Bringing Back the Buzz: Zo & '92-93 Hornets

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cruzerr

Does 2k actually sort his contract out of the Lakers' cap space? That is a ton of room then! E: not really a ton but quite a bit!

Good question. Even though he announced his retirement, he's still on their roster. My guess is that it comes off the books after the season when 2K processes the retirements.

[trekfan]

Man, that's a big loss for the Lakers. Junkyard Dog deserved better, 2K. That's harsh.

[studbucket]

Coming off a Christmas day win over the Pelicans, their 5^th straight, the Hornets sit at 22-5 and at first place in the East, two games ahead of the Washington Wizards. Coach J and his team started the season a bit slow, but have gone 18-2 in their last 20 and are looking like the juggernaut they were predicted to be. This is further cemented by their absurd +16.5 point differential and 5 players averaging 14 points or higher per game.

For Boston, it’s been a disappointing season. After bringing in Hope Law, getting another top 3 pick, and with Robin Roy and Peja Lekic ready to take a step to be key players on a playing team, the team was ready to compete for the top of the East. Instead, Peja Lekic is likely out for the entire season, Hope Law has been up and down, and after beating San Antonio 110-106 on Christmas day, Boston sits at an underwhelming 12-17.

At least Boston can slot Jusuf Nurkic into the starting lineup, but they are going to need Robin Roy or Hope Law to score more than a combined 30 points per game (which is what they are currently averaging). The Celtics also have little-to-frontcourt depth with the Lekic injury, and will have to rely entirely on rookie Benjamin Scott and Jared Sullinger to partner with Nurkic. Boston may be a very good team in the East someday, but this doesn’t look like a promising matchup for them, even at the Garden.

Hope Law and Jerret Carmichael were shown laughing together before the game as the two college teammates caught up with each other. However, once the game started, it wasn’t a happy one for Hope Law and his teammates. The Hornets were up 18-7 after just 4 minutes and 14 of those 18 points were from 7 dunks. The other 4 were Antetokounmpo free throws.

The first quarter ended 35-21, and it didn’t get any closer from there. Charlotte expanded the lead to 17 at half, 36 at the end of the 3^rd, and finished the game by winning 132-90. The Celtics were completely outclassed and only 2 players seemed to show up for them at all: rookie Benjamin Scott and Jared Sullinger. The two combined for 41 points, although Sullinger only had 3 in the entire second half. Boston’s dynamic duo on the wings, Hope Law and Robin Roy, only had 3 points as they struggled to make an impact or get into any sort of rhythm.

For the Hornets, Alonzo Mourning and Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way. After combining for 25 points in the first quarter, they continued to set the tone for the rest of the game. Mourning finished as Player of the Game with 27 points, 12 rebounds (7 offensive) and 6 blocks as he controlled the paint. The Greek Freak had 26 points and 10 rebounds. They were supported by 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists from Carmichael and 18 points and 9 rebounds from Larry Johnson.

The Charlotte Hornets had a dunk party in Boston

Around the League
Injuries

• The string of high profile injuries continues as Javier Cortez hurts his right knee and will miss 6-8 weeks for the Trail Blazers. The Spanish SF is averaging 23 points in his first season in Portland.
• The Celtics got some bad news as promising young big man Peja Lekic has broken his left leg and will likely miss the rest of the season. Jusuf Nurkic moves into the starting lineup for Boston, and we’ll probably see more minutes from Celtics 1^st round pick Benjamin Scott at power forward.
• Russell Westbrook is out injured for 4-6 weeks with a right ankle sprain.
• Ty Lawson has a fractured eye socket and will be out for 4-6 weeks.
• LaMarcus Aldridge broke his left thigh and will miss 4-6 weeks of games.

Trades

• The Nets sent Robin Lopez to the Timberwolves in exchange for Tibor Pleiss.
• The Pelicans want to make a push for the playoffs and the Grizzlies have thrown in the towel, so the two teams made a trade: New Orleans gets 25 year old PF Jarnell Stokes and PG Jarrett Jack in exchange for PG Norris Cole and PF Nemanja Bjelica. Stokes should immediately make an impact in New Orleans as the 7^th man or as someone who could start alongside Anthony Davis.
• With 2 young point guards in house, the Bucks traded away Austin Rivers to Cleveland for Otto Porter and a 2022 2^nd rounder.
• With their injury problems and several solid point guards, the Lakers offloaded Isaiah Canaan and a 2^nd rounder to the Rockets for SF Corey Brewer.

