Hornets247.com

Back at the start of the season, I launched a Blogger's Power Rankings that has been passing its way around the blogosphere.  Today, it returns to Hornets247 for your reading enjoyment.

The fine blogs that joined us in voting and providing commentary this week are;

3 Shades of Blue
A Stern Warning
Blue Blitz
Bust a Bucket
CelticsBlog
Denver Stiffs
Fear the Sword
Hardwood Paroxysm
The Lakers Nation
Queen City Hoops
RaptorsHQ
With-Malice

Whenever voting of this type occurs, fairly clear tiers of teams shake out, so I will group them accordingly below.  An example of tiers are the Contenders at the top.  The difference between the number one team and the number 3 team is only 5 points, but the 4th team is 20 points behind team 3.  That forms a tier.  Here we go:

The Contenders

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Blogger Power Rankings

First off, there is a new installment of the Blogger Power Rankings out this week.  The Hornets keep hanging around that 6-8 spot.  Can't say I disagree.  Enjoy, though I was a little short of witty contributions this time around, but the other blogs picked up the slack.

Losses to Bad teams

I wasn't terribly upset by the New York loss.  It was disappointing, but really it was just one of those off games that every team has.  Not one of the Hornets shot well - or even came close to shooting well, and we only lost by six.  The defensive effort was irritating at times, but that happens.  Every team has games like this, even the premier teams in the league:  Orlando has losses to Memphis and Toronto. The Lakers have losses to Sacramento and Indiana.  The Celtics have losses to Indiana, Golden State and the Knicks.  Even the the six-loss Cavaliers have losses to Miami and Washington.  The Hornets have slipped against Charlotte, Sacramento and the Knicks. 

The games I get upset over are when we get blown out by good teams.  Quite simply, the team should be prepared and ready to roll against those teams.  A loss by ten or less?  Fine.  Blowouts?  Those put me in a foul temper.

The Rotation

I'm not super happy with any of the Hornets wing players.  Based on this years contributions, I rank them: Butler, Posey, Stojakovic,  Peterson, Wright, Brown.  No, I don't think Peterson has shown much this year, and I think we should trade him for a back up big who can actually rebound.  I agree with some of the recent commentary that the Hornets should move Butler to the second unit and use him as a sixth man since he's probably our most skilled non-Paul perimeter scorer.  There is one qualification, however, to that idea.  Earlier this summer I did an evaluation of Rasual Butler and it became pretty evident that Rasual is only effective when he's getting at least 25 minutes per game.  If he falls below that number, his shooting stroke suffers(it drops from 43% to 28%) and he generally becomes a liability.  That is why I'd propose the following rotation:

Starters: Chandler/West/Wright/Stojakovic/Paul
2nd Unit: Armstrong/Posey/Butler/Peterson/Daniels

Starting Wright allows him to gain experience and have his mistakes minimized by the presence of the other starters.  He can also play 20 good minutes and be replaced by Butler, who will still get the minutes he'd need to stay productive.  This rotation becomes even more attractive if Peterson can be moved for a rebounder, who would slot into the second unit and move Posey to small forward and Butler to shooting guard.

I'll tell Byron to make it happen at our next tee time.  On to the game:

Matchup: Hornets(22-12) @ Mavericks(22-16)

Off Efficiency: Hornets 106.8(8th), Mavericks 105.2(13th)
Def Efficiency: Hornets 103.0(11th), Mavericks 103.0(11th)

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Two quick things for you to absorb before the Lakers game tonight:

The newest edition of the Blogger's Power Rankings is up over at The Lakers Nation blog.  I, of course, participated, and my witty comments can be found all over them.  No, really!  I am witty!

I also did a question exchange with LA Ball Talk's Daniel Sagal for your reading pleasure.  You can find my answers over at his site.  He also double-dipped and asked the same questions of At The Hive, so you can go take a look and see just how much cooler I am than Rohan and company.  Poor ol' ticktock and wawer of Hornetshype were not invited.  I think it's because my buddy is waging a behind-the-scenes hate campaign against ticktock ever since last year she beat him out by one point to win the Paul All-Star Jersey and Shoes in our Hornets247 All-Star Give Away.  He's a bitter, bitter man.

The Questions:

Hornets247: A lot of people say Pau Gasol is soft. My own experience of him is that he loves to make scary faces, but actually has the ferocity of a turnip. Of course, I also can't say I've watched him a lot. Where do you come down on the issue?

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The 4th edition of the Blogger Power Rankings is up over at The Bright Side of the Sun, and not too surprisingly the Hornets have fallen all the way to 10th.

I'm pretty surprised the Pistons are still in the top 10, and that Portland is rated over the Hornets, but I don't find most of the rankings that far wrong.

Enjoy

Our good buddies At the Hive are hosting the Blogger Power Rankings this week.  The Hornets slipped badly in it, just like they did against the Hawks and Bobcats.

Go take a look and enjoy the commentary about the league's various teams.