New Orleans Hornets 2012-13 Power Rankings – Week 15

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Published: February 13, 2013

The Hornets bounced back from a four-game losing streak to win three of their four games this past week, including two of three on the road. The double-digit loss to Toronto stung, but New Orleans bounced back in a big way in Detroit just one night later with a 19 point victory. The end result was another change in the top 3 of these rankings.

 

Week 15

 

1) Ryan Anderson, PF – 52 GP, 31.3 MPG, 57.5 TS%, 16.2% DRR, 6.4% TOR, .150 WS/48, 19.5 PER; Last Week: 1

The 14 turnovers over his past 6 games are a bit uncharacteristic of Anderson, but he’s back to his super efficient scoring ways, averaging nearly 1.5 points per field goal attempt over the past week. The result was an average of just under 20 points in 31 minutes per game (13 for 27 total from long range). Anderson continues to keep a stranglehold on the top spot, which is clearly what earned him a spot in the NBA All Star Weekend’s 3-point shootout.

2) Greivis Vasquez, PG – 52 GP, 34.3 MPG, 50.6 TS%, 14.4% DRR, 35.5% AR,  12.6% TOR, .073 WS/48, 16.8 PER; Last Week: 2

The highlight of Vasquez’s past four games was easily his first career triple-double which carried the Hornets to an upset victory in Atlanta last Friday night. The rest of his week was pretty impressive as well, as he averaged 16.5 points on 11.3 shots (57.8% from the field) to go along with 10.8 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.3 steals in just under 35 minutes per game. Greivis has vaulted his name up near the top of the Most Improved Player award discussions, and rightly so.

3) Robin Lopez, C – 52 GP, 26.1 MPG, 59.8 TS%, 11.4% ORR, 10.2% TOR, .155 WS/48, 20.7 PER; Last Week: 4

Lopez has arguably been the Hornets’ best player so far this month; in 18.5 minutes per game, he is averaging 16.5 points on just over 10 shots (67.2% shooting) along with 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, and just 1 turnover. He owns the team’s highest PER, true shooting percentage, and offensive rebound rate. Thanks to Vasquez and Lopez, the Hornets could end up being the only team with two players who both finish in the top 10 in the Most Improved Player award voting.

4) Anthony Davis, PF – 39 GP, 27.8 MPG, 54.6 TS%, 22.0% DRR, 10.6% TOR, 0.133 WS/48, 20.2 PER; Last Week: 3

A rough offensive week for Davis coupled with Lopez’s strong stretch has bumped Davis back down to 4th. He took 31 shots in 83 minutes, but could only total 19 points (1-4 from the FT line). He did excel on the defensive side of the ball, however, with 10 blocks and 5 steals, continuing to improve in this phase of the game as the season has progressed.

5) Eric Gordon, SG – 18 GP, 29.5 MPG, 52.9 TS%, 13.4% AR, 13.6% TOR, .031 WS/48, 15.0 PER; Last Week: 5

One excellent scoring performance was sandwiched in between two duds for Gordon, as he sat out the team’s most recent game for typical back-to-back reasons. He made 10 of his 19 shots for 27 points in Atlanta, but could only muster a combined 15 points on 21 shots in the other two. His goose egg in the rebound column as well as his 8 turnovers in those two losses are also pretty disappointing, and certainly not max-contract worthy. There are two months to go in the season, but suffice it to say that a league average PER is not quite what people were expecting from Gordon, despite the positive impact he has had on the rest of the team.

6) Al-Farouq Aminu, SF – 46 GP, 26.4 MPG, 52.9 TS%, 26.7% DRR, 13.6% AR, 16.7% TOR, .070 WS/48, 13.7 PER; Last Week: 7

Another good week for Aminu as he continues to become more comfortable with his own strengths and weaknesses. Instead of either playing poorly or having a reduced role on offense, he has either accepted this reduced role or played reasonably well at that end of the floor. For example, his past five performances from the field were as follows: 4-7, 1-2, 0-1, 7-9, 0-2. He has attempted 8 or more shots while making 3 or less shots just twice since the new year. The 37 rebounds and 4 turnovers over the past week is another positive, too.

7) Jason Smith, PF – 45 GP, 17.0 MPG, 54.0 TS%, 16.1% DRR, 12.9% TOR, .083 WS/48, 15.7 PER; Last Week: 6

Partially a side effect of Lopez’s great week and partially due to foul trouble, Smith only averaged about 12 minutes per game over the past week. He scored 21 points on 10-18 shooting, but only earned one free throw. Overall, it was a pretty routine week for Smith.

8) Brian Roberts, PG – 50 GP, 14.3 MPG, 50.0 TS%, 23.0% AR, 8.2% TOR, .070 WS/48, 14.7 PER; Last Week: 8

Very strong week for Roberts, providing a nice and efficient spark (27 points on 20 shots) off the Hornets’ bench all week long while dishing out 7 assists and only committing one turnover. The only real downside was the 10 fouls committed in 54 minutes.

9) Roger Mason Jr., SG – 47 GP, 18.6 MPG, 58.9 TS%, 13.0% DRR, 16.6% AR, 12.3% TOR, .060 WS/48, 10.2 PER; Last Week: 9

After providing minimal contributions over the team’s first three games of the week, Mason provided a huge boost off of the bench in the Hornets’ blowout win over Detroit with 14 points on 9 shots and 5 rebounds.

10) Lance Thomas, SF – 41 GP, 12.5 MPG, 49.9 TS%, 7.6% ORR, 8.9% TOR, .054 WS/48, 8.0 PER; Last Week: 10

Thomas played in just one game over the past week, logging only six minutes, but he did collect 3 rebounds in that short time. He has apparently fallen behind both Aminu, Miller, and Henry on the depth chart.

11) Austin Rivers, SG – 51 GP, 23.2 MPG,  41.0 TS%, 20.1% AR, 12.5% TOR, -0.057 WS/48, 5.3 PER; Last Week: 11

A pretty standard week for Rivers as he scored 20 points on 20 shots (92 minutes), similar to his season average of 6 points per game on 6 1/2 shots. His other numbers include 3 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 turnovers. His defense has appeared to have improved as of late (from horrendous to merely below average), but the offense is still a major negative.

12) Xavier Henry, SG – 34 GP, 12.0 MPG, 48.6 TS%, 13.5% DRR, 10.9% TOR, .018 WS/48, 8.4 PER; Last Week: 12

Henry played 18 minutes against the Suns last Wednesday night, but has totaled just 4 minutes in the 3 games since, including one DNP-CD. Nothing really notable to mention about Xavier’s performance in those games. One thing to note is that when asked about him after the Phoenix game, Coach Williams did refer to Henry as a small forward as opposed to a shooting guard (which I certainly agree with).

13) Darius Miller, SF – 29 GP, 12.9 MPG, 50.4 TS%, 28.4% AR, 12.0% TOR, .047 WS/48, 6.5 PER; Last Week: 13

Miller played one minute in the team’s first three games of the week, and then received 11 minutes in Detroit. He took just one shot (missed) and added a rebound and an assist. His five fouls per 36 minutes this season may be a cause for concern, though.

 

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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