Stow it, Anthony...

[new city champ]

“If we lose, it’s on me. If we win, they give my team the credit and I’m fine with that.
“A perfect example [was against the Warriors]. I don’t have a good game and we lose. So, I got to play almost perfect every night to give us a chance to win."


I don't like the tone of this quote at all. It carries a whiff of self pity and a hint of entitlement. It's also untrue. He doesn't have to play "almost perfect every night" for the Pels to win. Does he have to play "almost perfect" for the Pels to knock off the Warriors at home? Maybe so on most nights. But against the majority of teams in the NBA? No way. In fact, to my eye the Pels could very well have knocked off the Nuggets and Blazers without AD if they'd had Payton and one more three point shooter, like Miller, available.

While we're on the subject, people need to get some perspective on this road trip. We're down Davis, Payton and Miller--our best player and three of our top seven rotation. Please name me the NBA team, including the Warriors, that is going to go in and knock off the Nuggets, Blazers or Spurs in their gyms minus their best player, starting point guard and key reserve three point shooter? You like the Dubs chances in Portland without Steph Curry, Durant and Iguodala? Or the Nuggets chances of beating the Warriors at home without Jokic, Murray and Barton? It's unrealistic, to put it mildly.

For reference last year the Nuggets, Warriors, Blazers and Spurs had four of the top six home records in the Western Conference, and we play them all on this trip without Davis and Payton. That's a big ask. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we steal one game under the circumstances.

For Davis to pick this time to say he has to "play almost perfect every night" for the Pels to have a chance is just wrong and a backhanded swipe at his teammates to boot.

[6warddude]

“If we lose, it’s on me. If we win, they give my team the credit and I’m fine with that.
“A perfect example [was against the Warriors]. I don’t have a good game and we lose. So, I got to play almost perfect every night to give us a chance to win."
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ill have to see the video or hear the interview to make a decision on how i feel about quote....the context mean something for me to make a call....

but for me,,the 4 game win streak at full strength show signs that we need bench help if gentry was just going to play 8 players....randall is the only bench player that avg double figures..and miller and hill gave us nothing scoring wise... ....randall is still the only bench player scoring in double figures while AD and payton are out.....we dont have a solid bench so yeah it will be hard to win games with starters out...

i understand the bench weakness so im not having a meltdown yet but come close to the trade deadline and if we dont address the bench and the losses start coming then i might have a meltdown lol....

[new city champ]

I understand concerns about the bench, but I think they actually played ok this week given the competition. Again, these would have been tough road games at full strength. Down two starters, I don't think you can, or at least should, read much into these losses to some of the toughest home teams in the league.

On the quote, maybe I overreacted but in the context of the story, it was just feeding into this "Davis is all alone" narrative that is trying to make his departure from New Orleans seem inevitable...

[Mythrol]

I'm not sure what more we could do. We played 4 playoff teams while 2 starters and two key bench players were either out or trying to play through injury while those 4 teams were all completely healthy.

It's not rocket science. When 1/3 of your active roster and 40% of your starters are injured you're usually going to struggle.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

I'm not sure what more we could do. We played 4 playoff teams while 2 starters and two key bench players were either out or trying to play through injury while those 4 teams were all completely healthy.

It's not rocket science. When 1/3 of your active roster and 40% of your starters are injured you're usually going to struggle.

Unfortunately that's been the excuse for 6 years.

[Mythrol]

Unfortunately that's been the excuse for 6 years.

It's not an excuse, It's simply a reality of the situation.

Imagine if Golden State was missing Curry and Durant. Or if Portland was missing Lillard and McC. Imagine if Denver was missing Jokic and whoever else, or Utah was missing Mitchell and Gobert.

Plus each of them were missing two bench guys or at least 1 bench guy and 1 playing through injury. Then let them go play this last stretch that we have played while injured. Maybe Golden State steals a game but I'd imagine they'd all go 0-4 just like us.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

It's not an excuse, It's simply a reality of the situation.

Imagine if Golden State was missing Curry and Durant. Or if Portland was missing Lillard and McC. Imagine if Denver was missing Jokic and whoever else, or Utah was missing Mitchell and Gobert.

Plus each of them were missing two bench guys or at least 1 bench guy and 1 playing through injury. Then let them go play this last stretch that we have played while injured. Maybe Golden State steals a game but I'd imagine they'd all go 0-4 just like us.

Those teams never miss both their starting players.
I can't remember the last time the Pelicans played a team that was missing both starters.

It's a reality that is wearing thin with a lot of us fans.

[WildlifeAirGrp]

Those teams never miss both their starting players.
I can't remember the last time the Pelicans played a team that was missing both starters.

It's a reality that is wearing thin with a lot of us fans.

Pretty much spot on. You can only sell the 'not having all of our starters' excuse for so long. On a positive note - and I need to be way more positive, this mess has happened on the road and late at night. Another positive take-away is - it doesn't take much to get this town excited about the Pelicans, Even during football season. Case in point the Nets game. Just give us a reason to care and stopping tearing our hearts out. Why does Portland/Denver/Milwaukee get to celebrate an entire season of fun and we have to wait until the very end?

