcons.

Sean Payton and Drew Brees have owned the Dirty Birds since arriving in New Orleans in 2006, going 13-5 against their bitter rival, but last season the Falcons took both games including a 37-34 win in the season opener that set the tone for a disappointing 7-9 Saints season.

But this was Thursday night in the Superdome.  No coach in the league and no team in the league has performed better under the bright lights of prime time than the Saints.  The Black and Gold have won 16 of their past 17 prime time home games, including both games this year.

The Saints were more opportunistic than good.  After a sterling opening drive capped by a Mark Ingram touchdown, the Saints forced the Falcons into a punt.  Michael Mauti broke through the line for the block, the recovery, and the score giving New Orleans a quick 14-0 lead.

For the rest of the first half, the Saints did little offensively, producing three punts and a missed field goal.  On the other side of the ball they did little to provide resistance to the Falcons.  It looked bad when Atlanta drove 80 yards in under three minutes to get within 7. The momentum seemed to be fading on the Falcons next possession until Dannell Ellerbe forced a Tevin Coleman fumble in the red zone that was recovered by Brandon Browner, keeping Atlanta off the board.

After a quick three and out the Falcons were driving again, deep into Saints territory at the 14.  A fumbled center exchange was recovered by Ellerbe, again preventing a score and allowing New Orleans to go into the half with a lead.

The Saints defense wasn’t stout but it made stops at the right time.

The Superdome crowd had something that there had been precious little of this season…hope.  So often this season the breaks had gone the other way.

In the second half the Saints made their own breaks.  They came out of the locker room looking like the team that fans hoped they would see at the outset of the year.  Their first three drives of the half produced a field goal and two touchdowns, putting the Saints up 31-14.  Tight end Benjamin Watson had a career night, hauling in 10 catches for 127 yards and a score.  From there the defense did enough to hold on, getting a season-high five sacks after producing just seven before Thursday night.  Cam Jordan finally looked like a Pro Bowler, bringing down Matt Ryan three times.

After losing six in a row at home, the Saints have now won their last two.  Making the wins even sweeter were the opponents they’ve come against in Dallas and Atlanta.

But what can’t be lost in the euphoria of victory is the fact that this team still has a number of deficiencies and concerns.

The struggles of the running game: It was encouraging that the Saints ran the ball 32 times, they had been averaging only 23 attempts in their previous five games.  However, those 32 attempts produced just 81 yards (2.5 yards per carry), four yards shy of their season average.  The longest rush of the night was an 11-yarder by Mark Ingram, who did scored two touchdowns.  But the Saints have to get better production on the ground as the season wears on.

Where’s the D?:  The Falcons’ turnovers were uncharacteristic and only one of the fumbles that the Saints recovered was forced by a big hit.  For much of the game, Atlanta was able to move the ball at will.  Atlanta racked up 413 yards of offense and had 150 yards on the ground on just 21 carries.  Neither figure will improve New Orleans’ standing in the league’s defensive rankings.

More injuries: Terron Armstead is still hurting and first round pick Andrus Peat had to be helped off of the field in the first quarter. That isn’t good news for an offensive line that has shown little cohesion this year.  Keenan Lewis is clearly struggling to find his form after offseason surgery and hasn’t been on the field much.  And if Jairus Byrd isn’t injured, he’s certainly playing like it.  The safety was in on just two tackles.

What happened on Thursday night was a great singular moment, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a flawed team with the wrong combination of age and experience.

The reality is that this win over the Falcons may truly be the last great moment of the Brees/Payton era.

It was the right team on the right night.  Steve Gleason was there, watching a near recreation of his iconic moment that took place against those very same Falcons nearly a decade ago.

This was not a vintage Saints performance, but it was one that the 70,000 fans who came to see it deserved.  They won’t get a Super Bowl this season, and it is highly unlikely that the Saints can even make the playoffs barring some miracle run.  But for one night all was right on Poydras Street.

The Saints beat the Falcons and nothing else mattered.

Sports still can’t get right with women

Greg Hardy’s comments this week show that he remains tone deaf to the seriousness of domestic violence.It hasn’t been a great week in the history of sports and its relationship with women.

It hasn’t been a great week in the history of sports and their relationship with women.

There’s been a surge towards a barbaric hyper-masculinity that seems to get louder each week.

Greg Hardy.  Matt Barnes and Derek Fisher.  Jessica Mendoza.  “Queen” tight ends.

All are just the latest examples how professional sports continues to fail in dealing with a culture that isn’t always welcoming of women in the workplace, or as an audience.

Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy rejoined the team after completing his suspension stemming from a domestic violence conviction in 2014.  Hardy was convicted in a bench trial for an assaulting and threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend.  Hardy appealed and asked for a jury trial before the victim was given an undisclosed sum by Hardy to walk away.  As he spoke to reporters, Hardy said that he hoped to come out “guns blazing”, a curious reference considering the role automatic weapons played in his assault.  Hardy also referenced Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s wife Gisele Bundchen, objectifying her, her sister, and whomever else she might bring to the game.

You would think that in light of Hardy’s history the Cowboys might have prepared him for these types of questions and how to answer them.  If they didn’t, the team’s public relations director needs to be fired.  If they did and Hardy ignored the advice, Dallas should be prepared to have to deal with more allegations sometime soon because his suspension clearly taught him nothing.

His ignorance is further enabled by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones who essentially cosigned for his newest toy.  But then again, Jones has had his own troubles with women.

The Cowboys are in need of a pass rush and Hardy had 27 sacks in his last 32 games.  If he can get to the quarterback Dallas will gladly overlook his transgressions, because that’s what really counts, right?

Matt Barnes is known for his reputation as an NBA enforcer.  He’s a long, gangly forward who has bounced around the league and who has always been willing to take on the opponents’ toughest player.

He and Derek Fisher, now the head coach of the New York Knicks, were once teammates for two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.  Both are estranged from their wives.  Word is, Fisher is dating Barnes’ ex, Gloria Govan.  So last weekend Fisher was at a party with Govan at the home that she and Barnes used to share.  Barnes claims he went over worried about the safety of his children, but it ultimately turned into a violent confrontation with Fisher.  In the course of the argument he also is alleged to have spit in the face of his ex.

There’s a lot there to worry about.  The implied ownership that Barnes wants to have over Govan’s private life.  Besides this event there was an arrest back in 2010 on suspicion of felony domestic violence against Govan, who later denied the abuse.  This type of display, in front of his children, makes you wonder if Barnes has a serious problem with his anger.  If he did spit on Gloria Govan, he furthered showed his utter lack of respect for women.

Even worse was the response to the incident by the media and the public.  Barnes was lauded by many for his behavior or the violent display was treated as a joke. People attempted to justify his actions as reasonable based on where it happened or the unwritten code of men.  Fisher and Govan committed no crime; it was Barnes who decided to drive 95 miles and attack another man.

And while the physical violence towards women is bad enough, the broadcasting community can do a better job in how it chooses its words when it comes to women.

Jessica Mendoza made history as the first woman to broadcast a Major League Baseball playoff game Tuesday night in the Bronx.

History was made this week when former U.S. Olympic softball star Jessica Mendoza became the first woman to sit in the booth for a Major League Baseball postseason broadcast. Mendoza is good.  She knows her baseball and received rave reviews for her stint on ESPN during Curt Schilling’s suspension.

While the reaching of this long overdue milestone in broadcasting is something to celebrate, social media was predictable in the amount of  negative comments that Mendoza inspired.

She was criticized for everything ranging from her audacity to think she could do such a job to being responsible for the further intrusion of women in sports, exclusively a man’s domain.  Others were disgusting and cruel.  The greatest insults may have come from her peers.  Radio personality Mike Bell of Atlanta station 92.9 The Game, referred to the two-time gold medal winner as “Tits McGhee” a reference to the film “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and questioned her qualifications for no other reason than her gender.

Bell has been suspended by his station and even the Atlanta Falcons, who use The Game as their flagship station, condemned his ignorant, misinformed opinion.

We still shouldn’t be in a place where people feel really comfortable expressing these thoughts.  Forty years in and female sportscasters are still as much a curiosity as they are respected for their talents.  Outside of what Mendoza has received as of late, just follow the Twitter timeline of a Jemele Hill, Michele Beadle, or Katie Nolan on a night to night basis.  The language can be frightening in the depth of their anger towards women, towards everything.

More benign but still problematic is the language of athletics that correlates femininity with weakness.  Before Monday night’s game between the Lions and the Seahawks, ESPN analyst Ray Lewis called Seattle’s Jimmy Graham a “queen tight end…the opposite of what I was used to playing against.”

Lewis could have talked about Graham’s failure to get himself involved in the Seahawks’ offense and his lack of desire to even attempt to block.  But first, he had to take a shot at Graham’s manhood; by equating it to womanhood.

