Southwest Division

New Orleans Pelicans Power Rankings - 2012-13

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 2427-5427Did you see enough hope from Anthony Davis and the young Hornets amid all the injuries? Will we see Eric Gordon here come training camp after so much chatter to the contrary? All we can say for sure is that this team will never again be seen in these rankings without a Pelican logo nearby.
Week 2327-5023The Lakers might have one small reason to breathe easily: New Orleans had been winless on the road since a Feb. 11 win at Detroit before finally breaking through Sunday night at Phoenix. The Hornets thus won't be due when they go to Staples Center to see the Lakers on Tuesday night.
Week 2226-4822The Hornets strung wins together over Boston, Memphis and Denver -- with the latter essentially dropping the Nuggets out of the top two almost as soon as they reached their season-best perch -- before home drubbings by the Clips and Heat brought a jarring end to their Spoiler Streak.
Week 2124-4622The Hornets have moved out of the Western Conference cellar, boast five wins in their past six meetings with Boston and have happily watched Anthony Davis quietly average 15.1 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 52.0 percent from the floor since the All-Star break. Bright spots!
Week 2022-4526A season-high-tying six straight losses on the road have conspired to take the Hornets to the bottom of the West. After a seven-game homestand to close out this month, six more roadies await in an eight-game April, including away dates at fellow West stragglers Phoenix and Sacramento.
Week 1922-4224Here's hoping Monty Williams figures out that Anthony Davis needs to be on the floor as much as his health will allow for the rest of a rookie season annoyingly stalled by injury far too often. Only 18 games to go, meanwhile, before the nickname Hornets officially gives way to Pelican Fever.
Week 1821-3924More about the Hornet we can't stop writing about: Elias says Greivis Vasquez is one of only three players in NBA history to lead their team in assists (either outright or tied) in each of the first 60 games of the season. Jason Kidd did it with the Nets in 2001-02; John Stockton did it four times.
Week 1720-3723After a four-game stretch in which he averaged a mere 4.8 points and 5.5 boards, Anthony Davis has since averaged 15.6 PPG and 8.8 RPG in New Orleans' past five outings. Not quite Damian Lillard levels, but Davis can't worry about the long-gone ROY race. He just needs to finish his first season strongly.
Week 1619-3424Despite Anthony Davis' promise and a 10-8 mark when Eric Gordon sees the floor, there's Pelican trouble. A growing percentage of fans and media are openly calling for Gordon to be dealt, Austin Rivers has struggled all season and only the Kings draw fewer fans. (Joe Gerrity, Hornets247)
Week 1517-3425The first career triple-double for Greivis Passquez netted a win in Atlanta and a congratulatory tweet from Kevin Durant. Vasquez is now tied for the league lead in games with at least 10 points and 10 dimes at 19 with the injured Rajon Rondo, while Chris Paul -- just back from injury -- sits at 17.
Week 1415-3325Now that the pesky Super Bowl has finally left town, locals can refocus on the issues that really matter. Such as: Is Anthony Davis closer to putting real heat on Damian Lillard in the Rookie of the Year stretch run ... or to dropping into third place in the ROY race behind Andre Drummond?
Week 1315-2921The Hornets have won six of nine on the road after starting 2-11. The Hornets are up to 8-5 this season when Eric Gordon plays compared with 7-24 without him. And the Hornets are indeed still the Hornets -- even if no one seems to use that any more with the Pelicans era officially underway.
Week 1213-2723Anthony Davis is working his way back slowly from those ankle woes, averaging a modest 11 and 7 in January while shooting 44 percent from the line this month. The flip side? Greivis Vasquez, over his past 19 games, is at 16.7 ppg, 10.1 apg and 5.3 rpg, second only to CP3 in assists in that span.
Week 1111-2622Small sample size or not, New Orleans' 11-5 record over the past two seasons when Eric Gordon is actually in uniform does catch the eye. This season's edition of the Hornets is 0-15 when it fails to reach 100 points, which is bound to happen more regularly if EG is not out there.
Week 108-2524I'm actually not quite sure, upon reflection, if the proper hipster way to refer to these guys is Horicans or Horlicans. But I do know that they've gotten a bit harder to beat now that Eric Gordon is back to team up in the same backcourt with the ever-improving Greivis Passquez.
Week 97-2327The Horlicans won two games last week. They won Saturday night after falling behind by 21 and without scoring a single fast-break point. They welcomed back the much-maligned Eric Gordon and promptly watched him score 24. I'd say they heeded our call to give us something to work with.
Week 85-2230Just wondering: Has "Horicans" become the standard way to address these guys now? I've been seeing that one a lot lately. And just so you know: We'd love to talk about something else here besides the new nickname, but the Hornets/Future Pelicans ain't giving us much to work with.
Week 75-1830Exactly one year removed from the CP3 trade, New Orleans has to make do with the smallest of victories. Like Ryan Anderson's fine start to life as a future Pelican. Or Anthony Davis' long-awaited return. Or becoming the first team in a month to hold OKC under 100 points in another L.
Week 65-1426The committee is rather relieved to see the Hornets excluded from Monday night's six-game schedule. On each of the past two Mondays, even without the injured Anthony Davis, those future Pelicans tripped up a resident (first the Clips, then Milwaukee) of the rankings' upper echelon.
Week 54-1128Greivis Passquez is still diming it up. That's the good news. The bad news? Impressive as that win was in L.A. over the Clips mere hours after last week's rankings hit cyberspace, Anthony Davis is still hobbling, Austin Rivers is still struggling and Eric Gordon is still, uh, rehabbing in seclusion.
Week 43-929Think we have our answer to last week's question. As spectacularly efficient as Anthony Davis has been when we've seen him, he's only managed to play in six of his first 12 games, plagued now by a stubborn ankle issue after his concussion. Yet another frustrating/depressing NBA injury.
Week 33-523If you're into monthly awards, you're surely already wondering -- like us -- how the folks in the league office who make Rookie of the Month selections are going to choose between Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Davis has only played six games so far, true, but his PER is a no-joke 25.9.
Week 23-219Some pertinent Hornets numbers: They've got the second-youngest team in the NBA at an average age of 24.7 years -- only Houston's younger at 24.0 -- and the unheralded Greivis Vasquez might make the Passquez tag stick if he can stay in the top five in assists (8.8 apg) all season.
Week 12-120Eventful start to the season with three games, all against 2012 playoff teams, going down to the final minute and two of them ending in victory for the young Hornets. Too eventful, actually, once you throw in The Unibrow's concussion scare and Eric Gordon's latest knee setback.
Preseason0-023As good as Damian Lillard has looked during the preseason, Anthony Davis still starts the real thing as the ROY favorite ... here and in most precincts. The Hornets, though, really are too young for folks to keep whispering about an outside shot at No. 8. Not feasible.
Training Camp21-4520Whispers around the league persist that ROY favorite Anthony Davis and Co. can make a run at the No. 8 spot out West. I simply prefer to echo what we so often said about Kyrie's Cavs last season: Hope has been restored here, post-CP3, far faster than anyone imagined.

New Orleans Pelicans