The Hornets completed their first non-losing power rankings week since Week 1, finishing 2-2 with road victories over the Magic and Bobcats. The latter win came while welcoming back Eric Gordon to the court, as the Hornets’ star shooting guard instantly made his presence felt.

 Week 10

1) Ryan Anderson, PF – 34 GP, 32.7 MPG, 57.1 TS%, 16.8% DRR, 5.3% TOR, .153 WS/48, 20.0 PER; Last Week: 1

In the four games this season in which Eric Gordon has played, Anderson has an effective field goal percentage of 57% thanks to shooting 51.7% (15-29) from 3-point range. With Gordon proving himself to be a serious threat when driving the lane, help defense becomes a bigger priority for opponents, and this has led to better looks for the one of the most dangerous long range threats in the league. Furthermore, his ability to take care of the basketball has been almost unreal. He is one of two players in NBA history to have a usage rate of at least 20%, a PER of at least 20, and a turnover rate of under 6%, with the other being Al Jefferson last season.

2) Robin Lopez, C – 34 GP, 26.1 MPG, 59.3 TS%, 11.1% ORR, 11.0% TOR, .146 WS/48, 21.0 PER; Last Week: 2

Lopez didn’t have any monster games over the past week, but he’s still been his usual efficient self; he has made at least half of his field goal attempts in each of his past five games, and twelve out of his last thirteen. He hasn’t been asked to do as much on offense with Gordon back (his usage rate has fallen from approximately 20% to 18% since his return), but has typically stepped up when called upon. Lopez could really bump his game up another level if he can trade off a little of his scoring efforts in exchange for more determined rebounding while he’s on the court with Eric.

3) Anthony Davis, PF – 21 GP, 30.7 MPG, 53.9 TS%, 10.6% ORR, 21.8% DRR, 10.9% TOR, 0.117 WS/48, 19.7 PER; Last Week: 3

After failing to score double-digit points in his previous 4 games (including just 12 minutes played on Saturday night against the Mavs), Davis scored 17 points on 8-13 shooting in last night’s win vs. the Spurs. Davis has been all over the boards on both ends of the court, and his defense continues to improve. Among rookies, he trails just Andre Drummond in both PER (38th in the entire NBA) and is behind only Drummond and Sullinger in defensive rebound rate.

4) Greivis Vasquez, PG – 34 GP, 34.5 MPG, 50.9 TS%, 14.0% DRR, 34.7% AR,  12.7% TOR, .062 WS/48, 16.6 PER; Last Week: 4

Another solid week for Greivis, who appears to be thriving with Gordon back in the lineup to take some of the ball-handling pressure off of him. In Gordon’s four games this season, Vasquez has averaged just 2.5 turnovers per game in 39.5 minutes per game with an impressive assist/turnover ratio of 3.8. One more week like this from Vasquez, and he’s really going to push Davis and even Lopez to move up these rankings.

5) Jason Smith, PF – 27 GP, 17.3 MPG, 52.0 TS%, 16.4% DRR, 12.5% TOR, .057 WS/48, 14.8 PER; Last Week: 5

Smith had a solid week from the field, going 16-24 over his past 3 games. Apart from his shooting, however, he hasn’t done too much to help the team recently. In fact, he hasn’t even been to the free throw line since December 11th, a span of eight active games for Smith. Additionally, he is averaging barely over 5 rebounds per 36 minutes in the six games since returning from his torn labrum. Smith’s career average is 7.5, which begs the question of whether or not he may be shying away from contact inside. Hopefully, Smith is 100%, but his recent numbers may indicate otherwise.

6) Eric Gordon, SG – 4 GP, 29.0 MPG, 46.9 TS%, 15.3% AR, 10.5% TOR, .017 WS/48, 17.7 PER; Last Week: 8

After taking the night off on the team’s first back-to-back since his return, Gordon helped the Hornets to a couple of wins over the division rival Mavericks and Spurs. He wasn’t on his “A-game” from the field (13-35 overall, 1-7 from 3-point range), but converted all 11 of his free throws and showed up when the team needed it most. He is clearly still working up his strength and stamina, but it’s already clear how much better Eric Gordon makes this Hornets team.

