kevin hanson

Jim Eichenhofer

1)      New Orleans (19-28) looks to build on a tremendous Friday win over San Antonio, hosting Washington (26-20) tonight in the Smoothie King Center. Please note that tip-off is at 5 p.m. Tickets are available here. King Cake Baby bobbleheads will be given out to fans, while the Pelicans will wear their Mardi Gras uniforms for the first time this season.

2)      The Pelicans bested the Spurs 119-103 on Friday.

3)      Check out photos and video from Saturday’s Pelicans season ticket holder appreciation day.

4)      To the chagrin of a pack of other Western Conference teams, Denver (21-25) has won three in a row and is trying to gain a foothold on eighth place. New Orleans is 2.5 games behind the Nuggets in the standings, but can pull back within 2.0 if it wins today vs. Washington.

5)      In case you missed it, Friday’s Black and Blue Report featured a visit from assistant coach Kevin Hanson, who discussed Anthony Davis and the Pelicans.

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Five things to know about the Pelicans on Jan. 29, 2017

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1)      New Orleans hosts the Washington Wizards at 5 p.m. Sunday night. Tickets are available here.

2)      Be sure to arive early on Sunday to the game, as the giveaway is a King Cake Baby Bobblehead, courtesy of Smoothie King.

3)      Check out photos from Friday's game against San Antonio here.

4)      Listen to Friday's Black and Blue Report with Pelicans assistant coach Kevin Hanson.

5)      Take a look at the Mardi Gras jerseys and King Cake Baby gear in advance of Mardi Gras.

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Five things to know about the Pelicans on Jan. 28, 2017

Today's lineup presented by ABC Insurance Agencies includes: Pelicans assistant coach Kevin Hanson and Drew Brees.

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Black and Blue Report presented by ABC Insurance Agencies: January 27, 2017

Hook shots, post-ups, deep two-point jumpers, fast-break layups, mid-range pull-ups, floaters in the lane, even a three-pointer – you name it, Anthony Davis scored that way during his 41-point eruption Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Somewhat surprisingly, among the three-time All-Star’s 14 baskets, however, none were dunks, something he’s often feasted on during his five-year NBA career.

While leading the NBA in scoring (32.1 points per game) through the first month of the 2016-17 regular season, Davis has continued to demonstrate an incredibly wide range of offensive skills, helping him increase his average by nearly eight points from last season’s 24.3. Or as Lakers first-year head coach Luke Walton put it succinctly after Tuesday’s buzzer, “He can score in a lot of areas.”

Still, if there’s one reason Davis’ production has spiked so dramatically in Year 5, he indicates that it may have more to do with a change in mentality than an expanding tool box.

“I think I always had (various offensive moves), but I’m just being more aggressive,” Davis said. “Usually I kind of just let the game come to me and am more relaxed. But now I’m coming out of the gate being aggressive, trying to find ways to either make plays for myself or my teammates. I think it’s just been a difference, having that aggressive mindset.”

New Orleans assistant coach Kevin Hanson – who was retained on Alvin Gentry’s staff in 2015 partly due to his developmental work with the steadily-improving Davis ��� agrees, saying that the emphasis of this summer was on approaching the game from a different perspective.

“We’ve changed his mindset, to where it’s attack-minded,” Hanson said. “He’s not settling for shots. Going into this season, the focus was on attacking the defense. If the (jump) shot is there, he’ll take it, but we want him driving the ball more. He’s breaking guys down off the dribble more, selling shot-fakes. He’s really understanding how to use pace to set up the defense, such as he might use a jab step now to create space. He’s understanding how to get to the places on the court where he wants to go. That’s what really efficient scorers do. They don’t allow defenses to move them away from their sweet spots.”

Few opposing defenses have enjoyed any semblance of success trying to slow down Davis, who’s already scored over 40 points four times, topped by a 50-point night in the season opener vs. Denver. Normally when a primary scorer significantly increases his volume of shots (he’s firing a career-high 21.7 per game), it negatively impacts his efficiency, but the opposite has been true for Davis – his shooting percentage from two-point range is a career-high 54.9. Hanson attributes some of that to Davis’ improving ability to use a counter move against a range of defensive strategies.

