Hometown Hornets

On Hiatus

2009-11-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

We still go to games... honest.

Seems kind of silly to make this announcement now (we've posted 2 things in the last 7 months), but I thought it'd be polite in case of you have been hitting the refresh button or checking your news feed only to be saddened by the lack of new material on this blog.

The reality is that both Curry and I are still cheering loudly in row 2 of section 325 (check out the photo) and contributing our thoughts to other sites in the Hornet's blogosphere, but we are also in the process of applying to graduate programs. Something had to give, and it looks like (for now) it will be this blog. I will continue to recap home games (and throw in the occasional statistical breakdown or rant) for At the Hive and Curry will continue doing field reporting (or something) for the folks down at Hornet's Report.

We may one day resurrect this site, but for now it shall continue to lay dormant as we move on to bigger and better things. Until then, folks, thanks for reading and Geaux Bees!

Welcome Back!

2009-06-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hey, remember when I ran a blog about the Hornets? Yeah, those were fun times.

So, all sarcasm aside, I suppose its time we jumped back in to this whole "basketball" thing. Curry and I are extremely sorry about disappearing for the playoffs (but so did the rest of the team, so no big deal right?... too soon?), but we are back and fired up for another off season of (hopefully useful) drafting/trades/acquisitions and the like.

Before we jump into things, I've got a couple of good links for you. If, for some reason, you've been mentally checked out as long as we have, and somehow managed to miss these nuggets, now would be an opportune time to catch up on some great writing:

* Great @TH post on Posey and his contributions.

* Another piece on our good ol' boy Pargo.

* Hey, there was a draft last night... who knew? Ok, we did. But since our draft recap won't be up until Sunday, you'll just have live with @TH's Draft Day Thread for now.

* Even though the draft's over, Ryan down at Hornets247 has a great piece on the value of a draft pick

* A slightly older piece from Ryan about possible trade scenarios and rumors. We'll be sure to pick up where he left off with a little more insight from last night's shenanigans.

--

See you Sunday. Peace.

Weezy Showing Some Love

2009-04-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

Looks like Lil Wayne might be a bit of a Hornets fan after all. Of course, maybe this shouldn't come as such a shock, given his most recent mailbag on ESPN the mag:

Jeff (Birmingham): Wayne -- I know you are a huge Hornets fan and I was wondering about your reaction to the whole saga of Tyson Chandler getting traded and then coming back?

Lil Wayne: Tyson Chandler and Chris Paul are becoming one of the greatest, most-unstoppable dynamic duos in the league and it would have been horrible to split them up. Just atrocious. But I'm glad it happened so they could feel that kick in the gut when they thought he wasn't going to be on the team no more. They needed that push, and now they know what they've got to do, so it's a good thing.

***

Special thanks to the guys down at Hornets 24/7 who had the video in their Lagniappe section which, by the by, is an awesome aggregator of Hornets links from all over the interwebs. There's also a pretty robust News section. Both are definitely worth a look.

CP Playoff Commercial: Sneak Peak

2009-03-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

Video: Chris Paul NBA Playoffs promo

Thanks to Hornets Beat over at NOLA.com for posting and sharing.

Head-to-Head: CP3 vs DW8

2009-03-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Thousands upon thousands of words have been devoted to the CP3/D Will debate, and truthfully, it's likely we won't see the death of this subject until one of the two hoists the Larry O'Brien trophy. Until that fateful day arrives, we will continue to argue, debate, punch, kick, and bite in this oft polarizing argument.

The reason I'm chiming in today is because J.A. Adande wrote something that caught my attention a few days ago:

I like Paul as much as the next guy... But it's hard to ignore what Williams and the Jazz have done. And you can't forget the way Williams has dominated Paul in their head-to-head matchups.

Hmmm. Interesting. As of today, the Jazz are 41-25 and the Hornets are 41-24. I suppose he could be referencing the Jazz's recent winning streak of 11, but both teams are 8-2 over their last 10, so I'm not sure that really settles anything.

On the other hand, if the Hornets were doing worse (record-wise) than the Jazz, how could you penalize Paul for this? Most of our losses this season have resulted from a thin bench and declining numbers from a few of our starters (none of whom are named Paul, Chris). Is there really an argument for CP being the inferior player if he's stuck on a team with significantly less depth? I'm not sure there is.

