Scene Setter:
NEW ORLEANS, LA – It’s time for the 76ers (8-45) to officially get back to work. On Friday at 8:00 PM EST, they open a two-game road trip by visiting the New Orleans Pelicans (20-33) at Smoothie King Center. New Orleans is the only team that the Sixers haven’t faced yet this season.Going into the NBA All-Star Game break, the Sixers had a legitimate shot at posting an undefeated record on their three-game homestand. They handled the Brooklyn Nets in the opener of this stretch, 103-98, but then witnessed fourth-quarter leads disappear in each of their next two outings, a 98-92 overtime setback to the Los Angeles Clippers, and last Wednesday’s 114-110 defeat to the Sacramento Kings. The Sixers have been idle since that night. Over the course of their eight-day hiatus, Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel represented the club at the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, which was held on the opening evening of the league’s All-Star weekend. Okafor deposited 13 points in the exhibition. Noel, meanwhile, sat out due to tendinitis in his right knee.
Despite hiring a proven NBA coach in Alvin Gentry this off-season, New Orleans has taken noteworthy steps backward on the heels of what appeared to be a breakthrough campaign last year, when the Pelicans clinched their first playoff berth in four years. Although New Orleans, the Western Conference’s eighth-seed, was swept by the Golden State Warriors in the opening round, it was believed that New Orleans – with center Anthony Davis putting up MVP-caliber numbers – was prepared to take the next step towards perennial post-season contention. The experienced Gentry, who is not only a former head coach, but also served as an assistant for the Warriors a year ago, was tapped to replace Monty Williams. Progress has not materialized. New Orleans opened the season by dropping 11 of its first 12 outings, a rut with near irreversible implications. The Pelicans have since gone 19-22, with nine of those victories coming in their past 16 contests. As of Thursday, they were six games out of the playoff picture in the West.
Series: The Sixers split their two-game series with New Orleans last season. Both contests were decided by double-digit margins. In the teams’ first pairing, which took place in the middle of January at The Center, the Sixers enjoyed one of their most convincing performances of the year, posting a 96-81 victory. With New Orleans missing All-Star big man Anthony Davis, Nerlens Noel feasted, gobbling up 17 points (7-10 fg) and 11 rebounds. In addition to earning the double-double, Noel also tallied two assists, two steals, and five blocked shots. Three other Sixer starters finished in double-digits that evening, including Robert Covington, who netted 18 points. Ten days later, New Orleans returned the favor to the Sixers by notching a 99-74 win at Smoothie King Center. Davis was back in the Pelicans’ line-up, and exerted his presence, finishing with 32 points (12-19 fg), 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals, and four blocks. Subplots:
The evolution of Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel as a frontcourt tandem was one of the leading storylines surrounding the Sixers at the outset the season. It was also a leading storyline surrounding the team throughout its recently completed middle chunk of the year. Now, with his group back from the All-Star Game break, Brett Brown realizes the dual development of his promising young big men will remain a leading storyline for the rest of the Sixers’ season, which has 29 games left.”Jahlil and Nerlens will continue to be one of my primary responsibilities to grow those two,” Brett Brown said Wednesday night, following the Sixers’ practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.Brown, his coaching staff, and the Sixers’ basketball operations department believe a specific statistic will help them better measure and quantify the impact that Okafor and Noel have on each other, and their teammates.”We’re going to talk about their plus / minus while they’re on the floor, really looking at it,” Brown explained. “I think plus / minus, while those two are on the floor together, isn’t a bad starting point on how to game-ify it and recognize it.”The goal, Brown said, is to try “to eliminate opinion, and go to a stat, a fact, that’s a place that we will grow in the final third [of the season], and try to help those two guys grow together. But it has to be done with a level of productivity, so you can put yourself in a position to try and also win some games.”Even with only eight weeks to go in the season, Brown is eager to learn more about situations in which Okafor and Noel can thrive together. “With time, we all get a little smarter, and so that’s almost sort of a rule of thumb for everything,” said Brown. “It’s no different with both the young guys, highlighting ‘young guys.'””I’ve seen growth. I have seen progressive growth. At times it’s not as quick as we all want, but it’s steady. And it is growing. And so, time just affords us all to make clearer better decisions.”
In less than two months since the start of his second go-round with the Sixers, Ish Smith has already faced four franchises – Phoenix, Orlando, Golden State, and Washington – that previously sought his backcourt services at some point during his six-year NBA career. Friday, New Orleans will become the fifth former team that Smith goes up against. Smith signed a free agent contract with the Pelicans on October 26th, just two after the Wizards released him, and one day before the start of the regular season.”I think that was huge,” said Smith of his brief run with New Orleans. He averaged 8.9 points and 5.7 assists in 22.9 minutes over 27 appearances before he was dealt to the Sixers on December 24th in exchange for a future second-round draft pick.”New Orleans was good for me. Those guys were great, the coaching staff was great, the teammates were great. It will be good to see those guys.”While asking Smith to wax about one of his past stops is no groundbreaking reporting technique, the exercise does usually yield intriguing insights. At the very least, he explains how each stint was different, and contributed to his development.In the case of the Pelicans, Smith’s experience was made distinct by having the chance to play alongside a dynamic, dominant big man.”Oh man, where do I start?,” Smith said Wednesday evening, when discussing Anthony Davis. “There’s not really anything on the floor he can’t do. He can shoot it, he can put it on the floor, he’s unbelievable defensively. He’s really good at pick and rolls. There’s really not too much Anthony can’t do out there on the floor.”Davis, the first overall selection of the 2012 NBA Draft, is fresh off his third consecutive All-Star Game appearance. He’s generating 23.4 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.2 rebounds in 35.4 minutes per game. Davis ranks ninth in the league in scoring, and sixth in the NBA in swats. “In a couple years, he’s probably going to be the best player in the NBA,” said Smith, who didn’t hesitate when making the praiseworthy statement. “That’s how good he is. It was a joy playing with him. He’s special.”
About 90 miles east of New Orleans along Interstate-10 sits Biloxi, Mississippi. Not only was Sixers shooting guard Isaiah Canaan born in the town, he also resided there up until he left for Murray State, where he enjoyed a four-year collegiate career. Given the close proximity between Biloxi and New Orleans, Canaan often visited the Big Easy in his youth”In high school, I used to always come down here, and try to watch a game when I could,” said Canaan, who was a little more than 11 years old when New Orleans held its inaugural NBA campaign, doing so under the nickname the “Hornets.” “We used to come down here and watch the Saints games, or just come down to have a good time on Bourbon Street or somewhere downtown. It’s right next door, so we always came down here for the food, Mardi Gras, whatever it may be.”In late August 2005, as Canaan was preparing for his first year at Biloxi High School, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. He and his family decided to stay in the Biloxi area, seeking refuge at a neighborhood church. Canaan said the damage the storm caused Biloxi was comparable to the impact that it had on New Orleans. “It was pretty much the same,” he recalled following Thursday’s practice at Smoothie King Center. “The only difference was the water didn’t stay like it did in New Orleans. Tidal wave, all that stuff came in, weather was bad, and then the water just went right back out a few hours later. In New Orleans, it kind of stayed here because of the levies, and because how close the Mississippi River is.”The experience is one that remains fresh in Canaan’s mind, nearly a decade after the fact. “It was one of the worst days of my life, just seeing how fast that Mother Nature can tear up a whole city, and your life can flash right in front of your face,” Canaan said. “You don’t know if you’re going to make it, you don’t know if you’re going to be able to survive it. I’m just blessed to be able to live through something like that.”
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