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

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When we last checked in around the league, the Golden State Warriors were tied for 1^st in the West with the Timberwolves. At 33-9, they were 3.5 games ahead of the Thunder and had a 9.2 point differential. Things haven’t gone well since. The Warriors are now 34-14, having gone 1-5 in that stretch (despite no injuries). They are tied for 2^nd in the West with Oklahoma City and have seen their point differential drop to 7.5. It’s not terrible, but it’s a pretty rough stretch for one of the more talented teams in the league. Klay and Steph are both shooting over 47% from three and are quite dangerous.

The Hornets were 33-7 at the same checkin, and have improved to 39-8, going 6-1 in that stretch. Wes Samuels is back from injury and the Hornets are completely healthy for the first time since December.

This marks the first time in Coach J’s tenure that he’ll be taking on Steph without his dad on the roster. Dell Curry is in Phoenix, where he was thriving and reviving his career before he got injured and hasn’t played in several months. Derrick Favors has been having the best year of his career, playing PF and C for the Warriors, averaging 12.9 points (3^rd best in career) and career bests in rebounds (10.5), assists (2.0), and blocks (2.2).

However, no other complementary players on the Warriors pose much of a threat to Coach J’s team as Harrison Barnes isn’t the player he once was, and the rest of the roster is filled with replacement-level players. Simple math tells us that 3 is less than 5, and the Hornets go 5 deep with high-quality players and will likely be able to beat Golden State just based on talent and matchups.

The game started out close and high scoring, just like the fans wanted. After a Coach J timeout, the Hornets found themselves up by 4, 22-18. However, Coach J said the right things in that timeout as his guards and wings, Kendall Gill, Leroy Reed, and Jerret Carmichael, came out on fire. Those 3 scored 8 points in 1:15 and led the Hornets to a 35-22 lead at the end of the first quarter. Jerret Carmichael had 12 points at the break and Alonzo Mourning had 9 points and 6 rebounds. That momentum continued for Mourning as he had a double-double by the end of the first half and the Warriors couldn’t slow him down.

His performance helped the Hornets stretch their lead from 13 up to 17 at the end of the 3^rd quarter, and the Warriors had so many problems with foul trouble and their depth that they played Harrison Barnes at center for stretches of the 3^rd quarter. Of course, Mourning feasted on him.

The game ended with an 18 point Charlotte win, and Alonzo Mourning dominated with 31 points, 23 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Jerret Carmichael added 29 points and Larry Johnson and Giannis Antetokounmpo chipped in with 22 and 15, respectively.

The Splash Brothers combined for 47 points, but they are going to need some more toughness and better big men if they hope to compete in the postseason. Look for them to be candidates for making moves at the deadline.

Around the League
Injuries

• The Nuggets PF Nikita Alenichev has a bad case of tendonitis in his elbow and is out for 1-2 months.
• The Clippers have Chris Paul back, but have struggled, and things aren’t getting any better as J.J. Redick is out for 2 months with back issues.
• Joey Fletcher will be back any day, but the Knicks just lost Carmelo Anthony for 4-6 weeks due to a pinched nerve. Johnnie Clark will need to step up in his absence.

Trades

• In an effort to improve wing depth, the Warriors have traded away James Michael McAdoo (PF) and Andrew Bogut (C) to the Grizzlies for David Wingate (SG).

Updates

• James Harden dropped 42 points on the Spurs as the Rockets held on for a 124-116 victory.
• The Pacers had 7 players scored in double digits (led by Paul George with 22) and they bested Kevin Durant’s 41 points for a 122-109 win in Oklahoma City.
• It was a close game in Charlotte until Toronto saw Paul Millsap, Jonas Valanciunas, and Kyle Lowry all foul out midway through the 4^th quarter. Charlotte ended up only winning by 6, but may not have won at all if it weren’t for the fouls.
• The Celtics finally got the kind of night out of their stars they expected against the Heat. Robin Roy had 31 points and 9 rebounds, Isaiah Thomas had 21 points, and Hope Law had a 15p, 11r, 10a triple-double and those 3 players shot 7-13 from three. They now have a winning record and if those 3 can play well, they are a dangerous team in the playoffs.
• Kevin Durant dropped another 41 points, but this time in a win over the Western foe Minnesota.
• Anthony Davis dropped 40 points in a dominating win over the Grizzlies.
• The Wizards are extremely talented, but they play some really ugly games every year. This year, they lost 61-55 to the 76ers. The top scorers had 12 points. The Wizards were without LeBron James, who will miss a few weeks with a minor knee injury.
• Rookie PF Juwan Trent scored a career high 36 points for the Heat as they defeated the Spurs. It’s only his 5^th game of the entire season. Perhaps that should be changing.

