INDIANAPOLIS – New Orleans’ roster is so depleted due to injuries that one of the 10 “players” on the court during Thursday’s shootaround was a man who has not appeared in an NBA game since April 19, 2000. No, former Atlanta Hawks and Seattle SuperSonics shooting guard Fred Vinson won’t be making a comeback tonight vs. the Indiana Pacers after a 16-year hiatus from the league, but the New Orleans assistant coach was needed this morning for the Pelicans to be able to simulate 5-on-5 play. Only nine Pelicans players were available to participate.
“He can shoot,” Pelicans forward Luke Babbitt assessed of Vinson, a Georgia Tech standout in the early 1990s. “We’re short on bodies, so we’re just going to go out and play hard. Everyone’s going to get a lot of minutes. We just have to play hard and stay competitive.”
Thursday’s game marks another chance for New Orleans (26-44) to play the role of spoiler, after knocking off the Clippers on Sunday, then losing to Miami on Tuesday. Indiana (37-33) is in a bit of a precarious position in terms of the Eastern Conference playoff race, currently in seventh place but only one game ahead of ninth-place Chicago (36-34). The Pacers have a chance to improve their position prior to a head-to-head game against the Bulls on Tuesday, with their next three games all against sub.-500 opponents.
Other notes from shootaround at Bankers Life Fieldhouse:
Babbitt on defending against Indiana star Paul George: “It’s a team thing. Dante (Cunningham) and Alonzo (Gee) are great individual defenders, so they’re going to do a solid job, but it’s a team defense. We’ve got to pack the paint against him. He’s a good slasher, a good passer too. He presents a lot of challenges.” …
Pelicans guard Tim Frazier on the Pacers’ backcourt threats, led by aggressive and attacking Monta Ellis: “We have to slow him down, make him take tough shots, no easy layups. They’ve got a lot of guards who can score in bunches.” …
Heading into the NCAA’s Sweet 16 tonight, three Pelicans players’ colleges remain alive: Villanova (Cunningham), Indiana (Eric Gordon) and Iowa State (Bryce Dejean-Jones). The Villanova-Miami (Fla.) game is scheduled to tip off at exactly the same time tonight as Pelicans-Pacers.
