Game 57: New Orleans Pelicans (13-42) vs. Dallas Mavericks (30-26)

[audiosway]

I don't think it's a doghouse thing with Hardy - I think he's just not good enough, and now it's essentially too late. His time to really work on improving the holes in his game was the first few months before the break. Kidd's moved into semi-playoff mode now, where the rotation gets shortened a bit because wins are vital, and Hardy has 6 good players considerably ahead of him in the PG-SG-SF mix (Kyrie, Klay, Exum, Christie, Marshall, SD). When Martin heals he'll be buried even further.

On the subject of rotations, I found the NO lineup really interesting, and wasn't sure what to make of it. Other than McCollum at 6-3, the rest were all big, with Zion the smallest of the other 4! I think of Zion as a PF, but at 6-6 he played next to 6-11, 6-11, and 6-8. Was he their SF?

Kidd is showing the guys on the team what is expected if they are going to get minutes. Play hard for 48 minutes, move the ball, and play defense. If you can't do that you can't play. Simple as that. I love it. That's the reason that Miami is always so good with or without named players.