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

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Conference Finals Update

(2)Memphis beating (5)Oklahoma City 2-1
Game 1 – Memphis got a dominant win, entering the 2^nd quarter up by 14 and halftime by 28 before coasting to a 109-90 victory. Rudy Gay wasn’t much of a facto, but Z-Bo and Gasol had double-doubles (14 rebounds a piece) and no Thunder players outside of Durant and Westbrook could generate any offense.

Game 2 – The Thunder played much better in game 2, stealing home court advantage from the Grizzlies with a 109-99 win. Serge Ibaka got 23 and 11 to go along with Durant’s 24-10 double-double and Westbrook’s 33-10-10 triple double. Ibaka and Durant also each had 5 blocks and the Thunder had 5 players with double digit rebounds. The Grizzlies interior game was stifled as Gasol was held to 13 and 6, and nobody scored more than 19 points.

Game 3 – In a defensive battle, a team effort from the Grizzlies got the victory as their starting 5 combined for 89 points and held Durant and Westbrook to a combined 42 points as they recovered home court advantage.

(1)Charlotte beating (3)Atlanta 3-0
Game 2 - Larry Johnson had 35 points, Alonzo Mourning had 20 rebounds, and the 2 stars combined for 7 blocks to lead the Hornets to a relatively easy 108-91 victory in game 2.

Game 3 – The story remained the same in Atlanta, as the Hornets took a 20 point lead into the 4^th and won 107-100 in the back of double-doubles from Mourning and Johnson and a combined 49 points, 16 rebounds, and 19 assists from Curry, Sessions, Gill, and Bradley. Unfortunately for the Hornets, Taj Gibson tore his triceps and is out for the season.

[studbucket]

2016 NBA Playoffs, Eastern Conference Finals Game 4

The Hornets are now 7-0 on the season against the Hawks, and the Charlotte faithful are looking forward to the NBA Finals. It’s been a remarkable run, and it would take an epic collapse for it to be ruined now.

It was all Hornets in the first quarter, starting right with the opening tip. Mourning knocked it back to Grandmama, and as the Hawks settled in on defense, he ran by his guy into a wide open lane for an emphatic slam. The fun continued for the Hornets as Dell Curry had 3 total steals, including some on back to back possessions that helped lead to a 26-13 lead midway through the first.

However, without Taj Gibson, the Hornets bench unit suffered and couldn’t score, and let the Hawks get closer as the first quarter finished 33-26.

After some sloppy play and a missed dunk from Zo, the Hawks tied it up at 43, representing a huge comeback. Coach J called a timeout, calmed down his team, and they came back to take a 54-47 lead into halftime. From there, it was all Hornets. Doubling Kendall Gill resulted in a lot of open shots for teammates and the Hornets coasted to an easy win and an NBA finals berth against either the Thunder or Grizzlies.

Zo controlled the paint, and Johnson and Gill were once again the key offensive forces for the hornets as they combined for 48 points and 16 assists.

Western Conference Finals
Out West, the Thunder won game 4 in a defensive effort, holding Rudy Gay to 13 and Gasol to 9, which evened the series back at 2.

The Thunder then went back to Memphis and won game 5, despite Randolph and Gasol playing well, but 33 from Durant and 30 from Ibaka overshadowed that. In game 6, the Thunder closed out the series with a third straight win as Durant, Westbrook, and Cameron Payne combined for 96 points and they eked out a 3 point win at home.

[studbucket]

NBA Finals Preview

What’s more impressive? A team that has swept two series and only played 15 games to get to the finals? Or a team that has beaten 3 very tough and talented opponents, all in less than 7 games? The sense among many people is that the path through the playoffs for the Thunder has meant more than the Hornets, and despite the Hornets having won 20 more regular season games, Oklahoma City is getting a lot of movement in Vegas.

