ESPN: Hornets ranked 4th Most Improved

Obviously they ranked Brooklyn 1, but Warriors and Timberwolves ahead?

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/83...eam-turnaround

I can understand the Warriors, but not the Wolves. They got better some yes, but not near to the extent we did. Most of their improvement will come from increased experience.

Getting rid of Beasly and Wesley Johnson is pretty significant. Not to mention the hornets move to get rid of Okafor and Ariza technically made us worse on the court (but better in the long run).

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Originally Posted by Bee-Fense

I can understand the Warriors, but not the Wolves. They got better some yes, but not near to the extent we did. Most of their improvement will come from increased experience.

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i think it's more just hoping to a healthy full season of Love & Rubio... a team who was bound for the playoffs until Ricky went down

The Timberwolves are replacing league worst SGs and SFs with league average replacements. That is huge for them. We lost our best SF, all our centers, and are relying on a rookie to anchor the defense.

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Wolves... i gotta disagree with that

How the eff?? WE got the number 1 pick, resigned EJ and gained the most improved player for nothing and timberwolves who got roy and Kirilenko are ahead?

In my opinion we have regressed a bit. Granted, we got Davis, resigned EJ, etc. etc. All the things we already know.

We also lost Emeka Okafor, and Trevor Ariza. 2 proven starters at their respective positions. We have a pretty big hole at the 3 position and a lot of unproven, be it for injury or lack of experience, players who we are going to throw onto the floor.

As far as built for the future, we are probably the best team out there. As far as actually improving, we gained a lot, but we still have a lot of holes that we wouldn't have had with Ariza and Oak.

But we are a rebuilding team, that is what makes us good, that in one offseason we have already rebuilt for the season.

We lost a giant amount of experience in Oak, Ariza, jack and kaman.

You can't replace that overnight.

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Originally Posted by Vinny6420

But we are a rebuilding team, that is what makes us good, that in one offseason we have already rebuilt for the season.

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But are we really improved? I wouldn't say so. More exciting, sure. I wouldn't say we are a better team when we released experienced players with good chemistry that brought us a strong defensive presence.

We are better set for the future and there isn't a team in the league ahead of us in that regard, in my opinion. I don't believe we are any better improved after this off-season.

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Originally Posted by MeSoHornets504

But are we really improved? I wouldn't say so. More exciting, sure. I wouldn't say we are a better team when we released experienced players with good chemistry that brought us a strong defensive presence.

We are better set for the future and there isn't a team in the league ahead of us in that regard, in my opinion. I don't believe we are any better improved after this off-season.

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Why not though? We got a defensive star in Davis, we got the most improved player, we kept our star, and drafted a scorer, and cleared up cap room

Put me in the camp that says yes we got better, and could care less about ESPN's rankings.

We got better by adding young talent to the roster and setting ourselves up with good cap flexibility. Regardless of what ESPN says... I think we did GREAT, and I'd even go so far as to say we'll finish with a better record than GS and Minny. The nets play in the East, which sucks... so I wouldn't say we'd finish higher than them but I do say we sweep them.

Homerism? maybe... but it all depends on EJ's health, and the time it takes these young cats to realize their potential.

We got better potentially, not right now.

Will be a lottery team again this season logically.

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Originally Posted by Vinny6420

Why not though? We got a defensive star in Davis, we got the most improved player, we kept our star, and drafted a scorer, and cleared up cap room

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We still have holes on our team now. We don't have a proven 3, for instance. We are unsure of what Rivers will really provide to this team. We don't know how productive Davis will be on the offense. We don't know if Gordon will stay healthy. We don't know how good Ryan Anderson will be without Dwight Howard, granted I think he will be just fine. We don't know if Robin Lopez has recovered his athleticism.

I guess if you factor in the 'injuries' that happened last year, I could certainly see this team beating that one. I don't think, when healthy, this team could though,