The new NBA season is only a few days away (as is Christmas, Merry Christmas everyone), so it’s time to give an in depth look into the upcoming NBA season from a Hornets point of view.
First let’s look at things by the numbers. (Combined Winning percentage of opponents)
December .553%
January .571%
February .505%
March .485%
April .494%
Based on the winning percentages alone, it looks like our season starts of hard and gets easier as the season goes on. Unfortunately winning percentage alone is a very flawed stat – as it does not take in to account teams who have improved and teams who have weakened. So we are going to look at something even more flawed my personal opinion.
First of December is 3 games, so let’s throw that month away.
Rankings (Hardest to Easiest)
January – Well the numbers weren’t wrong here. First of all 18 games in January which is crazy!! January includes Dallas (twice), Denver (twice), OKC (twice), Memphis (twice), San Antonio, Miami and Atlanta. We could be in for a long long month (though those after a high draft pick may not complain about that)
March – The numbers state this is the easiest month of the season, what it fails to take into account is the improvement of teams. LA Clippers (twice), LA Lakers (twice), Portland (twice), Dallas, San Antonio, Indiana and Denver. Once again there are a lot of games in March (17) including two 4 game road trips.
February – 14 games in 29 days makes it the least busiest time of our NBA schedule (if we get no all stars that is). Tough games we face include, Chicago (twice), Indiana, OKC, New York, San Antonio and Portland.
April – 14 games in 26 days which again is action packed but we don’t face many elite teams. Memphis (twice), LA Lakers, LA Clippers, San Antonio and Denver.
Just for fun, let’s have a guess at how many games the Hornets will win. I don’t think we will be worst in the West by a long shot (thanks Hollinger) with an action packed season depth is going to be huge and in the front court our depth is playoff worthy, the downside is that in our back court our depth is D League worthy (I am joking, but our depth at PG is shocking). I am going to throw out a 27-39 record for 12th in the West.
West Playoffs
1 San Antonio
2 Oklahoma City
3 Dallas
4LA Clippers
5 LA Lakers
6 Memphis
7 Denver
8 Portland
East Playoffs
1 Miami
2 New York
3 Chicago
4 Boston
5 Indiana
6 Orlando
7 Milwaukee
8 Detroit
Miami over Oklahoma in the finals.
I wanted to do a breakdown on the roster but since we don’t even know the starting line up and the final roster I will leave this for another day. What are your predictions? How well do you think the Hornets will go? Tell me I am wrong and leave a comment below.
9 responses to “Hornets Season Preview”
1. OKC – We’ll see how they respond to expecations
2. DEN – Goes 12 deep, will help in condensed season
3. Memphis – Young teams will benefit from the condensed season as well
4. LA Clippers – Other than Jordan/Griffin, Depth-less Clips have ZERO guys on roster taller than 6’7
5. San Antonio – Old guys still play defense and are best coached team in West
6. Dallas – No more Chandler? Same ole soft Mavs
7. LA Lakers – Kobe’s banged up, and other than bynum/Gasol I don’t know anyone else on their roster.
8. Portland – Dogfight for last playoff spot with Golden St., Utah, New Orleans, and Houston
1. MIA – The Favorite
2. CHI – Last year’s #1 overall seed replaced K. Bogans w/ rip Hamilton. ’nuff said
3. IND – young team that goes 10 deep – formula for success post lockout
4. BOS – Big 4 ready to make one more run
5. NY Knicks – Frontcourt is formidable, but backcourt of Toney Douglas/Landry Fields and nobody off the bench holds the Knickerbockers back
6. Atlanta – Too talented to fall off the cliff. Expect some changes mid season
7. Philly – Doug Collins has them in the right direction. Stable roster + young legs
8. Milwaukee – Deep team that plays great defense, but limited on offense
ORLANDO – Will start off slow with Dwight pouting, finally deal him, and head back to the lottery next season to get the next future ex-Mr. Orlando big man
man everybody is showing the Hornets no Respect especially (ryan 2709 & David) anybody else gonna play the hornets like they Ain’t Sh$%. that would be something hornets surprise everyone like they did last year and start the Year off going 11-0 before losing. Nobody saw that happen last year and nobody really knows what’s gonna happen this year. for all I know these main stars that making everybody think so highly of them will be injuried soon, and then wheres that prediction go! I think people will con’t to underestimate the hornets even if they get on a roll and actually make it to the Playoffs!!! Call me a dreamer, a fool, a delusional person, but one thing you better say is ” he have faith in his favorite team!!!”
