Eric Gordon has New Orleans buzzing

Granted, the sample size is incredibly small, but I wonder if the argument can be mounted that with Eric Gordon fit and playing, the Hornets have the hallmarks of a playoff team.

New Orleans might be a little too far back this season for my suggestion to be fulfilled (they’re second last in the West and a full 7 games behind 8^th placed Houston) however all the signs suggest that they’re a franchise in quite good shape.

Since Eric Gordon returned to the Hornets’ line-up around New Year’s they’ve gone 7-3 which scalps over the Spurs, Rockets and Boston in that period.

Prior to Gordon’s return New Orleans were boasting fairly decent defensive numbers which based on points per game is still good enough to rank them in the top 5 in the West while enduring, and by quite a large margin, the NBA’s most brutal schedule.

It’s the Hornets’ offence which has benefitted most from Gordon’s return. Only Memphis have poorer numbers in most offensive measures than New Orleans, however Gordon has bought them back to looking like a much more respectable outfit.

In New Orleans’ 27 pre-Christmas matches they scored more than a paltry 90 just 14 times which was quite dismal. In 13 post-Christmas hit outs, which have mostly included Gordon, they’ve cleared that number 11 times.

Like John Wall in Washington, Gordon’s return has dramatically changed the fortunes of their respective teams, while individually and in short time emerging as their team’s top scorer.

Gordon represents a +12.3 point differential when he’s on the court as opposed to off it. To put that number into context Kevin Durant’s boasts a +13.4, Wall a +9.7.

New Orleans, like most clubs around this time finds themselves in an odd position moving forward. They’re playing good basketball but have dug a hole too big to perhaps make a playoff run yet are playing so well that they might ‘win’ themselves out of the draft lottery which proved ever so kind to them last season.

And draft positioning might be even more important to New Orleans this season as adding another high calibre player to this team would surely have them right on the cusp of playoff contention.