No one on the set said a word about it, remaining complicit in validating the dying but vocal part of our population that has decided precisely where it is that women belong.  It is our responsibility to stop accepting that it must always be this way.  Women make up 30 percent of NBA fans, 35 percent of NFL fans, 30 percent of MLB fans, and even more of the fan bases for NASCAR and the PGA.

It’s only logical that many of those fans have poured the same amount of time over game tape, practiced their craft, and are capable enough to talk about the sports that they love.

To continue to ignore or make light of the issues between the sporting world and women, we do nothing but contribute to the maintenance of a horrible status quo.  We can do better.

Matthew Stafford continues to stall in the Motor City

Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett said that he holds Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and the people of Dallas, Texas responsible for the killing of JFK.

Stafford wasn’t born when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, so I’m pretty sure he’s not guilty of that murder.

But I am absolutely certain that Stafford has been killing the Lions for years.

There was much hope in the Motor City when Stafford was drafted first overall in 2009.  Stafford left Georgia, where he three for 7,731 yards and 51 touchdowns in three seasons.  Stafford had also been big in the biggest games while at Georgia, going 3-0 in bowl games and 6-3 in rivalry games (but just 1-2 against Florida).

The inconsistencies that have marked his pro career were present in the stats as well.  Stafford had completed slightly more than 57 percent of his passes as a Bulldog and threw 33 interceptions.

In fairness to the Lions, in 2009 they were coming off their historically bad 0-16 season, the first in NFL history.  Stafford was the best available option out of group that included flame outs like Josh Freeman and Mark Sanchez (though Sanchez does have two trips to the AFC Championship game to his credit).

Stafford looked like a rookie in 2009 and was injured for most of 2010, so you can’t blame the Lions for being so encouraged after his 2011 season.  The Lions started the season 5-0 and made the playoffs for the first time since 1999.   Stafford became the second-youngest player in league history to throw for 5,000 yards, finishing with 5,038 with 41 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.   He also set a career-high with his 63.5 completion percentage.  In his first playoff start, Stafford threw for 380 yards and accounted for four touchdowns (three through the air).  Who could blame them for going all in when they thought they had found the franchise quarterback they had been searching for since they traded Bobby Layne?

Again we have to look deeper.  Stafford’s hot start was followed by a 5-7 finish, including the 45-28 loss to the Saints in the Wild Card game.  Stafford threw two picks in the fourth quarter of that contest, removing any possibility that the team had for picking up a win.

The late season swoon in 2011 was followed by a disastrous 2012 campaign.  The Lions lost their final eight games of the season and finished the year 4-12.  Stafford threw just 20 TD passes and 17 interceptions (giving him 54 for his career) while breaking the league record with 727 pass attempts.

In 2013 Detroit was 7-5 through 12 games.  Needing just two wins in their final four games to guarantee themselves a playoff spot, the team went 0-4.  During that final stretch, Stafford failed to reach 250 yards passing in any game and completed only 75 of his 134 passing attempts (56 percent) with two TDs and five INTs.

Last season Stafford rebounded to an extent, leading Detroit back to the playoffs with an 11-5 record, but his touchdown total of 22 was the third lowest of his career and he turned the ball over a total of 15 times.  To end the season the Lions blew a 20-7 lead at Dallas, falling 24-20 in the Wild Card round.

And now this season the Lions are off to an 0-4 start after losing to on Monday night.

Now no one could blame the franchise if they decided to pull the plug on the 27 year old passer.  The kid who can make all of the throws, except for the ones that matter.

They’ve done everything they can for Stafford at this point.  Sure the Lions have struggled to provide Stafford with a consistent running game, only Reggie Bush (1,006 yards in 2013) has been able to top the 1,000 yard barrier for Detroit since 2005.  But Matthew Stafford has also had the luxury of throwing to possibly the top wide receiver of his generation and arguably the greatest athlete at the position not named Randy Moss in Calvin Johnson.  He’s been given top picks at tight end like Brandon Pettigrew and Eric Ebron and free agent receivers like Golden Tate and Lance Moore.

Last season he was also given one of the top defenses in the league.

Stafford in 0-for-his career in road games against teams with winning records and the Lions have made just a pair of playoff appearances with him under center.

But for some reason Stafford has gone relatively unscathed by critics nationally.  Unlike guys like Cam Newton (two division titles and a playoff victory) and Andy Dalton (four straight playoff appearances), the Detroit quarterback has been viewed for his potential far more often than his actual performance.  Before the Lions lost to the Broncos last Sunday night in Detroit, it was reported how highly Denver GM and Hall of Famer John Elway thought of Matthew Stafford.  What am I missing in watching Stafford that others continue to see?