Updates

• The 76ers’ Billy Delk scored a career high 31 points to lead them to a victory over the Knicks.
• Paul George’s 41 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks wasn’t enough as the Pacers fell to the Orlando Magic.
• Freddy Tobias won’t be hitting the open market as he stays in Utah for 2 years, $29 million.
• Even without Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks went into Oklahoma City and handed the Thunder their 3^rd loss of the season behind a solid team effort.
• Larry Johnson had a 17p/10r/12a triple-double as the Hornets demolished the Grizzlies 127-89. Alonzo Mourning added 33 and 16 and Jerret Carmichael was 5-7 from three.
• Emmanuel Mudiay’s 37 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists led the Nuggets to a 102-87 win over the Timberwolves.
• Blake Griffin continues his career year with another triple-double (34p, 14r, 10a). He’s up to 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists per game.
• John Wall had 42 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds in a runaway win for the Wizards over Miami.
• The Phoenix Suns have fired Jeff Hornacek and hired Flip Saunders as his replacement.
• Kevin Durant scored 47 points in a loss to the Suns.
• Even without Carmelo, the Knicks beat the Wizards in Washington in an ugly 78-69 game.

[trekfan]

Man, league injuries are piling up and the Hornets seem to be avoiding the bug so far ... they completely demolished Boston. It wasn't even fair.

[studbucket]

Quote: Originally Posted by trekfan

Man, league injuries are piling up and the Hornets seem to be avoiding the bug so far ... they completely demolished Boston. It wasn't even fair.

Yeah, the game was a mess. Charlotte's size and defense was way too much for the Celtics.

The Hornets actually have lost Kendall Gill an Wes Samuels for ~2 weeks a piece, but that's relatively small compared to other teams. Although Gill is a front-runner for 6th man of the year, and Samuels is the leader for Most Improved Player, so they aren't inconsequential losses.

[studbucket]

Many teams have now played half of their games this season, and it appears that the Warriors, Timberwolves, and Hornets are the class of the league. For the Warriors, this is a nice rebound from last season and the Timberwolves seem to finally be living up to their potential. Everyone expected this from the superteam in Charlotte.

Western Conference
After years of the West being very strong and having very strong 8 seeds and just a few games separating all the teams in the playoffs, the conference is now starting to look more like the East. 13 games separate the top seed from the 8^th seed, and there are 5 teams, all within 1 game of each other, fighting for that last playoff spot.

• Klay Thompson has stepped up to be the leading scorer for the Warriors this season, and the Derrick Favors – Draymond Green trade seems to be a win-win for both teams. With Favors strong interior presence, the Warriors find themselves at 33 wins, which is the same as their win total for all of last season.
• Continuing their run of schizophrenia, Boogie, DeMar, and the Sacramento Kings have decided to be good again and sit pretty comfortably in the 5 seed and have the 3^rd best defense in the West. Maybe it’s because both Cousins and DeRozan are in contract years.
• For the last 2 season, the Denver Nuggets heartbreakingly missed the playoffs by 1 game. Now they find themselves sitting at 6^th in the West and doing quite well despite trading away Kenneth Faried.
• Last month, the Portland Trail Blazers were sitting at 20-12 and in the thick of the West’s playoff race. However, with Javier Cortez injured, they’ve struggled to score and have lost 12 straight games, putting them at 20-24. Cortez is coming back soon, and the Blazers hope that can get them back into contention.
• The Mavericks were the surprise playoff team last year, and even took the eventual champions Utah Jazz to 6 games, but they are back where they belong this year, sitting at 14-28 and the bottom of the West.

Eastern Conference
For the first time in years, it doesn’t look like a LeBron James-led team is going to get the #2 seed in the East. The Hornets are rampaging through the league again, but the Wizards find themselves 4^th in the West, 2 games behind LeBron’s old team, the Cavaliers.