I see them the most at #6 in the Playoff and the least #8 seed!!!! I don’t see them missing the playoff!!! but that’s jus me!!!
I jus heard on espn.com that there’s rumor going around saying they trade Mo Williams. that would be awesome!!!
I think they’ll compete for a playoff spot. I just think it will be tough for a few reasons. #1 they have basically a whole new team with less than a week to prepare for the season and #2 If they are not contenders at mid season, which based on the lack of preparation time (slow start) and tough early schedule, I think you will see guys like Kaman, Ariza, and possibly Okafor and Landry dealt for assets. Thats just my opinion. I will still be there pulling for them, but that is the way I see the season playing out. With all the tradeable assets that we have, I see us participating in all kinds of 3 way trades as facilitators. Dell Demps will probably have a phone call out to all 29 teams saying – we have 27 million dollars in expiring contracts, a starting quality big man, a lockdown wing defender, and a lot of young pieces that are all in play. If you need a 3rd team to make a deal work, call us and we’ll see what we can get done. If I’m DD, I’m doing everything to get draft picks in this draft. Hopefully we will end up with at least one more 1st, would rather 2.
@David, what you are saying make sense. But there is a major factor you leave out, the ownership situation! The news owner and the NBA want to make this franchise worth something now! So the NBA will want to keep butts in the seats while they are negotiating the sale, so the team HAS to be competitive early. The new owner will want to stay competitive all the way through the playoff race to keep butts in the seats. I doubt Dell will trade our key players if we are in the thick of a playoff race with a new owner coming. The kind of situation we are in, we can’t go into a full rebuild mode until the new ownership is fully in place and we know what direction that owner wants to go in! Until then, keep the fan happy and keep us competitive. Draft picks are to much of an unknown, but a playoff spot will definitely energize this city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@David, and also, Monty has already been quoted as saying this is not a rebuild for him, he is trying to win big. Monty hates to lose. Since he and Dell are friends, I am sure Monty will have a huge say in who gets dealt or not when the trade deadline comes.
My point was that they will go all out to win, but unfortunately with a week of practice time and the first two months of the schedule being the toughest, we will probably struggle out of the gate. The trade deadline is going to come quickly in the condensed season, and they will have a decision to make. If you are 9th or 10th in the playoff race at the deadline, you have to decide if you want to make a push for a bottom seed or deal some combination of Kaman, Landry, Ariza, Okafor, or Jack for draft picks and young pieces. Kaman is going to be a Free Agent and walk after the season for nothing, unless he’s willing to re-sign on the cheap. Same with Landry. Ariza is stealing minutes from our young guys. I have a feeling that the prospective owner was pulling on Stern’s strings when he saw that first trade go through. I have a feeling that the new owner understands the situation. I also know that most of those 10,000 season ticket holders have 8 games worth of money (plus interest) in their ticket account because of the lockout, and will be that much more inclined t0 re-new their tickets for next year. The fans understand what this season is about. You can’t take that into account, unfortunately. You have to make the move for the long term.
As for the ownership situation, I think that behind closed doors it is all but a done deal. They can’t approve an owner until the board meets in early March, so why announce it now? If you announce it now, it gives 2 months for it to hit a snag and fall through, then you have try to save face to the public and scramble to put together another group. My prediction – New Lease and New Ownership group leaked sometime after Valentine’s day, then the announcement being made around St. Patty’s day (Hopefully ON St. Patty’s day, so I can have more of a reason to get hammered).