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Thursday, March 07, 2013

Uh oh

Handwerger more or less calls on Tom Benson to dump Monty Williams here.

NEW ORLEANS — Tom Benson paid $338 million for this?

One of America’s richest men, valued at more than $1 billion, had to be wondering Wednesday, sometime between the 6:47 mark of the fourth and the final buzzer when his Hornets failed to score a single point, what the hell that was he had just witnessed.

He wouldn’t have been alone.

Up 25 points at one point and leading by 17 a third of the way through the final 12 minutes, New Orleans was inexplicably outscored 25-2 and lost to the Lakers 108-102.

If you thought Monday night’s embarrassing loss to Orlando was the trough of the season, you were wrong. So painfully wrong. In fact, the floor apparently hasn’t been set.

And coach Monty Williams is leading a sinking ship to another lottery pick.

But he was always so likeable! On the other hand, the idea of Tom Benson feeling ripped off about something does have its appeal. Plus, since we know this Hornets/Pelicans team isn't going anywhere this season anyway, we can't argue they aren't at least coming up with interesting ways to entertain people.

On the third hand, this looks similar to a common complaint people had about Byron Scott.
His excuse for sitting rookie Anthony Davis – the defensive playmaker the team drafted No. 1 overall – on the bench for all of the fourth quarter against the Lakers?

“With his shoulder and some of the ailments he has had, I’m not going to put him on Dwight in a situation like that,” Williams said. “That’s not fair to him.”

Well how else will Davis learn if he’s not given the opportunities to overcome what’s wrong ? it’s not so believable that Davis wouldn’t have been able to help in some fashion. There’s no hurt in thrusting him into the game at some point, even if just to see. And if he can't match with Howard, match him against another player and leave Lopez in.
Scott was often criticized for not giving his young players an opportunity to develop. Could the same tendency end up costing Williams his job too? 

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