Stafford is unquestionably one of the most gifted throwers of the football you will ever see.  He has a howitzer for a right arm and he can throw the ball from a variety of arm angles.  He just isn’t that good from any of them.

The position of quarterback is as much about accuracy as it is about arm strength, probably more so, and Stafford has only completed more than 60 percent of his throws twice in his career.  His career completion percentage of 59.9 ranks him 19th among active quarterbacks and puts him behind such greats as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jason Campbell, Ryan Tannehill, and Matt Schaub.

It’s hard finding a good NFL quarterback.  No one knows that better than the Detroit Lions.  Unfortunately, for a franchise that has just one playoff win since 1957 it seems that search has to continue.

If the Lions do decide to make a move with Stafford and draft a quarterback after this season, there are options.  Ohio State’s Cardale Jones and Michigan State signal caller Connor Cook are both in the Lions backyard, though both have not had the type of seasons that were expected of them thus far.  Jared Goff of California has been rising up draft boards as a potential number one pick.

Regardless of whether Matthew Stafford remains in Detroit or if he goes, the nearly 50 year rebuilding of the Lions continues, a championship still too distant on the horizon to be seen.

It’s amazing what college coaches don’t know

Larry Brown has caused a few headaches for his employers over the years, as three programs have gone on NCAA probation for acts committed under his watch. (Photo courtesy Mercurynews.com)

At institutions of higher learning, the pursuit of knowledge is supposed to be paramount.

That memo is not reaching the athletic departments of far too many major universities.

College coaches have, with striking regularity, little or no knowledge of the inner workings of their programs.

At least that’s the impression that one would have to have after listening to the way a number of coaches have responded to allegations and/or findings of wrongdoing.

The latest coach to plead ignorance is SMU’s Larry Brown.  Brown’s credentials as a basketball coach are well known.  He’s a Hall of Famer and still the only coach to win both an NCAA and NBA championship.  He is also legendary for his nomadic ways and brief stays at every one of his coaching stops.

Larry Brown is also legendary at getting schools put on probation.  In the 1980’s he led UCLA to a Final Four and into probation.  He took Kansas, Danny Manning, and the Miracles to a national championship in 1988 and left the Jayhawks on probation as well.  The coach who loves to preach about doing things “the right way” has now been hit with a third major violation.  Under his watch one of his academic assistants was found to have done coursework for a player in an online course.  The academic fraud was covered up by as assistant coach and Brown was less than cooperative with NCAA investigators when they were looking into the allegations.

The Mustangs will miss the postseason in 2016, forfeit nine scholarships over the next three seasons, and Brown will miss nine games this year.

The irony that Brown did this at SMU should not be lost.  SMU’s football program received the death penalty for rampant recruiting violations around the same time that Brown was getting in trouble the first two times.  The Mustangs wanted relevancy so they sought out a big name with a big reputation.

I guess they forgot about being careful what they wished for.

The notion that Brown wasn’t aware at some point about what was going on is pure fallacy.  Those who rise to the top of the coaching profession are not known for their inattention to detail.  They are micromanagers.  They know what they want to know.  More than that, they know what they don’t want to know.

Larry Brown isn’t alone.

Jim Boeheim didn’t know about Syracuse’s academic violations and improper benefits recieved by players.

Rutgers football coach Kyle Flood didn’t know that his program was being investigated by the NCAA for possible violations.

Baylor football coach Art Briles didn’t know that defensive end Sam Ukwuachu had been involved in sexual abuse allegations and other problems that eventually led to his dismissal from the Boise State program.

No one at the University of North Carolina knew anything about academic fraud that had been occurring for more than a decade.

And the list goes on…

Brown took little personal responsibility for lying to NCAA investigators, or for creating an “atmosphere of noncompliance” at SMU, stating that he was “saddened and disappointed that the Committee on Infranctions believes that [he] did not fully fulfill [his] duties” and that Brown would consider challenging the findings.

Brown’s players will suffer far more than the coach will.  They will pay the cost for his poor judgment and belief that he was bigger than the system, flawed as it may be.

But the coaches are supposed to know better.  They are paid ridiculous amounts of money under the guise that they will not only build winning programs but they will build ethical young men and women.

We know it’s just about the winning.  We turn away from the actual business of college athletics to protect our childish notions about amateurism and academics.

We know better and so do the university presidents and the coaches.  It’s getting harder and harder to continue the charade.