In this episode Ryan Schwan and Michael McNamara unveil the Numbers game, talk the guard rotation, speculate on a Peja/Thornton trade, and weigh in on whether they think the Hornets are of championship quality right now.
Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouller – each and every day!
And as usual, we’re featuring Dr. John. Sweet Home New Orleans, Voices in my head, and Ki Ya Gris Gris all off of his Anutha Zone album.
Let us know what you think!
11 responses to “Hornets247 Podcast: Episode 3”
Yes! Let the good times roll indeed. Would have to wait until I’m out of the office before I can listen to the podcast though. Bummer!
“passing Gabrielle Union around to the refs”
ouch.
Yeah, I heard that.
I suppose I can take the gloves off a little . . . I’ve been on my good behavior . . .
The Hornets’ current point differential is probably skewed low after playing 6 games against last year’s playoff teams. Let’s see how they do against the teams that Atlanta and LA have been playing (Raptors, Timberwolves, Pistons, etc.) before we use that stat to predict their playoff ceiling. Bad use of stats, boys….
Good point but in the end we’ll be playing . . . playoff teams.
I’d say more to the point that this team isn’t the team that will make the playoffs or not; as Ryan said, we need to gel more. That point differential just may creep up as a result. One can say that about any and all teams, but I think we have a good deal more potential to rise than most, where every team has the potential to fall completely apart.
That, and point differential isn’t always a great indicator of playoff success. Neither the Lakers or the Celtics were particularly impressive in that regard last year, while the Cavs were regular season killers from ’08 to ’10.
Not to say they have a realistic chance against a healthy Laker squad. But they may be just as good as anyone besides LA in the West.
Another point: Paul, West, and Okafor won’t be only playing 32-35 minutes in the playoffs. Monty and crew are taking a page from San Antonio’s playbook.
Yes, but that stat also won’t ONLY be derived from wins in the near future. Adding negatives variables tend to drag the differential down quickly.
On Bayless ……. “But he’s soooo bad”. LOL!
I think we are better positioned to compete with the big 3 (Lakers, Boston, and ORLANDO) than in years past. With Mbenga and Smith added to Gray and Okafor, we can put some big/tall defensive line-ups on the floor that allow us to match up with the larger teams better than ever in the past. We also have Ariza to defend their top wing player. I hope we try out a few of the larger lineups against some of those teams during the regular season. We can also afford to spend a bunch of fouls (assuming we activate the right players) in a hack-a-Shaq/Dwight/Perkins/Bynum strategy that we never could before. I’d like to see us try a line-up against LA with both Mek and DW alongside Gray or Mbenga, with Ariza and Paul at the guard spots.
I think we are better off at back-up center than we are at back-up point guard. At least Mbenga and Gray are natural centers who can block up the paint, even though their effectiveness seems much lower than Mek. Smith, Peja, and Green/Thornton are capable back-ups at PF/SF/SG respectively. Bayless and Green seem out of their element when asked to play distributor and intiator of anything other than their own shot. That said, I don’t have a clue who is out there that could be better. We tried a few (Tupac and Jerrels) but they couldn’t beat out Green.
midway through the podcast, i have to stop it and take a breather….. “passing Gabrielle Union around to the refs??????” jeez man, show some decency…………