SBNation.com User Blog: Brian Ball

Mock Drafts: The Morning After

Brian Ball — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:53:27 -0000

Our first mock draft this morning comes from the generally-reliable NBADraft.net - they have the top six as such:

1. Cleveland - Ben McLemore

2. Orlando - Nerlens Noel

3. Washington - Otto Porter

4. Charlotte - Victor Oladipo

5. Phoenix - Anthony Bennett

6. New Orleans - Trey Burke

This mock is one of the few that has Cleveland selecting McLemore instead of Noel - something that isn't super-high probability, but is definitely possible. After that, Washington and Otto Porter seem like a good match, and Charlotte and Phoenix still appear to be huge wild cards. Rohan and I love Trey Burke, so this is heartening for us.

The second mock draft comes from NBA.com and is a bit more conventional:

1. Cleveland - Nerlens Noel

2. Orlando - Ben McLemore

3. Washington - Otto Porter

4. Charlotte - Victor Oladipo

5. Phoenix - Anthony Bennett

6. New Orleans - Trey Burke

This mock draft is almost exactly the same through the top six - the only change is to send Noel to Cleveland and send McLemore to Orlando. The unique thing about McLemore is that, although he is almost universally considered to be one of the top-2 prospects, he isn't a good fit with Cleveland or Orlando. Cleveland just drafted Dion Waiters and seems unlikely to want to pull the plug on him too soon. Orlando has Arron Afflalo at SG, one of the two decent players on the team. For the first time in years, it might make sense for one of the top two teams to consider trading their picks.

Let the Mock Drafting Commence

Brian Ball — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:49:17 -0000

We'll be updating this periodically with new mock drafts as they're released - if you see any we haven't, drop links in the comments.

With the draft order officially set last night, it's time to get more specific with our Pelicans draft board and overall mock draft in general.

Draft Express has a mock updated for last night's lottery available here, with explanations of the selections available here. DX's top 6 goes thusly:

1. Cleveland - Nerlens Noel
2. Orlando - Ben McLemore
3. Washington - Anthony Bennett
4. Charlotte - Victor Oladipo
5. Phoenix - Otto Porter
6. New Orleans - Alex Len

Orlando, Charlotte, and Phoenix, it appears could go in any possible direction, which makes planning for the 6th pick rather difficult. As Jon Givony writes about Orlando:

Trey Burke, Anthony Bennett, Otto Porter and others will get looks here as well, as its unlikely that we'll have much of a definitive inclination of what the Magic will do with this pick until much closer to draft day.

Of that group, I love Burke, and I hate Bennett. But for at least a few more weeks, we won't know how the teams above us feel about them.

Monday Links

Brian Ball — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:44:43 -0000

Anthony Davis's favorite meal is "dirty rice, collard greens, fried chicken, and macaroni and cheese," and other excellent details about Davis and his family from the Advocate.
Eric Gordon is fully aware that he has a round head, thank you very much.
I'm sure I'm not the only Hornets fan that has been watching the Golden State - San Antonio series and been amused by Jarrett Jack isoing in final shot situations. Zach Lowe has a great piece about how David Lee's absence has completely changed the way that the Warriors offense operates.
Jimmy Smith thinks it's doubtful that the Hornets will resign Lou Amundson to a contract. No more almonds, son.
Finally, it appears that pelicans are causing some problems in Iowa.

Game 82: Hornets at Mavericks

Brian Ball — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:36:47 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
27-54		40-41
April 17, 2013, 5:00 PM CDT
Dallas, TX
FSNO
Projected Starters
Brian Roberts	>	Mike James
Eric Gordon	>	O.J. Mayo
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Shawn Marion
Ryan Anderson	<	Dirk Nowitzki
Robin Lopez	>	Chris Kaman
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.5 (29)	Pace	94.1 (7)
105.8 (15)	ORtg	105.9 (14)
110.1 (28)	DRtg	106.7 (19)

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
27-54		40-41
April 17, 2013, 5:00 PM CDT
Dallas, TX
FSNO
Projected Starters
Brian Roberts	>	Mike James
Eric Gordon	>	O.J. Mayo
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Shawn Marion
Ryan Anderson	<	Dirk Nowitzki
Robin Lopez	>	Chris Kaman
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.5 (29)	Pace	94.1 (7)
105.8 (15)	ORtg	105.9 (14)
110.1 (28)	DRtg	106.7 (19)

