Friday's Buzz

- Today, Monty Williams explained Al-Farouq's benching from several weeks back on Nola.com:

"You want guys to understand how important it is to get minutes, but at the same time if a guy is not playing well, you can't reward that," Williams said. "I explained to him what I was doing. Guys don't like that, but you also wanted to give another guy a chance if he was able to play.

"It wasn't a punishment. We weren't getting the production from that spot. So you try to find somebody else who can, knowing that Al-Farouq is the guy we want to do it, and can do it. We don't have a doghouse. I just felt like he had to sit for a while to do some soul-searching and understand what I wanted from him at that position."

Whether Monty's approach was a correct one, we'll never know, but with Aminu's recent play, it's hard to disparage the coach any further on the topic.

- Brian Roberts ankle sprain doesn't seem to severe as he's listed day-to-day:

"But Brian should be OK; it could be day-to-day, it could be a week. He's walking around and looks a lot better than he did the other day."

- Donald Sloan's stay was a short one as his 10 day contract wasn't renewed. Interestingly, Monty hinted at giving others a chance:

"And we still want to take a look at some different guys. That's why we let Donald go."

- The Sporting News posted an article today regarding Austin Rivers' struggles. Nothing much that we didn't already know, but it was good to see Austin admit he's been hanging his head.

- In case you missed, Jimmy Smith from the Times Picayune wrote an article about Greivis Vasquez much improved game yesterday. Have to love he believes he can get even better:

"I'm not really pleased; I'm playing with a lot of confidence but I've got so much room to get better," Vasquez said recently. "I haven't really reached the peak of my potential. I mean I'm showing some flashes, but I think, and Coach Monty (Williams) knows this, I've got so much room to get better.

"I've got to be a better leader, a better defensive guy, a better passer. I think I can do so many other good things. The good thing for me right now is I'm playing with a lot of confidence."

- Stephen Curry is a game time decision for tonight's game against the Spurs but many aren't hopeful he'll play. Thus, it's hard to believe he'd suddenly be a go tomorrow. While this would improve our chances for a win, I'm more excited about seeing Jarrett Jack go up against Greivis Vasquez. Many of us were skeptical letting Jack go for peanuts, and entrusting Vasquez to run the team, but tomorrow's game could once and for all validate Dealer Demps' decision.