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

[studbucket]

Some Trades from Around the League

There was even more league activity as we approach All-Star Weekend.

Here are trades that were offered my way that I declined
This was a great offer, but I just don’t want to disrupt the run or chemistry we have going on. Curry’s veteran leadership is very important.

J.R. Smith is an interesting offer, and this is another very fair deal, but the last thing I want to do is send a deadly 3 point shooter and more veteran leadership to the Cavs.

I denied the Cavs again
They were trying to get Garnett again, but I just don’t see the upside for Minnesota here, especially as they fight for the 7 or 8 seed and Garnett is so important to that team.

Accepted League Trades
This deal between the Pelicans and Hawks is really just about reshuffling some depth pieces.

The Warriors haven’t been playing to their potential, and they got a solid shooter for the bench for a relatively low cost.

Deals I should have denied
This deal makes sense in 2 ways:
1) It brings the Lopez brothers together
2) The Knicks can put Porzingis at the 5 and play small ball

Unfortunately, I don’t think I should have approved it, since Lopez was playing well for the Knicks, there’s no salary cap help for either team, and I don’t think they’re putting Porizingis at Center.

At first glance, this deal made sense. Overachieving Portland wants to make the playoffs and not waste an amazing year from Lillard. Then I realized 2 things after accepting:
1) Phoenix is 4^th in the West
2) Plumlee is having a career year

Now Phoenix is starting Morris at the 5 and Portland put Plumlee on the bench. I screwed this one up.

[studbucket]

February 2016 victory at Pacers

The Hornets continue their hot streak, winning the 31^st straight game in a defense-less match against Indiana. The Hornets were led by Alonzo Mourning on the offensive end, as Turner and Mahinmi could do nothing to stop his post game. Mourning went 16-24 from the field, 10-14 from the line and finished the game with 42 points, helping the Hornets get a tough win against the Pacers.

At halftime, the Hornets seemed to have the game under control as a big 2^nd quarter put them up 61-47. Dell Curry had made 3 of 4 from deep and Avery Bradley had facilitated well. However, all of the Hornets bad habits showed up in the 3^rd quarter. Dell Curry couldn’t buy a bucket and Larry Johnson and Ramon Sessions finished with a combined 15 turnovers as they took turns dribbling off of their feet or throwing the ball away. The poor play led to a 40 point 3^rd quarter from the Pacers which kept the game in single digits the rest of the way.

Charlotte kept making mistakes throughout the 4^th quarter, but were able to get the victory by running their offensive through Mourning. Whether it was post buckets, free throws, or finding the open man, Mourning was the clear star of this game. His physical play caused Turner to get 5 fouls in the 4^th quarter alone and foul.

Perhaps Charlotte was feeling tired, because the defensive prowess they had shown against the Cavs and Heat disappeared as Paul George and Monta Ellis got open looks all game and finished with a combined 69 points. Charlotte very well could have lost if 6^th Man of the Year candidate Rodney Stuckey had done better than 4-16 shooting.

All of the Hornets except for Zo and Grandmama will get a bit of a break as All-Star Weekend is next.

[studbucket]

February 2016 All-Star Break League Update

We’re over 50 games into the season and things have really started to take shape. Headlining the league are the upstart Hornets who have managed to reel off 31 straight wins and show an explosive offense that thrives even without up-and-coming wingman Kendall Gill. Coach J’s transformation of the roster has been astounding and Avery Bradley, Ramon Sessions, Taj Gibson, Andre Roberson, and Kelly Olynyk have fit perfectly into the team.

Standings
The West still looks to be deeper than the East, but not necessarily better. Some of the preseason contenders have failed to live up to expectations this season, with the Warriors sitting in 5^th, the Thunder in 6^th, the Pelicans in 7^th, the Spurs 10^th, and the Mavericks 11^th in the West.

The Rockets, Grizzlies, Clippers, and Suns have all taken advantage of this dip in form and make up the 4 teams fighting for the top spot. On the other end, the Nuggets are floundering and will struggle to hit 20 wins. The Kings are sitting at 20 wins and were really hurt by the loss of Boogie Cousins for several games.