• The Knicks are 29-14 and continuing to look as good as they did last year. Sitting 2^nd it he West, they have the talent to give the Hornets a scare.
• Cleveland seemed a bit lost for a few years after LeBron left, and it looked like they may lose both Irving and Love. Instead, both players are back and the Cavs are having their best season in 4 years. They sit just a half game behind New York for the 2 seed in the East.
• The Toronto Raptors have seemingly seen their window close, as they struggle to stay above .500 and are in the pack of 5 teams fighting for 4 playoff spots. They have some decent young complementary players, but it doesn’t seem like the Millsap-Valanciunas-Lowry core is going to get them very far.
• The fans in Boston have to be disappointed. Robin Roy looks like a budding star, they have multiple top 5 picks on their roster, and Hope Law provided a much needed upgrade to their SG position. Despite that, injuries and inconsistency have them barely in the playoffs.
• Jahlil Okafor was amazing for Miami (winning the November Player of the Month award), but his season was cut short and the Heat are struggling without him and look like they have a decent shot at a top 3 pick.
• Nikola Vucevic has effectively helped the Nets and Magic flip spots. Brooklyn is now a borderline playoff team and the Magic are struggling to keep games competitive.

League Leaders
The West is the best once again, as longtime NBA leaders re-assert their dominance on the leaderboard.

• Kevin Durant and James Harden are the only two contenders for the scoring crow, as both are scoring more than 27.5 points a game. Durant is also leading the league in Efficiency, Game Score, and the MVP race.
• Blake Griffin is having a resurgent career year as Chris Paul has been hurt for much of the season. His 23.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists re the kinds of numbers you would see from an MVP, if his team was better. He’s tied for the league lead in triple doubles (3) with Larry Johnson.
• DeAndre Jordan is having an insane year on the boards, grabbing 18.6 per game (5.7 offensive) and leading the league with 37 double-doubles and 3.1 blocks per game. He’s also shooting 70% from the field, 15% better than the second ranked player.
• Ian Thomas is playing up to his potential in Sacramento as he finds himself second in the NBA in assists (9.1) and is also adding 10.3 points per game.
• Damian Lillard is not only averaging 23 points per game, but also leading the NBA in assists (9.3) and Steals (2.5).
• The Splash Brothers are back and both shooting better than 48% from three as Klay Thompson and Steph Curry are in MVP discussions.
• Steph’s dad, Dell Curry is 4^th in the NBA, shooting 48.2% from three and has had a resurgence in Phoenix where he’s scoring 19 points per game.
• Giannis Antetokounmpo leads all players with an average +/- of 14.5.

Rookies
This is shaping up to be one of the more interesting, and possible good, rookie classes of recent years. Several players have starting roles and are making a significant impact and a few look like they’ll be all-stars in just a season or two.

• #1 overall draft pick Mark Meekins finds himself in a terrible situation in Milwaukee, but he’s doing his best. He’s scoring 15.6 points a game and adding 4.6 assists. Fellow draftee PF Dick Webster is finally getting playing time and is grabbing 7 rebounds a game to go with his 4 points.
• Jermaine Smith has been the surprise of the draft, as he’s become one of the better scorers on the ultra-defensive Nuggets team. He’s dropping nearly 15 points a game for Denver and is a big reason why they are in the thick of the playoff hunt.
• Branduinn Gross has been nearly as good as Andre Drummond for the Hawks as he is averaging 12.8 points, 8.8 boards, and 1.6 blocks a game.
• There were 2 under-sized but high potential PFs picked in the top 3 in Martin Timmerman and Benjamin Scott. Both have been able to see time as starters this year and have played better than expected. Perhaps the comparisons to Draymond Green were not unfounded.

Hornets

• Alonzo Mourning is leading the league in PER and has increased his scoring output this season.
• Larry Johnson has 3 triple-doubles and his stats have not been negatively impacted by the addition of Antetokounmpo at all. LJ won the Player of the Month award for December.
• Speaking of the Greek Freak, Giannis is doing all of the things he does well this season, just at a slightly higher level as he is one of the most impactful players in the league.
• Wes Samuels and Jerret Carmichael are both in the discussions for Most Improved Player award. Samuels has gone from a deep bench player to the starting PG on the best team in the NBA. He’s averaging just under 8 assists and 2 steals per game and has looked great.
• Carmichael has embraced the starting role in his 4^th season as he improves his scoring output to 19 points per game and is shooting a lethal 43.3% from deep.
• Kendall Gill is also a leading candidate for an award: 6^th Man of the Year as he leads the Charlotte bench unit and is keeping up scoring numbers consistent with past seasons.
• Rookie Leroy Reed has exceeded expectations for the Hornets, looking competent in his playing time and even racking up 1.3 steals per game.

