Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets’ Postseason Odds, Ramon Sessions is Back
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After defeating the Phoenix Suns, the Charlotte Hornets will have a rest day as they prepare for a back to back against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the team’s postseason odds, predicting the playoff spots in the Eastern Conference and Ramon Sessions‘ returns from injury.
Predicting the Playoff Spots in the East (CBSsports.com)
"Maybe the truly surprising team is Charlotte, which was the sixth seed last season and were as high as fourth as recently as January. Last season’s top-10 offensive and defensive rating has fallen to the middle of the pack on offense and barely hung in the top-10 on defense. Not a sexy team, but Steve Clifford should be capable of much more. With Jeremy Lin and Al Jefferson gone, it’s been an excruciatingly disappointing season."
Bill Reiter predicted the playoff spots in both conferences with the most surprising teams to make the cut and the most surprising teams to miss out. The Hornets were a part of the latter. While it has been a disappointing season, it makes it even worse to be reminded that Charlotte was a top-four seed in January. The wheels really did fall off.
The writer has the Atlanta Hawks finishing out the season as the eighth seed in the East while the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons suffer the same fate as the Hornets. Charlotte missing out isn’t even the most shocking part about the predictions as the Boston Celtics are ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first seed. It could happen but it is still shocking. The Hornets missing out, not so much as we have all seen this coming for some time after their continued struggles.
Charlotte’s Postseason Odds (ESPN.com)
"The BPI Playoff Odds are based on ESPN’s NBA Basketball Power Index (BPI), a measure of team strength developed by the ESPN Analytics team. Each day, the season is simulated 10,000 times, according to BPI and the remaining schedule for each team."
Charlotte has the lowest playoff chances out of any team in the East still in the postseason race but their odds are up to 7.1%. That is the highest they’ve been in weeks and while it is still unlikely that they reach the eighth seed, they are not yet out of the picture. Ahead of the Hornets are the Pistons (21.7%), the Miami Heat (44.5%) and the Bulls (59.2%) who all have significantly better odds.
The longer Steve Clifford’s side sticks around in the playoff picture, the more it devastating it will be when they narrowly miss out. Most fans thought they were done for a few weeks ago but the Hornets have somewhat turned things around and have essentially given out some false hope. Maybe they’ll make it but the odds aren’t on their side. It will probably just be a case of too little, too late.
Ramon Sessions is Back (CBSsports.com)
"Sessions hasn’t seen the court since a Feb. 1 matchup against the Warriors, as a torn left meniscus continues to keep him on the inactive list."
Next: Marvin Puts Onus on Players Not Coaching Staff
Despite being listed as inactive for the past two games, Sessions has actually been cleared to play. (David Scott) Although, he has been a healthy scratch as Briante Weber continues to man the backup point guard spot. Once Ramon is back to full health it will be interesting to see if he jumps ahead of Briante, plays in Brian Roberts‘ role or remains a healthy scratch going forward.