New Orleans Hornets 2012-13 Power Rankings – Week 16

Thanks to the All-Star break, the Hornets only played two games since last week’s rankings, both in New Orleans. They recorded a lopsided victory against a clearly gassed Trail Blazers team right before the break, and came up short against a very well-coached Bulls team last night. Due to limited new data, there is only one change to the rankings, though that change does come within the top 5.

Week 16


1) Ryan Anderson, PF -*54 GP, 31.1 MPG, 56.9 TS%, 16.0% DRR, 6.3% TOR, .152 WS/48, 19.4 PER; Last Week: 1

A below average couple of games for Anderson, scoring 24 points on 25 shots. Chicago gave him one clean look on his first attempt last night, and then made sure he was blanketed for most of the rest of the game. His 2-11 shooting from the field is evidence of that fact; six made free throws helped to bail him out in that regard, though. The one thing that Anderson did very well over these two games was rebound the ball on the offensive end, as he totaled 8 offensive rebounds in 53 minutes of action.
2) Greivis Vasquez, PG*– 54*GP, 34.1 MPG, 50.3 TS%, 14.3% DRR, 35.6% AR,* 12.4% TOR, .075 WS/48, 16.7 PER; Last Week: 2

Vasquez struggled to score the ball as well, totaling just 21 points on 24 shots in 61 minutes, though he did total 18 assists while turning the ball over just 4 times. I expected more on offense against defenders like Lillard and Hinrich, though.
3)*Anthony Davis, PF*–*41*GP, 27.9 MPG, 54.7 TS%, 22.5% DRR, 10.4% TOR, 0.142 WS/48, 20.7 PER; Last Week: 4
Though it was only two games, Davis was clearly the team’s MVP this week. While the 36 points on 30 shots is good but not great, he impacted the game in so many other ways. Davis also added 21 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals, and 3 blocks in his 61 minutes, making his presence felt on both ends of the court. He also showed off his impressive athleticism on a couple of plays in the first half last night, using his ridiculous wingspan for an alley-oop and some solid concentration on a buzzer beater before halftime.
4) Robin Lopez, C -*54*GP, 25.9 MPG, 59.4 TS%,*11.3% ORR,*10.3% TOR, .152 WS/48, 20.2 PER; Last Week: 3
Lopez followed up a great week with somewhat of a disappearing act in the past two contests, scoring 6 points on 7 shots and collecting just 8 rebounds in 42 minutes. He was able to make an impact on the defensive end, but the complete no-show in the scoring column from a guy who was averaging a dozen points per game was pretty unfortunate.
5) Eric Gordon, SG -*19 GP, 29.5 MPG, 53.1 TS%, 12.8% AR, 13.8% TOR, .030 WS/48, 14.7 PER; Last Week: 5
At this point, I am honestly more worried about Eric Gordon’s play than his injury history. After the team held Gordon out as a precaution last Wednesday, he submitted a very up-and-down game last night. The 20 points on 17 shots looks okay, but when coupled with just 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 4 turnovers, it wasn’t really a performance that you’d expect from a max contract player. He has stretches that make you see how he earned such a big contract, but also has moments that make it seem like he is forcing the issue and trying to do too much. With 28 games left this season, Gordon needs to remind the Hornets why they matched the Suns’ offer sheet with his play, not just with his health.
6) Al-Farouq Aminu, SF -*48 GP, 26.6 MPG, 53.5 TS%, 26.5% DRR, 13.4% AR, 16.8% TOR, .076 WS/48, 13.9 PER; Last Week: 6
Assuming Davis was this week’s MVP, Aminu would likely come in second in that voting, as he put up some solid efficiency numbers as well. In 61 minutes, Chief finished with 20 points on 15 shots, 16 rebounds (4 offensive), 3 steals, 2 blocks, 1 assist, and 4 turnovers. He made three jump shots from 15 or more feet out last night, a stat that terrifies me greatly because it could encourage him to shoot more of them. Regardless, a solid couple of games for Al-Farouq.
7) Jason Smith, PF -*47 GP, 17.0 MPG, 53.9 TS%, 16.3% DRR, 12.2% TOR, .090 WS/48, 16.1 PER; Last Week: 7
Smith had a pretty solid two-game stretch as well, providing some nice scoring punch with 21 points on 19 shots in 31 minutes to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and no turnovers. A few more free throw attempts would have been nice (he went 1-2 from the charity stripe), but apart from that, that’s basically what you want out of Smith.
8) Brian Roberts, PG -*52*GP, 14.4 MPG, 50.3 TS%, 24.0% AR, 8.3% TOR, .079 WS/48, 15.0 PER; Last Week: 8
Though ball-handling usually isn’t an issue for Roberts, the tenacious Bulls defense forced him into 3 turnovers last night. Apart from that, it was a fairly decent week for Brian, scoring 14 points on 11 shots to go along with 11 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals in 35 minutes of play.
9) Roger Mason Jr., SG -*49 GP, 18.3 MPG, 58.2 TS%, 12.9% DRR, 16.7% AR, 12.4% TOR, .063 WS/48, 10.1 PER; Last Week: 9
Mason scored 6 points on 8 shots in 25 total minutes, with just 4 of those minutes coming against the Bulls. He also added 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
10) Lance Thomas, SF -*43 GP, 12.1 MPG, 50.0 TS%, 7.9% ORR, 8.6% TOR, .063 WS/48, 8.4 PER; Last Week: 10
Thomas played just 10 minutes in the past 2 games, but did a pretty good job while in the game against the Bulls except for one wide open three pointer he allowed from Deng. He showed promise on the defensive end and finished with 4 points on 2 shots as well as 4 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
11) Austin Rivers, SG -*53*GP, 23.2 MPG,* 41.3*TS%, 20.0% AR, 12.2% TOR, -0.049 WS/48, 5.3 PER; Last Week: 11
Rivers had a decent game against Portland last Wednesday night (8 points on 6 shots in 27 minutes with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, & no turnovers), but followed it up with 20 minutes of relative emptiness last night, again struggling to finish both inside and at the free throw line. He had one nice running bank shot for a 3-point play against the Bulls, but that was the extent of his success for that game. The zero in the turnover column for both games was nice, at least.
12) Xavier Henry, SG -*35 GP, 11.7 MPG, 48.6 TS%, 13.4% DRR, 10.9% TOR, .022 WS/48, 8.3 PER; Last Week: 12
Henry played just two minutes this week, adding nothing of any real value.
13) Darius Miller, SF -*31 GP, 12.8 MPG, 49.6 TS%, 27.2% AR, 11.5% TOR, .047 WS/48, 6.2 PER; Last Week: 13
Miller played 23 minutes this week, 19 of them coming in the blowout victory over the Blazers. He subbed in for Aminu in the second quarter last night, but Monty apparently did not like what he saw, as Thomas took those minutes behind Aminu in the second half.

All season long, these player power rankings will be presented alongside various*“advanced stats”*in order to more accurately evaluate each Hornets player’s impact (click here for a glossary of the statistic abbreviations). In addition,*we also have created a chart*with the goal of standardizing advanced stat categories to distinguish the good numbers from the bad ones. Hopefully, these tools give each of you the means to comprehend the advanced statistical metrics used in these rankings as well as other columns throughout Hornets247.com.
For historical power rankings,*click here.

All stats were obtained from*ESPN.com*except for WS/48 stats, which are a product of*Basketball-Reference.com.


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