Team Comparison

Team	Charlotte Hornets	Oklahoma City Thunder
Seed	1	5
Record	71-11	47-35
Playoff Opponents	Celtics (4-0); Heat (4-3); Hawks (4-0)	Warriors (4-1); Rockets (4-2); Grizzlies (4-2)
Points scored	109.8 (1st)	106.4 (7th)
Points allowed	96.4 (1st)	101.9 (11th)
Strengths	Frontcourt; rebounding	Backcourt; ball safety
Weaknesses	Bench scoring; wing defense; turnovers	Bench scoring;

Key Matchups
Kevin Durant vs Hornets’ wing players – Durant has led both the regular season and playoffs in scoring and everyone knows he’s a bona fide star. The Hornets have also struggled with athletic wing scorers all season. We saw it in round 2 as Gerald Green had a great series. Coach J can’t hope to stop Durant, but limiting his effectiveness has got to be top priority for him and his team. Kendall Gill may be an athletic match for Durant, but his defense is just average, and he’s about 6 inches shorter. The best matchup may be the former Oklahoma City man: Andre Roberson.

Larry Johnson vs Serge Ibaka – The League MVP against one of the most athletic big men in the league. It’s an intriguing matchup, as Johnson has used his speed and strength to outmaneuver nearly every opponent this season, but Ibaka may be a very tough matchup for the super sophomore.

Enes Kanter vs Alonzo Mourning - With the injury to Steven Adams, Kanter stepped in and has played relatively well and has averaged 11.6 points and 11.0 rebounds. However, he’s a defensive liability and Mourning has been a force on both ends of the court this season. Even though he’s been less of a focus this postseason, Mourning has one of the better matchups for the Hornets in this series and the Hornets may want to alter their offensive strategy.

Hornets bench vs Thunder bench – The Hornets bench contributed a league-last 23.8% of their points, and the Thunder weren’t much better at 26.1%. Both teams struggled to get points off of the bench, and it’ll be even harder in the finals with the injuries that have hit both teams. Will either coach make changes to their rotation to take advantage of the other’s weakness? Will one of the defenses play better than the other?

Under-Rated Sub Plot: Kevin Lynch and Andre Roberson
In early December, and injury to Taj Gibson (déjà vu, right?) caused Coach J to make several trades. One of those trades was with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The two teams swapped 2016 first rounders and exchanged SG Kevin Lynch for SF Andre Roberson. Kevin Lynch was unused and unwanted in Charlotte and Andre Roberson’s expiring contract and offensive deficiencies made him easy to unload for the Thunder.

It turns out the trade was mutually beneficial, as injuries have forced Kevin Lynch into the starting lineup where he’s been competent and even had a few scoring outbursts. Roberson has been a key role player for the Hornets and even been deployed as a starter to shut down some tougher wing matchups like LeBron James.

Prediction
Hornets in 7 games. It’s looking to be a very good series. In the regular season, the Hornets won the last matchup handily, 111-88, but that was back in January. The Thunder have been on a roll, and as good as Mourning, Johnson, and Gill have been, they aren’t quite the stars that Durant and Westbrook are. However, in what looks to be a very even matchup, there’s one area that’s not real even: coaching. Coach J has shown a remarkable ability to make just the right tactical change throughout the year to help the Hornets compete with many different teams, and we just haven’t seen that from Billy Donovan.

[studbucket]

Re: NBA Finals Preview

Well, this NBA Finals certainly hasn't gone how I predicted. Huge game 1 recap coming up, to be followed by the summary of the simulated games.

I may even create some gifs (thanks Trek for the inspiration) and include some still photos like many of the other great dynasty blogs here at OS do.

[studbucket]

2016 NBA Finals Game 1

NBA fans everywhere are buzzing with anticipation as we enter the first game of the 2016 NBA Finals. Would the up-and-coming Hornets actually be able to deliver under the intense pressure of the Finals? Would the Thunder finally get a title in what may be Durant’s last year in Oklahoma City? This wasn’t the Finals matchup everyone was predicting, but everyone can agree that it’s hard to imagine a much more interesting matchup, both on the court and off.

When the starting lineups were announced, one first year coach (Donovan) kept things stable, while the other (Coach J) mixed things up. Kendall Gill was moved to SG, Andre Roberson starts at the 3, and Dell Curry starts on the bench. It’s assumed there are three possible advantages this provides Charlotte:

1. Better defense on Durant (from Roberson)
2. Better bench scoring because of Dell Curry
3. A good matchup for Kendall Gill (being guarded by Kevin Lynch)

We’ll see if these prove to be good moves or if Coach J has out-thought himself.

