New Pelicans point guard Rajon Rondo is confident that Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins can be effective together and he’s eager to be part of that process, relays William Guillory of The New Orleans Times-Picayune. Rondo, who is with his fifth team in the past four years, said the big-man tandem played an important role in his decision to sign with the Pelicans. “They’ve only had a couple months together, I don’t count pretty much last year even though they did play together,” Rondo said. “I think those two guys are capable of being two of the best bigs to ever play this game as a duo. That’s pretty high expectations, but they have the talent to do it.”
Rondo had prior experience with Cousins when they were in Sacramento together in 2015/16. Both excelled that season as Rondo led the league with 11.7 assists per game and Cousins averaged 26.9 points. Coach Alvin Gentry said he likes the idea of pairing Rondo with incumbent point guard Jrue Holiday because it gives him two players capable of running the offense.
There’s more today out of New Orleans:
- Cousins believes his on-court chemistry with Davis is already much better than it was last season, Guillory writes in a separate piece. The All-Star big men didn’t have much time to prepare as they were thrown together after Cousins was acquired from the Kings during All-Star weekend. They spent the summer working out in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and Cousins describes their relationship as “smoother” now that camp has started. “We’re figuring out our high-low game a lot more. We’re picking our spots: Who’s the guy to pop? Who’s the guy to roll,” Cousins said. “Last year, it would be times where we would run into each other or be on top of each other.”
- After being a starter in Memphis, veteran guard Tony Allen knew he couldn’t count on that role when he signed with the Pelicans, Guillory adds in another story. Allen, who agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract two weeks ago, expects to see his playing time vary from game to game based on matchups. “I’m going to be put in situations or lineups where some days I might start, some days I might play five minutes,” Allen said. “It’s just being ready to do whatever it takes for the team to win ball games.”
- Jordan Crawford, who joined the Pelicans on a 10-day deal in March, tells Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com that his best moment as an athlete was getting back to the NBA after two years out of the league. After the Warriors elected not to re-sign him in 2014, Crawford played in China and the G League before getting an opportunity with New Orleans.