Game 75: Hornets at Warriors

Brian Ball — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:45:01 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	. vs.
26-48		42-32
March 27, 2013, 9:30 PM CT
Oakland, CA
FSNO
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Stephen Curry
Eric Gordon	=	Klay Thompson
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Harrison Barnes
Anthony Davis	=	David Lee
Robin Lopez	<	Andrew Bogut
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.3 (30)	Pace	94.3 (5)
106.1 (14)	ORtg	106.2 (13)
109.9 (28)	DRtg	105.5 (14)

2012/2013 NBA Season
	. vs.
26-48		42-32
March 27, 2013, 9:30 PM CT
Oakland, CA
FSNO
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Stephen Curry
Eric Gordon	=	Klay Thompson
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Harrison Barnes
Anthony Davis	=	David Lee
Robin Lopez	<	Andrew Bogut
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.3 (30)	Pace	94.3 (5)
106.1 (14)	ORtg	106.2 (13)
109.9 (28)	DRtg	105.5 (14)

Game 73: Hornets vs. HEAT

Brian Ball — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:36:10 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
25-47		56-15
March 25, 2013, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
FSNO
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Mario Chamlers
Eric Gordon	<	Dwyane Wade
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	LeBron James
Anthony Davis	>	Udonis Haslem
Robin Lopez	<	Chris Bosh
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.2 (30)	Pace	90.8 (22)
106.0 (13)	ORtg	112.6 (3\1)
109.8 (28)	DRtg	104.0 (9)

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
25-47		56-15
March 25, 2013, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
FSNO
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Mario Chamlers
Eric Gordon	<	Dwyane Wade
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	LeBron James
Anthony Davis	>	Udonis Haslem
Robin Lopez	<	Chris Bosh
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.2 (30)	Pace	90.8 (22)
106.0 (13)	ORtg	112.6 (3\1)
109.8 (28)	DRtg	104.0 (9)

Hornets blow out the Nuggets, 110-86

Brian Ball — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:30:32 -0000

The story of the Hornets' win tonight begins with defense. The matchup looked lopsided on paper - the Hornets' 27th-ranked defense against the Nuggets' 2nd-ranked offense - but the Hornets rode an active defense and strong defensive rebounding to a dominant defensive performance.

The defensive rebounding was a team effort, more so than usual. From Ryan Anderson to Brian Roberts, the entire defense kept Denver off the offensive boards. The Hornets had plenty of chances to work on their rebounding, since the defense held Denver to just under 38% from the field. The rotations looked snappy, and while there was occasionally some confusion on pick and roll defense, it certainly seemed like the Hornets, at least for a night, had figured out how to play half-court defense.

The Nuggets are constantly looking to get out and run, and the Hornets did a great team job of limiting the fast break opportunities. Part of this was due to the team shooting over 48% from the field and part was due to the absence of Ty Lawson, but even though the Hornets were incredibly active on the offensive boards, they consistently hustled back to set up the half-court defense.

For the offensive end, let's go to some individual bullets:

Good gravy, Brian Roberts. The statistics are overwhelming: 13 points, 18 assists, 3 turnover performance in his first career NBA start at point guard. Roberts just looked completely in control of the entire game. Far from being overwhelmed by the pressure, Roberts rose to the occasion, getting into the paint with ease, always finding the open man, and taking care of the ball.
Darius Miller's performance deserves a strong second mention. 6 for 7 shooting and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc for 16 points counts as Miller's breakout performance. Let's see if this earns him some significant minutes in the last 11 games of the season.
I'm constantly amazed by the offensive learning curve of Anthony Davis - he seems like he's now equally comfortable and dangerous on the pick and roll as he is on the pick and pop.
In the absence of Vasquez and Gordon, Ryan Anderson became the go-to option on offense. He was the bail-out option at the end of many a failed possession, and even so, he was able to score 23 points on 22 shots. His efficiency might have taken a hit, but he was able to soak up a lot of possessions.
Roger Mason appears to be finally out of Monty's Doghouse^SM. He's on the court to shoot, and he did just that today, going 4 for 5 from beyond the arc, just like Miller.
Lou Amundson's rapid-fire block performance in the first half was pretty awesome.
Robin Lopez's bizarre defensive rebound to failed outlet pass to shooting foul sequence was completely inexplicable. Lopez played well on defense, though.