In the East it’s Charlotte, Cleveland, and everyone else. Atlanta is in 3^rd place, sitting 10.5 games behind 2^nd place Cleveland, but only 4.5 games separate them from 8^th place Milwaukee. Atlanta has doubled down on their outside shooting, relying on rookie Hope Law, Kyle Korver, and Dennis Schroeder to terrorize teams from deep. Chicago and Miami have had injuries to key players, but are getting them back with 30 games left in the season and have a good opportunity to get the 3 seed.

New York is looking like an X factor. Rookie PG Joey Fletcher keeps impressing, picking up his league-leading 5^th triple double(!!!). He’s already one of the best passers in the league and is reminding people of Jason Kidd with the way he rebounds the ball. Will the team get better after having traded away Brook Lopez and put Thaddeus Young into the starting lineup? Toronto has to be the big disappointment, sitting at 23-29. However, they’ve gone 7-3 in their last 10, and it shouldn’t be hard for them to catch mediocre Milwaukee and Indiana.

Charlotte Hornets
Not much has changed in the distribution of scoring for the Hornets. In Gill’s absence, Larry Johnson has picked up the slack with the help of several other players and the Hornets’ outside shooting has gotten significantly better.

• Johnson and Mourning continue to average double-doubles and sit 2^nd (Zo, 39) and 7^th (LJ, 36) in the league in double-doubles.
• Larry Johnson is 6^th with three triple-doubles.
• Mourning leads all rookies in points (20.6), rebounds (11.3), and blocks (2.6).
• Avery Bradley continues to improve his play, and he’s shooting 30.8% from three, up 6% from the report at the 40-game mark.
• Both Larry Johnson and Dell Curry are shooting greater than 40% from three and Olynyk is shooting 37.4%
• Five Hornets are shooting better than 50% from the field: Mourning, Johnson, Gill, Gattison, and Gibson.
• Bradley has had some big assist games, but is still only averaging 3.2 a game.

League Awards
The same 5 players are in the MVP discussion, but there’s been some significant reshuffling. Kevin Durant and James Harden have both dropped 2 spots, while LeBron has climbed to the #1 spot, followed by a red-hot Larry Johnson.

In the rookie of the year voting, an injury to Karl-Anthony Towns has knocked him out of the discussion, but he’s been replaced by worthy candidates, as Joey Fletcher has moved up and Hope Law joined his college backcourt buddy in the top 5. Okafor still holds the top spot, but Mourning is right behind him in a race that is neck-and-neck.

In other awards, Derrick Rose and Anthony Davis added Player of the Month honors for January, while Joey Fletcher and D’Angelo Russell picked up Rookie of the Month. For Player of the Week voting, LeBron, Grandmama, and Kevin Durant have all won the award 5 times.

[studbucket]

2016 All-Star Weekend: Rising Stars Game

The Rising Stars Game featured 2 juicy Coach J-related matchups:

1. Mourning vs Johnson
2. Joey Fletcher vs Hope Law

The game ended up being Zo vs Grandmama show, as the two traded blows and the Elites mounted a furious 4th quarter comeback, closing a 16 point gap to 1 with 45 seconds left before a couple bad decisions led to a loss.

Note: I played with both teams, alternating quarters. I also simmed the latter half of 1st and 3rd quarters and the first 6 minutes of the 2nd and 4th quarters.

[trekfan]

Re: 2016 All-Star Weekend: Rising Stars Game

Man, what a blitz the Hornets are putting on the rest of the league. You guys are killing it. When is Gill expected to be back now?

As for the trades, eh, it happens. The Knicks trade was a lateral move for both teams, frankly, so no biggie there. The contract lengths are virtually the same for everyone.

The Blazers trade, yeah, that one wasn't great, but IRL Chandler has been benched for Alex Len (!) so, you can justify the trade sorta that way. Live and learn -- the NBA is a crazy league, there's bound to be a few head scratchers this trade season like there are every year.