The game started very slowly. After 3 minutes, the score was 4-1 Thunder, and you started to wonder if it was just nerves or if the Hornets were struggling to adapt to their new lineup or the Thunder’s defensive strategy. Shot started falling, but none of them were from the stars as both defenses played great, generating 4 steals in 4 minutes.

Eventually the Hornets got into a rhythm, and they treated the crowd to some high-flying offense while the Thunder continued to struggle until Roberson was subbed out. Once Gill had to guard Durant, he started getting better looks. However, any positives from Durant were overshadowed by the fantastic performance Dell Curry put on coming off the bench. Coach J looked like a genius as Curry had 7 points in his substitute appearance in the first quarter, and helped lead the Hornets to a 35-22 first quarter lead.

The second quarter ended up being more of the same. The Hornets doubled Westbrook and Durant any time they moved, and it resulted in a bulk of the offensive production falling on the Thunder big men. Sometimes this worked well, for easy lay-ins or trips to the free throw line. However, it too often resulted in missed shots and turnovers, both of which led to a Hornets fast break. The Thunder’s second unit was woeful, and was characterized aptly by 2 things:

1. Steven Adams played despite being concussed, and managed to pick up 4 fouls in the first half, despite being a sub
2. DJ Augustin threw a pass to Mitch McGary, who was 10 feet away on the wing. The ball hit his foot and went out of bounds, in what was a terrible unforced error by Augustin.

Westbrook was relatively ineffective for the Thunder, tallying 4 points, 7 assists, and 3 fouls in the first half. Durant and Kanter had 11 apiece for OKC, while Mourning had 18 points and 6 rebounds, leading the Hornets to a 70-47 first half lead.

The Hornets high-flying offense showed up after a few minutes of stagnation

Unhappy with being marginalized, Westbrook threw down a monstrous slam dunk over Dell Curry just 10 seconds into 2^nd half. However, that was not a vision of what was to come as the game stayed about the same, even though Durant was able to score more, none of his teammates really helped much. In a last ditch effort, Donovan changed his rotation to get Durant and Westbrook onto the floor at the same time as the Hornets reserves. It was relatively effective, but a slower-paced offense from Charlotte and lights-out shooting from Dell Curry (9 points in last 3 minutes of 3^rd) kept the Hornets comfortably ahead. They entered the 4^th quarter up 95-78, and the rested starters coasted to an easy victory.

Mourning was a steady presence for the Hornets, controlling the interior with some help from Cole Aldrich. In 31 minutes, Zo scored 30 points, had 8 rebounds, and 2 monster rejections. Dell Curry scored 23 points coming off of the bench, Andre Roberson had a career-best 12 assists. Oh, and LJ had 25 points and 11 boards, no biggie. Durant didn’t play poorly, but Coach J’s gameplan worked well, as Durant had 28 points on 12-25 shooting and the #2 scorer for the Thunder was Enes Kanter with 25. Russell Westbrook had 16 points, 1 rebound, and 16 assists. A great game for a league average point guard, but Westbrook has got to be frustrated with the lack of impact he had and his 6-18 shooting.

Coach J’s changes were spot on this game, as Gill, Curry, and Roberson all stepped up. How will Donovan change things up with game 2? The Hornets were just toying with the Thunder at the end of the game, and you know Westbrook is not happy with the showboating from rookie Mourning and former teammate Roberson. The Hornets won nearly every key matchup this game, and Kevin Lynch and the Thunder bench were complete non-factors compared to Roberson and the Hornets’ reserves. That’s going to have to change for the Thunder to have a chance going forward.

[studbucket]

2016 NBA Finals Games 2 and 3

As I mentioned early in the thread, I play game 1 and all elimination games in the playoffs, so these are the games I simmed.