Game 71: Hornets vs. Nuggets

Brian Ball — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 23:19:18 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
23-46		49-22
March 25, 2013, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
FSNO
Projected Starters
Brian Roberts	<	Andre Miller
Darius Miller	<	Andre Iguodala
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Danilo Gallinari
Anthony Davis	=	Kenneth Faried
Robin Lopez	<	Kosta Koufos
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.4 (29)	Pace	95.1 (2)
105.5 (16)	ORtg	110.1 (3)
109.7 (27)	DRtg	105. (11)

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
23-46		49-22
March 25, 2013, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
FSNO
Projected Starters
Brian Roberts	<	Andre Miller
Darius Miller	<	Andre Iguodala
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Danilo Gallinari
Anthony Davis	=	Kenneth Faried
Robin Lopez	<	Kosta Koufos
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.4 (29)	Pace	95.1 (2)
105.5 (16)	ORtg	110.1 (3)
109.7 (27)	DRtg	105. (11)

Towards a Unified Theory of Monty Williams

Brian Ball — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:17:55 -0000

It's difficult to square the performance of the 2012-13 edition of the Hornets with that of the previous two teams under Monty Williams. His tenure in New Orleans started out with a bang - the Hornets were a surprisingly good squad in his first season, going to the playoffs on the backs of Chris Paul, David West, and a vastly improved 10th-ranked team defense. In his second season, Monty shaped a vagabond bunch into a league-average defense, no mean feat for a team whose top five members by minutes played were Marco Belinelli, Greivis Vasquez, Jarrett Jack, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Chris Kaman.

With Monty's contract expiring in 2013, it made sense for the Hornets to lock him down for his current 4-year extension. Disturbingly, he seemed like one of the few pieces of the 2011-12 team worth keeping.

His two-year stretch of designing excellent defenses makes this year's iteration of the Hornets tough to explain. We've seen a continuous loop of blown defensive assignments, missed rotations, and wide open threes conceded by a loosely organized Hornets defense. However, I don't think any Hornets fan would chalk up the defensive woes to a lack of effort. Speaking entirely qualitatively, I've always been impressed by how much these Hornets really seem to care on the defensive end. Aminu, Rivers, and Davis are all constantly hustling on defense, and the rest of the team doesn't appear to be loafing, either.

The reason the Hornets are the 28th ranked defense lies squarely on the defensive game plan - the Hornets don't enter games prepared to play team defense. The defensive rotations haven't been thought out and there appears to be no unique defensive game plan from game to game. As head coach, the fault for poor defensive preparation lies squarely with Monty Williams.

And this is the source of my confusion - it's impossible for me to reconcile this unprepared Hornets team with the cagily coached squads of the previous two seasons. To relieve the tension, I've created a Unified Theory of Monty Williams. Hear me out:

At the beginning of the 2012-13 season, the Hornets were a stable franchise for the first time since I've been a fan. With a new owner with roots in the bayou affirming his faith in a young GM and extending the head coach's contract for four years, the Hornets’ key management pieces had assurances of job security.

Consider, however, what confronted Demps and Monty at the beginning of the 2012-2013 season: they had a uniformly young and inexperienced team, long on talent but short on polish. Their star player, Eric Gordon, had been injured throughout the previous year and was injured heading into training camp, with the possibility of missing significant time in the regular season. The team had no reasonable hope of winning more than 35 or 40 games, but a championship window was cracking open, with a solid core of Davis, Anderson, and Gordon on the books for the next several years.

Given these parameters, the correct strategy would be to develop the players, ignore the scores of the games, and focus on the 2013 draft. To put it less elegantly: the proper decision for management would have been to tank.

Viewed through this prism, the 2012-13 Hornets make a lot more sense. Instead of seeing a coach and his staff laboriously design complex defenses to be used against only one opponent and then discarded, you would instead expect to see them focused on developing the skills of their players.

And everybody could agree that the skills of the key contributors have improved - Aminu is now a consistent double-double threat, Vasquez has transformed into a league-average point guard, Davis seems to improve his jumper and defensive awareness in every game, and while still on pace for the worst rookie season of all time, Austin Rivers has improved to the point that his injury is a clear detriment to the team.

More than the team's defensive woes can be explained by the Unified Theory. The end-of-game plays, a staple of Monty Williams's previous two squads, are so haphazard that I often can't even identify the intended outcome. Many commenters here have complained because the offensive playbook doesn't extend past the pick and roll. Were Monty and Demps to decide to focus on player development at the expense of game planning, this is what you would expect to see - a glaring absence of game preparation.

Some of the bizarre benchings can be explained, too. If you're not concerned about winning games in the short run, relegating Aminu to the bench for an extended period makes sense if you expect him to become a harder worker as a result.