“We’ve worked on so much stuff over five years together now, that he’s getting a comfort level on the court, to where he’s reaching into his bag and pulling out some shots that we’ve spent time on, but that he wasn’t necessarily comfortable going to (in games) before,” said Hanson, a 6-foot-10 former overseas pro. “I think the game has slowed down so much for him, that he’s really taking what the defense is giving him. A lot of it is instinctual, but he’s also realizing how to react to what defenses are doing.

“We never want to limit his game. We’re always trying to add new shots and different areas where he can attack.”

Davis has also watched tape with Hanson of some of the NBA’s elite scorers, both past and present. Since Davis has a similar body type as 6-foot-11 Kevin Durant, he’s viewed video of how Durant effectively beats defenders off the dribble. There have also been tips to glean from watching, for example, the balletic low-post footwork of Hakeem Olajuwon, the unparalleled deep and mid-range shooting of Dirk Nowitzki and the technical excellence of “The Big Fundamental,” San Antonio legend Tim Duncan.

Durant last led the NBA in scoring in 2013-14, averaging 32.0 points per game. No player has averaged Davis’ current 32.1 or better over a full season since Kobe Bryant piled up 35.4 in 2005-06, during the Hall of Fame lock’s age-27 season. Which brings us to one of the most frightening aspects of Davis’ career-best individual start – he’s still only 23, the youngest player among the NBA’s current top 10 scoring leaders. Everyone else on that list is at least 26.

“He’s had to elevate his game to put the team on his shoulders this year,” Hanson said, alluding to the fact that No. 2 scorer Jrue Holiday missed the first 12 games. “It’s been good for him. He was ready for it, whereas last year he wasn’t quite ready to do that and carry the load. He’s still a young player. He’s still exploring and figuring out things he can do.”

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Attacking mentality a key element to Anthony Davis’ scoring spike

BEIJING – He threw down one slam in all four quarters, at least for a night taking over Anthony Davis’ title as the most prolific New Orleans Pelicans dunker. He constantly altered Houston shots around the rim, finishing with five blocks. He grabbed rebounds in his area and pursued several others. In another encouraging sign, he sank his free throws at a high rate.

After a 2015-16 season that he’d rather forget, 7-foot center Omer Asik has looked like a different player early in preseason, providing no better illustration of that than his 14-point, 14-rebound, five-block (6/8 from the foul line) performance vs. the Rockets. Asik, who averaged 4.0 points and 6.1 assists last season, appears to be in excellent shape, vital in an Alvin Gentry attack that seeks to play up-tempo basketball. He played 28:24 in Sunday’s game, a minute allotment he only exceeded in four games during the entire ’15-16 campaign.

“Omer has been playing awesome,” Davis said after Sunday’s game. “He’s been making free throws, playing great defensively, rebounding the ball, blocking shots, playing great offensively. Any pass that comes to him, he’s catching and dunking it.”

Asik has struggled from the foul line throughout his career, at just 53.1 percent over his six NBA seasons, but he’s worked extensively with Pelicans assistant coach Kevin Hanson on trying to improve, starting after the ’16 All-Star break. Although it’s a small sample, Asik is shooting 85.7 percent at the charity stripe in preseason, canning 12 of 14 tries. He was a perfect 6/6 vs. Indiana on Oct. 4, then 6/8 against Houston.

“I wanted to get him to get to the point where it was one fluid motion,” Hanson said of Asik’s shooting form at the foul line. “We wanted him to get a better rhythm in his shot. With a lot of bigs they have free-throw anxiety – they get anxious – so I wanted to take away a lot of the mental part of it, to where he has a good feel with the ball.”

Hanson described Asik’s offseason as “a great summer,” including extensive time training and playing with the Turkish national team.

“The previous summer he had taken off to let his body heal,” Hanson said of Asik’s offseason of ’15. “He wasn’t quite ready for the pace (the Pelicans) wanted to play at. He ended up getting hurt (in preseason), rushed back because he wanted to help the team, and never got a good rhythm. He was never able to pick up any steam. It was like a perfect storm.

“But now I think he’s in great shape, he’s got a rhythm, he’s catching the ball. It’s early, but he has a good feel at the free-throw line.”