[studbucket]

Re: 2016 All-Star Weekend: Rising Stars Game

Man, what a blitz the Hornets are putting on the rest of the league. You guys are killing it. When is Gill expected to be back now?

As for the trades, eh, it happens. The Knicks trade was a lateral move for both teams, frankly, so no biggie there. The contract lengths are virtually the same for everyone.

The Blazers trade, yeah, that one wasn't great, but IRL Chandler has been benched for Alex Len (!) so, you can justify the trade sorta that way. Live and learn -- the NBA is a crazy league, there's bound to be a few head scratchers this trade season like there are every year.

Thanks! Gill will be back by the end of the month. So if he stays healthy, he'll be ready for the last 3 months.

I also think that the team may be better with Roberson starting, as the starting 5 has plenty of offense and having Sessions come off of the bench will cause less stagnation from the 2nd unit. When Gill comes back, both will be relegated to the bench.

Appreciate you following this. I admit I feel cheesy for reeling off 31 straight, but ~25 of them have been simulated and for my 6 wins, several of them have been really close games.

The Rising Stars game was also a ton of fun. The guys are so athletic, I got to play with Fletcher and Law, and I can see why you love Hollis-Jefferson; he's hyper-athletic.

[studbucket]

2016 All-Star Weekend: Three Point Contest

Steph Curry ran away with this year's three point contest, and it wasn't through his excellence. Everyone else couldn't get past 11 points. Video of the whole contest is below.

[studbucket]

2016 All-Star Weekend: Slam Dunk Contest

The Slam Dunk Contest featured 3 Timberwolves players and Victor Oladipo. It was a much more entertaining affair than the 3 point contest, and Andrew Wiggins came away with the crown.

Enjoy the full video of the contest below.

[studbucket]

2016 All-Star Weekend: All-Star Game

The All-Star Weekend wraps up with the main event. The rosters were pretty much as expected, with the only possible snubs being rookie sensations Karl-Anthony Towns and Joey Fletcher.

The starting fives were good, but it was a bit surprising to see DeRozan, Mourning, Nowitzki, and Hayward starting.

Ultimately the East cruised to an easy victory and DeMar DeReozan won player of the game, though John Wall, LeBron James, and Larry Johnson were also key contributors.

Here are the full highlights:

Note: I played half of the 1st quarter, half of the 2nd, none of the 3rd, and all of the 4th as the Eastern All-Stars.

[studbucket]

Declined trades

The trade deadline ended up being very quiet. All that happened was I denied 3 trades from happening because they made no sense for some of the teams.

[studbucket]

Coach J Protégé Report

We just wrapped up the All-Star break, and there are two of Coach J’s former players that are really having an impact rookies Hope Law and Joey Fletcher. The rookie backcourt duo both were part of the rising stars game and are solid starters on Eastern Conference playoff teams. Chief Bing and Tommy Camper are still getting minutes on contenders and Paul Noonan, Wallace Anrin, and Romain Martin seem to be waiting for next season.

Joey Fletcher, PG, Knicks
Joey Fletcher has been a revelation for the New York Knicks this season and that 1-year contract they offered to the undrafted rookie is beginning to look like a mistake as teams around the league are lining up to sign him this summer. Through 49 games, he’s averaging 11.9 ppg, 9.2 apg, 6.7 rpg, and 1.9 spg. That’s a very solid starting point guard and he’s only a rookie. His shooting still needs to improve as he’s at 41.5% overall and 34% from deep. However, most impressive are his league-leading 5 triple-doubles.

Hope Law, SG, Hawks
Hope Law has settled into his role as the starting shooting guard for the Hawks and let Atlanta treat Kyle Korver as a nice-to-have. The rookie is shooting 41.5% from three and averaging 12.4 points per game through 45 games. He is doing well, though not quite to Joey Harper’s level. As a late first round pick, Law’s agent also took an unorthodox approach to the contract, taking the path pioneered by KJ MCDaniels last year. This means Atlanta is in the same predicament as New York.