Now, not all the baffling decisions of this season can be explained by the Unified Theory. Many playing time decisions, especially the ones surrounding Anthony Davis, are truly head-scratchers. If you’re trying to develop your most promising player, why would you leave him on the bench down the stretch against Dwight Howard and the Lakers last Wednesday night? More importantly, why did Robin Lopez play 40 minutes? Barring injury or disciplinary action, the move defies logic. And this isn't an isolated incident – Davis routinely ping-pongs between playing 35 minutes and playing 20, for no discernible reason.

Moreover, it’s easy to argue that defensive rotations are an important basketball skill that a team focused on fundamentals should have long since mastered. Just because the Hornets are concentrating on player development, it doesn't necessarily follow that every practice should be devoted to dribbling. More broadly, I don’t even understand what eschewing game planning for player development would look like in practice - nothing but rebounding, passing, and shooting drills?

Your likelihood of accepting the Unified Theory is largely predicated on your willingness to swallow conspiracy theories – I’m hypothesizing that an NBA team decided at the beginning of a season that they would be intentionally bad to improve both their players and their draft stock. Of course, teams have certainly been designed to be awful and get better draft picks – last year’s Hornets are a prime example. But I don’t know of any teams whose coaches explicitly decided to try to get fewer wins out of a team than was possible. Nonetheless, the Unified Theory seems a lot more palatable and likely to me than the alternative – that after two years of stellar scheming, Monty completely forgot how to coach.

Hornets vs. Blazers

Brian Ball — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 23:16:23 -0000

Woah - we need a game thread!

Take it away...

Woah - we need a game thread!

Take it away...

Game 58: Hornets vs. Nets

Brian Ball — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 21:47:43 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
20-37		33-24
February 26, 2013, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Deron Williams
Eric Gordon	<	C.J. Watson
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Gerald Wallace
Anthony Davis	>	Reggie Evans
Robin Lopez	<	Brook Lopez
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.9 (28)	Pace	88.1 (30)
105.4 (14)	ORtg	106.6 (10)
108.6 (27)	DRtg	106.3 (15)

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
20-37		33-24
February 26, 2013, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Deron Williams
Eric Gordon	<	C.J. Watson
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Gerald Wallace
Anthony Davis	>	Reggie Evans
Robin Lopez	<	Brook Lopez
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.9 (28)	Pace	88.1 (30)
105.4 (14)	ORtg	106.6 (10)
108.6 (27)	DRtg	106.3 (15)

Game 53: Hornets vs. Blazers

Brian Ball — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:14:32 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
18-34		25-27
February 13, 2013, 7:00 PM CST
New Orleans Arena
FSNO
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	=	Damian Lillard
Eric Gordon	=	Wesley Matthews
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Nicolas Batum
Anthony Davis	=	LaMarcus Aldridge
Robin Lopez	=	J.J. Hickson
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.9 (29)	Pace	91.0 (20)
104.9 (14)	ORtg	105.4 (13)
109.0 (27)	DRtg	108 (25)

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
18-34		25-27
February 13, 2013, 7:00 PM CST
New Orleans Arena
FSNO
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	=	Damian Lillard
Eric Gordon	=	Wesley Matthews
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Nicolas Batum
Anthony Davis	=	LaMarcus Aldridge
Robin Lopez	=	J.J. Hickson
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.9 (29)	Pace	91.0 (20)
104.9 (14)	ORtg	105.4 (13)
109.0 (27)	DRtg	108 (25)

Raptors and John Lucas put away Hornets in the 4th

Brian Ball — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 05:57:28 -0000

After hanging around for three quarters, the Hornets' poor perimeter defense finally came back to haunt them in Toronto. Let's bite the bullets:

The bench play was outstanding. Anderson had a relatively pedestrian game by his standards (15 points, only 1-5 from three), but Rivers and Roberts had superior nights. Roberts scored 13 points in 15 minutes on only 7 field goal attempts - whenever he got the ball, he was looking to shoot, and he singlehandedly kept the Hornets close in the middle of the second half.
There's no doubt that Austin Rivers is beginning to show that he has some NBA skills. He's able to get past defenders cleanly on a regular basis, something he certainly couldn't do a few months ago. Once he gets penetration, he's starting to show better decision making skills, able to finish at the rim as well as find the open man on a kick out. He still does maddening things on offense - I have no idea what in the world he was thinking on his bizarre turnover - but he does, at the bare minimum, have NBA-level offensive ability.
Anthony Davis played less than 20 minutes despite picking up only one foul. He was woeful offensively, sure, but you have to wonder why Monty is so severely limiting his minutes.
Watching the game, I felt like Vasquez was having an off night. Looking at the box score, it sure seems like Vasquez has very good off nights.
Robin Lopez had an excellent game offensively, to be sure. Defensively, he had a tough time keeping the Raptors off the glass - Toronto had 12 offensive boards. Possession after possession, Hornets perimeter players (I'm looking at you, Vasquez and Rivers) allowed easy penetration, Lopez had to come up or come over to contest the shot, the shot was missed, and Lopez's mark easily grabbed the offensive rebound since he wasn't able to box out. Having Davis on the floor as the primary help defender probably would have helped to limit these scenarios.
Looking to tomorrow night, it's good news that Monty distributed the minutes so evenly tonight. The only Hornets starter with over 30 minutes against Toronto was Vasquez (Anderson also chalked up 33 off the bench). Hopefully, the team will be fresh for tomorrow's game after the quick trip across the border to Detroit.

Game 48: Hornets at Timberwolves

Brian Ball — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:15:20 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
15-32		17-26
February 2, 2013, 7:00 PM CST
Minneapolis, MN
FSNO, My29, NBATV
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	>	Ricky Rubio
Roger Mason	<	Luke Ridnour
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Derrick Williams
Anthony Davis	=	Andrei Kirilenko
Robin Lopez	=	Nikola Pekovic
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.7 (29)	Pace	92.0 (12)
104.7 (13)	ORtg	102.7 (24)
109.2 (28)	DRtg	105.3 (14)

The Hornets' final game of an underwhelming road trip will be against skidding Minneapolis, losers of 6 straight as well as 11 of their last 12. The Hornets presumably will have to be without the services of Eric Gordon once again, since they are on the tail end of a road back-to-back.

Speaking of backs, Gordon apparently has a sore one. We shall have to wait and see if this metastasizes into something that will sideline him or if the sore back is just a symptom of playing more games in the last month than he had all of last season.

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
15-32		17-26
February 2, 2013, 7:00 PM CST
Minneapolis, MN
FSNO, My29, NBATV
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	>	Ricky Rubio
Roger Mason	<	Luke Ridnour
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Derrick Williams
Anthony Davis	=	Andrei Kirilenko
Robin Lopez	=	Nikola Pekovic
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.7 (29)	Pace	92.0 (12)
104.7 (13)	ORtg	102.7 (24)
109.2 (28)	DRtg	105.3 (14)

Game 45: Hornets at Lakers

Brian Ball — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:04:19 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
15-29		19-25
January 29, 2013, 9:30 PM CDT
Los Angeles, CA
FSNO, NBATV
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Steve Nash
Eric Gordon	<	Kobe Bryant
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Metta World Peace
Anthony Davis	>	Earl Clark
Robin Lopez	<	Dwight Howard
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.3 (29)	Pace	94.5 (4)
104.6 (14)	ORtg	108.2 (8)
108.8 (27)	DRtg	106.7 (20)

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
15-29		19-25
January 29, 2013, 9:30 PM CDT
Los Angeles, CA
FSNO, NBATV
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Steve Nash
Eric Gordon	<	Kobe Bryant
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Metta World Peace
Anthony Davis	>	Earl Clark
Robin Lopez	<	Dwight Howard
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.3 (29)	Pace	94.5 (4)
104.6 (14)	ORtg	108.2 (8)
108.8 (27)	DRtg	106.7 (20)

New York Times on Tom Benson's Commitment (or lack thereof) to New Orleans

Brian Ball — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:58:19 -0000

New York Times on Tom Benson's Commitment (or lack thereof) to New Orleans

An interesting piece - mostly a retrospective of Benson since Katrina.

Game 43: Hornets vs. Rockets

Brian Ball — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:56:39 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
14-28		22-22
January 25th, 2013, 7:00 PM CST
New Orleans Arena
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	=	Jeremy Lin
Eric Gordon	<	James Harden
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Chandler Parsons
Anthony Davis	>	Patrick Patterson
Robin Lopez	>	Omer Asik
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.3	Pace	96.5
104.8	ORtg	107.3
109.0	DRtg	106.3

What a difference two weeks makes - on January 9th, the Rockets came into New Orleans riding high, winners of their last five straight and holding an impressive 21-14 record. The Rockets led by ten going into the fourth quarter, and then something happened. Roger Mason started lighting it up from three, the Hornets defense held the rockets to 6 points of scoring in the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter, and New Orleans ran away with the contest.

