Opening night revenge game

Except we have no healthy players

Oh man, looks like we’re in for a tough ride again.

We look a little better than we did. But can Graham be better?

Not much revenge tonight

Ok… I lied. We won’t win another game this season.

If you fall into a player when he’s carrying the ball, it’s a foul, despite intent. Why can you fall into a defender effecting a moving screen, and it’s not a foul?

1 Like

It’s depressing being a Hornets fan.

Eh, we just can’t generate points with so much of our offense in casts

This is what I expected on the road trip but somehow we played decent. This is Hornets basketball we are used to.

Man listen, I realize the Hornets are not meant to ever win a championship (barring winning the lottery this year to match Melo with Cade or Mobely).

All I look for is to be able to enjoy a season. Crash and SJax playoff run. Kemba and Big Al run. Kemba and JLin year. This year was really fun, I’m positive on their future, but it’s like enjoying a great meal, and halfway through your steak you bite into an alternate source of protein with a hard exoskeleton and multiple limbs. Maybe the dessert will be good, if it still is gonna be offered by the end of the night, but you can’t really enjoy your dinner anymore.

1 Like

The injuries have just finally caught up with us. We’ve actually fared better than we could’ve realistically expected for the most part. We could could compensate for the loss of LaMelo. Even the loss of LaMelo and Monk. But the cumulative effect of 4-5 key players out for extended time is more than most any team could sustain. I’ve never seen anything like this from an injury standpoint. Ankle braces need to be standard gear for every player from here on out.

1 Like

Yeah, whats sad is that its basically every team going through an unprecedented stretch. We’ve just seen it after playing Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Atlanta, the Lakers, Denver just lost Murray. The league can’t just pack so many games together and not hurt so many players just for revenue. No reason they couldn’t start the playoffs later.

1 Like

the hornets should shut down rozier. he has been a warrior this year but if he has tendonitis, there is zero reason to keep wearing on his knee. let him recover and move onto next season.

1 Like

Agreed. Hate to be ‘that’ guy but I’ve got no interest in seeing us rush anyone back from injury this season for a play in game where the prize is to get swept by the sixers or the nets.

It’s throw in the towel time and ride last year’s luck in the lottery and try and get a stud next to Lamelo.

1 Like

We definitely shouldn’t rush anybody back before they’re ready for any reason. If guys can’t go they just can’t go. But the thing is, we don’t necessarily need everybody back in order to be competitive. We’re deep enough that we can withstand the loss or 1 or 2 guys. We just can’t have 4-5 out at once. If Monk can cycle back in within the next week or so and we get PJ back, I don’t see any reason to throw in the towel.

I’m not concerned about losing in the first round. For a young talented team still learning how to win, playoff experience is critical. They need the experience of playing in games that matter so if they can get that experience this year then we’ve accelerated the timeline for that step in our development. The difference in draft position if we finish 8th vs 11th is likely negligible so playing for the luck of the draft doesn’t hold much appeal for me.

1 Like

Agree bring them back when they are 100%. If we miraculously become healthy come play-in time then we have a chance. If we drop to the lottery should be ok to since we can add another young talent.

Sucks that a promising season will come to this though. Can’t blame anyone from the team, they played hard. Injuries to 3 of your starters, 4 of 7 main guys is just too much.

Unless Lamelo is back in 1.5 weeks, time to shut everyone down and fully embrace the tank, see if we could get lower than Chicago and Washington in the standings.

We just have no offense at all right now, no sense in rushing guys back to play the Nets. Or Philly.

Honestly, I would rather not play either of those teams.

Breaking News: LMA just retired, irregular heartbeat.

1 Like

I respect that, though I think we exaggerate the ‘experience’ gained getting swept in the first round of the playoffs.

Now I’m going to give you a major hypothetical to explain my position on throwing in the towel…

Looking at tankathon, a really rough end to the season could feasibly put us at the 7-8 worst record range.

Suggs coming off his March Madness is getting looks at the 2 spot. A 7/8 worst records gives us a slim but not inconceivable look at the 3 spot…

Mobley next to Lamelo likely gives us playoff basketball for the foreseeable and if we miss out on him we’re still picking at a spot that could potentially move the needle.

I hear you, except we’ve the played the lottery game and have run those same if/maybe scenarios for most of this franchise’s existence. Since 2004 it’s yielded us a grand total of ONE star, Kemba, and what appears to maybe be a second star in LaMelo.

These guys have left everything on the court this season and for the franchise to reward that effort by trying to tank would be an insult to them to say the least. Just a few days ago we were the 4th seed. If we get healthy, it’s not inconceivable we could get back there given how tight the race is. I believe you play to win. Period. If we lose, we lose and then we let the ping pong balls do what they will.

2 Likes

The thing is, even if we play badly, the bad teams would have to play good to pass us. Which just about all of them have shown they can’t do for longer than a game or 2.

Just look at the East play-in tourney. We most likely will be the 9th seed, Bulls have a slim chance to knock us to 10th. But Toronto started terrible, have stayed terrible, and probably will continue to be terrible. Even if they go .500 the rest of the year (a huge improvement for them), they end up 30-42. We’d have to go 3-15 to end up tied with them.

I can’t see both of those happening. We’ll win at least 5-6 more, Toronto maybe gets 6. We probably will end up 11th or 12th worst record looking at the standings.

1 Like