Game 2 – Hornets 102, Thunder 86
Another game, and another bad start from OKC as Charlotte controlled the tempo and went up 37-24 after the first quarter. Things slowed down for both teams in the 2^nd quarter, but OKC only scored 16 points, and was now down 62-40 at half. It was looking dire for the Thunder again, and it didn’t get any better in the second half, as the Hornets dominated the game, were up 24 going into the 4^th and coasted to a victory. 30 points and 16 rebounds from Larry Johnson led the way for Charlotte, while no Thunder player scored more than 19 (Durant).

Game 3 – Hornets 137, Thunder 95
The series came back to Oklahoma City, but it was more of the same. Charlotte charged out to a 41-25 first quarter lead, with Larry Johnson finishing the quarter with 8 assists to go along with 8 points. The Hornets had a 20 point lead at half, with bench players Curry and Aldrich leading the team with 14 points apiece. Anthony Morrow is back in the rotation for OKC and Kevin Lynch is inactive, but his 14 first half points made little difference for the home team.

Instead of taking their foot off of the gas, the Hornets showed a killer instinct and scored 45 in the 3^rd and had a remarkable 116 points before the 4^th quarter even started! It all added up to a ridiculously dominant 137-95 victory for the young Hornets, who look almost 100% certain to win their first NBA title. Johnson’s 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 17 assists led the team, but everyone chipped in for this victory.

What do you think about all this Andre Roberson?


For game 4, I am going to up my difficulty and use ThatMichiganFan’s sliders. We’ll see how it goes

[studbucket]

2016 NBA Finals Game 4

As we head into game 4, all of Charlotte is on cloud nine, and most of the NBA can’t believe what they are seeing. A team with a losing record last year, with a brand new hotshot head coach and three stars under 24 has both reeled off 54 straight wins and come within 1 game of sweeping the Thunder to secure their first championship.

However unlikely it is that the Thunder will win this series, the game still needs to be played, and if anyone could come back, it’s this Thunder team. It may be the last time we see Durant and Westbrook playing together, and both are very proud players, who’ve been hampered by 5 years of poor coaching and management.

Billy Donovan, still can’t seem to figure out what he wants to do. After giving Morrow more minutes and relegating Lynch to inactive for game 3, Lynch is now back in the starting lineup and Morrow’s on the bench.

Will the Hornets be raising this after the game?

The game started off in a very entertaining manner. Gone were the sloppy first quarters we’d seen from the Hornets, instead there was great shooting and solid defense from both sides. Kendall Gill started out 4-4 with 9 points, but was getting plenty of other players involved as the Thunder were still doubling him and Johnson.

The Thunder made their first subs, giving Durant a rest but keeping Westbrook on, and Coach J reacted accordingly, giving Johnson and Bradley a rest while keeping Gill and Mourning on. As the first half ended in a 26-26 tie, he hoped that this rotation could help his team afloat in the second quarter.

Unfortunately the for the Hornets, the Thunder started the 2^nd quarter on fire. After a 10-0 run, Coach J had to call a timeout and regroup his guys. After that, the game went back and forth before Charlotte managed to get ahead by 8. They should have gone into half up by 8, but a sloppy last 30 seconds gave the Thunder an easy 3 points and the game was 58-53 at half.

It’s said that in the NBA, the only thing fans need to tune in for is the 4^th quarter, but they would have missed a lot if they had done so here. The 3^rd quarter was a high-scoring back and forth affair, featuring lead changes every minute and 72 combined points. Kevin Durant was on fire and carrying the Thunder, and Charlotte held on for dear life as the quarter ended 92-91, with the Thunder leading.

The 4^th quarter played exactly the same as the third, with nobody able to establish a permanent. It was still a 1 point game with 3 minutes to play, and Coach J subbed out Andre Roberson for Dell Curry. Durant had been so hot, it doesn’t matter who guarded him, and the Hornets were looking for some more scoring.

It may have been Curry, or it may have been coincidence, but that’s when things started looking good for the Hornets. First, Adams fouled out, putting Kanter back in the game, and the Lynch-Kanter combination led to this magical moment:

You were passing to me?

Westbrook was hustling like crazy and getting putbacks and great looks, but his legs eventually betrayed him and he missed 2 bunnies and Curry followed that up with a clutch 3 pointer. This gave the Hornets a 2 point lead going into the last minute.