It's Adande's second statement that really prompted this post. For most fans of either team, it's generally accepted that Deron outperforms Chris when the Jazz square off against the Hornets, but, despite the fact this has become "common knowledge," I've never actually seen any numbers that back up the argument.

Is there really a sharp drop in Chris' (or Deron's) production? Or are we maybe remembering a handful of only the most recent contests that may have favored Deron? Let's star by looking at these guys career stats. Then, we'll look at some composite stats for the 12 games in which these guys have faced off*:

Career per game totals

	PTS	FGM	FG%	FTM	FT%	REB	AST	STL	TO
PAUL	18.9	6.7	46.6	4.8	84.4	4.7	9.8	2.4	2.6
WILLIAMS	15.9	6.0	46.6	3.0	78.6	2.9	8.5	1.0	2.9

Head to Head per game totals

	PTS	FGM	FG%	FTM	FT%	REB	AST	STL	TO
PAUL	12.5	5.1	40.7	5.0	85.7	3.0	8.7	2.3	2.6
WILLIAMS	16.1	6.4	53.5	2.0	70.6	3.2	8.0	0.8	3.1

Difference in production per game

	PTS	FGM	FG%	FTM	FT%	REB	AST	STL	TO
PAUL	-5.4	-1.6	-5.9	+0.2	+1.2	-1.7	-1.1	-0.1	0
WILLIAMS	+1.1	+0.4	+6.9	-1.0	-8.6	+0.3	-0.5	-0.2	+0.2

A quick look at the tables reveals that almost all of Paul's statistical contributions see a drop (the exception being FT attempted and FT%), while Williams' numbers seem to shift in both directions. What's interesting is that I wouldn't call either stat line from the head-to-heads amazing (which both players are) or terrible (which both players are not). It seems that they both affect the other's numbers pretty significantly, and why not? After all, they're pretty worthy adversaries.

The real story that these numbers tell is that Williams' size (he's got 3 inches and 30 pounds on Paul) and the Jazz's strong interior defense give him an edge over Paul. The former allows Deron to penetrate in the paint much easier, prompting an increase in points and FG% (and likely explaining the drop in AST). Similarly, the size advantage (and the defensively superior Jazz) prevent Paul from effectively running the pick and roll for easy floaters or even kick-outs to the the open man during a double-team. As a result, we see a sharp drop in points and FG% from Paul. Though he is able to make up some of his scoring ground by going to the stripe much more often – another instance of the Jazz's aggression in the paint – it's hard to argue that Paul performs at the same level against this team as he does against the rest of the league.

From these tables, we might assume that Williams is in fact the better player, since beating your opponent head-on seems to be the ultimate competition. But the problem with that assumption is that it ignores one pretty crucial fact: the Jazz are better than the Hornets. Plain and simple. Their starters match up well against the Bees and their bench is something like a gajillion times better than ours. As a result, Paul is forced to carry the load for a team of under-achievers and gets burned because he's matching up against a larger version of himself.

So there you have it: we've seen that Paul is probably the better individual player**, but that's not much consolation to Hornets fans who have watched their team go 2-10*** in the games featuring both point guards. It will be even less of a consolation if we draw them in the playoffs.

In sum, both of these guys are phenomenal basketball players, and they're both a pleasure to watch (yes, I secretly enjoy watching Williams). But they will continue to be locked into this debate until someone is able to assemble a better team around Paul. Let's just hope that team is the Hornets.

--

* Unfortunately, the above tables ignore pace, something that might swing the results more to CP's favor, since he has amassed his per game stats playing a much slower game than Deron's Jazz ever play. While the disparities between career and h2h might have been a little less significant if we accounted for pace, it probably would not be enough to change the story.

** My cohort from At the Hive did a pretty thorough examination of both players and their career numbers. Call it biased if you want, but it's a pretty irrefutable argument that Paul is the better player.

*** Though our record sucks against the Jazz, it's worth noting that both times we've played Utah on the road this year, it was a back-to-back with the Lakers as the previous night's opponent. At the Staples Center. Thanks, David Stern.

