Hornets | Dynasty In The Making | 08-09 2nd Trimester

[Pistol]

27-30, hope you can make a playoff push love to see Paul and Conners in the playoffs...also congrats on Peja, Conners, Paul, and Mason on all-star weekend

[WhOwAnTsOmE]

27-30, hope you can make a playoff push love to see Paul and Conners in the playoffs...also congrats on Peja, Conners, Paul, and Mason on all-star weekend

same with me...seeing chris paul in the playoffs would be very interesting and exciting...

[Marquis]

3rd TRIMESTER UPDATE
Hornets clinch the playoff spot after the last game


Hornets celebtrate victory and go to playoffs

99
95


1. Hedo Turkoglu hits the 3 pointer at the remaining of 28 seconds till the end of the game and close Hornets lead to 2.
2. Chris Paul makes the successful jumper at the remaining of 5 seconds, which determined the victory and clinched playoff spot.


March and April Calendar



New Orleans Hornets finished 2007-2008 regular season. It was marked by the good end of regular season and making to the playoffs. The last game at Orlando was decisive. You lose - the season is over, you win - go to playoffs. And Hornets used this opportunity and came away with the hard victory over Magic after the successful jumper by Chris Paul, who increased the lead to 4 points at the remaining of 5 seconds of the last quarter. Magic couln't do anything in these seconds and Hornets celebrated the victory, which let them go to playoffs after several consecutive years without it.


Stats



Peja Stojakovic became the team leader in points for the 2nd consecutive years. Chris Paul went behind him with 2 points less, but provided with 7.0 assists per game, which is 3rd result in all the league. Rookie Lawrence Conners averaged 15.5 points per game, but more important are the other stats, which proves him as a perfect all-around player: 6.8 rebounds per game, 6.3 assists per game, 1.8 steals per game and 1.18 blocks per game. In these 2 months Davis West started to play better basketball and managed to reach the double digit stats in points. Tyson Chandler averaged one point less, but led the team in blocking and rebounding.


Season Standings



As it was mentioned Hornets managed to go to playoffs after the last victory and left behind Sacramento Kings, which had the same amount of wins, as well as Denver Nuggets. Rockets managed to go 1st in the West, so will be the opponent for the Hornets in the 1st playoff round. Great regular season performance by Sonics will be tested by reigning champions Nuggets. Portland TrailBlazers was the worst West team and will be able to pick one of the best picks in the draft. In the East, only Bulls, Raptors and Cavaliers demonstrated decent game and occupied the 1st three positions. Other teams were not so good, Hornets in the East would have been the 4th place team. Philadelphia 76ers ended as the worst team in the league, hopefully they will be more ready for the wins in the next season.


League Leaders





Kevin Garnett again leads the league in scoring with 24.5 PPG, rookie Rumeal Wells from the Sonics goes 2nd. Peja Stojakovic is at the 5th place. Kevin Garnett gave away the 1st place in reboundings to Samuel Dalembert with 12.6 RPG. Baron Davis leads the league in steals per game, while Gilbert Arenas - in assists per game. Paul goes at the 3rd place, and Lawrence Conners sharing the 7th place with Luke Ridnour. Amare Stoudemire leads the league in blocks, he averages more than 3 ones per game.


The Bests of March




Lawrence Conners again got the best rookie of the month award, he was averaging 20.0 points per game, grabbed ~8 rebounds per game, had ~6 assists per game in march games. The best rookie in East became Richard Halstead from the Magic. Kevin Garnett and Gilbert Arenas were anounced as the best March players. They had almost 30 points per game appearances in the march.


The Bests of April




Rumeal Wells from the Sonics and Evan Martin from the Celtics were anounced as the best rookies of April. Jermaine O'Neal was the best April player in Eastern conference, while Kevin Garnett was the best April player in Western Conference. After that last months performances he is being considered as the best candidate for the MVP award, although his Timberwolves are struggling.