7) Brian Roberts, PG – 31 GP, 15.3 MPG, 49.7 TS%, 23.0% AR, 9.5% TOR, .047 WS/48, 14.6 PER; Last Week: 6

As much as Gordon coming back has helped Vasquez and Anderson, it has appeared to have the opposite effect on Roberts. Gordon has eaten into his minutes, and the result has been an apparent inability to get in a rhythm on offense. In the four games without the team’s star shooting guard, Roberts has gone 3-13 for 8 points in 34 minutes; in the one without him in between, he made 4 of his 7 attempts for 11 points in 22 minutes. Hopefully, Roberts can learn to maintain his typical production, even with the decreased playing time.

8) Lance Thomas, SF – 28 GP, 14.2 MPG, 50.9 TS%, 7.4% ORR, 8.8% TOR, .059 WS/48, 8.6 PER; Last Week: 7

Much like Darius Miller, Thomas’ incredibly low usage rate is somewhat correlated to his low PER. In fact, this seems to be a common theme within the Hornets’ organization; the only three qualifying NBA small forwards with usage rates under 10% are Thomas, Dominic McGuire, and Darius Miller.

9) Al-Farouq Aminu, SF – 28 GP, 26.4 MPG, 50.2 TS%, 23.2% DRR, 14.3% AR, 17.3% TOR, .033 WS/48, 12.4 PER; Last Week: 10

Monty Williams has re-inserted Aminu into the Hornets’ starting lineup due to his belief that Aminu’s play fits very well with Gordon. So far this season, Aminu ranks second among all qualifying NBA small forwards in two categories – defensive rebound rate (good!) and turnover rate (bad!). I’m still worried that Aminu is so determined to collect rebounds that he frequently camps out close to the rim in favor of guarding his man, but regardless, he’s been a big boost for the team on the boards. Unfortunately, his knack for giving the ball away will always limit his productivity.

10) Roger Mason Jr., SG – 31 GP, 19.0 MPG, 55.7 TS%, 12.6% DRR, 17.7% AR, 13.7% TOR, .036 WS/48, 9.1 PER; Last Week: 9

After playing 14 minutes in the Hornets’ game without Gordon last Wednesday, Mason received just 5 minutes in the team’s two most recent wins, with none at all on Monday. Although Mason has played better than Rivers, Monty is doing the right thing playing Rivers and Roberts in front of Mason with the future in mind.

11) Austin Rivers, SG – 33 GP, 26.7 MPG, 40.8 TS%, 20.8% AR, 11.0% TOR, -0.049 WS/48, 6.2 PER; Last Week: 11

Gordon’s return has taken a great deal of pressure off of Rivers through the eyes of many critics, but that doesn’t mean his production has improved. He has mustered just 9 points on 19 shots in his past five games, including a brutal 1-6 from the free throw line. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that his assist/turnover ratio over that stretch is 4.0, which is hopefully a trend that can continue.

12) Xavier Henry, SG – 21 GP, 12.7 MPG, 47.8 TS%, 14.4% DRR, 11.1% TOR, .010 WS/48, 9.0 PER; Last Week: 12

With Eric Gordon back, Henry didn’t see a minute of action all week long.

13) Darius Miller, SF – 23 GP, 13.6 MPG, 49.90 TS%, 28.2% AR, 14.1% TOR, .029 WS/48, 6.0 PER; Last Week: 13

In two games with the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League, Miller has scored 23 points on 18 shots to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He has made 3 out of 5 attempts from 3-point range, but has yet to attempt a free throw. Playing with the Energy is the best place for Miller right now, who will benefit more from playing time than anything else.

NR) Donald Sloan, PG

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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