--

If you're interested, check out the Basketball-Reference info I used on Paul and on Williams for the tables. You can also download a pdf of the spreadsheet I used to compile the totals and averages.

The Next Magic Johnson?

2009-03-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Is Chris Paul as a good (or better) of a point guard as Magic Johnson?

John Hollinger addresses this question one of his latest PER Diems, and he seems to think that the answer is probably "yes." (Though Dave Berri did say it first.) Hollinger admits that both players come from remarkably different eras of play, but this doesn't deter him from making a case for Paul:

Yes, it's easier for a small guard to dominate today's game than it was for John Stockton and Isiah Thomas to dominate in the '80s, and it's true that we don't know whether Paul will have the longevity that the players above enjoyed.

Nonetheless, compare Paul's first four seasons to the first four seasons of any point guard from the postmerger era, and one conclusion becomes evident really fast: The only player who can even plausibly compare to him is Magic Johnson.

This suggestion will obviously set off a bomb of "no ways" and "impossibles" and "don't even bothers" from Laker fans everywhere, but I have yet to find anyone who has written a comprehensive defense of Magic. In fact, most fans think the suggestion is so outrageous that they would rather just dismiss the discussion as opposed to engaging in it.

Fans like J.A. Adande. Mr. Adande not only disagrees with the comparison, but his sole remark on the subject was a terse dismissal of the argument (in his "CP3 vs D Will" article). Here's the mini-rant on why it is "sacrilege" to compare Paul (or anyone probably) to Magic Johnson:

Tell any aspirants to the throne to fill in at center in a Finals game, win five championships and set the career assists record ... maybe after all that we can hold a discussion.

So, apparently CP is out of the running to ever fill Magic's shoes since he probably won't be playing center anytime soon. Never mind the fact that Magic has the height edge by 8 inches (that's right, Magic was a 6'8" point guard) and Paul is probably finished growing. (I suppose it also doesn't matter that Paul, despite his height, is averaging over 5 rebounds a game this season which is only 2 off from Magic's career average.)

But what if we took height out of the argument? Now Paul has to win at least 5 rings and break the assists record. Let's be honest here, the former is not happening. Though I expect Paul will retire with at least 1 ring, he probably won't amass 5. I think it's worth mentioning, though, that Paul doesn't have the same squad of legends playing with him. Who would you rather: Kareem, Worthy, and McAdoo or West, Chandler, and Peja? Neither option is terrible, but the Showtime crew is light years ahead of the Bees.

Ok, so he's too short and he won't win 5 championships. What's left? Oh yeah, the assists record. This is probably the most ridiculous statement of all. While it's no small feat that Magic broke the assists record (his 10,141 edged out the Big O's 9,887), it's preposterous to suggest that Paul has to accomplish the same feat in order to be considered on Magic's level. This is primarily due to the fact that a man named John Stockton came in and beat out Magic's record by 50%. Magic's total: 10,141. Stockton's: 15,806. So now, CP has to amass almost 16K assists just to be in the discussion.

While I agree that putting Paul on the same level as Magic is a bit premature, I don't think it's even remotely sacrilege to make comparisons. Dave Berri said it best:

Chris Paul in 2008-09 compares favorably to Magic Johnson. And that is a point I would emphasize. Chris Paul is developing into one of the all-time great players in NBA history. It’s not a stretch to start thinking of him in terms of players like Magic, MJ, and Bird. Yes, Paul is that good.

"Developing" is the key word in that sentence. Mr. Adande should just be happy that a point guard as exciting as CP (and possibly the most exciting since Magic) is in the league right now. Not to mention that he gets to watch that player's "development" unfold. He should also try watching more than 2 or 3 Hornets' games a season. It might help.

***

Ok, so having the best point guard in the league (and arguably ever) is a small consolation if this team can't bring home a championship. These arguments that circulate through the blogosphere are ostensibly meaningless since we really have no way of be 100% certain about something as subjective as how "good" a player is/was, never mind the fact that some of these comparisons are made between players who were stars in totally different eras.

In the end, these discussions are just a way of biding our time until our respective teams take home a championship. We don't like to admit it, but it's the truth all the same.