Playoff matchups



Hornets will face Rockets in the 1st round, as was mentioned before. Teams played with each other only 2 games in the regular season and both games finished with the crushing victories by Rockets. So seems that Hornets have very little chances, but the hope dies the last. In the other matchup reigning champions will meet with hot Sonics with amazing rookie so far Wells. Warriors will meet with Suns, who were also great in regular season, but finished pretty unsuccessful. The last West matchup is between Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs, the matchup, worth more than quarterfinal. In the East seems that it should be clear for the 1st three teams, but everything can happen. Knicks will try to eliminate Bulls, Nets will face with Raptors and Wizards will meet with Cavaliers. The more intriguing matchup is between Pistons and Heat. Critics say the series will end up 4:3.

[looser]

Playoff! Playoff!Playoff! Playoff!

[---]

Damn, you just scraped in. Amazing job on the screens and overall presentation.

[Tuomas]

Good job. Interesting results as well. KG is really rippin' the league but his team sucks dodo just like Duncan in my dynasty.

[TomCat]

wow, glad you made the playoffs. Will be hard to beat the rockets. will you play or intervene in any playoff games??

[Marquis]

Thanks for the comments guys, scoop, yeah rockets were very strong and I had no chances against them, I just simulated all the games. You will find out soon

[Marquis]

2008 PLAYOFFS UPDATE
Hornets lost the 1st playoffs round against Rockets


Hornets stats



New Orleans Hornets have failed to celebrate any victory in the return to playoffs. They have lost all the 4 games against Houston Rockets and were eliminated from the playoffs. Rookie Lawrence Conners was the best player of the team in these games, as he was averaging 18 points per game, 8 rebounds per game and 7 assits per game. Chris Paul had the same assists number and almost the same points numbers per game. Needed more effort from Peja Stojakovic in these game, as he averaged only 15.5 points per game. Of course GM of the team didn't expect the victory in all the series, but it's always hurts to end the series 0:4.


Regular Season Personal Awards





Kevin Garnett got the MVP title again, although his Timberwolves were out of playoffs again. The best defensive player award came to Shawn Marion. Chris Paul won the Most improved player for the 2nd consecutive year. Rookie of the year became the MVP candidate already Mario Gonzalez from New York Knicks. Rookie Marcos Leon from the Pacers won the best 6th player award.


Regular Season Team Awards





Chris Paul was selected to the 2nd All NBA Team along with Tacy McGrady, LeBron James, Elton Brand and Dwight Howad. MVP Kevin Garnett along with Yao Ming, Andrei Kirilenko, Kobe Bryant and Gilbert Arenas were in the 1st All NBA Team. Lawrence Conners was selected to the 1st Rookie team along with Rookie of the year M.Gonzalez, R.Wells, E.Martin and L.Corey. None of the Hornets players were selected to the Defensive Teams.


Coach of the Year




Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was anounced as the best coach of the 2007-2008 season. His team managed to win 62 games in the season. They repeated their success in playoffs too and became NBA Champions.


Playoff Tree




Hornets were too weak against the Rockets, previous champions Denver Nuggets were defeated by the Sonics, Warriors couln't do anything in the last games against Suns and Dallas Mavericks managed to grab the 4:2 victory over Spurs in the series. In the East Bulls destroyed Knicks, as well as Pistons destroyed previous year finalists Heat 4:0. Raptors surprisingly lost against Nets, and Wizards were defeated by the Cavs. The semifinals were more intriguing, 2 of 4 ended with 7 games in the series. Dallas Mavericks fell short against the best regular team Houston Rockets and in the final they will face Suns, who celebrated the victory over Sonics in the dramatic series. In the East's thriller between Bulls and Pistons, Bulls were more lucky, and they go to Conference final where they will meet with Cavaliers, who defeated Nets. Conference finals also had a lot of intrigue here. Rockets again proved their power and won the series 4:2 against Suns, while in the East Cavaliers defeated Bulls and will go to the finals too. Cavs ended the finals not successful, as they lost the series 2:4 to Houston Rockets, and they became the new NBA champions.


