[Hov's Cats]

[TomCat]

Damn, looked like you were going to have another bad week, but picked it up for the last 2 games to go .500 for the week. Nice work

[Mark.]

Top win against the Cavs dude, love to see them lose Liking how your team is playing actually, the wins just don't seem to be coming as easy as the players stats suggest.

[The X]

4-12, nice. You're doing my old Bobcats the justice that they deserve

I can sympathise with bad starts as I was the king of them. Good luck dragging the team out of the slow start & towards a low playoff berth.

[hova-]

Martti., It's really a thing of learning how to score with these guys. Wallace is underachieving at the boards compared to his real season so far (12 rpg), his ratings are just not good enough. But I like his athleticism and he's able to defend very well (although I don't get many blocks with him). I think I could not beat the Cavs playing by myself, but the CPU did great

Valor, thanks, man. the Pacers were just so tough to defend and I had a bad shooting day. For the Raptors loss, I thought I had them since they struggled so much in the first half and thus got too lightheaded I guess.

Thierry., yeah! The hope of making it three is limited though as the Celtics come to town next game

dare, as you noticed I did not give Jax less PT. I put Murray on PG more often instead. He's a bad defender though. I don't think he has a bright future in Charlotte.

Sit, you want me tanking? We're competing for the Playoffs, just like the Stealth (with their ten times better roster ).

TomCat, thank you! Was definitely an improvement.

The X, thanks, X. Well, it's the Cats. It's strange that they do not have a team with a bright future, like other expansion teams had. There's no youngster on the team you would say could turn around the team. That's a shame, but I will try to make the Playoffs and if I fail big time, then I try to get some future on this squad.

Thanks for your kind words. I will start putting up November recaps today or tomorrow. I will make different parts (I hope Sit won't strike against my dynasty, since that is kind of his idea, but I have some ideas on my own, I promise) and will post them the next few days.

Mark., thx Yeah, I think that everybody is putting up decent stats, but I simply lack any inside post-up game. Wallace and Felton are good at driving to the rim, but some old school back to the basket game is simply missing.

[Fresh8]

No, sharing is caring. And at the end of the day, we are both from the Roc Nation so don't worry.

[dare]

So are you going to trade Murray?

[hova-]

I'm not a big fan of trades early in the season. But I have to say he is pretty much despensable. Maybe I will give Acie Law a shot later, but right now I'm planning to put him into D-league. If he does well there, Murray could be out of Charlotte.

[hova-]

Monthly Recap: November Part I
I divided the monthly recap into five parts: Team Standing & Statistics, Race 2 the MVP, Rookie Rankings, Player Focus and Team Focus (shut outs to Sit!)

Team Standings


The Kings and his servants: LeBron and the Cavs lead the standings after one month played.

The 09-10 NBA season is one month old as we take a look at the standings in our November recap. Without any big guys being injured (except Yao and T-Mac) the standings seem to reflect the teams in a nice way.
As we take a look at the Eastern Conference there are definitely some surprises so far.

Atlantic Division: The Atlantic Division is looking like a turnaround from last year so far. The New Jersey Nets managed to come up big and surprise the league by leading their division with a stellar 11-5 record. The odds-on favorite Boston Celtics only trail by a game but had some problems starting off the season badly loosing 3 of their first 7 games. Taking a look at New York you can hardly say that they played very well this season, but the wins are coming and for the Knicks an above .500% season can be declared as a real success. The Raptors so far have been underachieving despite a huge season by Chris Bosh (take a look at the individual stats below). The additions have not worked out well so far and the Raptors are only one and a half games in front of the struggling Sixers.

Central Division: The Cavaliers are the best in the East. With LeBron having another MVP year it seems like the Cavs are pretty unstoppable at times. Still they dropped two games against below .500% teams. The competition in the Central Division has definitely taken a hit with the Pistons, Pacers and Bucks looking to rebuild. None of these three teams owns a winning record. The Bulls are also surprisingly struggling. It seems like Chicago is lacking any inside game despite great improvement of Joakim Noah. At 5-9 Vinny Del Negro has already been rumoured to leave Chicago soon.