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The 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend is here and we’re kicking things off with the Rising Stars Game. Due to Leroy Reed’s injury, the Hornets have no representatives in this game, but Branduinn Gross and Johnnie Clark are both in the game to represent Coach J’s college players.

The Laker’s Ian Bledsoe led the Stars with 20 points, 10 assists and 4 steals. Boston’s Robin Roy had 17 points for the Elites.

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Unlike the upcoming dunk contest, the three-point shootout is full of star power. The crowd was buzzing as some of the league’s biggest stars and a few of the great shooters stepped up to show off their strokes. One interesting thing to note from the participants: all of them are from the Western Conference.

3 of the 4 stars struggled in round 1 and both Mavericks went to round 2 with Steph Curry. The final round was closer than expected, but the winner wasn’t a surprise.

And you can watch the whole thing here.

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With Nikita Alenichev injured, Everson Wade was chosen as his replacement for the slam dunk contest, giving Coach J 3 former players in this contest. (Note: since Wade is a Hornet, I’ll be controlling him. This didn’t go so well last year when I controlled Banjo)

Johnnie Clark is considered the favorite, but there is some dark horse buzz around big man Branduinn Gross.

After a good start from Everson Wade, he misses 2 dunks while Clark and Stinson threw down uninspiring dunks, leaving Branduinn Gross as the runaway winner.

Here’s the entire dunk contest:

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The main event of the 2020 All-Star Weekend is here. Fans have been hanging around Dallas all weekend and the buzz has really peaked as fans are expecting an extraordinary display of scoring from the stars tonight.

The West rolled out the all-world starting five of Steph Curry, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and Karl-Anthony Towns. A very talented, but not quite as imposing, starting 5 suited up for the East with John Wall, Hope Law, Paul George, Larry Johnson, and Alonzo Mourning. However, LeBron and Melo coming off the bench? This is going to be an entertaining All-Star game.

Kevin Durant had a wonderful game, stepping up and staking his claim as the best player and alpha dog. He had 35 points and 10 assists on 11-17 shooting (4-5 from three) and 9-11 from the line with no turnovers.

For the East, Mourning had 26 points, 11 boards and 5 blocks and was joined by fellow Hornet Larry Johnson who had 21 points and 9 boards. John Wall was all over the court and had 15 assists.

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We just finished up an exciting All-Star Weekend and the top teams in each conference are looking pretty solidified. What’s not clear is who the 6 through 8 seeds will be for each conference, as several underperforming teams are picking up their performance and making pushes for playoff spots.

Western Conference
The structure of the West hasn’t changed much since the last update, with just a few teams shuffling around and no teams coming in or out of the playoff picture.

• The Timberwolves have a solid 2.5 game lead over the 2^nd place Thunder, and it looks like their young group of players is finally competing at a high level. They also have fantastic depth and 7 different players who could lead the team in scoring on any night.
• The Los Angeles Lakers have been battling injuries all season, and are barely holding onto the 8^th seed out West. After the breakout season last year, they were expected to contend for the Western Conference title this season. Instead, they are sorely lacking depth and have lost some top scorers to injuries for stretches of time. With the Pelicans steadily improving and Portland getting healthy, the Lakers could be in big trouble this year.
• Javier Cortez is healthy again, and the Trail Blazers are starting to turn things around. They’re still 3.5 games out of a playoff spot, but when Lillard and Cortez are clicking, they can outscore anyone in the NBA.
• Chris Paul is healthy again, but that’s not really helping the Clippers out, as they are 10 games below .500.

Eastern Conference
Just like the West, no teams have moved in or out of the playoffs since the last update. However, the East does have the 5 worst records in the NBA, as the Bucks, Heat, Hawks, Magic, and Pistons all have less wins than the 19-34 Grizzlies.