“After last year, I just tried to be ready, especially on the defensive end,” Asik said. “That’s why I worked all summer on getting healthy and getting better on defense, where I wasn’t good last year.”

“I thought Omer had played extremely well in practice,” said Gentry, who called the 30-year-old one of NOLA’s bright spots during training camp. “I think his free-throw shooting has improved tremendously. He did a great job rebounding the basketball (Sunday), a great job on the defensive end at his position.”

Incidentally, if Asik’s 14-14-5 stat line Sunday looked vaguely familiar to Pelicans fans who closely track the team, there may be a good reason. The last time he reached those individual numbers was Game 1 of the 2014-15 regular season, when Asik had 14 points, 17 rebounds and five rejections vs. Orlando – in his official debut with New Orleans.

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Omer Asik aggressive at both ends of floor in 14-14-5 effort against Rockets

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Gameday Preview: Pelicans vs Spurs presented by Gold's Gym

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – New Orleans made several changes to its coaching staff during the 2015 offseason, but assistant Kevin Hanson was retained, partly because of his role in the steady individual development of Anthony Davis. Hanson and the basketball world at large saw some of the fruits of that labor Sunday, when the 6-foot-10 Davis turned in the finest offensive game of anyone in the NBA this season, pouring in 59 points. He nearly averaged two points per shot attempt, setting a franchise record with 24 made baskets on 34 attempts.

“I think we saw the full package,” Hanson described of the array of ways in which the three-time All-Star scored against the Pistons. “For him to pretty much show everything in his repertoire, it shows his growth as a player.”

Over the next three days, national audiences will tune in to see what Davis can do for an encore, starting Tuesday against Washington (NBA TV, 6 p.m.). New Orleans will then host Oklahoma City on Thursday (7 p.m., TNT).

Davis’ 59-point performance opened eyes around the league, but he’s been playing at an extremely high level for an extended period. Excluding a pair of January games in which injuries forced an early exit, Davis has tallied at least 20 points in all but one of his appearances since the calendar flipped to 2016 (the lone exception was a 19-point effort in a Feb. 10 win over Utah). After returning from his dunk-laden performance in the Feb. 14 All-Star Game, Davis is averaging 46.5 points and 13.5 rebounds. The Pelicans have also won four of their last five games.

“That All-Star break really did a lot for his confidence,” Hanson said. “He feels really good right now with where he’s at. He’s really taken a leadership role. He’s really engaged. He’s attacking first and then letting the game come to him.”

Other notes after shootaround this morning at the Verizon Center:

Omer Asik (right ankle sprain) is listed as doubtful to play against the Wizards. After Asik sustained the injury during the first half of Sunday’s win at Detroit, backup Alexis Ajinca ended up logging 10 minutes, with Kendrick Perkins moving into the rotation and playing seven. New Orleans mostly went with small lineups that put Davis at center, something that could happen again vs. a Washington team that often does the same.

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Shootaround update presented by HUB International: Davis' 59-point game continues lengthy stretch of excellence

In the scheme of things, it really wasn’t that long ago, but when New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach Kevin Hanson learned to play basketball, 6-foot-10 centers like him were usually instructed to go directly to the paint – and stay there. Big men weren’t encouraged by coaches to dribble much, fire perimeter shots or even spend much time practicing those abilities. Frontcourt players were supposed to be anchors on defense and confined to rigid roles on offense, leaving the flashy aspects of the game to the guards.

Oh, how things have changed. On All-Star Saturday in Toronto, the NBA will hold its first skills event for big men, featuring a four-man competition among New Orleans power forward Anthony Davis, Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins, Golden State power forward Draymond Green and Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns. In a way, the 2016 Taco Bell Skills Challenge is the culmination of what’s been a gradual evolution of NBA bigs, with University of Kentucky products Davis, Cousins and Towns at the forefront.

“In high school and AAU, bigs are able to do more than they used to,” explained Hanson, a University of San Diego pivot in the early 2000s and pro overseas, before he became an NBA coach who’s helped develop Davis. “There is a lot more freedom to explore their games. Before, when I was in high school, they’d put you on the block and you were kind of limited in what you could do. Now everyone wants a more well-rounded big.

