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More Zing in your Curry

This week’s game of the week is to be battled out between fellow Eastern rebuilding foes in the Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls. We’ve chosen this match-up to help give some hope to two teams who are in it for the long haul, and math up pretty well on paper we feel. So here we go!

 

The Hornets:

The Hornets, despite all they have done in the efforts of rebuilding, still find themselves to feel a little like that middling team that surprises with victories but doesn’t have that real strong hope of making it to the playoffs right now, particularly in the strong East. They’re sitting on 18 wins for the season, which puts them in around 21st on the overall standings, hovering at the top 10 pick area, but 7 games below the 8th slot out East. With assets not all that in hot demand, at least the ones they want to move, the build has been slow to this point over the 1.5 years, and GM Digeze keeps preaching to #TrustTheProcess, as he turns guys like (at the time) top 10 NLL ranked Eric Gordon into multiple assets and picks, Alec Burks into multiple 1st round picks, and continues to shop ready contributors like Khris Humphries, Carl Landry and Mike Dunleavy in the hopes of still finding more assets for the future. The team is young, rolling out 2 rookies, 2 sophomores and a 5 year vet in the starting line-up, and there is a solid foundation for the future.

 

The Bulls:

The Bulls have turned to the “full minus Steph” rebuild mode this season, and the move is probably long overdue. GM Daz has been attempting to retool the roster for a couple of years now that realistically, unless it gelled perfectly, wasn’t going to be particularly competitive anyhow with the holes the line-ups often had. That’s not a knock on Daz, just his mindset for whatever reason, outside pressure? Fan pressure? Was to try and win now, and it left him with what was a few weeks ago a fair shell of a team looking for that next step. He finally pulled the cord though, and turned the few assets he had into a handful of useful assets…and low and behold, he also started to win some games too as the team was suddenly deeper and had a clear strategy. Now winning a few games to get to 13 total isn’t a major step, or particularly desired in a rebuild, but it is a promising start to see a few things click and go right for a franchise who has been starved of such for the past year and a bit while trying to win. They are now armed with 4 2016 1sts and picked up some solid pieces like Meyers Leonard and Jodie Meeks along the way also. The majority of the rest of their acquisitions are expiring, so should be at least looked at moving out at the trade deadline to teams requiring contributors, but until then, the Bulls have turned onto Splash City rolling out a 3 point bombers paradise of a line-up, and entertaining the fans.

 

The Match-Ups:

C: Myles Turner  Vs  Meyers Leonard

Turner missed a big chunk of the season to date, but upon his return and finding his feet for a couple of weeks he has been thrust straight into the fire and started as he did in Week 1. He has shown marked improvement from that time, averaging 8 points, 9 boards and a smattering of other stats, and the kid is showing some really nice potential that GM Dig knew he had. He’s still learning, but early signs are good.
Meyers is a 4th year big man now, and as he’s about to turn 24 in 2 weeks, it could be mildly concerning that he’s still finding his feet a little in the league after being a top 1st round pick as a 7’1 athletic big man. He’s carving a stretch big niche though and has shown some vast improvement in the last year leading this writer to believe he has a future in this league. He averaging around the same as Turner, 8 points and 9 boards with a smattering.
Head to head this match-up is pretty close. Both guys are likely to step away from the basket, with Meyers most likely camping around the arc, and both guys are pretty light on their feet. The match-up itself feels like it will be a small part of the overall game, as neither is likely to get much over the other.

 

PF: Kristaps Porzingis  Vs  Anthony Tolliver

Zinga has not come as advertised this season. He was billed as a project, 2 years away, the guy with possibly the highest upside in the draft but also the most risk due to his developmental needs…well more fool everyone! He’s averaging 16 points and 11.5 rebounds on the season while adding nearly 2 blocks and at 7’3 with limitless range, there literally is no ceiling here right now. He’s super quick and athletic for a guy his size and he’s not even 21 yet! Ermagerd!
Tolliver was picked up off waivers by the Bulls just last week and has only actually played one game for them after immediately being inserted into the starting line-up for Channing Frye. He’s a fellow Splash City candidate as evidenced by 8 of his 9 FGA in that 1 game coming from deep, and he scored 8 points with 5 boards. He spent the start of the season with Detroit but only played 15 games and was negligible in 5 minutes a game.
Head to head it’s not even close. Kristaps has got this one all round.

 

SF: Iman Shumpert  Vs  Mirza Teletovic

Shump survived all the trade speculation last season to resign with the Hornets but started the season out injured. He’s burst onto the scene though since then averaging 19 points, 5 boards and 3 assists and is the lone “veteran” presence in the Hornets starting line-up. The trade speculation still remains, but he’s putting up too much production and his contract is so friendly that it would be a surprise to see him move.
Teletovic came over to the Bulls as a way to gain some salary to stay above the league minimum, but he jumped straight into the starting line-up in Chicago as a big slow SF and hasn’t looked back averaging 18 points, 6 boards, 2 assists and 4 triples a game. He’s expiring end of season, and his prospects for staying in Chicago are slim to none, but he’s going to get some serious offseason attention taking his opportunity like this.
Really polar opposites here. Shump is super quick and agile, Mirza is a slow plodding PF playing down a spot cause of his perimeter game. Mirza will bomb away, but Shump could drop 30 if he utilises his speed.