[studbucket]

The Oklahoma City Thunder are 31-12 and find themselves in a good position once again. However, folks around the league can’t help but ask a few questions: is their window almost closed? Did they blow their chance to win a title last year? Are Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook destined to be like Charles Barkley?

We won’t know the answers to those questions yet, but Kevin Durant is once again leading the league in scoring and could win his 3^rd straight NBA MVP. He’ll be facing off against one of the few guys in the league with his size-speed combination in Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak has been exactly what Coach J was hoping for, providing versatility and filling in exactly what the Hornets need on any given night, whether that’s scoring, rebounds, or playmaking.

The Hornets will still be without PG Wes Samuels due to a nagging injury, so we’ll likely see plenty of Rookie Leroy Reed and maybe even some Giannis at point. Will Westbrook eat the rookie alive? Coach J sure hopes not.

This is probably the deepest supporting cast Billy Donovan has had for Durant and Westbrook, as OJ Mayo starts at shooting guard, and Cameron Payne and Trey Burke provide scoring off the bench. Can all that talent on the wing be used to exploit the Hornets’ shallow backcourt due to injury?

The game was tight for the first few minutes, as it was tied at 15, but then Leroy Reed sparked the Hornets and they went on a 10-0 run and finished the first quarter up 37-25.

Reed took advantage of his starting opportunity and had 11 points at the end of the first half. His great was matched by his teammates and the Hornets were up 53-30 and one point in the 2^nd quarter, and Giannis came alive once Coach J put him at point. He also had 11 points at half. The Thunder were doing OK on offense (56 points at half), but just couldn’t stop Charlotte, who had scored 72 at that point.

Rookie Leroy Reed made some big plays for Charlotte

However, Kevin Durant and OKC weren’t going to take this game laying down. They quickly cut the lead to 10 points and put a scare into Charlotte. The Hornets regained control and never let OKC get closer than 8 points as they put way the game in the 4^th quarter.

It was a team effort from the Hornets and they were led by their “big 3” of Giannis (19p, 4r, 9a), Alonzo Mourning (22p, 17r), and Larry Johnson (20p, 6r, 5a). The Hornets also saw 4 other players score in double digits.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 21 points, but only shot 9-25 and made 3 of his team’s 4 three pointers, with the rest of the team shooting 1-9 from deep. Enes Kanter had a nice statline with 20 points, 18 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

Around the League
Injuries

• In the midst of a great late-career resurgence, Dell Curry will miss 2 months due to a broken humerus.
• Corey Brewer was brought in to be a reinforcement for the injury-ravaged Lakers. Now he’s out 6 weeks with a pulled calf muscle.
• It’s only 2 weeks, but Mark Meekins is going to miss time for the Bucks with a broken nose.

Trades

• The Timberwolves sent backup PG Tyus Jones to Atlanta in exchange for Wilson Chandler and 2022 2^nd rounder.

Updates

• The Jazz have locked up Tommy Camper for 3 more years at $12m/year.
• After losing to the Hornets by 42, the Celtics turned around and beat the Heat by 42. Isaiah Thomas made 7-10 three pointers in the win.
• Joey Fletcher scored a career high 33 points as the Knicks beat the Pacers 111-89. The win takes them to 2^nd place in the East.
• Jerret Carmichael led the Hornets with 36 points as they dominated the Nets.
• The Heat have fired Erik Spoelstra, although he doesn’t deserve much blame for the poor roster and Okafor’s injury. They have hired Keith Smart to replace him.
• Joey Fletcher is staying in New York for 3 years, $51m.
• Utah re-signed another one of their big men, Rudy Gobert for 3 years, $50m.
• Anthony Davis’ 39 points was enough to beat Kevin Durant and his 38 points.
• After a hot start to the season, the Wizards have been struggling a bit, including a loss to the 76ers where they only scored 56 points.
• Larry Johnson had his 2^nd straight triple-double (18, 18, 12) and Alonzo Mourning scored 36 points as the Hornets throttled the Hawks.
• The Portland Trail Blazers are floundering and have lost 10 straight games. Kevin Durant took advantage with a 40 point, 12 rebound, 8 assists, 4 steal and 3 block game.
• Andrew Wiggins scores a career high 36 points in a win over the Suns.
• The Cavaliers got a big win over the Warriors thanks to Kevin Love’s 33 points.

[trekfan]

The Hornets are running through their opponents again -- looks like the bench is really stepping up. Should be interesting to see who comes out of the West, it's gonna be tough sledding for whomever does come out this year.