Southeast Division: The Southeast Division has established itself as the best Division in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks are playing great basketball so far possessing the 2nd best record in the East. The Orlando Magic are a bit inconsistent but only one and a half games behind. Thanks to Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley, the Miami Heat are at a respectable 9-6 so far. The Wizards and Bobcats are already many games behind, but at least the Bobcats are on a 2-0 winning streak right now.

Northwest Division: Winning seven of their last eight, the Utah Jazz have lifted themselves on the top of the Western Conference. Deron Williams is having a monster season so far being the go-to-guy of this strong Jazz team. The Denver Nuggets have been able to compensate their offseason losses and rank 2nd in the West. Portland has been struggling lately but is still only 1.5 games behind the Jazz. Kevin Durant has lead his Thunder to a winning November and it seems like Oklahoma City could have it's first shot for the Playoffs this year. The Timberwolves are last in the Northwest but for a rebuilding team a 5-11 record is not that bad.

Pacific Division: The Phoenix Suns lead the Pacific Division a half game in front of the Los Angeles Lakers. It will be a head-to-head race between both teams to clinch their division. The Warriors, Clippers and Kings are all having a loosing record right now, but for each team it seems like they are still trying to find their rhythm and game. All in all it's looking like a two tier society at the Pacific coast.

Southwest Division: What a surprise has the Southwest Division been. Not a positive one though. The Rockets are leading the way even without Yao and Tracy McGrady. How could that happen? Well, the Hornets, but especially the Mavs and Spurs are really struggling so far into this season. Dallas has not yet been able to integrate their new additions. With Dirk Nowitzki underachieving a bit they are only sitting at 9th in the West. The Spurs are even worse, with a 6-8 record so far. Is the age of the team finally showing it's effects? Looking at New Orleans, they must be glad to be on a qualifying 8th seed right now as Chris Paul is struggling big time this season averaging career lows in almost every category.




Individual Statistics


Dwyane Wade is leading the league in points per game.

Taking a look at the individual performers of the month November there seems to be not much change from last season. The 2003 class is still dominating the scoring category with Dwyane Wade, the 5th pick, leading the way with 31.8 points per game. The number one of 2003, LeBron James comes second in scoring just in front of the third pick of the famous class, Carmelo Anthony. The 4th picks is just a bit below his fellow colleagues as Chris Bosh is ranking 6th in scoring so far. Btw, Darko Milicic is averaging 5 points per game right now. Kobe and Danny Granger complete the list.
Dwight Howard is once again leading the league in rebounding and blocked shots. But don't forget David Lee who is pulling down just as much boards as Howard (being three inches smaller).
If you want to find anything surprising, maybe it's the fact that Deron Williams is the Chris Paul of the 2009-2010 season. He is leading the league with 11.2 assists per game whilst "CP3 is anywhere near 7.5 so far. And if Manu Ginobili comes by, you should immediately check your bag. He's leading the league with 4.1 steals per game so far and has recorded at least two steals over the last 7 games, with his highlight eight steals against the Bucks.




Next up will be the Race to the MVP and Rookie Rankings of the season.

[TomCat]

Btw, Darko Milicic is averaging 5 points per game right now.

Very nice update. My Blazers are 19-12, beautiful. The Northwest has 4 of 5 teams in the top 8 in the west

[hova-]

Btw, Darko Milicic is averaging 5 points per game right now.

Very nice update. My Blazers are 19-12, beautiful. The Northwest has 4 of 5 teams in the top 8 in the west

Your Blazers are 12-7 ... it's a bit confusing, they show the total games first and then wins and then losses

The Northwest seems to profit from the Texas boys underachieving I guess.

[The X]

Nice format for your update. Like how you've incorporate blog standings

[Valor]

very nice looking monthly recap there Hova, loving the look of the Standings and the League Leaders

[Mark.]

Nice presentation dude. Love to se Dwight being a monster in rebs and blocks again. So you are using the 2k blog thing to do your standings? Are you doing the same for the league leaders?

[Martti.]

Wow, you beat the league leader.

Wade's doing great and they're holding on to a playoff spot so that's good.

