Add Jordan after the 98 title run to the 99 Hornets....

prolific passer · Post #1 » by **prolific passer** » Wed Oct 18, 2023 5:09 pm

After they trade for Elden Campbell and Eddie Jones.

Campbell
Coleman
Jones
Jordan
Wesley
Phills and Jr Reid off the bench

How do they do?

Post #2 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Oct 18, 2023 5:17 pm

Barely above-average team IRL that year. 26-24, 14th on O, 13th on D. Pretty good from 3. Trash on the O Boards. Below average on the defensive boards, not particularly good at generating turnovers. Jordan would certainly help their O, even if he fell off a little from 98 as he aged and had more mileage. They were a half-game out of the playoffs as it was, and definitely would have made it with him. They would have been at least a 30-win team, which means they were probably facing Atlanta in the first round and would have had a reasonable chance of making the second round to take a crack at those Knicks.

Would have been interesting to see that series, for sure, especially with Old Ewing.

ice9 · Post #3 » by **ice9** » Wed Oct 18, 2023 7:05 pm

The Hornets performed vastly different pre and post Jones-Rice trade.

Prior to the trade they were 5-12 (24 win pace over 82 games) with an average MOV of -6.2.

After the trade they went 21-12 (52 win pace) with an average MOV of 3.1. At 50 games, this would put them 1 game behind Miami and Orlando in the East. A full season of the post trade performance + Jordan would make them the #1 seed and legitimate contenders.

Jordan/Jones would match up well against Houston/Sprewell if they were to face the Knicks (not considering the butterfly effect of the Knicks missing the playoffs if Charlotte made it), and Campbell/Miller/Coleman is a serviceable big rotation to face SAS.

Jordan also had a busted finger on his shooting hand in 98, affecting his shooting percentages early in the season. While I would expect a continued decline due to age, I don't think his drop off from 97 to 98 is as bad as advanced stats might indicate. Assuming in this hypothetical he does not slice his finger prior to the 99 season, I would expect him to perform similar to 98, likely a slight drop off.

*Reid was part of the Rice-Jones trade.
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prolific passer · Post #4 » by **prolific passer** » Wed Oct 18, 2023 7:14 pm

ice9 wrote:The Hornets performed vastly different pre and post Jones-Rice trade.

Prior to the trade they were 5-12 (24 win pace over 82 games) with an average MOV of -6.2.

After the trade they went 21-12 (52 win pace) with an average MOV of 3.1. At 50 games, this would put them 1 game behind Miami and Orlando in the East. A full season of the post trade performance + Jordan would make them the #1 seed and legitimate contenders.

Jordan/Jones would match up well against Houston/Sprewell if they were to face the Knicks (not considering the butterfly effect of the Knicks missing the playoffs if Charlotte made it), and Campbell/Miller/Coleman is a serviceable big rotation to face SAS.

Jordan also had a busted finger on his shooting hand in 98, affecting his shooting percentages early in the season. While I would expect a continued decline due to age, I don't think his drop off from 97 to 98 is as bad as advanced stats might indicate. Assuming in this hypothetical he does not slice his finger prior to the 99 season, I would expect him to perform similar to 98, likely a slight drop off.

*Reid was part of the Rice-Jones trade.
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My bad for the Reid part. Still had a veteran in Chuck Person off the bench. Phills would be a nice 6th man for them with his scoring and defense off the bench.