New Orleans Hornets 2012-13 Power Rankings – Week 14

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Published: February 6, 2013

In what may have been the team’s ugliest week since Eric Gordon’s return, the Hornets posted an 0-3 record, finishing with an embarrassing 29-point loss to the Love-less Timberwolves. That being said, Gordon only played in one of those games, as the other two were the latter halves of games on consecutive nights.

 

Week 13

 

1) Ryan Anderson, PF – 48 GP, 31.3 MPG, 56.6 TS%, 16.5% DRR, 5.8% TOR, .144 WS/48, 19.2 PER; Last Week: 1

Like seemingly everyone on the Hornets’ roster, Anderson struggled in Minnesota on Saturday night, but was still able to total a respectable 45 points on 34 shots for the week. His rebounding numbers came up short, however, as he only pulled down 10 in 82 total minutes of action. His 8 turnovers throughout this stretch is very unlike him as well, but his turnover rate is still remarkably low. He is still on pace to have only the second season in NBA history with a true shooting percentage over 55%, a turnover rate under 6.5%, and a usage rate over 20%. The only other? Ryan Anderson last season.

2) Greivis Vasquez, PG – 48 GP, 34.2 MPG, 49.5 TS%, 14.2% DRR, 35.1% AR,  12.8% TOR, .053 WS/48, 15.9 PER; Last Week: 2

Vasquez continues to have a hard time scoring with any sort of efficiency, scoring more points than his number of field goals attempted just once in his last six games. A large reason for this is his struggles from beyond the arc, as he has converted just one out of his fourteen attempts in those games, taking his 38.7% three-point percentage for the season all the way down to 35.8%.  That being said, he has still been a very solid distributor, boasting an assist/turnover ratio of about 3.2 over that same half-dozen game period (61 assists and 19 turnovers).

3) Anthony Davis, PF – 35 GP, 28.6 MPG, 56.7 TS%, 21.6% DRR, 10.5% TOR, 0.147 WS/48, 21.2 PER; Last Week: 3

Davis’ week was a pretty good one, averaging 15 points on 11 shots with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in 27 minutes per game. He committed 13 fouls in those three games, but given the fact that the Hornets’ opponents were the 9th, 1st, and 13th ranked teams in the league in points in the paint per game, it shouldn’t be terribly worrisome. He is one of just four qualifying rookies (under 30) in NBA history to have a true shooting percentage over 55%, a turnover rate under 12%, and a total rebound rate over 15%. The other three on the list should provide plenty of reason for optimism (as if there wasn’t sufficient reason already).

4) Robin Lopez, C – 48 GP, 25.5 MPG, 59.2 TS%, 11.2% ORR, 10.7% TOR, .142 WS/48, 20.2 PER; Last Week: 4

From a pure productivity standpoint while on the court, Lopez and Davis would probably both be ranked ahead of Vasquez. However, Lopez has played over 400 minutes less than Greivis (Davis over 600 minutes less), and that is too significant of a gap to justify putting either of them ahead of the Hornets’ starting PG. Regardless, he had a very strong week on offense, pouring in over 1.5 points per field goal attempts (44 points on 28 shots). After pulling down 9 rebounds against Utah, though, he only totaled 4 in his next two games in 40 total minutes. Lopez’s lack of rebounding continues to be a concern, regardless of how efficiently he’s producing his points.

5) Eric Gordon, SG – 15 GP, 29.3 MPG, 54.1 TS%, 13.7% AR, 13.4% TOR, .056 WS/48, 16.6 PER; Last Week: 5

Thanks to back-to-backs on Tues/Wed and Fri/Sat, Gordon only played in one game this past week, and it wasn’t one of his better ones. He scored just 9 points on 8 shots with 5 turnovers, enough to drop his PER a full point (though he was limited by a sore back). Concern has been expressed by many about Greivis Vasquez’s turnovers, but right now, Gordon has an even higher turnover rate than Vasquez does (or anyone else on the team not named Aminu). I fully expect Gordon to turn things around, but with 15 games under his belt so far, it really should start to happen soon.

6) Jason Smith, PF – 41 GP, 17.5 MPG, 53.8 TS%, 16.2% DRR, 12.7% TOR, .082 WS/48, 16.0 PER; Last Week: 6

Smith played slightly fewer minutes than usual over his past three games (just under 14 MPG), but was effective when on the court, scoring 24 points on 15 shots in his 41 minutes. Smith continues to thrive in his role as the Hornets’ 4th big man, as he possesses the 5th highest PER on the team, higher than every back court player besides Eric Gordon and just barely ahead of Vasquez.