Highlight of the Season

2009-03-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, this is air traffic control. We regret to inform you that while the JET may in fact be on the runway, he has been grounded due to the awesomeness that is Chris Paul. Thank you for your understanding.

Roger that. Over and out.

New Orleans Hornets + Tyson Chandler = Good.

2009-03-03T11:43:00.000-08:00

Who knew?

Some very flattering articles about Tyson's return have been published today.

JA Adande at ESPN.com offers his take.

And John Schuhmann of NBA.com gives an analysis.

Consensus? This 5-0 record over the five games Tyson has played is no coincidence.

Why stop at five? The Mavs come to town on Thursday. Let's keep it going.

Wake Up, Mr. West

2009-03-02T14:50:00.001-08:00

You've just been named Player of the Week.

Congratulations to D-West, who was just named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from February 23 to March 1. Over that stretch, West has put up great numbers in four games. Per game, he's averaging 28.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1 steal. Certainly not by coincidence, the Hornets are on a four-game win streak.

Big ups to David and the Hornets. Now, let's keep it rolling in Philly.

New Dirty Coast Hornets Shirt

2009-02-27T09:50:00.001-08:00

Ticktock6 beat me to the punch on this, but I'm posting it anyway.

Despite having three shirts devoted to Saints fandom, Dirty Coast -- a nifty little shirt shop down on Magazine Street -- had yet to produce any shirts for those of us that bleed ~~teal~~ creole blue and purple.

But now that's all changed. Check out the new tee, which is cleverly titled Horn.Net.Fan.

Here's what their site has to say about it:

It used to be when Saints season had ended folks would wonder what to do with all that fan energy? Well now we have a real reason to make some noise.

Word. Now if they'd only return my emails about the "Chef Paul" shirt Curry and I had in mind.

The Tyson Chandler Non-Trade

2009-02-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: a lot of friends have asked for my take on the Tyson-to-OKC-and-back-again non-trade that has been the NBA's big drama of the week. Not wanting to repeat myself, I cancelled a lunch date (who am I kidding? I got stood up) and wrote this earlier today. I hope my thoughts can help put the whole ordeal in perspective.

Tuesday morning, I heard strong rumors -- and eventually learned -- that the Hornets were planning on shipping Tyson Chandler to the Oklahoma City Thunder (please get a better name) in exchange for Joe Smith, Chris Wilcox, and the draft rights to a kid whose chances of making the NBA seem about as good as my own. My intial thoughts? Let me transcribe a text message I sent to HH founder and my good friend Lee:

No no no. F**k no.

I, like many in the Hornets Blog-o-sphere, believed this team's core to be made up of three individuals: Chris "The Chef" Paul, David West, and the aforementioned Chandler. Seeing the team part with one of those three -- only to return with spare parts in his place -- hurt.

I've admitted that the Hornets' chances of making the NBA Finals (much less winning the championship) are pretty slim this year. But I always thought they'd be able to tweak the roster and make a strong run at a title next season. Or the next. When I got the news of the Tyson trade, all those hopes were gone. The trade with OKC didn't do enough to improve the Hornets this year, and it didn't necessarily put the team in a better position over the next two or three years. All I could do was hope that the move was setting up the team for another trade further down the road. Meanwhile, all sports analysts and their mothers were painting the trade as nothing more than a salary dump that was a great basketball move by the Thunder and an unfortunate one by the Hornets.

As the day went on, I heard whispers that Tyson's injury might be more serious than we thought. That got me thinking. Over the course of his career, he has had a few toe/ankle/foot injuries that have kept him out of the lineup. The only time his toe was a major issue was when it prevented him from playing with Team USA. What if the injury was keeping him off the floor for the rest of the season? What if this most recent diagnosis had discovered that he would never be the same? What if all the waiting and hoping for Tyson to regain his status as a dominant center were in vain? Yes, he put up nearly 12 points and 12 rebounds a game last season. But he's managed just under 9 points and just over 8 rebounds a game this season. A contract paying a player $24.6 million over the next two years? It's worth it for those first stats. Not so much for the latter. Especially if a recurring injury is keeping said player out of the lineup on a regular basis. What if his career is shortened?