“Coaches are giving guys more freedom. Twenty years ago, they put you in a box and wanted you to play within that role. The development of bigs has come a long way – guys are really focusing on being able to knock down jump shots and put the ball down on the floor. A lot of these athletic bigs can handle the ball and go by defenders, and make plays.”

That’s why, for the first time, the NBA decided to incorporate power forwards and centers into an event that had exclusively been the domain of point guards. More than ever, there are plenty of candidates to choose from in putting together a field from the 6-10-and-over crowd, players who can do things on the court that previously were left to smaller men.

“It’s the way the game is going,” Davis said as he prepared to face Towns in frigid Minneapolis this week. “There are no more traditional bigs. It’s all bigs who can shoot it – stretch fours, stretch fives who are skilled. Growing up now, that’s what you’re working on. You’re not working on post moves with your back to the basket; you’re working on your ballhandling, passing and shooting. That’s the way the NBA game is going.”

“(Davis) is a very good athlete who can do a lot of things,” Pelicans first-year head coach Alvin Gentry said. “If you look around the league, that’s where it’s going. Karl-Anthony Towns is a kid with a big body, can post up, step out and make threes. (New York rookie Kristaps) Porzingis is in that category. I think you’re seeing that the big guys coming into this league have a complete game and a skill level that’s much more there than in the past. You’re not just a back-to-the-basket player.”

Rule changes didn’t just benefit guards

In the late 1990s, the NBA was becoming an overly-physical brand of basketball in which hand-checking and other contact by defenses was prevalent. As a result, final scores were dropping below 100 and games were becoming slugfests that choked off the creativity of the league’s most talented and skilled players. The league eventually changed the rules to make hand contact by defenders a foul in most instances, giving the quickest and most athletic offensive players more space to create and attack without constantly being redirected. Although most have focused on the impact rule changes have had on frenetic point guards such as Russell Westbrook and one-time league MVP Derrick Rose, they’ve also had a positive effect on talented bigs.

“The way the rules are set up, it really benefits you to be able to face up,” Hanson said. “Because now defenders can’t put their hands on the guy with the ball. When you have your back to the basket, the defender is allowed to use his arms (to impede the offensive player). Facing up, you’re able to see the defense and know when the double-team is coming. With your back to the basket, it’s easier for the defense to double-team you and for you to be trapped.

“You put a hand on an offensive player facing you now, for the most part it’s going to be called a foul. For someone like AD, who is a little lighter, it benefits him a lot.”

Twenty-four hours before much of the NBA sits down to watch Davis and 23 other elite players compete in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, many TV sets will be tuned in to the inaugural skills challenge for big men. Davis’ Pelicans teammates are curious to see how the competition unfolds.

“They’ve got some pretty talented guys in it, but I’m quite sure he’ll hold his own,” Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans said of Davis. ”It’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully he wins as my teammate. His mid-range shot is pretty legit, so he might have an edge there.”

“I’m definitely interested to see it, to see how they maneuver through the cones and do pinpoint passing,” Pelicans guard Norris Cole said. “I don’t have any question that they all can shoot – bigs can shoot. But I’d like to see how they do in the ballhandling and passing parts of it. It’s interesting how our game has changed. Bigs have always had skills, but now they have guard skills. That’s kind of amazing. AD used to be a guard, until he had that crazy growth spurt (in high school).

“I think he’s going to do a good job, because there are so many things he can do: He can push the ball on the break if he gets the rebound. When he catches it in the mid-post, he has a stepback jumper or hesitation dribble, a little bit of guard in his game. I’m definitely confident that he can win it.”

“It’s going to be very different, with bigs in there,” a smiling Davis said of the first-time event. “It’s all about having fun and getting a chance to show our guard skills, our ballhandling, shooting, passing. I’m just looking forward to having fun. (There are) three Kentucky bigs in it – we produce skilled big men.”

Evans is reserving judgment on the event until he actually gets to see it, but he probably speaks for many as he describes what’s most compelling to him about what could become a new staple of All-Star weekends.

“I might have to watch it first, to decide whether it’s a good idea or not,” Evans said, when asked about his initial reaction to the competition. “But it’s going to be fun to see if the big men can do what the guards do.”

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Third-time All-Star Anthony Davis at forefront of new era for versatile NBA big men

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