Tommy Camper, C, Cavaliers
Tommy Camper has settled into being a regular player for the 2^nd place Cavaliers, but hasn’t had a huge impact for them…although he really doesn’t need to with the talent on the team. Serving primarily as a rebounder and defensive presence, Camper will look to test the market this offseason and go to a team where he can be more of a focal point in the offense.

Chief Bing, C, Rockets
Serving as the primary backup to Dwight Howard, Big has been relatively limited offensively (5.1 ppg) but is getting 10.2 rebounds a game and exceeding what is expected of a backup center coming off the bench.

Here is the previous report which gives some background on the free agent players. All three seem to be holding out for the offseason where they can get picked up.

Wallace Anrin, SF, Free Agents
Paul Noonan, SG, Free Agents
Romain Martin, SG, Free Agents

[studbucket]

Victory over Milwaukee

The Hornets went into Milwaukee, hoping the game would play out similar to when these two teams had faced up in November. Milwaukee’s interior defense was tough, but Charlotte let Michael Carter-Williams build a brick house and hit the Bucks on the break and used ball movement to get some key open looks.

This time, both teams were missing some players. Kendall Gill was on the bench for this game but likely wouldn’t see the floor as the Hornets didn’t want to risk re-inury. Khrys Middleton wasn’t available for Milwaukee, which is a big blow for their chances as it allows Milwaukee to pack the paint and invite the outside shot.

And invite the outside shot they did, to great effect.

The first quarter started slowly, but within 6 minutes, fans could see exactly how this game would go:

• Michael Carter-Williams throws up a shot and probably misses
• Charlotte passes the ball around and hits an open three
• Greg Monroe gets a decent bucket or gets fouled
• The Hornets hit the Bucks on the break for easy buckets

Unfortunately for Milwaukee, outside of a few streaks from MCW and some beautiful moves from Greg Monroe, nothing really worked. MCW ended up shooting a woeful 11-30 from the field, including 3-8 from deep (which is better than Coach J expected). With Ramon Sessions sitting 5-6 feet off of him the whole game, Carter-Williams couldn’t help himself and launched shot after shot.

As a team, Milwaukee only shot 42% from the field, went 4-17 from three, and 14-25 from the line. Despite all the bricks they threw up and the height they had, they also couldn’t get any boards, finishing with 36 total rebounds (19 offensive) compared to Charlotte’s 54.

For Charlotte, it was once again a team effort, with Larry Johnson’s passing, Mourning’s rebounding, and the 3-point shooting from Dell Curry, Avery Bradley, and Ramon Sessions all being key contributions to another easy win for the runaway favorites in the East.

On the defensive end, Giannis Antetokounmpo was mostly anonymous thanks to Roberson, Johnson, and Curry (and MCW ignoring his teammates) and Greg Monroe didn’t have a rebound in the first half.

Coach J was very concerned about his team’s 29 turnovers this game, with Mourning and Sessions contributing a combined 14. With Gill coming back, the ball control should be better and Sessions and Roberson will see less of the floor.

Note: due to some issues with the Xbox App (I played this game using game streaming) I wasn’t able to record any clips from the game, so no highlights today.

[studbucket]

Close Call vs Nets

In a simulated game, the Hornets streak almost ended against a poor Nets team. However Larry Johnson led the team back from a double digit deficit and they won in overtime. As you can see in the box score, Grandmama got 46 points and 16 rebounds, but on the negative side of things Dell Curry went 0-8 from deep.

Next up: another big game against the Cavaliers, but this time everyone is healthy (for both teams).

[studbucket]

February 24, 2016 at Cleveland

It’s been a wild ride, but the Hornets haven’t lost since a 25 point thrashing at the hands of the Grizzlies on December 11. Since then, they’ve rattled off an absurd 33 game winning streak and have taken control of the Eastern Conference. Larry Johnson is getting MVP buzz, Alonzo Mourning is being considered for Rookie of the Year, and people around the country are marveling at the job Coach J has done in his first year as an NBA coach.