• They don’t look like record breakers, but nobody out East is touching the Charlotte Hornets. Giannis has walked right into the Hornets’ starting 5 and flourished, while young PGs Wes Samuels and Leroy Reed and performing far better than ever expected. The question doesn’t seem to be “will they win it this year?” but “when will they stop dominating?”
• Boston’s stars are still inconsistent, but they’ve started to slowly drift up in the standings and could make some noise in the playoffs, especially if Peja Lekic returns from his rough injury.
• Atlanta’s twin towers approach has failed miserably. The Hawks are 2-10 in their last 12. Branduinn Gross is playing quite well as a rookie, but he and Drummond aren’t met to be teammates. It will be interesting to see what Atlanta does going forward with these two.

League Leaders

• Kevin Durant continues to cruise toward his 4^th NBA MVP, and his 3^rd straight. He’s outscoring everyone and adding another 16 combined assists, rebounds, blocks, and steals per game. He’s also the most efficient player in the league by advanced metrics.
• James Harden is close behind at 27.9 ppg and is currently tied for the league lead in triple-doubles with Larry Johnson and Blake Griffin with 3.
• DeAndre Jordan leads the league with 48 double-doubles and is averaging an absurd 18.3 rebounds per game.
• Dell Curry leads the league with by shooting 48.2% from three, with his boy Steph coming in at 45.7%. Rodney Hood has taken a step up this year and is 4^th in the league at 46.3%.
• LeBron James has fallen out of the year-after-year MVP race, but has still managed to lead the league in PER at age 35.

Rookies
This rookie class continues to impress as a few lottery picks (Juwan Trent, Ian Bledsoe) start to get more playing time in the second half of the season and show their worth.

• Jermaine Smith’s ever-increasing scoring is a big reason for the Nuggets’ current playoff position as one of their only consistent offensive threats.
• Marc Meekins is the best rookie this year, but he’ll have to wonder what he got himself into in Milwaukee, a team with almost no supporting cast and no first rounders for the next 2 years.
• Heat PF Juwan Trent gives us 5 rookies averaging double digits in scoring as he’s finally been given some minutes (8 games so far). He may not be able to keep this up, but has been impressive so far for a team that needs hope after the awful Jahlil Okafor injury.
• 10 rookies have played at least 37 games this season including the Bucks’ Dick Webster, who is grabbing a respectable 7 rebounds per game despite being considered a major project when drafted.

Hornets
Charlotte continues to dominate the league in their revenge tour, thanks to a more well-balanced attack than in previous years and increased scoring from Alonzo Mourning and Jerret Carmichael.

• Zo is holding steady at 21.2 points per game but has upped his rebounds to over 12.
• Due to some injuries, Jerret Carmichael has started too many games to get 6^th Man of the Year, but he and teammate Wes Samuels are in the running for Most Improved Player. Carmichael is averaging 19 points and 5 rebounds a game while Samuels is averaging just under 8 assists and 2 steals per game while starting at PG.
• Larry Johnson is just behind Kevin Durant in MVP conversations as he averages another double-double and charts his path toward the Hall of Fame.

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There were a few trades in the days leading up to the deadline, but nothing that will shift the balance of power around the league.

• The Nuggets are currently holding onto a playoff spot out West and want to ensure it stays that way. To shore up their weakest position, they have sent 2^nd year PF Jeff McDaniel to Chicago for veteran SF Johnny Newman. Newman will likely start over Wallace Anrin at the 3.
• The Knicks have sent C Kyle O’Quinn to the Wizards in exchange for PF Joffrey Lauvergne and a 2022 2^nd round pick.
• The Spurs sent veteran SG Danny Green and a 2022 2^nd round pick to Dallas for C Dwight Powell and a 2022 2^nd round pick.
• Coach J continued his draft maneuvering, sending New Orleans’ 2020 1^st and Washington’s 2021 1^st to Sacramento for Denver’s 2020 1^st and Sacramento’s 2021 1^st.

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I just wanted to pop in and give a quick update. First off: I am not done with this.

My team was in a weird situation at work and I am taking over a month off to spend with my family. I have about a week left, but I haven't played a ton of video games. It's been a lot of family time. When I do play video games, it's been either playing Child of Light with my daughter, or playing Football Manager 2018.

Speaking of FM18, I started a dynasty there as well, about a guy trying to make the Seattle Sounders dominant and the USA a regular competitor in the World Cup.

I'll be back with an update here soon on Coach J's proteges, then a game against the Timberwolves.