Make sure you increase your win streak.

[hova-]

The X, Thx, man. Glad you like it.

Valor, cheers

Mark., Dwight is really a monster, and you know what, I love how he's also a monster when you play against them. He is not only posting big numbers in simmed games. When I played the Magic he had 14 rebounds and I guess three of them were putbacks. (I have the slider at 30 or something, so there are not many putbacks usually).

The statistics leader is taken from ESPN. Copy paste etc. ... added some pics, but did not take too long.

Martti., yeah Wade is really doing well. Wait for the MVP rankings, I guess you will be pissed a bit then Well as I already said, increasing the streak against the Celtics will be hard.

[Retro]

great Monthly recap and an awesome read so far (despite the craptastic record lol); weird not seeing CP3 in that Assists list and check out Turiaf giving Howard a run for the money in the Blocks Leader dept!

[hova-]

Monthly Recap: November Part II
I divided the monthly recap into five parts: Team Standing & Statistics, Race 2 the MVP, Rookie Rankings, Player Focus and Team Focus (shut outs to Sit!)

Race 2 The MVP


LeBron is the reigning MVP and is doing everything to add another title to his showcase.

Welcome to the first Race to the MVP of the year. After about 15-20 games by every team it was time to have a look at who has the biggest impact on his team and, that's almost as important, whose team is taking this impact to win games. For me it was not a hard decision who should be at the top of the list. LeBron is playing in a class of his own right now and the Cavs are succeeding. The 2nd spot, I did not feel like there should be a question who should follow. Kobe is again playing a great season. His numbers are superb. Still, with the ones behind him, I felt like he was more pressured than ever, at least on my ranking.
That was were my problems began. Rank 3,4,5. What a tough choice. Four guards battling for the places behind the two last MVPs. Why did I go with Deron Williams? He is not putting up better numbers than Chauncey Billups or Dwyane Wade. Actually he is the only player who has not been an All-Star on this list next to young Kevin Durant. He got the nod anyway. Deron Williams has put a team at the top of the Western Conference who had problems making the Playoffs last year. With Carlos Boozer playing a "this year and bye" season and Andrei Kirilenko and Memo Okur struggling on offense, Williams has shouldered the load and carried the Jazz to 7 wins in the last 8 games. His 11.2 assists per game are a prove for his importance, but he is also scoring better than ever. His 3pt shot looks pretty good this season. With his supporting cast being way inferior to the Nuggets or the Suns and with the Heat having a worse record, I decided to get Deron Williams a sweet 3rd rank on my list. Deron for All-Star, baby!












Close, but no cigar: Brandon Roy, Devin Harris, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, Chris Bosh, Trevor Ariza

[Dee.]

Oh man,Bron is always Raiding the MVP spot.
Especially in 2K10.

[hova-]

After reading this, I noticed some typos in the race. Sry for that ...


Retro, thx for following dude! Glad you like it! Yeah CP3 is struggling this season, I will write more about that in the monthly recap part IV. Turiaf is sick, I wanted him on my squad but then the Jackson trade happened in real life ...

[Mark.]

Man there are some good number being put up there. Don't worry the Magic will find their rhythm and then Dwight will climb the rankings. Still .... Kobe4MVP! or at least Wade or someone.

[Lamrock]

Brilliant recap. Wish I knew photoshop. Fantastic presentation of the stats and standings as well. Keep it up, this dynasty kicks ass.

[Fresh8]

I'm gonna cry... if I only I had time on my hands like you do!!!

Loving this association.

[Valor]

man, this R2MVP recap is AWESOME
Wish i knew how to do stuff like this...i wanted to make my R2MVP like the NBA.com's version, but i dunno how so
Anyways, Keep it up!

[Fresh8]

man, this R2MVP recap is AWESOME
Wish i knew how to do stuff like this...i wanted to make my R2MVP like the NBA.com's version, but i dunno how so
Anyways, Keep it up!

ask hova to make it for u =]

[TomCat]

Sweet Race To The MVP recap bro! LeBron is just a machine, and will probably win it but I hope to see Roy claw his way into the top ten sometime over the season.