7) Al-Farouq Aminu, SF – 42 GP, 26.4 MPG, 51.9 TS%, 25.9% DRR, 13.5% AR, 17.1% TOR, .056 WS/48, 13.2 PER; Last Week: 7

As expected, Aminu’s offensive production has come screeching to a halt, as he has produced just 8 points in his past 4 games, a span of 83 minutes played. He did not attempt more than four shots in any of those games and only totaled 6 turnovers, though, so even though he may not be scoring, he’s not killing the team’s offensive flow either. As long as he can be a tenacious rebounder whenever he is in the game, the Hornets can likely stomach his lack of offensive output as long as he keeps his attempts and turnovers to a minimum.

8) Brian Roberts, PG – 46 GP, 14.4 MPG, 48.9 TS%, 22.9% AR, 8.5% TOR, .055 WS/48, 14.4 PER; Last Week: 8

Roberts did not play against Denver, but did a solid job when called upon in the other two games of the week. He scored 14 points on 9 shots in 30 total minutes to go along with 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and just one turnover. Although his free throw percentage is a very impressive 92.3% on the season, his other shooting numbers have declined every month. From November to December to January, his FG% has gone from 45.7% to 38.0% to 33.8% and his 3-point % has gone from 40.9% to 36.7% to 23.1%. It will be interesting to see if he can reverse this trend back upward or if he will instead continue to struggle.

9) Roger Mason Jr., SG – 44 GP, 18.6 MPG, 58.7 TS%, 13.0% DRR, 17.1% AR, 12.3% TOR, .061 WS/48, 10.4 PER; Last Week: 9

Mason’s 4-13 shooting week in 55 minutes played is pretty rough, but all 4 of those makes came from 3-point range, so that at least makes it look a little better. Not much else relevant about Mason’s play in those games, but he has still played better than the guys below him throughout the course of the season.

10) Lance Thomas, SF – 40 GP, 12.7 MPG, 50.4 TS%, 7.7% ORR, 9.1% TOR, .051 WS/48, 8.0 PER; Last Week: 10

Over the past seven days, Thomas played in two games (17 minutes) and posted a 400% free throw rate. Sure, it was four free throws on 0-1 shooting, but so what? Four points per field goal attempt looks pretty damn good! You know what doesn’t? He grabbed as many rebounds as I did in those 17 minutes.

11) Austin Rivers, SG – 47 GP, 23.2 MPG,  40.6 TS%, 20.0% AR, 12.3% TOR, -0.061 WS/48, 5.4 PER; Last Week: 11

Don’t look now,  but Rivers has actually been scoring a bit better as of late, totaling at least as many points as field goal attempts in each of his last 5 games. Over the past week, he finished with 17 points on 12 shots with 6 assists and 4 rebounds in 45 minutes, but also committed 6 turnovers. Still, a small step in the right direction for Rivers. Now, if he could only learn to shoot from the left side of the court!

12) Xavier Henry, SG – 31 GP, 12.4 MPG, 49.4 TS%, 14.0% DRR, 11.4% TOR, .019 WS/48, 8.7 PER; Last Week: 12

Henry got some heavy action in the Hornets’ past three games, averaging just under 18 minutes of playing time. He totaled 15 points on 11 shots in his 53 minutes, earning 7 free throw attempts (though he made just three of them). Not much else to add in regards to Henry’s week; 6 rebounds, 3 turnovers, and a whopping 10 fouls.

13) Darius Miller, SF – 27 GP, 13.4 MPG, 51.4 TS%, 27.9% AR, 12.3% TOR, .041 WS/48, 6.9 PER; Last Week: 13

I like what I saw from Miller this past week. He totaled 45 minutes over the team’s last three contests, scoring 8 points on 7 shots with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. He may not be heavily impacting the game within the box score, but he looks more confident while on the court and is not making nearly as many mistakes as before he was assigned to the D-League. Proof of this is the fact that he has played 51 total minutes since returning, and has yet to turn the ball over once.

 

All season long, these player power rankings will be presented alongside various “advanced stats” in order to more accurately evaluate each Hornets player’s impact (click here for a glossary of the statistic abbreviations). In addition, we also have created a chart with the goal of standardizing advanced stat categories to distinguish the good numbers from the bad ones. Hopefully, these tools give each of you the means to comprehend the advanced statistical metrics used in these rankings as well as other columns throughout Hornets247.com.

For historical power rankings, click here.

 

All stats were obtained from ESPN.com except for WS/48 stats, which are a product of Basketball-Reference.com.

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