I'm at a Loss

I certainly don't lack any words at the moment. What I do lack is a general understanding for what's happening to this team right now.

Chris Paul + David West + Tyson Chandler + Peja Stojakovic + James Posey + Julian Wright should be enough to post wins on Atlanta, Charlotte, and Sacramento. Yet, in these early few weeks of the season, we've seen losses to all three of those teams. Worse still, two of the losses were at the Arena.

After a 3-0 start (over Golden State, Phoenix, and Cleveland), the Hornets looked good. Not great. Not dominant. But damn good. In those three games, they either held a lead or stayed within 5 points for the first three quarters. Then, they'd push the lead in the fourth and put the game away with some solid defensive stops and smooth offensive sets. In the two weeks following that start, the Hornets have gone 2-5. Not exactly what we were expecting. Even in those two wins, the team just hasn't looked as good as they were last year. And that's perplexing.

One common thread I can trace in the losses is the team's 3-point shooting. In those five games, the Hornets are a combined 28/88 (a whopping 31.8%) from behind the arc. Compare that to 38.9% 3-pt shooting last season. With that aspect of their offense missing, the Hornets will have a hard time in this league. Especially when there's no go-to slasher other than Chris Paul. This team is starting to show an inability to win games when its long range shots aren't dropping. And those shots won't always drop... as evidenced in depressing fashion recently. Time for a new game plan. November's almost over, and this team hasn't impressed me much. Never thought I'd say that.

Granted, the season is far from over. But it's also far from what I expected to see 10 games into the schedule.