Almost Good
We’ve lived with past mistakes
Can we live with our own?
Forgive, forget forgive
Be a man, not a child
There are no tears for peace
Of the common sympathies
Educate, reinstate, educate
A thing of past
The trouble in the statesIt’s time to rise
— Pantera, Rise
Sports
The New Orleans Hornets entered the All-Star break on an uptick, at least in terms of game play. They went 2-1 from last Sunday through the break. Gordon played in the loss, missing the first win since it was the second game of a back to back, the second with a sprained hand. This season, the Hornets are 10-8 with Gordon in the line-up, and are 3-3 without him since his return, for a 13-11 aggregate. Not much difference. They were 6-23 before then, but it’s reasonable that other things, like Davis’ injury, drug down the team’s early record. Either way, it’s not entirely clear that the team is improved by Gordon more than they would be by a mid-pack shooting guard.
In the loss to Toronto, Davis and Rivers combined for 3 shots on 13 attempts, 1 of 2 from the line, totaling 8 points in 48 minutes. Meanwhile Rivers went 4 for 6, 1 of 1 from the line, totaling 9 points in 24 minutes. The Raptors just steadily pulled away from the Hornets in the fourth, with the 33-23 quarter finishing off the 102-89 game.
The Hornets defeated Detroit handily, winning each quarter, including a 10 point margin in the second. Davis went 0 of 7, 1 of 2 from the line for a single point in his 17m. Nasty. He did grab 8 rebounds. Anderson and Lopez had hyper-efficient nights, exceeding over 2 points per shot. Mason and Aminu approached 2 points per shot.
The Hornets figuratively (not literally) murdered Portland.
All-Star Weekend
Anthony Davis was on the victorious team Chuck in the Rising Stars Challenge, who won 163-135. Davis played 20m, went 0 of 0 for 1, 4 of 6 from 2, and 1 of 2 from 3 for a total of 11 points on 8 shots. He also got 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 assist compared to 1 turnover and 1 foul.
Ryan Anderson was eliminated from the 3-Point Shootout after an 18 point performance in the first round of the contest.
Congratulations to both Hornets on being chosen.
News
The renovations for the New Orleans Arena were unveiled along with some architectural renderings. The details are in line with what was reported here at Hornets247 back in July.
The short of it is that the interior improvements will happen this offseason, exterior improvements, including the atrium, will happen the following offseason.
There is an opportunity for smaller improvements in the latter half of the decade.
Also, Eric Gordon did not play Wednesday due to a sprained hand. An MRI revealed no structural damage, so he’s listed to day-to-day. What caused the concern was the proximity of the injury to a prior injury. The concern by the staff also led them to hold Gordon out Wednesday.
Around the Site
Ryan and Mike had only one podcast this week, discussing Anthony Davis and conducting their on draft of the All-Stars.
Reader Nick Lewellen had a great post about Austin Rivers. He looked at other highly touted one-and-done guards in the NBA, grouped them, then looked at the progression Rivers’ group made from year 1 to year 2.
More reader posts are coming up, too.
I posted a trade that illustrates that value can be gotten for Gordon after Mike called for his immediate trading.
Grayson and Readers sounded off on the rebrand from the local and international perspectives.
Rounding off a productive week, one Ryan asks if there is something different about another Ryan.
Voices of the People
I think Otto Porter will be a Kawhi Leonard type guy. Great defense, good rebounding, can hit the open catch and shoot three and plays within himself and with the team. If the Hornets had to choose between the one dimensional shabazz and Porter, I’d take Porter.
— JJacob
Rivers is starting to come around, I’m diggin it hardcore. His D is actually pretty dang good by now and if he can contribute at all on offense, he’ll start to turn into a positive. I just love how fearless he is on D.
I think/hope Davis will come around. Seeing him play in person at the NBA level, however, I’m surprised at how average his height appears and how thin he is, comparatively speaking. David and Anderson look to be almost exactly the same height. Before this season began, some had suggested Davis might become an NBA center. But – assuming Davis is finished growing – I don’t see how that’s ever going to be possible. Davis has to find his game, and fortunately, with this throw-away season, he still has time to do that. It would be nice to see him develop as many predicted into a Kevin Garnett-style player. But that will require a lot more mental toughness and tenacity than we’ve seen him exhibit so far. Bottom line is the jury’s still out, but we Hornets fans are hungry for a winner and we’ll all be rooting for him.
42 Sense
Anthony Davis played 2.5 of 3 bad games this week and has been mucking it up for a while compared to his earlier performances. The minutes thing seems to be getting worse, as are his performances. The outburst against and total absent Portland could be a sign of something to do with Davis or of Portland’s abject state of mind on that night.
Let’s keep an eye on this, but something has changed.