[msusousaphone]

Y'all wild. Lol

[billfromfinance]

Elfrid and AD have missed 3 games get a grip. life isn't a simple cheesy ride, neither is following a sports team.

[Mythrol]

Those teams never miss both their starting players.
I can't remember the last time the Pelicans played a team that was missing both starters.

It's a reality that is wearing thin with a lot of us fans.

If you can't deal with the fact that teams get injured then go watch a sport like golf or go play 2K and turn off injuries.

What exactly is the team supposed to do that would satisfy you when players get injured? Everyone is pissed that we have gotten hit with injuries. It sucks. But complaining about something that NO ONE has control over is wearing thin with a lot of us. Grow up.

[AusPel]

Elfrid and AD have missed 3 games get a grip. life isn't a simple cheesy ride, neither is following a sports team.

unless you follow Golden State

[Mythrol]

Pretty much spot on. You can only sell the 'not having all of our starters' excuse for so long.

Only sell injuries excuse for so long? Get out of here with that. Injuries happen. You can't expect a team that has a ton of injuries to compete with fully healthy playoff teams.

[billfromfinance]

unless you follow Golden State

golden state have been around a long time as a team and have had many many years of tough times.

[kinglio21093]

The NBA is a league of players who want instant gratification or else they bolt. A 4 game losing streak after winning 4 in a row is very bad optics in trying to lure Anthony back, regardless of the circumstances.

[Taker597]

I'm still pretty calm. I don't like how even with injuries we still keep running the pace with lesser shooters. We are just begging to get shoot out of games.

[Fraunpetri]

You guys know this is the crap we have to look forward to all season with regards to ANY adversity with this team? Click-bait articles that provide any excuse to speculate about AD leaving. The perfect storm for us is AD calling himself the best player in the league to anyone that will listen. This new attention seeking behavior coincidentally happens right after he signs with a new agent. Just gotta win and all this garbage goes away. The headline of that article is maybe the worst I've seen on that site ever as well.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

If you can't deal with the fact that teams get injured then go watch a sport like golf or go play 2K and turn off injuries.

What exactly is the team supposed to do that would satisfy you when players get injured? Everyone is pissed that we have gotten hit with injuries. It sucks. But complaining about something that NO ONE has control over is wearing thin with a lot of us. Grow up.

Did you see what golf did to Tiger's body?

What does that have to do with muturity expecting the best players at their sport to play a game they get paid millions for?
Having an expectation that the team I have followed since I was 15 to stay healthy for one season since the Davis era isn't too much to ask I would think.

All this rubbish about him wanting/thinking he is the best player in the NBA only counts when you actually play and then to turn around and say he needs to play a perfect game to win is just pathetic.

No mate you need to actually play and not miss an average 13 games a year to make a playoff run regardless of what scrubs are on your team.

Look at what Lebron did last year with the team he had.

I get it. He's an athlete and none of us on here can imagine what these guy's do to their bodies, as we sit here and play arm chair basketball, but it does get disheartening to always see the potential never eventuate.

I'm not sitting here expecting a championship or a deep playoff run, just some ******* health for once.

But maybe I'm expecting too much and being childish to think otherwise.

[Mythrol]

Did you see what golf did to Tiger's body?

What does that have to do with muturity expecting the best players at their sport to play a game they get paid millions for?
Having an expectation that the team I have followed since I was 15 to stay healthy for one season since the Davis era isn't too much to ask I would think.

All this rubbish about him wanting/thinking he is the best player in the NBA only counts when you actually play and then to turn around and say he needs to play a perfect game to win is just pathetic.

No mate you need to actually play and not miss an average 13 games a year to make a playoff run regardless of what scrubs are on your team.

Look at what Lebron did last year with the team he had.

I get it. He's an athlete and none of us on here can imagine what these guy's do to their bodies, as we sit here and play arm chair basketball, but it does get disheartening to always see the potential never eventuate.

I'm not sitting here expecting a championship or a deep playoff run, just some ******* health for once.

But maybe I'm expecting too much and being childish to think otherwise.

Correct. It is childish and wrong to have any expectations about health especially that they'd stay healthy. Injuries cannot be controlled. If anything if history were an indication then your expectations should be that players WOULD get injured.

As frustrating and sucky as it might be you cannot blame the team / organization and say it's "wearing thin" with fans because that's a completely unrealistic expectation. You don't think Dell is the MOST frustrated person right now? Unlike any of us his job actually depends on players being healthy and he hasn't gotten a single season of it. He is trying his hardest to build a team to keep AD here long term and he just keeps getting bodied by injuries over and over.

We aren't even dealing with long term injuries here. In the grand scheme of things if we make it through this section and stay healthy the rest of the way no one will care about what happened at the end of October.

As far as AD's comments go, that is the OP reading too much into a few sentences and presenting it to us without the full picture. After AD made those comments his very next sentences were these:

"But my teammates do a great job. Even the games I didn't play, those guys have been battling night in and not out to get victories."