That loss sparked a monumental skid for the Rockets, who are now losers of 8 of their last 9 games, their only win coming against the woeful Bobcats. They now stand at .500, tied with the TrailBlazers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West.

The matchup I'll be looking at is the defensive matchup against newly minted All-Star James Harden. In the previous two matchups against the Rockets this month, Gordon didn't look quite fit enough to handle defending Harden. We'll see how Gordon fares now that he has seven more games under his belt. In addition, the Hornets have used Austin Rivers to defend Harden in the middle of the first and second halves in both of the last two games, a strategy that didn't produce favorable results. It will be interesting to see if Monty keeps putting Rivers on Harden or if he tries another strategy.

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
14-28		22-22
January 25th, 2013, 7:00 PM CST
New Orleans Arena
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	=	Jeremy Lin
Eric Gordon	<	James Harden
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Chandler Parsons
Anthony Davis	>	Patrick Patterson
Robin Lopez	>	Omer Asik
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.3	Pace	96.5
104.8	ORtg	107.3
109.0	DRtg	106.3

Hornets renamed as New Orleans Pelicans, unveil new logo

Brian Ball — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:36:49 -0000

Well, the new name and logo has arrived - go here to look at all the rebranding information and to nab your new merchandise, if that's your thing.

To me, this completes a very significant transition from a George Shinn/Chris Paul/Hugh Weber organization to a Tom Benson/Anthony Davis/Eric Gordon/Dell Demps organization. Just two years ago, the Hornets were a rudderless team, flailing about trying to extricate themselves from a bad ownership situation, questionable general management, and a star player that wanted out.

Now, New Orleans has a very different NBA franchise - everything about the team feels different, from the players (almost uniformly young and new) to the management, to even the TV broadcasts. It seems fortuitous that this rebranding is happening as the team is on the upswing with the return of Eric Gordon - it feels a bit like a fresh start.

Now, I suppose, we have to learn more about what Pelicans actually are and get used to these logos:

via i.cdn.turner.com

Pelican-Unveiling Press Conference Open Thread

Brian Ball — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:44:02 -0000

The press conference expected to unveil the new pelicans logo will start at 5pm CT. If you're confused about when that is, here's a helpful countdown website. Here at the soon-to-be anachronistically named At the Hive, we'll be "covering" all the "action". The logo and introductory video have apparently already leaked. Here's a screengrab of the logo from the video:

via pbs.twimg.com

And this is the introductory video, in Android format.

Important questions that must be answered:

1) Is this logo better than the logos from the design contest that 99Designs hosted?

2) What should At the Hive be called now?

3) Wait, Shoeless Joe Jackson played for a baseball team called the New Orleans Pelicans??

Game 42: Hornets at Spurs

Brian Ball — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:29:54 -0000

No time for full lineups today, so I'll give you instead a pregame haiku:

Hornets on a roll

Up against the surging Spurs

Someone has to lose

No time for full lineups today, so I'll give you instead a pregame haiku:

Hornets on a roll

Up against the surging Spurs

Someone has to lose

Game 34: Hornets vs. Spurs

Brian Ball — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:34:32 -0000

No time for lineups today, let's do it in the comments!

Game 18: Hornets vs. Grizzlies

Brian Ball — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 00:32:30 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
5-12		13-3
December 7th, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Michael Conley
Roger Mason Jr.	=	Wayne Ellington
Xavier Henry	<	Rudy Gay
Ryan Anderson	=	Zach Randolph
Robin Lopez	<	Marc Gasol
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
88.2	Pace	90.9
104.2	ORtg	107.8
110.6	DRtg	99.1

Game 9: Hornets vs. Knicks

Brian Ball — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:01:02 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
3-5		7-1
November 20th, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Jason Kidd
Austin Rivers	<	Raymond Felton
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Ronnie Brewer
Anthony Davis	=	Carmelo Anthony
Robin Lopez	<	Tyson Chandler
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
89.9	Pace	90.1
103.6	ORtg	111.5
107.1	DRtg	99.8

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
3-5		7-1
November 20th, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Jason Kidd
Austin Rivers	<	Raymond Felton
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Ronnie Brewer
Anthony Davis	=	Carmelo Anthony
Robin Lopez	<	Tyson Chandler
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
89.9	Pace	90.1
103.6	ORtg	111.5
107.1	DRtg	99.8

