2020-2021 W/L Prediction Thread

[Rich4114]

Yeah, I think if we come out of this 2-4 then it went as planned. Anything better would be a bonus but we really can't afford to lose to Sac/Minn. Every time we get one inch from .500 we go back to 4-5 back. We will have a lot of good teams to play in the second half of the season, but I think we can look back and say we had quality wins over BKN, MIL, GS, MIA, IND. Some we should have been able to win like against CLE, CHI, TOR, ORL.

I think if we are going to make the playoffs, it'll be because of the continued improvement of LaMelo, Gordon regaining early season form (we'd have to actually feature him if we want that to happen), and a trade/signing of a big man to help us rebound. 5/6 seed would be possible.

[Snidely FC]

"remarkably fun and shockingly decent" and "many hands make light work" on Hornets exceeding expectations https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/2/26/22302466/charlotte-hornets-lamelo-ball-terry-rozier-gordon-hayward

[euphorbus]

A rundown on how the playoffs work this year. You can make it in even if you are the 10th seed. You just have to win a few games first:

https://nsjonline.com/article/2021/03/can-the-hornets-make-the-playoffs-should-they/

[Soul Rebel]

Soooo, we have made it to the halfway point. Here's how we are looking....

3-3 road trip which probably exceeded expectations. If we had GH, Zeller and DG active, we might have fared better against PDX.

We are currently sitting in the 6th spot in the East. 1 game out of fourth and 4 games out of third. We would also draft 15th overall.

It's looking like there are three tiers in the East.

The top of the mountain teams (PHI, BK, MIL)

A bunch of teams crammed around the .500 mark (seven teams)

The cellar dwellers (DET, ORL, CLE)

Three weeks to the deadline, so we should be buyers and add a difference maker at the 5. As currently assembled we are a 5-8 seed, but with the right piece added, we could vault into the 3-4 seed territory.

#InMitchWeTrust

[James Gatz]

Soooo, we have made it to the halfway point. Here's how we are looking....

3-3 road trip which probably exceeded expectations. If we had GH, Zeller and DG active, we might have fared better against PDX.

We are currently sitting in the 6th spot in the East. 1 game out of fourth and 4 games out of third. We would also draft 15th overall.

It's looking like there are three tiers in the East.

The top of the mountain teams (PHI, BK, MIL)

A bunch of teams crammed around the .500 mark (seven teams)

The cellar dwellers (DET, ORL, CLE)

Three weeks to the deadline, so we should be buyers and add a difference maker at the 5. As currently assembled we are a 5-8 seed, but with the right piece added, we could vault into the 3-4 seed territory.

#InMitchWeTrust

We're also 3.5 games out of 13th. East is pretty tight this year. It would not be a big surprise if we ended up missing the play in game.

Our point differential puts us at 10th in the East.
538 puts us at 35% chance to make the playoffs.

[Rich4114]

I’m most worried about our March schedule. It’s brutal once we go back out west.

[Braggins]

Soooo, we have made it to the halfway point. Here's how we are looking....

3-3 road trip which probably exceeded expectations. If we had GH, Zeller and DG active, we might have fared better against PDX.

We are currently sitting in the 6th spot in the East. 1 game out of fourth and 4 games out of third. We would also draft 15th overall.

It's looking like there are three tiers in the East.

The top of the mountain teams (PHI, BK, MIL)

A bunch of teams crammed around the .500 mark (seven teams)

The cellar dwellers (DET, ORL, CLE)

Three weeks to the deadline, so we should be buyers and add a difference maker at the 5. As currently assembled we are a 5-8 seed, but with the right piece added, we could vault into the 3-4 seed territory.

#InMitchWeTrust

We're also 3.5 games out of 13th. East is pretty tight this year. It would not be a big surprise if we ended up missing the play in game.

Our point differential puts us at 10th in the East.
538 puts us at 35% chance to make the playoffs.

I'm guessing the bottom half of the Eastern playoff race is mostly going to come down to who has the most luck dealing with injuries and covid.

[wilson115]

Report card in:

Their opponents have taken 79% of their shots, the league’s highest opponent rate, from the restricted area or 3-point range. They’ve allowed a league-high 5.3 corner 3-pointers per game, with the two highest totals in any game this season — Utah’s 15 corner 3s on Feb. 22 and Memphis’ 12 on Feb. 10 — having come against the Charlotte defense. The Hornets have had some success in playing the most zone defense in the league, but can be beat pretty easily by teams willing to move the ball.

The Hornets have outscored their opponents by 21 points per 100 possessions in 102 minutes with Ball, Graham and Rozier on the floor together and by 4.5 points per 100 possessions in 445 minutes with Washington at center.

https://www.nba.com/news/2021-midseason-report-charlotte-hornets

"the league’s highest opponent rate, from the restricted area or 3-point range"

What kind of scheme lets this happen? Yikes.

[BigSlam]

Report card in:

Their opponents have taken 79% of their shots, the league’s highest opponent rate, from the restricted area or 3-point range.