Gill missed an acrobatic layup and in the ensuing confusion by the Hornets, Westbrook found himself wide open for a three…that clanged off the back of the iron. With 25 seconds left and down by 2, the Thunder had to start fouling.

After Bradley converted 2 and Kanter and Mourning only went 1-2 on their shots, Durant hit a beautiful long two to cut the Hornets lead to 125-123. Kendall Gill went to the line and hit both free throws to give the Hornets a 4 point lead with 8 seconds left. Any chance the Thunder had to win the game was wasted when they managed to play hot potato and not even get a shot off. 127-123, the Hornets are your champions!

On a night when Larry Johnson struggled to get going, Alonzo Mourning was steady and sure for the Hornets with a game leading 37 points and 13 rebounds. They were also helped by a 15 point first half from Avery Bradley, a hot start from Kendall Gill, and some key baskets from subs Aldrich and Curry.

Kevin Durant should once again be applauded for his hard work, as he was nigh-unstoppable in the 3^rd quarter on his way to 32 points, 6 assists, 5 steals, 4 rebounds, and a block. However, he was once again let down by his teammates, including Russell Westbrook. At first glance, Westbrook’s game seemed fine, as he had 20 points and 12 assists, but a closer look shows that he went 7-25 from the field, including 1-7 from deep (as opposed to Durant’s 5-7 from three).

[studbucket]

Celebration Post

The Finals MVP was Larry Johnson



Bradley and Gill revel in their victory.



The superstars show off their hardware.

[trekfan]

Re: Celebration Post

MVP! MVP!

Great series win. Another loss in the Finals by the Thunder ... one has to wonder what Durant feels about it all now.

[studbucket]

Re: Celebration Post

MVP! MVP!

Great series win. Another loss in the Finals by the Thunder ... one has to wonder what Durant feels about it all now.

Yeah, it came a bit too easy for the Hornets as the Thunder self-combusted in games 1, 2, and 3. I'll be interesting to see if Durant sticks around, and if he does, what was he promised?

I've done the offseason now, and there's definitely some interesting stuff. 1 really, really big move and several notable ones. There were also some stupid ones, but that's what I get for not controlling all 32 teams.

I spent too much time in the offseason last night, hoping some coherent recaps can come up.

However, Coach J's former players got paid, that's one thing you can be sure of.

[studbucket]

Retirees and Hall of Fame

Lots of retirements this year, and 5 deserving candidates made it into the Hall (see the green rows).

Kevin Garnett	Timberwolves	21 years pro	Age 40
Kobe Bryant	Lakers	20 years pro	Age 37
Jermaine O’Neal	Free Agent	18 years pro	Age 37
Vince Carter	Grizzlies	18 years pro	Age 39
Steve Nash	Free Agent	18 years pro	Age 42
Ray Allen	Free Agent	18 years pro	Age 40
Jason Terry	Rockets	17 years pro	Age 38
Andre Miller	Timberwolves	17 years pro	Age 40
Nazr Mohammed	Free Agent	17 years pro	Age 38
Elton Brand	Free Agent	16 years pro	Age 37
Rashard Lewis	Free Agent	16 years pro	Age 36
Hedo Turkoglu	Free Agent	15 years pro	Age 37
Kenyon Martin	Free Agent	15 years pro	Age 38
Drew Gooden III	Wizards	14 years pro	Age 34
Manu Ginobili	Spurs	14 years pro	Age 38
Chris Anderson	Heat	14 years pro	Age 37
Jason Richardson	Free Agent	13 years pro	Age 35
Brendan Haywood	Free Agent	13 years pro	Age 36
John Salmons	Free Agent	13 years pro	Age 36
Udonis Haslem	Heat	13 years pro	Age 36
Matt Barnes	Grizzlies	13 years pro	Age 36
Mike James	Free Agent	12 years pro	Age 40
Luke Ridnour	Free Agent	12 years pro	Age 35
Matt Bonner	Spurs	12 years pro	Age 36
Rasual Butler	Free Agent	12 years pro	Age 37
John Lucas	Free Agent	7 years pro	Age 33
Pablo Prigioni	Clippers	4 years pro	Age 39

[studbucket]

2016 NBA Draft Lottery, Trades, and Strategy

The day that NBA nerds everywhere love is here: the draft lottery!