Rockets 100, Hornets 96: Too much James Harden, too little Anthony Davis

Brian Ball — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 03:26:44 -0000

The Rockets upended the Hornets on the back of strong performances by James Harden and Omer Asik. A lopsided second quarter saw the Rockets outscore the Hornets 39-18, creating a margin that the Hornets, despite a solid run in the second game, just couldn't overcome. Harden had his way with the Hornets defense and seemed to be the only Rocket that could score down the stretch. Harden was able to get to the rim with regularity and was sank long jumpers whenever the defense sagged. He was at his best in the fourth quarter when a hopelessly outmatched Austin Rivers was assigned to him on defense.

The Hornets had some bright spots - in general, the starters were pretty good. Greivis Vasquez had an outstanding night despite tweaking his left ankle, scoring 24 points on only 15 shots, as well as notching 9 assists while only recording 2 turnovers. He looked extremely capable running the break, twice finding Al-Farouq Aminu for his trademark ridiculous alley-oops. Vasquez consistently looks off defenders in transition before making difficult no-look passes, which makes the Hornets transition game difficult to defend.

Anthony Davis, however, was a bit of a disappointment coming off an excellent game against the Bobcats. He seemed a bit lost at times on defense, turning in a fairly anonymous defensive performance after opening the game with 3 early blocks. He even got tagged with four fouls, a few of which were a bit questionable. On offense, he was held to 2-7 shooting, scoring only 8 points and nabbing a mere 4 rebounds. We'll have to see if this was an aberration or the first two outstanding performances were outliers. He'll be facing the Thunder on Friday, which should be interesting - will Monty have him guard Durant?

A dissection of this loss would be incomplete without discussing Ryan Anderson's power outage from beyond the three point line, shooting 2-10 and missing several key threes down the stretch. He was still a valuable player thanks to his 6 offensive rebounds and a good number of putbacks at the rim. But those late-game misses really hurt the Hornets.

The Hornets bench also came up small tonight - Roberts, Smith, Henry, Mason, and Miller combined to go 4-15, and generally looked uninspiring. New Orleans will have a day to travel back to the Crescent City before playing host to the Thunder on Friday.

Game 6: Hornets at Rockets

Brian Ball — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:32:32 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
3-2		3-4
November 14th, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
Houston, Texas
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Jeremy Lin
Austin Rivers	lol	James Harden
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Chandler Parsons
Anthony Davis	>	Patrick Patterson
Robin Lopez	=	Omer Asik
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
89.1	Pace	93.7
99.0	ORtg	101.7
99.4	DRtg	101.3

2012/2013 NBA Season
	at
3-2		3-4
November 14th, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
Houston, Texas
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Jeremy Lin
Austin Rivers	lol	James Harden
Al-Farouq Aminu	=	Chandler Parsons
Anthony Davis	>	Patrick Patterson
Robin Lopez	=	Omer Asik
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
89.1	Pace	93.7
99.0	ORtg	101.7
99.4	DRtg	101.3

Game 2: Hornets vs. Jazz

Brian Ball — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:18:35 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
0-1		1-0
November 2nd, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, Louisiana
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Mo Williams
Austin Rivers	<	Gordon Hayward
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Marvin Williams
Anthony Davis	<	Paul Milsap
Robin Lopez	<	Al Jefferson
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
95.0	Pace	100.5
100	ORtg	112.5
104.2	DRtg	93.6

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
0-1		1-0
November 2nd, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, Louisiana
Fox Sports New Orleans
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Mo Williams
Austin Rivers	<	Gordon Hayward
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Marvin Williams
Anthony Davis	<	Paul Milsap
Robin Lopez	<	Al Jefferson
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
95.0	Pace	100.5
100	ORtg	112.5
104.2	DRtg	93.6

ESPN: Eric Gordon Considering Microfracture Surgery; Yahoo!: No, he isn't.

Brian Ball — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:04:19 -0000

Chris Broussard of ESPN dropped a bombshell today, saying that Eric Gordon has been presented with microfracture surgery as an option to treat his ailing knee. The money quote:

No firm decisions have been made as New Orleans Hornets guard Eric Gordon continues to seek additional opinions on his troublesome right knee, but microfracture surgery has been presented as one of a number of potential remedies, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Gordon is scheduled to consult with a knee specialist this weekend as the Hornets try to pinpoint a definitive course of action -- whether that's a surgical procedure or a revamped rehabilitation program -- after their highest-paid player was shelved indefinitely this week.