Taking these concerns and playing the eternal optimist, I figured the team was making the best out of a bad situation. Sure the Hornets brass would want to keep their young core intact. But they definitely wouldn't want to be saddled with a big contract for a player who might not be able to perform on the court. They did what (they thought) they had to do: get the best value for damaged goods. When the trade went through, I wished Tyson the best, lamented the fact that we'd have no more Crescent | City | Connection, and did my best to look forward to the depth that Wilcox and Smith would provide.

I went to last night's game against the Magic, finally starting to accept that the Hornets were living post-Tyson. I was treated to a big surprise when the Hornets, playing without Tyson or the newly acquired Wilcox and Smith, absolutely dominated the Magic. And dominated them in the post: a stunning 44-18 Hornets edge on points in the paint and a 46-35 margin on rebounds. As soon as I got home from that game, I logged into my email and saw the following subject line: Chandler Re-joins Hornets.

As we now know, Ty failed his physical for the trade, putting some stock in those whispers about his injury being fairly serious. And the result of the failed physical is that the Hornets will keep their core three guys for at least the remainder of this season. Beyond that, who knows? But we know who we've got for the stretch run and the playoffs. And I'm happy with it. That said, I am, without a doubt, concerned about Tyson's longterm health (see: all the above "What ifs").

However, I can't post those hypotheticals without thinking about the flip side. What if Tyson re-joins a team that shows the sort of hustle from last night on a regular basis? What if his numbers improve to last season's levels? This Hornets team defeated Orlando (home of the best center in the league) 117-85... add a 7'1" defensive post presence to the mix, and you have to like it. Maybe Tyson's career doesn't succumb to the injury. After all, he has been playing with it since the Spring of 2007. Those 12 points and 12 rebounds a game? He put those numbers up during the 2007-08 season -- after the original diagnosis of the injury. Who's to say he can't do it again? And if he does do it again, I'd love to have him on my home team. For the forseeable future, he will be. And I can't complain about that.

Psyche!

2009-02-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

Sooo... 24 hours ago, we were all wondering what life post-Tyson would be like. About one hour ago, news broke that Tyson did not pass the physical for the Thunder and that -- due to that -- the trade was rescinded, keeping Ty with the Hornets and leaving Wilcox/Smith in OKC.

I'm a little worried about Tyson's injury (turf toe), which has to have been a major reason the Hornets made this trade in the first place. Seeing a team ship away a big man (capable of putting up a double-double on a nightly basis) for two expiring contracts leaves observers wondering what they don't know. Of course, the move was chalked up as being financially driven (a "salary dump"). But there were other ways for the Hornets to reduce their payroll.

With the trade of Tyson, there seemed to be more. Turns out, there was. The Hornets were trying to protect themselves from being stuck with a $12 million contract for a player who might not return to that nightly double-double form. I welcome Tyson back to the team, and I'm excited to have the Crescent City Connection live on. But I'm anxious that his history of foot injuries might hamper his future. If that's the case, it puts this team at a serious disadvantage.

Obviously, only time will tell if Tyson will be able to get back to the dominant inside force and solid finisher of the past two years. But I don't want to hold my breath for too long. He's been on the sideline for a full month. I can only hope that time has done something to help his injuries.

Either way, once again, welcome back, Tyson. On a personal note, it's great to have the core of CP-DWest-Ty together again. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that Tyson can still show us the type of play that made us believe in that core to begin with.

Done Deal?

2009-02-17T11:04:00.001-08:00

According to Darnell Mayberry at The Oklahoman, the Hornets have officially traded Tyson to the Thunder. Looks like he'll be riding the bench tonight at the other end of the court.

I'll wait to give my thoughts until the move is confirmed.

Peace, Tyson.

2009-02-17T10:29:00.001-08:00

It appears the Hornets are closing in on a deal to ship Tyson to the OKC Thunder in exchange for Joe Smith, Chris Wilcox, and (possibly) a draft pick. I hope the talks are just rumors, but ESPN's Marc Stein is reporting that a deal is expected to be complete by the end of the day.

