TroubleS0me wrote:I picked Bridges slightly over Ball
I thought Bridges should have been the all star over Ball
I'll admit to seeing it like you. Doesn't feel good right now with the state of Bridges.
Analytically, while there are stats that favor Ball, I'd say more favor Bridges when you factor in who actually played the big minutes for the team.
Back when we were discussing all-star candidates last year, I had Bridges over Ball. I'm trying to remember whether I ended up picking Bridges or not - he was on the fringe - but I did have him over Ball and found it to be very interesting the way this debate didn't actually happen in the mainstream.
At the time, it made me honestly wonder if behind the scenes the Hornets were signaling to people that Ball was the one they were championing for all-star. That's not the only explanation - Ball had already been anointed the team's star by the press, and there is a tendency to side with the anointed star over a close teammate competitor (I'll never forget 2013 David Lee over Steph Curry, which was far more egregious, only gets more comical with time) - but when we got to the end of the season and we saw the Hornets be reluctant to max Bridges, I was very curious as to how they saw him.
Have to say at this point, while we should be sure to put the family tragedy first and foremost, and not give too much credit to the Hornet FO for dodging the bullet...but they're reluctance to max him clearly allowed them to dodge a bullet here.
Further, I'd expect this now becomes a teachable moment for Ball who had done a similar stupid social media thing (joint but no lean) not too long ago. Next year now becomes a year where the team has a fresh start, lower expectations, but with Ball having it be crystal clear that the team needs him to be a true leader.
This by contrast to how I was seeing things at the end of the season when they again got slaughtered in the play-in with two guys who seemed destined for max deals. I was discouraged for the franchise at that point, and yet now, perhaps bizarrely, I'm more optimistic.