Champions



Rookie Logan Corey was anounced as the finals Most Valuable Player. Along with Shane Battier, Yao Ming and Tracy Mcgrady they formed very good team, which won the NBA championship.

[TomCat]

too bad, you lost. hopefully you can get a steal in the draft. next season will be good because the NLSC players. i cant wait!! when will the off-season update be put on here??

[Marquis]

I already simmed offseason. I will try to update it maybe tonight or tomorrow

[Tuomas]

Ugh, the MVP logic is horrible. EA just doesn't know what to do

[Patr1ck]

Seeing those numbers from Peja, I would trade him as soon as possible. You have a definite future all star and MVP candidate in Conners. Chris Paul will be one of the best in the league in years to come. MIP two years in a row? I didn't know that it was possible. The one thing to be happy about is that you lost to the champs, and not some team that would just advance to get eliminated. Oh, and you need a patched simulation engine. Since you are simming seasons by the thirds, a bat file to fix primacy wouldn't help too much, but it couldn't hurt either.

[Martti.]

I created a 99 ovrl player, all stats 99. He won Most Improved Player award for 7-8 straight years.. Ea sucks at picking award. Especially the MVP.

Holey cow, a rookie winning Finals MVP award.. Only remember Magic to do so..

Good luck in the offseason and in the 2008/09 season..

[Anthony15]

Awww 4 straight losses and you're out, Hornets improving though, good luck in off-season.

[Marquis]

Pdub, yes, Peja have vague future in the team, especially when Conners is doing so well. However I will look at him in the next season, he will be probably traded before the trade deadline.

Thanks for the comments guys, the offseason recap is coming soon.

[Marquis]

2008 OFF-SEASON UPDATE
4 NLSC players were drafted and ready for the NBA


Draft Lottery



Philadelphia 76ers had very unsuccessful season and they had the best chances to win the 1st pick. The luck were at their side and they have won it. Indiana Pacers will be able to pick 2nd, Portland TarilBlazers - 3rd. New Orleans Hornets got the 20th and the 50th picks.


Resigning Players

New Orleans Hornets haven't resigned any players in this offseason, however they had only on here to resign. Pape Sow asked for a 2 year contract, but the club decided not to resign him. He will be testing the free agency this year and hope to find other club. Other hornets' players had safe contracts for this year.


2007 NBA Draft



New Orleans Hornets with the 20th pick selected power forward Furious Hidalgo (75 overall) from Stanford school. He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. The player has great touch around the basket, also is known for good leaping ability. He will try to give more rest for David West. He will have to work hard also, not to lose his starting 5 position. With the 50th pick Hornets selected shooting guard Robbie Harry (70 overall) from Fresno St. School. He was born in Mauldin, SC. Experts say the player is a tireless player, but have problems with shooting free throws. Hornets GM believe that rookie will have important role in the hornets game, because Rasual Butler was not playing well in last previous season games, and Peja's future in the team is not so secure.


NLSCers in the Draft



The first NLSC player who was drafted in this year draft was Conrad Burry a.k.a c0nr4d (76 overall). Conrad was born in Toledo, OH. He was picked by Miwaukee Bucks with the 9th overall. Team has good point guards such as Earl Boykins and Maurice Williams, so Conrad Burry will have to prove himself as the best point guard of these and take the starting 5 job. After the draft he said: "I'm happy to be a part of Bucks organization and I will be working hard to gain the starting 5 spot.




Just after the 10th and 11th picks Utah Jazz picked Tarius Tam with the 12th pick of the draft. Darius a.k.a Marquis (78 overall) was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. He is undersized shooting guard, but Jazz says that he will probably be in the starting 5 at the start of the season. Darius after the draft said that he is very happy that Jazz selected him, because he will have very good chances to dig in in the Jazz team, because the team didn't have good shooting guards.