The Nuggets may already have Mudiay, but they are hoping the odds play out and they can grab another talented guard to pair with him. The Spurs are also in the lottery for the first time in years, though they likely won’t be as lucky as last time they were here.

The Lakers and Mavericks are the big winners this year, with L.A. jumping from third to first, and the Mavs went all the way from ninth to second. The Nuggets and Wizards will be a little disappointed as they fell a bit due to the Lakers’ and Mavericks’ good luck.

The Hornets
By betting on his team with some trades this past season, Coach J managed to end up with the 21^st and 22^nd picks in the first round in addition to getting rotation players Cole Aldrich and Andre Roberson.

However, Coach J had his sights set on 2 of his former Wisconsin Badgers in this draft, and they may not fall that far. PF Eto Ruffin was mocked to go as high as 11, while SF Jerret Carmichael could go as high as the mid-teens. He would also like to opportunistically get PG Freddy Tobias and PF Mamadou Banjo. However, Tobias will likely go in the top 10, and Banjo looks like a 2^nd round pick.

With this being Coach J’s strategy, he looked to make a move to increase his chances to get 1 or both of those players. First, he unloaded Taj Gibson’s expiring contract to the Clippers for their 2018 first rounder and 2016 second round pick. With more picks and some cap space, Coach J made a second trade, giving up 2017 first round picks from the Clippers and Bulls to get the Celtics #15 overall pick.

That gives the Hornets picks 15, 21, and 22 in the first round and some flexibility to get the guys that Coach J wants to. Time will tell how big of a mistake it is for him to go after the players he is familiar with.

[studbucket]

2016 NBA Draft

The draft kicked off with back-to-back guards as the Lakers took SG Dale Banks who averaged an astounding 30 points per game while at UNC. With the next pick, the Mavericks took dynamic point guard Ian Thomas from VCU.

The rest of the top 5 picks went as Coach J expected, but this is where things would start to be more interesting and nerve-wracking for him, as he waited and watched to see where his former players from Wisconsin would land. It didn’t take long before the first Badger was off the board, as Freddy Tobias was picked by the Utah Jazz at #8. It’s an interesting pick given all the guards they’ve taken the last few years, but this may be a sign that they aren’t fully convinced that Dante Exum can recover from his injuries.

As the 15^th pick approached, both Eto Ruffin and Jerret Carmichael were still on the board, delighting Coach J to no end. However, there was a big scare at the 14^th pick, when the Wizards traded their entire 2017 draft for Jameer Nelson and the #14 pick. Fortunately for the Hornets, they went a different direction, leaving Coach J to make a choice between Jerret Carmichael and Eto Ruffian. Carmichael has a higher upside and has good size for his position. Ruffin is more of a positional need for Charlotte and is a good shooter for a power forward.

Ultimately, Coach J went with Carmichael, hoping that Ruffin would still be around at 21.

However, with the 20^th pick, the Chicago Bulls grabbed the hometown boy (Arlington Heights, IL), grabbing Ruffin right out from under the Hornets’ nose.

Meta note: Teams were offering trades for the just-drafted Abraham Barrett, but I couldn’t figure out how to trade for already drafted players, otherwise I would have traded for Ruffin. I may still try to do so, but I can’t trade until after summer league.

Having lost out on Ruffin, Coach J traded the 21^st pick away to the Atlanta Hawks for pick #26 and their 2^nd rounder. With the 22^nd pick, there were no satisfying offers for trading down, so Coach J picked SF Hakan Basturk, banking on the fact that Banjo should be around at 26. He had a small scare as the nuggets traded Thiago Splitter to the Heat for pick #23, but was able to reach and pick up 6’10” PF Mamadou Banjo at #26. Coach J wanted to trade down, but there were no worthwhile offers.

There was also a deal that involved the Kings giving up Bellinelli for pick #29.

2^nd round
In round 2, the Hornets took a flier on a pair of Romanian players; it’s unlikely they will make the roster.