 

SG: Gary Harris  Vs  Randy Foye

Harris was a Digeze special. He was drafted a fair way higher than what most expected but he was young and a genuine 2 way guy, and he’s started to come on in his 2nd season. He’s starting now, particularly since Gordon is gone and he’s averaged 14 points, 3 boards and 4 assists as a starter showing some potential. Get another season into the kid and he’ll be right there for Dig.
Foye is an old head and he too was cast straight into a starting role (pretty much) upon arriving in Chicago from Boston in the Aminu deal which gained the Bulls so much depth in legitimate NLL players. He’s put up 18 points, 4 boards and 2 assists a game, 20.6 points as a starter, and he’s always been capable of doing this type of thing. To think he hasn’t drawn much interest from a contender looking for a bump seems surprising!
Head to head, Harris will be good, but he’s not quite there yet and Foye just gets buckets. Look for Randy to assert himself on this game.

 

PG: Elfrid Payton  Vs  Stephen Curry

Payton was last years draft shooting star and it’s hard not to be too excited about the kid who values D and getting his team involved above all else. He’s not quite at the gaudy steal numbers he had last year, but 2 a game is nothing to sneeze at, and he’s averaging 14 points, 5 boards and 7 assists a game. Payton is never going to be a shooter, as evidenced by his 9% from deep and 64% FTs, but then again neither is Rajon Rondo.
Curry is a star of this league and even on a roster where he gets limited amounts of help and little reason to deter double teams, he’s averaging 27 points, 5 boards and 5 assists with nearly 2 steals a game. His 2.7 triples a game feels light on for GM Daz’s desires, but in the end he is a 6’3 guard with limited athleticism and video games simply can’t do justice to what Steph truly is.
Head to head this is a really interesting dual. Payton will ride Curry hard and Steph will produce, but the efficiency level is probably the key. You can’t give the nod to anyone against Steph though. It’s Steph’s nod.

 

Bench V Bench:

Tim Frazier, Mario Hezonja, Gerald Henderson, Kosta Koufos and Carl Landry.
Vs
Channing Frye, Kevon Looney, Derrick Williams, Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston.

The Hornets bench is actually a very solid looking bench. Veterans like Koufos, Landry and Henderson are all more than capable players and the overall balance is nice looking. Inside, outside, size and offence. Hezonja is another of the rookies in the stable and is still finding his groove, while Frazier has played his way into a role, but does little other than carry the ball up and dump it off.
Like the Hornets, the Bulls bench is actually quite solid with vet producers surrounding the finally debuted rookie Looney who has done well to even get himself on the court this year. The bench lacks a little in size and D, but hey we’re talking about a rebuilding team here with all of these guys either having arrived in trade or FA this season and being thrown together rather than built.
Head to head, while the Bulls bench continues the splash, the Hornets bench looks more well rounded. It’s limited minutes resting the starters, but the Hornets bench would seem to have a slight ascendency.

 

 

Head to Head Prediction:

Who wants it least? Nah just kidding…or am I? Let’s be honest, neither team is going to be cursing if they drop this one, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less of a contest. Bulls bombing triples, Hornets showcasing the future game in and game out, Curry doing what Curry does, and just putting on a show for the fans who are sticking by their teams in times of need. It might be a Bulls home game, but the Hornets are the higher placed team for a reason. Although that reason now plays for Utah, the Hornets are still good to go though and as long as they can bother enough triples along the way, they should get over the Bulls. #LiveOrDieByThe3 #TrustTheProcess



Star

Kristaps Porzingis

The man we all want to see in Charlotte is Kristaps. He’s a strong, if not favourite candidate for rookie of the year and he’s captured the hearts and imaginations of the whole league let alone Charlotte GM Digeze and the Charlotte fans. It’s probably already his team with that goofy face becoming the franchise face and where they go from here will lie heavily on the back of this kid and up and coming star.

 
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Star

Stephen Curry

Who else? For one thing, 3 other starters are all going to be in other jerseys next season, and Meyers isn’t there yet. There’s nearly no bigger name in the league, let alone the Bulls and Steph looks like the immoveable piece the Bulls are going to heap their future on the back of.

X-Factor

Rebounding. In particular, Offensive rebounding. Neither team is particularly great on the boards and their season stats are near identical with the Bulls having the edge. That said, the Bulls have been staying in games and winning games recently on the back of their 3 ball performance and that can generate a lot of rebounding opportunities. It can also generate a lot of long rebounds and the Bulls have been quick to punish teams that allow that with a quick kick out and the 2nd triple is up in a flash. The Hornets will need to limit these 2nd chances as a key to locking the game down and taking it for their own.