Hello,
I hope you guys are not getting sick of me talking about bad teams, cause it will continue for a few more previews. With nothing else to say, here are the Hornets.
New Orleans Hornets:
Basically a completely new team, a complete overhaul from the Chris Paul era.
Key Additions: Anthony "the Brow" Davis (rookie), Ryan Anderson (trade), Robin Lopez (trade), Austin Rivers (rookie), Hakim Warrick (FA), Darius Miller (rookie)
Key Losses: Jarret Jack, Emeka Okafor, Trevor Ariza, Marco Belinelli, Carl Landry, Chris "bald spot" Kaman (this is basically their entire starting roster besides Eric Gordon)
Projected Starting Lineup: Of any team so far, I am very unsure of this, could do lots of different things here, this is my best guess if they go with a traditional lineup.
PG: Greivis Vasquez
SG: Eric Gordon
SF: Al-Farouq Aminu
PF: Anderson
C: Davis
Role Players: Lopez, Jason Smith, Rivers, Warrick, Xavier Henry, Miller
Comments:
Monty Williams has proven that no matter how bad his team looks on paper, they will always play hard on defense for him, and they have shown the ability to sneak attack on teams that assume they will win and take the night off. They did this exact thing to the nuggets last year. Williams just got a well-deserved contract extension, but he has a completely different team to build, and there will be many growing pains for sure.
This team is very weak at point guard. Vasquez has shown flashes of being a decent point guard, but nothing very consistent. He is tall for a point guard (6'6), and he therefore is susceptible to being tooled on by quick point guards. His offense is developing, but his passing is solid. Vasquez, though, is holding Austin Rivers spot for now. Rivers, at the draft, projected more as a shooting guard than a point guard. At Duke, Coach K would allow Rivers to basically take the ball and create offense for himself and others. Rivers was generally pretty good at creating his own shot, whether it be by stone-cold shooting, or magnificent drives. His passing skills are still pretty miseable. When the Hornets traded Jack, they made it pretty clear they consider Rivers a point guard, who they need to get on the court. It will be interesting to see if Rivers is capable of sharing the ball more than looking for his own shot. If he can't do it, the Hornets will surely look for a point guard in next years draft, which I believe will happen. For me, Rivers will become a scoring threat off the bench, a la Jason Terry or JR Smith.
At SG lies the Hornets best player by far. Eric Gordon is a proven NBA scorer capable of averaging 25 points a game. However, he can not seem to stay healthy... ever. He made statements this offseason that Phoenix was the right place for him to play, but New Orleans was never going to let him go. As the centerpiece of the Chris Paul trade a year ago, Gordon was always going to be a Hornet, and he along with Davis are the cornerstones of the franchise if he can stay healthy. Xavier Henry finally got playing time last year after coming from the Grizzlies where he was trapped on the bench behind all of the Grizzlies wing players. He showed some flashes of being a quality bench player, but this year will really be telling of his ability.
Aminu was part of the Nigerian team this summer that got trampled by everyone (except Tunisia). He is very athletic, but has not shown either the offensive or defensive ability to really come into his own as a player. He needs to rebound and pass at a better rate, and he should focus on trying to become a defensive stopper such as World Peace or the man he was a backup to last year Trevor Ariza. I always liked Darius Miller at Kentucky. He can shoot the ball at a high rate, played excellent defense, and brought the energy off the bench that the Wildcats needed in their championship run. He has the chance to be one of those second-rounders who has a productive NBA career. He certainly should get the opporunity with a weak Hornets bench on the wing.
This is where the hornets lineup gets interesting. I have Anderson listed as the PF, but Davis is also more of a traditional PF. The Hornets could go big, play Anderson at SF, Davis at PF, and Lopez at C. With Anderson's ability to shoot, that type of lineup could work. Anyway, lets consider as if Anderson is the PF. He was a breakout star last year, showing that he was not only a deadly 3-point shooter, but also shoot midrange, drive a little, and rebound. The downside is that Anderson, who came from the Magic, was able to score at a higher rate when Dwight Howard was able to draw defenders, allowing Anderson to get open shots. This is not to say that Anderson is incapable of scoring (his 3 point percentages are actually almost identical with and without Howard ~40%), but it becomes much harder for him. His defense is weak because he is weak, but if he does get time at SF, he should do OK. Warrick has basically been a complete bust since his days with Carmelo at 'Cuse, so this is his last chance to prove he can be a helpful role player. Smith, a Colorado State man, was thrust into a bigger role due to injuries last year, and showed he can play a little, and crush Blake Griffin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRvqWmtR7-I&feature=related). He is also the only one still on the team in this clip.
At center is the Unibrow. Picture.
We can sum up Davis' ability with the box score of the NCAA championship game. 16 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals, 6 blocks, and 6 points, and an MVP. The old saying, you don't need to score to have an impact. The thing is, he can also score, he just had a bad shooting night (1-10). He comes into the league already as a top-25 defender, has a jump shot, and will develop a post game as he builds more size. He is truly the best big-man prospect since Dwight Howard (and no Blake Griffin doesn't count, cause he plays like a SG, who can just jump higher, more on that later). Davis will have an immediate impact. Lopez, like Warrick has been a complete bust. He was never really trusted in Phoenix, but should get plenty of time at C here, when Davis is playing PF.
This year is not about winning for the Hornets. They want to see what they have in their young players, which is basically their entire team. Hopefully they have some bright spots. I cheer for teams that have their superstar ripped away from them because that person likes big cities and wants to play with his buddies. No one hates on Chris Paul for what he did, but it was just as bad as James, Melo, and Howard.
p.s. I went the entire post without talking about the travesty that was the time when the NBA owned the Hornets. Since that is not the case anymore, I won't talk about it. I'll save it for when I write professionally.
Next up, Sacramento (soon to be Seattle or Vancouver or Virginia Beach or Las Veags or Anaheim or my vote Anchorage) Kings
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