Ian-stradamus….damn it doesn’t work

By:
Published: December 29, 2011

Gentlefolk of basketball land heed my words,

I listen to podcasts from around the league and I always hate sensationalism and the eager rush to conclusions.  If a team wins 2 or 3 games in a row their fans (and bloggers) declare them a playoff-caliber team.  I live in Phoenix and I scour every time I hear from a Suns fan about how this is the year.  I see them from more of an objective viewpoint and see the geriatric suns for their in-bed-by-9:00 team that they are.

That said, I’ll violate my own credo here by saying I’m excited about the Hornets’ start.  The Celts were at the end of a b2b2b whose talent also resides in a few in-bed-by-9 players (1 of whom was injured). But beating a team of their prestige on openning night surely merrits some celebration.  Especially to humiliate them to the point where their color comentator and former Celtic Tommy Heinsohn started yelling and acting increasingly beligerent.

I ‘m pretty sure the dude was drunk.  At one point I clearly heard him say “That was a clean brock” followed by an insensible bafling vilification on a young ref where he curiously slandered “If his name were on the ballot I..I’d… I’d burn the ballot” (please re-read that and tell me what he was attempting to allude to cause dayum!).  I should also mention that during the replay on the “brock” Jermaine O’neil clearly hit Landry in the face.  I was embarrassed for the other announcer.

Sorry, I got off topic.  In any case, I started getting excited about how we were a legit playoff contender in a win-now mentallity instead of a tank job.  Here’s my theory prediction: (I put on my robe and wizards hat)
Landry is a player with a chip on his shoulder.  He has stated that he wants to be a starter, he wants to get big money, he wants to play somewhere else most likely, and he’s in a contract year finally in a starting role.  I don’t suspect we see a 20/10 average but I don’t think its unreasonable to expect 18/8 (here please play ominous music if you have it) while he’s here.

I feel like we are loaded with peices for contenders.  Around the trade deadline this year there will be all sorts of turmoil.  Teams that don’t want to rebuild but may be struggling (lakers, celtics, dallas) will all be eager to make a move to strengthen any holes in their roster.

Most teams will look at Landry and Jarret Jack as having breakout performances mainly due to bloated stats but both will be very movable (2nd round picks anyone?)  Kaman will help any team who need a big man after an injury as well.  His contract is large but it comes off at the end of the season and we can take a bad contract back so long as we get assets with it.

Ariza is a wing defender and if we can see him get anything on offense he may be traded as well.  We can see more Aminu after that as well.

I don’t see us moving Marco or Okafor.  Okafor’s contract is too big and he helps anchor the team (I mean he’s the oldest existing Hornet right? :'( )

General Greivis is awesome and just what we need after the trade deadline to really bottom out.  He’s exciting, he has potential, he’s fearless, and he’s not going to solely win games by himself just yet.

 All in all it sounds like a great plan that helps the rebuilding process.  
Keep on Hornets fans!

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.