ESPN (along with us) is nearing the conclusion of it’s #NBArank summer series. As a counterpart to the series we’ll be doing our own version of player rankings– #HornetsRank. We’d like you to help out during the next 24 hours. If not…
Well, you don’t even want to imagine the irrational consequences.
That said, we really do want you to be a part of our #HornetsRank series. You have the opportunity to make our dream a reality. Just go to this document, put your name in the horizontal axis, and then fill our your picks.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An-w4VeFt9w-dDhaVWtiRHg2SG9lRG5NSk8takdvb2c
It’s that simple. I even gave you my picks*. You’re practically cheating already.
In 24 hours we’ll close the polling.
Get ready. We’re about to determine the future
*follow at your own risk. Life is hard.
21 responses to “If You Can’t Beat it, #HornetsRank it”
My rankings were pretty similar to Joe’s. I’m not sure how many people are with me that Anderson (and not Gordon) will be the best Hornet this year but hopefully McNamara agrees lol. But I had Lopez behind Smith, Vasquez and Aminu; Rivers at 8 instead of 13 (c’mon he’s not the 13th best player on this team), Mason down at 12 behind Warrick, Henry and Miller; and Thomas and Roberts rounding out the list, if nothing else bcuz I think they will be on the inactive list most of the season (barring injury). It kind of freaked me out that I had Jason Smith as our 4th BEST PLAYER, but I actually really like Smitty and our depth isn’t completely horrible. And to be honest I have no issues at all with how anybody ranks our Top 3, I just happen to think it will go Anderson, Gordon, then Davis. At least in 2012-13.
I expect Anderson to be better than Gordon as well, if only for playing more games more consistently.
I expect to be stoned for saying this but I think Eric Gordon will continue to be hurt and the Hornets will eventually be forced to unload his contract.
I HOPE I am wrong.
You get use to the stoning really quickly. 🙂
I agree and Gordon’s health is just one of many things I feel will send us back to the drawing board with this team. I think Anderson is a fine player however if he’s your alpha player your squad is in serious trouble.
Can’t agree w/ da Throne more.. Anderson is a very, very good player, but our offense is built around guards that can create for other players, unless Anderson/Davis is doing serious work in the post, which I don’t see happening yet.
I think 1,2,&3 can be in any order with Gordon/Anderson/Davis & you can make a good argument for why you picked who.
It’s tough to do this without an established criteria.
However, of our Big 3 (Davis, Gordon, and Anderson), I gave Anderson the #1 spot. Over 82 games, I expect him to be the most productive for us.
Gordon is obviously the most offensively talented player, but… injuries.
As for Davis, he can’t get the #1 or #2 spot over proven NBA players. He has to earn it.
As much of an impact that Ryno will hold on this team the one true marker on this season that will hold the biggest difference will be the health of Eric Gordon. Why? Because he is the best scorer on this team at this moment and has proven with his ball handling and moves through the paint to draw fouls, he will be the player that keeps this team in games all season long.
I would take this post a step farther and say by my definition Gordon is the only scorer on the team as it’s currently constructed. Leaving Rivers out because he hasn’t proven he can do it in the pros yet.
So, according to you, a scorer is defined as a person who can create his own shot? Rip Hamilton and Reggie Miller were not scorers, then, because they needed teammates to set picks and get them open looks I suppose?
Look, I understand the Hornets fan base has maybe seen a grand total of 100-200 minutes with Ryan Anderson on the court and won’t fully appreciate his game until they see him night in and night out, but Ryan Anderson is a scorer who will be the most consistent guy on this team night in and night out, even though he will rarely show up on SportsCenter.
I can’t wait until people see his full game- it has been a joke how little he has been talked about this offseason.
Yes by my definiton neither are scores. However I never said you had to be a scorer to be a legit offensives option. Although the trend in the league in today’s NBA to be a difference maker you have to be able to consistently create your own shots.
Do you think any team can win consistently running the offense through Ryan?
Damn,,, didnt notice till now the great dip in talent from the third to the forth player…
LOL!
That is (sadly) so true!
Last year we didn’t have that pesky dip.
Oh man the end of the roster is brutal. I really wanted my official ranks to include a tie for last.
I love this site! I’ve been reading for a few months now and finally wanted to post, since I keep wanted Hornets info and you guys keep caring!
I’m also the guy that ranked Aminu 4th.. haha.. break out year. I really see him and Vasquez taking a step and this team competing for the 8th spot!
What I get out of the cumulative ranking to date. We think…
1. Bigs (PF and C) are a strength. They are 3 of top 4, 4 of top 7, etc.
2. Swings (SF) are very weak. The best, Aminu, is only ranked 8th.
I will add my opinion that Guards (PG andd SG) are a huge question mark. Gordon is an injury question mark; Vasquez is questionable as a starting PG; and Rivers is a question mark as a 19 year old rookie and a player without a true position. (Is Rivers a PG, an SG, neither? The rest of the guards are basically band-aids.) I believe how the guards go will have a huge affect on the team.
I hope we rank the players again at the end of the season, to see how accurate we were with this ranking.
I agree with the idea of ranking them again at the end of the year it will give us an idea of who lived up to our expectations, rose above them, or fell short of them.
Look we have Anderson and EG on the same team.. Toward the end of last season we saw what EG can do… I read someplace that he played PG in high school and college but because of his scoring played SG for the Clippers… Did anyone see the games where he played… he is in a class by himself compared to what we had on the TEAM not the court… He and Derrick Rose were Mr. Indiana and Mr. Illinois of high school basketball in their respective states…
I don’t look at the Big 3 foolishness because of the 3 Musketeers foolishness in Miami.. Anderson is a bigger Peja with a more diverse game… Let’s not Lopez in the mix… plus Jason Smith is no slouch… Then our veteran players are not only EG, Anderson and Smith but Mason I expect a lot from off the bench and in the locker room… and I liked Warrick as a role player…
If we can pick up where we left off with EG, Vasquez, Aminu, Henry, Thomas and Smith we will shock lots of teams… Good luck Monty….
Joe,
Is the spreadsheet locked yet? (I made two small changes in my column last night and they worked.)
Here is how we ranked them:
1. Gordon (1.31)
2. Davis (2.24)
2. Anderson (2.42)
4. Smith (4.86)
4. Vasquez (5.07)
6. Rivers (6.45)
6. Lopez (6.77)
8. Aminu (7.05)
9. Mason Jr. (10.02)
9. Henry (10.30)
9. Warrick (10.63)
12. Thomas (11.55)
12. Miller (11.98)
14. Roberts (13.36)