Hornets Draft Summary
Round 1, Pick 15 - Jerrett Carmichael, SF, Wisconsin
Round 1, Pick 22 - Hakan Basturk, SF, Turkey
Round 1, Pick 26 - Mamadou Banjo, PF, Wisconsin
Round 2, Pick 21 - Ion Erhan, PF, Romania
Round 2, Pick 26 - Iancu Paunescu, PG, Romania

[studbucket]

Coach J’s Drafted College Players

As was covered here, the Wisconsin Badgers made the Elite 8 in the first season after Coach J, which was actually a disappointment given the talent and experience on the team. After the season, 4 starters went pro (all except for high-flying 6’9” SF Everson Wade).


Meta note: you may recall that I forgot to customize the draft class before the season. This meant I had to go through and designate players ahead of time to be the 4 Badgers going pro, based on the College Hoops 2K draft predictions. After they were drafted, I renamed them, edited their info, and changed the attributes to be more like the players. After creating the first 7 players, I realized that a straight port of the ratings from CHoops 2K8 made them too good. So, I decided on a formula for the new players coming in: drop mental attributes by 10, basketball skills by 5, and physical attributes by 0. Then I forgot to do that…however, I did make sure that no player’s overall ratings were inflated too much over what they came in as. Generally trying to keep it within 2-3 overall rating points.


Freddy Tobias, PG, Utah Jazz

The big point guard from Wisconsin was often overshadowed by his teammates, but when it came to pro potential, their numbers couldn’t overshadow his skill. He needs to work on his shooting, but already has good court vision and a willingness to get to the hoop. Given Tobias’ length and strength, you’d expect him to be better at defense than he is. It will be interesting to see how the new coaching staff in Utah utilizes Tobias, especially with the other young guards on the team.


Jerret Carmichael, SF, Charlotte Hornets

Coach J had a bigger need at point guard and power forward, but loved the versatility of Jerret Carmichael’s game. He’s great at finishing around the hoop, and has a good stroke. With his size, he could develop into a great rebounder and solid defender, but he needs to work a lot more on his positioning and technique. As much as Coach J likes Carmichael, he’ll be stuck behind Kendall Gill, Wallace Anrin and Dell Curry and fighting for minutes with Paul Noonan and Andre Roberson. After a lot of his college career came easy to him, it will be interesting to see how he deals with some hardship and adversity of being a rookie in the NBA.


Eto Ruffin, PG, Chicago Bulls

A solid contributor each-and-every season for Wisconsin, there was a lot of debate on how good of a professional he’d be. In college, he showed an ability to make shots from anywhere on the floor and he brought a lot of intangibles and leadership to the Badgers. However, his athleticism and rebounding were suspect. With all the looming change in Chicago this offseason, there’s a good chance Ruffin could see a decent amount of playing time for the Bulls.


Mamadou Banjo, PF, Charlotte Hornets

After primarily playing center in college, Banjo projects as a power forward for the Hornets, but has a long ways to go before he will be trusted with much playing time in Charlotte. He’s always hustling and this results in extra blocked shots and offensive rebounds, but it can’t make up for his lack of defensive fundamentals, physicality, and brick hands. The good news is that he has some great role models in Mourning, Aldrich, Johnson, and Olynyk.


Varney Shepard, C, Free Agent

Varney Shepard is still recovering from his terrible car accident and was not able to participate in this summer’s free agency. He’s looking to begin workouts for teams this fall and getting back into playing shape. While the broken leg and complications have forever impacted his athleticism and durability, he’s still 7’4” with reasonable basketball skills. He likely won’t be Yao Ming, but he can certainly be better than Hasheem Thabeet.

Note: I will be editing an existing free agent to be Shepard after Summer League finishes up and will post him.

[studbucket]

2016-2017 NBA Offseason Free Agency Recap

It was another crazy free agency period in the NBA, with the landscape of the league being radically changed. The first signs of big changes happened when we saw the list of players who declined their options, including:

• LeBron James
• DeMar DeRozan
• Pau Gasol
• Dwight Howard
• Dirk Nowitzki

However, some of the drama was short-lived, as Gasol, Howard, and Nowitzki all re-signed with their current teams. There were a few big and interesting stories to recap this offseason, with none bigger than the absolute transformation of the Washington Wizards.


