{"id":1750,"date":"2007-10-30T10:27:14","date_gmt":"2007-10-30T15:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/new-orleans-hornets\/"},"modified":"2007-10-30T10:27:14","modified_gmt":"2007-10-30T15:27:14","slug":"new-orleans-hornets","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/new-orleans-hornets","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Hornets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Predicted Record<\/strong>
\n41-41 (Tom), 45-37 (Gil)<\/p>\n

Last Year’s Record<\/strong>
\n39-43<\/p>\n

Tom’s Commentary<\/strong>
\nI like the mix of talent here, which I think should play better than a combination of the individually skilled players, although the fact that it would probably be a legitimately kick-ass team if every one of the players other than Tyson Chandler, Julian Wright and Chris Paul were the 2002 version of themselves is probably not a good thing. I haven’t quite figured out Paul yet, and not because I’m blinded by his awesomeness as much as my retinas are tired by continually adjusting to flashes of awesomeness intermixed with periods of more naturally lit mediocrity.<\/p>\n

Morris Peterson isn’t much of an addition, although it’s always fun to say “Mo Pete” out loud. This team is still two years away from being good enough that I’d take free tickets over a long dinner at a very good area restaurant.<\/p>\n

Rejoinder From Gil<\/strong>
\nIt looks like David West (who missed 30 games last year), managed to go all Juwan Howard, posting 30+ ppg for the last five games of the season. And it wasn’t even a contract year! I bet they’ll be good, but the last time I watched them, they had bright yellow uniforms on, and it made my eyes hurt.<\/p>\n

Gratuitous Comics Connection<\/strong>
\nCartoonist Josh Neufeld<\/a> is currently serializing a graphic novel called AD: New Orleans After the Deluge<\/a>, for SMITH Magazine.<\/p>\n

Gratuitous Pharma Connection<\/strong>
\nWho CAN’T find drugs in New Orleans?<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/strong>
\nIn the Hornets’ first year in New Orleans, I was in town for a conference. I decided to get tickets for the game, and discovered that $65 would get me about 12 feet from courtside, in a section populated by players’ wives. In New York, $65 would get me a seat in the fourth tier, about 9 miles from the court. Things are cheaper down there, and I can’t imagine how much cheaper they’re going to be now, since they’re desperate to rebuild (okay, build) the fan-base.<\/p>\n

If they’re healthy, they’re a shoo-in for the playoffs. –GR<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Predicted Record 41-41 (Tom), 45-37 (Gil) Last Year’s Record 39-43 Tom’s Commentary I like the mix of talent here, which I think should play better than a combination of the individually skilled players, although the fact that it would probably be a legitimately kick-ass team if every one of the players other than Tyson Chandler, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “New Orleans Hornets”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1713,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"nba0708index.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1750","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4C7K-se","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1716,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/nj-nets","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":0},"title":"NJ Nets","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 42-40 (Tom), 45-37 (Gil) Last Year's Record 41-41 Gil's Commentary Some think this Nets squad will fall out of the playoffs, but that's crazy-talk. As long as Kidd is somewhat healthy, he'll maximize the output of the team's lesser players and keep them in the hunt for a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1181,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-preview-2006-2007","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":1},"title":"NBA Preview 2006-2007","author":"Gil","date":"November 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm the Juggernaut, bitch! ATLANTIC Boston Celtics by Tom Spurgeon New Jersey Nets by Gil Roth New York Knicks by Gil Roth Philadelphia 76ers by Adam Taxin Toronto Raptors by Sam Richezza CENTRAL Chicago Bulls by Tom Spurgeon Cleveland Cavaliers by Tom Spurgeon Detroit Pistons by Tom Spurgeon Indiana Pacers\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-preview-2006-2007#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1738,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/sacramento-kings","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":2},"title":"Sacramento Kings","author":"Gil","date":"October 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 22-60 (Tom), 19-63 (GR) Last Year's Record 33-49 Tom's Commentary You could do a whole commentary on new coach Reggie Theus, a player who once insured his face, maybe the last professional sports celebrity in America to keep an apartment in his town's party district to allow better\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1726,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/minnesota-timberwolves","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":3},"title":"Minnesota Timberwolves","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 18-64 (Tom), 20-62 (Gil) Last Year's Record 32-50 Tom's Commentary Sebastian Telfair's odyssey as kind of a strange mini-me to Stephon Marbury takes him to the land of Garrison Keillor, Marbury's first pro stomping grounds. The Timberwolves are actually Al Jefferson's team, which is interesting in that Jefferson\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1724,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/washington-wizards","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":4},"title":"Washington Wizards","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 46-36 (Tom), 46-36 (GR) Last Year's Record 41-41 Gil's Commentary For years, frontcourt-mates Brendan Haywood and Etan Thomas have fought over who's going to start. I always supported Thomas because he looks like a Predator, but he's (likely) out for the season after having surgery to repair a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1718,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-2007-08-preview\/philadelphia-76ers","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":5},"title":"Philadelphia 76ers","author":"Gil","date":"October 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Predicted Record 28-54 (Tom), 24-58 (GR) Last Year's Record 35-47 Morris Levin's Commentary There must be a way to write about these 2007-2008 76ers without mentioning Allen Iverson. After all, it has been more than 10 months since the team traded him to Denver and fans stopped coming to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1750\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}