SH Blog: Eric Gordon doesn’t want to come off bench next season, Mike Brown fired, Durant discredits Paul’s defense

It was never Eric Gordon’s initial choice to remain with the New Orleans Pelicans when his rookie contract expired, and his time with the team since signing the big contract back in 2012 has been tumultuous at best.

Gordon made it clear that he wanted out of New Orleans when he signed a  four-year, $58 million contract with the Phoenix Suns, only to have it matched by the team that traded away Chris Paul to attain him.

In hindsight, it may have been better for both parties if Gordon walked – the Pelicans wouldn’t be stuck with a player who has played in less than 65 percent of their games over the last two seasons, and maybe the Suns’ incredible training staff would have figured out a way to keep him on the court. They’re stuck with him for another two years, though, and barring a trade, will have to find the best way to effectively utilize him. According to John Reid of The Times Picayune, Monty Williams is contemplating the idea of bringing the oft-injured guard off the bench in favor of Tyreke Evans: 

With swingman Tyreke Evans emerging as a solid starter in the backcourt after Gordon missed the final 14 games because of a left knee injury, Pelicans coach Monty Williams said he has thoughts about Evans in a starting role, but it will be something under discussion throughout the offseason before a final decision is made.

Gordon, though, is gearing toward returning as a starter. When asked if he would feel comfortable assuming the team’s sixth man role he said in an email response Sunday,”I won’t get into that because I thought they brought me here to lead and set the tone for the team.

“I’ve got a lot to prove in my career and I’m still young (25).So the more durable I am will really show what I’m capable of,” said Gordon, who is the highest paid player on the Pelicans’ roster with two years remaining at $30.4 million.

[…]

”It’s going to take some conversations with me and the staff to try and figure out what’s best for the team,” Williams said during his season-ending news conference last month. ”I don’t want to speculate but it is part of the equation. Eric is a guy that can score the ball and anything I say right now is going to be blown out of proportion.

”But I have thought about Tyreke in a starting role. For whatever reason, it clicks for him. When you look at Tyreke and his effectiveness as a starter, you can’t just sneeze at that. It’s a valid conversation.”

Gordon clearly hates the idea and points out what he was brought to do for the team, but leading and setting the tone is not something he has done over the past two seasons. The only tone he has really set for the team is being inconsistent and constantly losing games, while failing to help make anyone better on the court. If there is one thing Evans does better than Gordon, it’s his ability to create off the dribble and finding teammates – something Anthony Davis needs more by his side as he continues to become a rising superstar in the league.

Coach Williams’ idea is certainly entertaining at the very least, and it will be interesting how this situation plays out come next season. If Gordon ends up losing his starting spot and mopes about it, it will give the team more of an incentive to try to trade him and move on from what proved to be a terrible miscalculation.

WHY THE WARRIORS SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE GONE AFTER STAN VAN GUNDY:

If there was ever a reason why the Golden State Warriors should never have had Steve Kerr ahead of Stan Van Gundy on their wishlist, the below tweet and screen shot of Van Gundy’s track record says it all, via John Schuhmann of NBA.com:

Was salivating at the idea of SVG w/ GSW & dug up these two coaching stats: pic.twitter.com/jnGidjbvps

— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) May 12, 2014

MIKE BROWN FIRED AGAIN BY CAVALIERS:

For the second time in four years, Mike Brown has been fired as the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. Yikes, from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports:

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced the surprise firing of head coach Mike Brown on Monday.

Brown finished the 2013-14 season with a 33-49 record in the first season of his second stint with the Cavaliers. He also served as coach of the Cavaliers from 2005-10, when he helped guide LeBron James and the Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals. Brown was initially fired from the Cavaliers after the 2009-10 season shortly before James became a free agent.

The Cavaliers were disappointed Brown couldn’t lead them to the playoffs this season in the weak Eastern Conference with All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, a league source said. They also want a more up-tempo offense than what Brown ran, the source said.

Brown just completed the first year of a four-year contract. Between stints with the Cavaliers, he served as the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach for a little more than a season. The Lakers fired Brown five games into the 2012-13 season.