However, people aren’t ready to hand them the crown yet. They may be 7 games ahead of the Cavaliers (40-15), but the season series is tied at 1-1 and the Cavs have gotten Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, and Tristan Thompson back from injury. While it doesn’t make their starting lineup radically stronger, it greatly improves their bench, which is where the Hornets can be taken advantage of. However, even with the team getting healthy, the Cavs are a frustrating 3-7 in their last 10, including a 112-79 blowout in the hands of Detroit 2 nights ago.

The Hornets welcome Kendall Gill back this game, which gives Coach J a big decision to make. Does he go with the recently healed and great scorer Gill? Or does he start Roberson to shut down LeBron and use Gill as a bench scorer?

Coach J ended up starting Roberson to make life harder for LeBron and kept Gill on the bench as a supersub to provide some offense when Johnson and Curry take a breather. Gill did provide a spark off of the bench, but LeBron did what he wanted to, no matter who was guarding him, which became obvious in the first quarter.

1st Quarter

Both teams started out hot in the first quarter. It took LeBron a few shots to warm up, but once he did he started finding open looks all over the floor and finished the first quarter with 14 points, which was complemented by 9 from Kyrie Irving (who started the game 4/4 with a three).

The Hornets kept a small lead with great passing and points in the paint. Led by Mourning’s 8 points, Charlotte had a 30-29 lead after one.

2nd Quarter

In a tightly contested 2^nd quarter, it was the Irving vs Mourning show. The Cavs kept hitting the Hornets on the break and Tommy Camper could not slow down Alonzo Mourning at all. Both players finished with 21 points at the half and outshined their teammates, especially Kyrie Irving. LeBron had no points in the 2^nd quarter and Kevin Love was effectively invisible in the first half.

3rd Quarter

In the 3^rd quarter, Kevin Love decided to show up, getting 2 easy layups off of pick and rolls and following that by a three pointer, but that wasn’t enough for Cleveland to pull away. The quarter was truly a back-and-forth one: when the Hornets missed, the Cavaliers missed. When Cleveland made a shot, Charlotte answered. However, Cleveland subbed out LeBron and the Hornets went on a run, getting up by as much as 10 before some poor play let Cleveland close it to a 4 point difference at the break.

4th Quarter

Things didn’t change much in the 4^th quarter, as it was the ‘Zo show. After the game, Coach J from refrained on commenting on his former college player’s struggles, saying “I’ll give Tommy a call later.” It was obvious he didn’t want to run salt in the wound after Camper allowed most of Mourning’s 45 points on a remarkable 20-25 shooting. Midway through the 4^th, David Blatt had his team start double-teaming Mourning in the post, but it made little difference. Mourning used great vision to find an open teammate for an easy shot. This was never more apparent than after the Cavaliers brought the game to within 3 with 1:30 left. Larry Johnson got the ball on the left low block and was immediately doubled. He turned and threw the ball across the lane to a wide open Mourning. The Cavs quickly doubled, but left Johnson wide open. Zo hit him with a return pass and Grandmama finished with an emphatic dunk.

After that, Cleveland couldn’t make their shots and resorted to fouling Charlotte. They found some false hope after Roberson missed 4 free throws and they hit 2 straight threes, but Gill and Curry sealed the game for the Hornets by hitting their free throws.

Despite the loss, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James played extraordinarily well. Irving had 39 points and LeBron was a great team player, finishing with 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 15 assists. The Cavs found the most success with their second unit of Varejao, Thompson and Williams on the floor, but couldn’t keep it up against Charlotte’s first team.

The loss drops Cleveland 8 games behind Charlotte in the East, and realistically ends their hopes of getting the first seed. Charlotte has a reasonable stretch coming up, with 2 games against mediocre Indiana, a game against the terrible 76ers (who just fired their coach and hired Lloyd Pierce), and they invite a slumping Phoenix team to town. The biggest challenge will be heading to 3^rd-place Atlanta. The Hawks spacing and shooting could present problems for the Hornets, who excel at defending the paint.

[studbucket]

Re: February 24, 2016 at Cleveland

Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks to those of you who read and follow along.