The New Orleans Pelicans came up with a creative way to rid themselves of a terrible mascot: “Earlier in the calendar year, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reported that the Pelicans were thinking of restructuring the mascot, so as to not scare the living daylights out of a nationally televised audience during the All-Star break. Early Monday evening, the Pelicans set up the ruse of a freakish beak injury during a pickup game featuring other NBA mascots, which would allow for needed cosmetic surgery, and a rebranding of the Pierre we once knew. And feared. From a press release: The injury occurred late in the pickup game as Pierre drove to the basket and was fouled by Grizz on the play. He sustained a broken beak after running into the padded stanchion on the goal. Later today, Pierre will have surgery at Ochsner Medical Center to reconstruct the broken beak. Pelicans Team Physician Dr. Mathew McQueen will perform the surgery. “This will be a rather unconventional surgery for us. I am not sure we have something to compare this to,” said McQueen. “It will be quite complicated and will require the use of some unconventional tools and instruments to reconstruct his beak.” In order to ensure that Pierre receives the best care from the most experienced professionals, Carolyn Atherton, Curator of Birds for the Audubon Zoo, teamed up with McQueen to develop the best plan of treatment.”
Warriors center Andrew Bogut says head coach Mark Jackson’s comment was ridiculous: “Warriors center Andrew Bogut said Monday after being ruled out for the 76ers game that he has a bone bruise and swelling in his left shoulder and that coach Mark Jackson’s comment that the injury may have been caused by sleeping was “absolutely ridiculous.” Bogut said he hurt the shoulder while playing Jan. 31 in a win at Utah, began getting soreness the day after and played through the discomfort in Tuesday’s loss to Charlotte. He said he woke up in pain the following day and thought, “It’s really killing me.” An MRI exam later revealed a bone bruise and swelling, Bogut said. “It’s gotten worse and worse, so I just wanted to address it,” Bogut said. “The sleeping comment is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know where it came from.” “It’s definitely not the case I just woke up, slept on my shoulder wrong and have a bone bruise and swelling in my shoulder from sleeping, very highly unlikely I believe.””
- Grantland’s Zach Lowe detailed today many of next week’s trade deadline possibilities: “One grim reality for those craving trade madness: Most of the contenders, one-piece-away pseudo contenders, and buyers desperate to win now have already dealt away future first-round picks. The list of such teams includes Miami, Indiana, New York, Brooklyn, Washington, Golden State, Detroit, Portland, Dallas, Memphis, Minnesota, and the Clippers. Some of those teams can trade first-round picks that come sooner than others, but there is very little interest around the league in picks that might not arrive until 2019 and 2020.”
Here is a look at some of the teams Lowe believes could make a impactful move:
Washington Wizards: “The Wizards, meanwhile, may have to settle for a smaller deal — if they can manage any at all. They’d surely love to upgrade the backup point guard slot after the Eric Maynor flop, and given the front-office connections between Denver and Washington, a deal involving the exiled Professor Andre Miller, PhD, would seem to make sense. But the Wizards are just $1 million under the tax line, meaning they’d have to send out significant salary to offer Miller tenure.”
Golden State Warriors: “Take the Warriors, for instance. They’ve fallen to the no. 8 spot with a flailing offense and shaky depth, but they’ve traded just about every possible pick and might have played their last low-risk card in the Jordan Crawford deal. If they really want to add an impact piece this season, they’ll either have to orchestrate another three-team trade or part with one of the Harrison Barnes–Klay Thompson duo. That would be a major step, and though Barnes especially has struggled, sources around the league say Golden State doesn’t appear ready quite yet to go this route. The Dubs also have two sizable trade exceptions they could use to take on another player, but they’ve got about only $2.5 million in wiggle room below the tax.”
Oklahoma City Thunder: “The Thunder have their own pick, some interesting young guys, and a valuable future first-rounder from Dallas. Oklahoma City knows it has a chance to win the title right now, and if it could find a wing player on the right contract that could really boost those chances, I suspect it would think very hard about pulling the trigger on at least its own first-rounder. That player does not appear to have emerged. Lou Williams would have been a nice fit had he come back strong from ACL surgery this season, but he hasn’t. The Thunder are playing a long game, hoarding assets and holding back on the luxury tax until the right moment emerges. I don’t think this is it.”
Philadelphia 76ers: “Philly might have enough cap space to do something like that and rent out the rest — at cost — to a team seeking to get under the tax. The Clippers would seem to be the prime candidate. They’re only about $2 million over the tax, and they could get under it by dumping a veteran player such as Jared Dudley or Willie Green, plus Reggie Bullock as the cost of doing business. You could expand this into a bigger money thing involving Hawes, given the Clips’ glaring need for a third competent big, but adding extra complications is always dicey.”
Cleveland Cavaliers: “A lot of folks have mentioned a potential Varejao–Omer Asik swap, and that does make some theoretical sense. The Cavs need a rim protector, and Varejao is versatile enough to play at least some minutes with Dwight Howard. He’s not the Ryan Anderson–type floor-spacer Daryl Morey really wants, but he wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize if the Rockets wish to go for the whole hog this season. But Houston might have its eyes on bigger game down the line.”
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
Guys, I’m a regular visitor to the site and check out most of your original pieces – but I think you’ve started crossing the line with how much of others’ content you quote in your daily roundups. Lowe’s piece today and Aldridge a day or two ago felt particularly egregious. Basic rule of thumb: if it feels like I’m reading an edited version of the entire article then it’s too much.