Why didn't the OP present the full context of AD's comments? Because he is trying to build a specific narrative and how AD finishes those sentences doesn't match with what he wants to present.

Besides, Exactly what should his message be? That he doesn't have to play at 110% and he still wins? The way I read into his comments are, he takes no games off, he has to play nearly perfect / give his all to win any game in this league especially in the West.

This is a huge "in the moment" over reaction.

[pelicanchamp]

I don’t the OP is reading into this. That’s a very odd comment to say he has to play perfect for them to win. I’m convinced AD really wants to leave. I’m also not convinced he has an injury that requires him to miss games. I’m getting tired of the AD drama and I do think he is the source of the bs we keep hearing from the media about him leaving.

I agree with AD though. He has to play perfect to win. If y’all think we’re reading into these comments then y’all are ignoring the red flags. I’m starting to dislike AD.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mythrol]

I don’t the OP is reading into this. That’s a very odd comment to say he has to play perfect for them to win. I’m convinced AD really wants to leave. I’m also not convinced he has an injury that requires him to miss games. I’m getting tired of the AD drama and I do think he is the source of the bs we keep hearing from the media about him leaving.

I agree with AD though. He has to play perfect to win. If y’all think we’re reading into these comments then y’all are ignoring the red flags. I’m starting to dislike AD.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is stupid. How could you watch the GS game and not see AD was in pain?

In the conversation with Stein after the GS AD also said this:

“I got two years to ’20/21. I’m here and whatever happens after that happens,” Davis told Spears. “For me, right now it is about being the most dominant player in the league and helping this team win. … You hear all the rumors. You hear all the talk. But it’s not coming from me. I’m here to be a Pelican, help this team move forward and help this team win a championship."


The actual FULL quote from AD that OP pulled two sentences from and then tried to act like AD was dogging teammates AD said this:

“Of course, I know that in order to win games, a lot of pressure is going to be on me,” Davis told Yahoo Sports while sitting at his locker stall Wednesday night. “If we lose, it’s on me. If we win, they give my team the credit and I’m fine with that.

“A perfect example [was against the Warriors]. I don’t have a good game and we lose. So, I got to play almost perfect every night to give us a chance to win. But my teammates do a great job. Even the games I didn’t play, those guys have been battling night in and night out to get victories. … I don’t try to put too much pressure on myself, but I know it’s there.”

“Life isn’t fair,” Davis told Yahoo Sports with a smirk. “We can’t control what happens in the league. I just go out there and play. It’s nothing I can do. It is what it is at this point. I just got to go out there and trust my teammates, which I do. Those guys are great players, good defenders, good role players. They do as much as possible to help me.

“I really don’t listen to [the noise] to be honest,” he told Yahoo Sports. “I hear it from everywhere from social media, to people around you. But my biggest thing is focusing on playing basketball. That’s all I can do. I can’t do nothing else but play basketball to the best of my ability to help my team. … We have one goal and that’s winning a championship, and my job is to try to help them reach that goal.”

“Nah, my team doesn’t care. They cherish the moments that they have with me,” he told Yahoo Sports. “Every day we try to put in the work to be a great team. They hear it, I hear it. Everybody hears it. It’s hard not to. But we’re focused on what we have to do this year. We’re trying to beat teams like the Warriors and get to where they are. That’s our goal. That’s it.”

---------

Maybe AD leaves, maybe he doesn't. He has been very clear his main thing is he wants to win. But this crying like AD is a turncoat or that AD doesn't have heart or is already gone is all wrong. You're wrong. You're listening to some person who posted two sentences without any context and are trying to read into it and make up your mind. AD isn't the one doing all this, it's the media and in your own mind. Stop being so wrapped up in 1 or 2 years from now and focus on this season. We just came off the best playoff run in years including being the only team to sweep their 1st round opponent. We've had some injuries that came at a bad part of the schedule after having our best start to a season since 2010.

There's still 74 games to play. Chill out.

[N.O.Bronco]

I’ve said this for five years now, if you don’t have a credible championship caliber team around AD by the end of his second contract, he’s gone.

He has less of an anchor to this city than Chris Paul does, he has spoken numerous times about not being totally hung up on money(“I already have more money then I know what to do with”), and he, like Durant, sees your legacy as being defined by championships and winning.

[msusousaphone]

The NBA is a league of players who want instant gratification or else they bolt. A 4 game losing streak after winning 4 in a row is very bad optics in trying to lure Anthony back, regardless of the circumstances.

One day....maybe it's already today.....could be tomorrow......maybe it's years down the road......you'll realize how ridiculous this is. Hahahaha.

Actually we'll probably just all forget it was posted. But it IS short sighted, impulse histrionics, and ridiculous.

[Tinman]

Right NOW, at this very moment, if we had KD, instead of AD, we are 5-10 wins better .

[Mythrol]

Right NOW, at this very moment, if we had KD, instead of AD, we are 5-10 wins better .

Saying as we've only lost 4 games that is impossible.