Game On: New Orleans Hornets vs. Charlotte Bobcats

By:
Published: October 9, 2012

The New Orleans Hornets take on the Charlotte Bobcats for Anthony Davis’ first appearance in a Hornets uniform in New Orleans at 7pm CDT. 

It’s been a long time since that lucky day when Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver announced the Charlotte Bobcats as the team allocated to the second pick in the draft. Their name directly announced from Mr. Silver’s lips brought Hornets fans a great deal of joy and excitement.

Since then both the Bobcats and the Hornets have tried to develop their rosters mainly geared towards the future. Fans of the teams are geared for patience not performance and so this game will be much anticipated.

Storylines

  • Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist square off for the first time in their careers. It will be a reunion of sorts for the NCAA Collegiate champions as team-mate Darius Miller will also be present. The Hornets could have easily of wound up with the second-pick and might have taken MKG instead of Davis, scary thoughts.
  • Both teams have one preseason victory under their belts, who continues the pointless win-streak?
  • Kidd-Gilchrist had 12 points on 10 shots, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in his debut. Anthony Davis had 8 points on 9 shots, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and 0 turnovers.
  • The Charlotte Bobcats have a new court redesign. I think we can all respectively reach for the trash-can right about………now.
  • Can Robin Lopez maneuver in the post? We think not.
  • Eric Gordon continues to be injured and is out for another week. Let that be a reminder to us all of his fragility or perhaps the cautiousness of the Hornets training staff.
What to Watch

How does Al-Farouq Aminu stack up against Michael Kidd-Gilchrist? 

For me one of the biggest things to watch for is how Aminu compares to his competition. The defensive stylings of both these players and the way their roles fit in the NBA are somewhat similar. If Aminu has shown any signs of progression over the last 6 months then tonight should be an indicator of just how good he can be.

If Aminu isn’t able to make the rookie look the fool, then his development might not be as progressive as we once had hoped. I love Aminu the defender, his length and versatility is astounding. But if he wants to be a starter in this league he’s going to have to give this team one offensive skill.

Can the Hornets improve their Free-Throw Shooting?

Something that stood out for me from the Mexico game was the poor charity shooting of the Hornets. 62% is not going to cut it in this league. Xavier Henry, Jason Smith and Anthony Davis all need to hit their freebies.

Can someone give us a post-game?

I know what you did after the game, you walked around your house looking for a basketball to go and practice your post moves in case Monty Williams gives you a call to say you’re the next free-agent signing for the Hornets.

Robin Lopez is not the answer down-low, Anthony Davis still needs time to develop (even though I’m concerned that he’s going to face up every time the ball is given to him down low) and even Ryan Anderson has little value on the block.

Somebody has to step up and to be honest I have no idea where it’s going to come from. While Michael and Ryan might think that part of the game is dying, deep in the shot-clock every team needs that isolation option on the low-block. We do not have it, at all.

Pre-Game Readings and Rituals

  • Latest Podcast is up for those of you not aware. Michael and Ryan discuss Robin Lopez, the Mexico Game and Eric Gordon Knee-Freakout.
  • Ryan has the final piece on our “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” this one on David Robinson.
  • If you want to see what people of Bobcat Nation are expecting from their team then check out this post.
  • Check out A. Sherrod Blakely’s article on David Stern and his comments regarding advertising on jerseys. Stern is actually not in favour of them personally but wouldn’t stand in the way of it. What does this mean for the Hornets? Well it’s a possible revenue stream that could benefit them financially.
  • Comedian Bill Burr rants about “Pile-On Teams” in the NBA. Profanity beware if you don’t like that kind of thing, but it’s a pretty funny and poignant video (as much as it can be). Check it out.

Pregame Nostalgia: Aaron Gray channels his inner Vlade

Predictions for the Game

  • 80% of the crowd has a unibrow
  • Anthony Davis blocks MKG
  • Monty Williams mentions the word “defense” 13 times in the post-game press-conference.
  • Gerald Henderson is the leading point-scorer for the game
  • Austin Rivers hits all his free-throws

Don’t Forget to follow us on Twitter for Gameday discussion. I’ll be on there on my Twitter Account as well as Mason, Jake, Michael, Joe and Andrew. This is usually the best way to interact with me for Gameday stuff, so head to tweet like the bird you are!

Head to Queen City Hoops for the enemy’s take on things.

UPDATE: The Hornets will also be without Jason Smith tonight.

13 Comments

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.