Brown is now being paid an awful lot of money by two different teams to not coach for them, so I’m sure he’s not too broken up over this news.

OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE: 

• If you want to see more of all the Donald Sterling madness, click here and here.

• Mitch Kupchak is confident that Los Angeles will be a big player in the market this summer, from Mike Trudell of Lakers.com: “You’ve been criticized for the contract extension that was given to Bryant. How does it factor into the way you build this team over the next two seasons, with salary cap implications and so on, and how would things look different if you’d given him less money? Kupchak: When we gave Kobe the extension, we took a lot of factors into consideration, including the factors you just mentioned. We felt it was the thing to do. We’re still in a position to be a big player in the free agent market. Signing Kobe when we did, we felt, gave us one of the top two or three free agents that would be available this summer. We had the rare opportunity to get that done and not have to wait until July 1. Everybody can debate whether they would have waited or not, but our mindset was: ‘This is somebody we can get done now, and we still have a chance to be a player financially with free agency.’ Cap space is valuable and you don’t want to misuse it. You do have to use it, but you don’t have to use it going forward unless you want to.”

• Roy Hibbert believes a heckling fan woke him up in Game 4 against the Washington Wizards, from Ben Standig of CSN Washington: “Following Indiana’s 95-92 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, Hibbert explained that a relentless heckler provided a boost. After scoring two points in the first half, Hibbert tallied 15 after halftime. “He woke me up,” Hibbert said in the Pacers locker room. “He said I was tired. He was saying a lot of obscenities. I’m a God fearing man so I’m not going into saying what he was saying…He got me going and I let him hear [me].”

• LeBron James wants to see more of James Jones in the playoffs, from Brian Windhorst of ESPN: ‘James and Jones have been the Heat’s most productive tandem in the playoffs when looking at plus/minus data. But after playing a significant role in the first round against the Charlotte Bobcats, Jones has been out of the rotation in the three games so far against the Nets. “We have to find some minutes for him, I don’t see why he shouldn’t play,” James said. “He’s huge for our team when he’s in the lineup.”
  Jones is 10-of-20 on 3-pointers in the playoffs and he and James complement each other well on the floor. Because Jones is an elite spot-up shooter, James likes to play on the same side of the floor and force defenses to choose between the two. When playing together in the playoffs, Jones and James have combined to shoot 56 percent from the field… “The space James provides and his ability to shoot the ball is great for us,” James said. “You can’t do both when he’s out on the floor. You can’t help on my drives and contest 3-pointers on him. They have to keep an eye on him.”

• Marv Albert thinks James Dolan needs to stay out of the way in order for Steve Kerr to succeed as the coach of the Knicks, from Ian Begley of ESPN NY: “Marv Albert has no doubt that Steve Kerr can coach in the NBA. “He would make a tremendous coach, whatever he decides to do,” Albert, Kerr’s broadcast partner on TNT, said in a phone interview earlier this week. “He has all the qualities, in terms of like-ability, and what he knows about the game. He’s been a general manager (and) he was a player who also knows Xs and Os. I think he’d be terrific.” One thing that worries Albert, the former voice of the Knicks, is team owner James Dolan. Albert says that Dolan needs to leave president Phil Jackson and whomever he hires as his head coach “alone.” “Dolan has to let them, leave them alone. That’s No. 1. And it hasn’t happened in the past,” Albert said.”

• Kevin Durant doesn’t believe Chris Paul is the answer to stopping him at all, from Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman: “And Durant wasn’t having any of it either. “It doesn’t (challenge me),” he retorted when asked of the matchup. “…Didn’t do nothing. They tried to double-team.” The effectiveness, though, was plain to see. But despite that, Rivers said Paul on Durant is not a matchup he can continually go to as this series moves forward. “Situational,” Rivers said. “We do like it because CP’s hands, he’s pretty strong. But I don’t like it because then you’re taking a lot out of CP. That’s not a matchup we are going to live with.” But on Sunday, it was one that kept them alive.”

James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.