Just after the Darius Tam drafted with the 12th pick, Memphis Grizzlies with the 13th pick selected Tuomas Vuollo. Tuomas (76 overall) was born in Helsinki, Finland and he will be the 2nd finnish player in NBA after Hanno Motolla. Tuomas will have good opportunity to show himself, because he will probably be the starting 5 player for the Grizzlies. He said: "I'm very happy that Grizzlies drafted me with such a high pick. I will try to demonstrate the best I can to make the team stronger.




The last NLSC player Aaron Fine was drafted only with 40th pick. Experts believed that he will be the top20 candidate in the draft, but he slipped to the 2nd round and Los Angeles Clippers taken the opportunity to grab him. Aaron Fine a.k.a joeygraham (73 overall) was born in Toronto, Canada. He will have to share the point guard position with Shaun Livingston. Clippers GM after the draft said: "I can't believe he was still available at the 2nd round, so we grabbed him immediately. He will hopefully replace Sam Cassell, who retired after the this season.


FA Signing Period

New Orleans Hornets didn't have any money to sign someone, except for the minimum, and they had only one open spot of the roster, so they decided not to sign anyone.


Other Teams' Transactions



This year's offseason was the same calm as the previous. Only one trade and very less player movements. Warriors finally managed to trade away Adonal Foyle. Kings gave them Kenny Thomas for him. The biggest player movement was Kevin Martin signing with Orlando Magic. The player will earn 31.31 milions for the next 3 years in Orlando and will fill the weak Magic SG position. Lakers signed Monta Ellis from Warriors for 5.22 milions for 1 year, while Clippers signed Dorell Wright for multiyear extension and he will wear Clippers' jersey for the next 4 years. Heat and Jazz have made very important signings. They strengthened their team with high potential centers. Heat signed Nenad Krstic for 5 years, and Jazz signed Robert Swift for 4 years.


Retired Players



Grant Hill finally made the statement that he retires from the league. His carrier was marked with har injuries, which didn't let him to dominate being in the Magic. Michael Finley, Bobby Jacskon, Sam Cassell, Gary Payton also retired from the league.


Training Camp




Two Hornets rookies were practicing with the team before the season. Hidalgo was demonstrating pretty nice inside game and was fighting with David West as equal. Robbie Harry also looked good. He said: "I hope I will be able to help the team as much as I can. Peja is a good player and I will try to learn from him how to play SG position."


Player Rotation for 2007-2008 season



The player rotation for the 2008-2009 season was released. The starting 5 remained the same as in previous year. You can see the whole team roster here.

The profiles for 4 NLSCers drafted this year you can see here. The next draftees for the 2009 Draft is going to be Pdub, Diddy, anubisak and Polish_patcher.

[Tuomas]

Wow, looking good.

Grizzlies oh well, I guess it's a good place for minutes and ball hogging

[Pistol]

You have a returning Starting 5, which is good for chemistry, I have a feeling that good tiems are ahead for your Hornets, GO PAUL AND CONNERS

[TomCat]

good looking off-season. i like furious hidalgo, that is a great name.

looking forward to the 1st trimester

[Lamrock]

LOL! Furious Hidalgo! wtf? Can't wait for the first trimester update. Hopefully the game begins to like your team and you get lucky with the sim engine.

[Anthony15]

Furious Hidalgo, beats any Ben Vuu's and LeBron Ivanov's, good luck next season.

[c0nr4d]

nice recap on the offseaso...

sux that i got drafted by Bucks tho maybe they'll trade me or somethin

good luck with the new season

[WhoElseCouldItB]

i like where your going with this...ill be following.

[Cornerthree]

Wow a lot happened here while I was gone for a while...

Can't believe Houston won the title and some motherfuckin' rookie got the MVP title...Shit happens in Live..

Anyways, your lineups look really strong and after last years performance, I'm predicting you'll make the semi' ending the regular season with a 45+ or even 50+ win record..
Good luck...