2011-12 New Orleans Hornets Player Notes
New Orleans shocked plenty of people last season when they made the postseason despite little expectancies given to them. The Hornets began the playoffs as the seventh seed in the western conference and took the Lakers to 6 games, which was a small victory in itself.
After dealing Chris Paul in December and losing David West via free agency, the New Orleans Hornets look to have a wholly new team in their list. The expectancies for this squad are lower than ever as they have lost their two top guys from their postseason team.
Paul was traded to the LA Clippers in a move that got them C Chris Kaman, PF Al-Farouq Aminu and SG Eric Gordon. They lost the guts of their team in Paul, although it was the correct move at the right time. He was going to leave through free agency at the end of the year, anyway.
The Hornets also lost another star in West, who was signed by Indiana Pacers in free agency. He has been one of the most underestimated players in the NBA for years now. West put up 18.9 points and 7.6 boards last season, which is a little up from his career averages of 16.4 points and 7.3 boards.
Although they kept 1 or 2 big names in Marco Belinelli, Carl Landry and Jason Smith; they have lost center Aaron Gray and added DaJuan Summers thru free agency so this is a totally different and unfamiliar team the Hornets will field in 2012.
The starting five is going to consist of players that aren’t necessarily household names but as a team will be one of the more undervalued starting 5s in the West. This will be consisted of PG Jarrett Jack, SG Eric Gordon, SF Trevor Ariza, PF Emeka Okafor and C Chris Kaman.
Although they’ve a relatively robust starting five, their bench is non-existent and Landry is their sole reserve player capable of giving them a consistent spark. Al-Farouq Aminu, Brian Butch, Quincy Pondexter, Marco Belinelli and Terrico White are players that need to step up in order for this squad to have a semblance of competitiveness in their contests. If their bench shows up, we might see one or two surprises. If they don’t payer well then the team will stumble also.
Western Conference Prediction: 5th Southwest Division – While they may have a solid starting five, their lack of a bench will hurt them enormously especially in a compressed schedule. Their starters may all average in double figures and they may form an outstanding starting team but their bench needs to realize their potential and produce, or with our NBA season predictions we think we will see a team at the bottom of the Western Conference and fighting for the worst record in the league.
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