Of course, this sounds extremely bad. Microfracture surgery is widely considered to be one of the most difficult procedures to recover from. The above block quote actually contains all the new information that came from the article, the rest consisting mostly of a rehash Gordon's contract negotiations and choice quotes from yesterday's press conference. The only other interesting tidbit is this:

The idea of microfracture surgery was broached with Gordon last season, sources told ESPN.com, but Gordon was resistant to such serious surgery heading into his free-agent summer. Gordon, 23, did end up having arthroscopic surgery -- a lesser procedure -- in February.

This is both a reason to be hopeful and a reason to tear your hair out. The reason to be hopeful: it's possible that microfracture surgery was presented as an option last year, and the subject of microfracture hasn't been broached since. The reason to tear your hair out: if the Hornets organization knew that microfracture surgery was an option, why in the world did Dell Demps match the Phoenix offer?

UPDATE: According to the perpetually well-informed Marc Spears of Yahoo!, surgery is not in Gordon's immediate future. -Will

Hornets guard Eric Gordon tells Yahoo! Sports that a doctor in Chicago told him today he can return from his knee injury in 4-to-6 weeks.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) November 2, 2012

Eric Gordon also told Yahoo! Sports he needs no further surgery and will to rehab and strengthening prior to return from knee injury.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) November 2, 2012

Eric Gordon Describes Knee as 'Damaged'

Brian Ball — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:51:34 -0000

Here's the crux of what Gordon had to say (from Jimmy Smith at the Times-Pic):

"I'd say sorta," Gordon said. "From talking to the doctors, from when I last told you guys in September until now, I have had a little bit of a setback as far as this injury. Nothing structural, but it has been a little bit of soreness and swelling to where I'm only listening to the doctors and they can see and tell that it's been a little damage.

"I've had MRIs, and I went to the team and they've always been aware of my injury. I have had MRIs lately, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's happening this weekend to see what's furthermore. .. . I will hear what the doctor's thinking this weekend."

Regarding a timetable for return:

"It'll all be decided on by this weekend," Gordon said. "There's no timetable. I don't know that yet."

Asked if he had ligament or cartilage damage, Gordon replied:

"There's damage," he said. "I'll figure (it) out this weekend.

Gordon started off his press conference with a paean to the city of New Orleans:

"First off I just want to say it's an honor and privilege to be part of this organization as a players. I know things haven't been going as well as far as being injured since I've been here. I have had (a) reoccurring knee injury since I've been here and it's just tough as a player to go through these things. You're looking for the best for yourself and to even look forward to see what's best for the team.

"I look forward as a player to helping this franchise and I always look forward to the best to help this team win. And it has been frustrating. Very frustrating as a player not to do your job every day. I only played nine games last year and I haven't played a game this year. I haven't played any preseason games. So it's been very frustrating watching the guys play and me not being a part of it. I know from the fan's perspective, it's frustrating for them. But for a player, it's most frustrating for me and this organization. I wanted to pout it out there. I know it's tough. But it's almost all on me. This is an injury I'm battling with. It's just a tough time right now for me, and I'm just going through it.

"This is a great city and a great organization and I definitely want to be a part of it. But being a part of it, for me, is about playing. What's (keeping) me from playing is having this injury. I'll just go on from there."

Game 1: Hornets vs. Spurs

Brian Ball — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:17:33 -0000

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
0-0		0-0
October 31st, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, Louisiana
Fox Sports New Orleans, NBA TV
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Tony Parker
Austin Rivers	<	Danny Green
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Kawhi Leonard
Anthony Davis	=	Tim Duncan
Robin Lopez	=	Boris Diaw
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
n/a	Pace	n/a
n/a	ORtg	n/a
n/a	DRtg	n/a

2012/2013 NBA Season
	vs
0-0		0-0
October 31st, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, Louisiana
Fox Sports New Orleans, NBA TV
Projected Starters
Greivis Vasquez	<	Tony Parker
Austin Rivers	<	Danny Green
Al-Farouq Aminu	<	Kawhi Leonard
Anthony Davis	=	Tim Duncan
Robin Lopez	=	Boris Diaw
Advanced Stats (2012/13)
n/a	Pace	n/a
n/a	ORtg	n/a
n/a	DRtg	n/a

Eric Gordon Out Indefinitely

Brian Ball — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:44:43 -0000

Eric Gordon Out Indefinitely

Welp.