Washington Wizards
This Wizards replaced their coach early in the season and finished with the worst record in the East last year at 25-57. With a new coach in, the Wizards took a cue from Dan Snyder and decided to splash the cash and go all-in on the next 2-3 years. They let go of Bradley Beal and Nene, but that would be completely forgotten within a few days. Here’s a chronological recap of the Wizards remarkable offseason:

1. Drafted highly touted big man Greg Houston at #4 in the draft.
2. Traded next year’s draft to get the 14^th pick from Detroit and draft Small Forward Francis Schmidt from Boston College
3. Signed LeBron James to a 3 year, $92 million contract
4. Signed Tim Duncan to a 1 year, $9 million contract
5. Acquired J.R. Smith and Gerald Henderson

With all these moves, the Wizards have a very, very good starting lineup and a solid rotation.




Utah Jazz
The general look and feel of this Jazz team hasn’t changed very much, but they made two significant moves this offseason. First, they drafted Coach J’s former point guard at Wisconsin in Freddy Tobias, and immediately slotted him in as a starter over Dante Exum. Then, they signed another one of Coach J’s Badgers as Tommy Camper joined them from Cleveland (for 4 years, $51 million), and he’ll be the first man off the bench, although there’s rumors that Derrick Favors could be traded, and nearly was unloaded during the draft.

This gives the Jazz a solid bench, with Camper, Exum, and Trey Burke making up a good chunk of their 2^nd unit.




Sacramento Kings
The Kings went out and added talent this offseason, but it remains to be seen how the pieces fit together after their two big moves were signing shooting guards DeMar DeRozan and Eric Gordon.




Phoenix Suns
It’s not clear if Phoenix will match the Cinderella season they had last year, but they’ll probably shoot the lights out. They gave Hope Law a boat load of money to leave Atlanta, and signed Timofey Mozgov to start at center for them.




Other players of note

• Here are a few other signings of former Coach J players.
• Chief Bing signs on to start at Center for the Pacers for 4 years, $54 million.
• The Knicks managed to re-sign Joey Fletcher for 4 years, $60 million.
• Muggsy Bogues signed on with the 76ers to be their starting point guard after receiving almost no interest from teams in free agency.
• Romain Martin signed with the Raptors, along with fellow SG O.J. Mayo.

What Coach J and the Hornets Did
With all this action around the league, what has Coach J done to bolster his lineup? Teams around the league will be gunning for Charlotte and it will be tough to repeat their success, especially with the lack of bench depth that was shown last season.

To start things off, Coach J let Ramon Sessions, Kenny Gattison, Robert Williams, and Cole Aldrich go to free agency and picked up the options on Kelly Olynyk, Andre Roberson, and Bryce Cotton.

Immediately, Coach J went after some familiar faces in free agency, making offers to Joey Fletcher, Wallace Anrin, Paul Noonan and Cole Aldrich. Ultimately, Fletcher wanted more money than the Hornets wanted to give up, and Coach J decided to bolster the depth on his roster and sign Anrin and Noonan (who were former teammates at Boise State under coach J), along with getting Cole Aldrich and Ramon Sessions back on the roster.

The Hornets also made one trade. After unsuccessfully trying to get Eto Ruffin from the Bulls, Coach J appears to have settled on using Mamadou Banjo as his 5^th big man, which means we may see more small ball lineups this year.

Given the huge number of options that the Hornets have at wing, Coach J saw no path to success for his Turkish rookie, Hakan Basturk. Looking around for deals, he gave up Basturk and a 2019 1^st to Cleveland for 4^th year sharpshooter Joe Harris and a 2018 1^st round pick.




Summer League
A few small summer league notes I wanted to call out:

1. The summer league MVP was Hope Law of the Phoenix Suns
2. Jerret Carmichael led the Hornets’ summer league leading scorer, averaging 14.4 points a game.
3. Mamadou Banjo led the team with 7.8 rebounds a game and also added in 10.4 points each contest
4. Seth Curry may not have made the final roster, but did well for himself with 10.4 points per game