"the league’s highest opponent rate, from the restricted area or 3-point range"

What kind of scheme lets this happen? Yikes.

That’s seriously funny.

Usually a team says:

“We’ll play so stout inside and protect the paint at all costs that we’ll concede 3PA’s”
Or
“We’ll play so tight on the outside and run players off the 3pt line at all costs that we’ll concede points in the paint”

But we say;
“Naaaaaaaaa, **** that - let’s give up both”.

So what is our defensive game plan designed to take away from the opposing team - mid range shots? The worst shot in all of basketball?

How the hell do we have the record that we have half way through the season?

Amazing.

[HornetJail]

The fact that we're only the 11th worst defense in the NBA makes me wonder what the **** the teams worse than us are doing

[Rich4114]

Report card in:

Their opponents have taken 79% of their shots, the league’s highest opponent rate, from the restricted area or 3-point range.

"the league’s highest opponent rate, from the restricted area or 3-point range"

What kind of scheme lets this happen? Yikes.

That’s seriously funny.

Usually a team says:

“We’ll play so stout inside and protect the paint at all costs that we’ll concede 3PA’s”
Or
“We’ll play so tight on the outside and run players off the 3pt line at all costs that we’ll concede points in the paint”

But we say;
“Naaaaaaaaa, **** that - let’s give up both”.

So what is our defensive game plan designed to take away from the opposing team - mid range shots? The worst shot in all of basketball?

How the hell do we have the record that we have half way through the season?

Amazing.

I mean just from watching our games, our defense is so often scrambling because the opponent is about to take a wide open three that they run full speed to air block them, get predictably faked out and then when there’s a miss the opponent is in better position for a rebound than we are. That’s how you give up that kind of stat in both categories IMO. This is a coaching thing if you ask me.

[Soul Rebel]

The next month is BRUTAL for us and also will give us an idea of what we're made of, truly.

March 9 - April 9

3/11 vs DET
3/13 vs TOR
3/15 vs SAC
3/17 @ DEN
3/18 @ LAL
3/20 @ LAC
3/22 @ SA
3/24 @ HOU
*****3/25 NBA Trade Deadline*****
3/26 vs MIA
3/28 vs PHX
3/30 @ WAS
4/1 @ BK
4/2 @ IND
4/4 @ BOS
4/7 @ OKC
4/9 @ MIL

One step at a time. Gotta start with one of the few "gimme" games at home with a crowd vs Detroit......The 2nd worst team in the league, Detroit.

[Rich4114]

It will be tough, but if we can hover around .500 before the final stretch of games in April, we will have a shot at the playoffs and certainly with the play in tournament.

[Braggins]

I think the top 5 in the East are Philly, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Boston, and Miami. Then I see Indiana, Charlotte, Toronto, Atlanta, and New York fighting for the last three spots. I don't think New York will be able to keep up this level of play in the second half with a much more difficult schedule and Atlanta just fired their coach and are without Bogdanovich for the entire season, so I think they will be the odd teams out. I feel like Charlotte is possibly a bit better than Toronto, but I think Indiana might be slightly ahead of us once Levert/Warren return shortly, although those three all seem pretty close either way.

[Soul Rebel]

Well boys, we are on a four-game winning streak and have come out of the gate for the 2nd half of the season, 3-0!

Tied for 6th with the Cs and .5 game behind the Heat for 4th in the East. We have certainly separated ourselves from the cellar conversation and are in the thick of the 4th - 10th range.

The next week of games out west is a gauntlet of adversity. Denver is a difficult match-up, with the Lake Show B2B the next night. The trade deadline rumors will also swirl between now and the 25th too just to make things a bit more stressful.

Wed 3/17 @ Denver (5)
Thu 3/18 @ LAL (3)
Sat 3/20 @ LAC (4)
Mon 3/22 @ Spurs (7)
Wed 3/24 @ H-Town

If we can snag 2 road wins, I think it would be a W for the left coast trip.

[Soul Rebel]

Well.... good and bad after our 5 game trek out West.

We returned with a very predictable and fair 2-3 voyage. We lost to two of the NBA's best teams...and arguably another one not too far behind that.

Currently sitting at 4th overall in the East at 22-21.

The gap between us and the 10th place Bulls is 3 games. A very, very tight Eastern Conference, and the Bulls also just traded for an All-Star in Vuc. We also are sitting in a tie for the 18th/19th slot in the draft, with about 30 games to go.

We are back home this weekend with a HUGE temperature check against a team nipping at our heels, the Miami Heat. We also take on an NBA Top-3 team - the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. Following these two home games, we head out on another road trip that will probably be a good reflection of just how good we truly are.

After Sunday 3/28, our road trip is:

Tue 3.30 @ WAS
Thu 4.1 @ BK
Fri 4.2 @ IND
Sun 4.4 @ BOS
Wed 4.7 @ OKC
Fri 4.9 @ MIL

[euphorbus]

It seems like the NBA does this to us every year.

[Chapelchilla]

We better win tomorrow before Oladipo gets there cause the coming stretch is nasty