Venezula vs Lithuania Qualifiers

"I don’t care what Shaq says,” Howard told L.A. reporters Thursday. “Shaq played the game; he’s done. He’s done. It’s time to move on. He hated the fact that when he played, the older guys were talking about him and how he played. And now he’s doing the exact same thing. Just let it go.”

Davis and fellow first round pick Austin Rivers have quite a load on their shoulders. There are veterans like Eric Gordon and Roger Mason to lean on a bit, but this year’s Hornets team will only be as successful as their rookie duo.

“Competing from Jose and Kyle, to me and DeMar [DeRozan], to Amir [Johnson] and [Andrea] Bargnani, we are competing all the way across the board,” Anderson said. “It is a big difference [from last year] because guys are actually trying to [help] each other get better and want to play and prove that they can play.”