a 10-week regular seas

[panxing18]

The New Orleans Pelicans addressed have a couple of major , uncertain free-agent concerns and they used their only pick in Thursday night’s NBA draft to address one of them.

The Pelicans bolstered their backcourt, drafting Penn State point guard Tony Carr in the second round. New Orleans used the 51st overall pick to take Carr, 6-foot-5, who averaged 19.6 points (second-most in the Big Ten), 5.0 assists and 4.9 rebounds as a sophomore last season.

While the biggest question facing New Orleans this offseason is the future of free-agent All-Star forward of DeMarcus Cousins, the organization faces questions about a key agent in point guard Rajon Rondo.

”He can play” both guard positions, Pelicans general manager Dell Demps said of Carr. ”We like his size. We like his ability to score. We like his ability to make plays. He’s pretty crafty and he played in a tough conference and was able to score at an elite level.”

As New Orleans looks to resolve those situations, the Pelicans wanted to upgrade their perimeter game this offseason , particularly with scorers who can create their own shot off the dribble.

Carr shot just 40.8 percent from the floor last season, but that was an improvement from the 37.7 percent he shot while averaging 13.2 points as a freshman. He improved his three-point percentage from 32.0 as a freshman to 43.3 as a sophomore.

The Pelicans hope that upward trend continues with Rondo’s situation unclear.

Starting shooting guard Jrue Holiday can also play the point, but backup point guard Ian Clark is also a free agent. Last year’s No. 2 pick, Frank Jackson, is a combo guard who missed all of his rookie season because of a foot injury.

Carr said he has studied Holiday, who was named to the NBA All-Defensive team and averaged 19 points per game last season.

He said like Holiday, ”I can play on both ends of the floor. I can score and I can also facilitate for others.”

Rondo, 32 , was signed to a one-year deal last summer and proved to be a valuable veteran presence on a team with little playoff experience.

Demps said the uncertainty of Rondo’s and Clark’s future with the team wasn’t a factor in the Pelicans selecting Carr.

”We really looked at the best player available,” Demps said. ”But I don’t want to get too excited. We’re going to get him in here next week. We’ll see when we get a live look at him. There’s no guarantee he’ll be on the team this year.”

Cousins’ status is complicated by a couple of factors. He’s coming off a torn Achilles that ended his season in January, and the Pelicans played well after acquiring Niko Mirotic in a February trade with Chicago to replace Cousins. That trade cost them their first-round pick.

New Orleans wound up winning 48 games and sweeping Portland in a first-round playoff series before losing to Golden State in five games.

Demps said July 1, the first day of free agency, ”is going to be a busy day for us.”

He said the Pelicans have been communicating with the agents for Cousins and Rondo.

”They’re both big parts of what we did,” Demps said.

Demps added that Cousins’ rehabilitation is ”right on schedule,” adding that Cousins is ”committed to getting back and being ready to play.”

—

Mike Singletary is back in football.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been hired as head coach of the Memphis franchise in the Alliance of American Football that will begin play next February.

Memphis joins Orlando and Atlanta as teams in the new league overseen by another Hall of Famer, Bill Polian , and TV executive Charlie Ebersol. Singletary’s team will play home games in the Liberty Bowl.

Singletary previously coached for three NFL teams, including a head-coaching stint with San Francisco in which the 49ers went 18-22. He was the anchor of some staunch defenses in Chicago as a middle linebacker, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.

”I took tremendous pride in leading, teaching and competing during my playing days, and that experience prepared me for my coaching career,” he said Thursday. ”I enjoy working closely with players and doing everything possible to set them up for success on and off the field. This is an opportunity to do that again at the professional level, and I’m excited to get started.”

The Alliance will feature eight teams playing a 10-week regular season beginning Feb. 9, 2019 – the weekend after the Super Bowl – on CBS. There will be two playoff rounds and a championship game on the weekend of April 26-28.

Polian is the head of football operations for the league. The longtime NFL general manager and executive helped recruit Steve Spurrier to coach the Orlando club and Brad Childress for Atlanta , with Michael Vick as an assistant.

Now, the Alliance has Singletary.

”Mike is a passionate, dedicated and intelligent leader,” Polian said. ”During his Hall of Fame career he played with an unmatched level of intensity that served as the catalyst for a historic, Super Bowl-winning defense (in the 1985 season). He brings the same leadership qualities to the sidelines. His experience as a player and head coach will be invaluable to Alliance Memphis players and will have them in position to succeed on and off the field.”

Rosters will be culled from NFL cuts to the 53-man maximum after preseason, which Polian calls ”the core of our constituency”; collegians who have gone undrafted, including underclassmen who have lost any remaining eligibility; players looking to return to the sport; and free agents from the CFL or elsewhere.

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]