In related news, David West said that he would not favor any trade that sent Tyson away. I guess we'll know by tip off tonight, as the Hornets visit the Thunder for the third meeting of these teams.

Getting past the initial shock of breaking up our core three players, this move would make no sense basketball-wise and would only even come close to being justifiable with regards to finances. And that sucks. I'll have more as I find it.

Sean Marks: All Sexy Like

2009-02-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

So, by now, everyone should be familiar with the Peja topless and hairy-like-animal photo that has found its way around the internet and back again. In the extremely rare case that you haven't seen it, well, you're in luck my friend.

TA-DA! I don't know if the world will ever get a proper explanation for why that picture exists. But don't act like you're not happy it exists. I mean, that's six feet, ten inches, and 229 pounds of pure Serbian sex appeal. And you're all quite welcome. But the reason we're here today is not Peja. No, my friends, we gather together to honor that other tall white foreign dude who puts on the Creole Blue pinstripes night after night.

That's right. Sean Marks (with his late-game heroics against the Timberwolves on Sunday) has his own glamour shot lurking this series of tubes known as the "world wide web." And some savvy member of the New Zealand press recently brought that gem to the forefront of the national news. Well, NZ's national news, anyway. Without further ado, I give you the Kiwi in all his masculine glory...

Mr. Marks, thank you for stepping it up on Sunday to give the team 18 pts, 5 rebs, 1 blk, and 1 ast in a winning effort that remained in doubt until the closing seconds. Thanks to some outstanding play from Sean, Rasual Butler, and Devin Brown, the Hornets were able to take the lead at the end of the game... after trailing for three quarters. Unfortunately, that formula probably won't work tonight against Boston. So let's hope for some help from our big three, all of which could possibly return to the lineup to take on the defending champs in their only visit to the New Orleans Arena.

Chris Paul Is Apparently Awesome

2009-01-28T07:25:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard of Dave Berri, please check out his amazing blog which houses his ongoing research, the grounds of which were firmly laid in his fantastic book, The Wages of Wins. For those of you who follow basketball and feebly attempt to make heads or tails out of statistical significance (one of my favorite pastimes), Dave is a godsend who always has a very interesting take on the world of sports.

Similar to other more experimental statisticians like Dean Oliver and John Hollinger, Berri has devised his own method of determining player value. His is known as "wins produced." I couldn't find a breakdown of the stat online, but the basic premise is that by applying a certain juju to the statistics of any NBA player, Berri computes the amount of wins that said player will produce. He often presents the statistic as a wins per 48 minutes (WP48). For the purposes of comparison, an average NBA player posts a .100 WPA.

Interestingly enough (though certainly not surprising), CP3 ranks among the highest in the league when it comes to wins produced. In fact, in Berri's recent midseason analysis of the Hornets, he details just how special Paul and his contributions truly are to this team:

From Table One we see that Paul - after 41 games in 2008-09 - has already produced 15.9 wins. In 2007-08, only ten players produced more wins for the entire season (and one of these was Paul). If Paul continues at this pace in 2008-09 he will finish with 31.8 Wins Produced. And if he eclipses the 30 win mark he will be first player to do this since Kevin Garnett (30.7 wins) did this in 2002-03.

Not surprisingly, Berri attributes the Hornets' general struggles to the lack of rebounding by both West and Chandler. As suggested above, Paul's production has actually increased, so if West and Chandler see a return to form over the second half of the season the Hornets could be looking at a true return (or entry?) into the NBA's elite. Here's to hoping.

Additionally, Berri takes the time to compare Paul to another great point guard:

Chris Paul in 2008-09 compares favorably to Magic Johnson. And that is a point I would emphasize. Chris Paul is developing into one of the all-time great players in NBA history. It’s not a stretch to start thinking of him in terms of players like Magic, MJ, and Bird. Yes, Paul is that good.

Quite a statement, indeed. True, us Hornets' fans have been hawking this point for quite some time, but it's nice to see other folks recognizing what's lying in plain sight.

Who knows, perhaps a rejuvenated front-court and a strong second half will put the Hornets back on top in the West. If not, though, we can always rest easy knowing that our insanely awesome point guard will not rest until he has reached that zenith. And the scary part is that he might just be good enough to do it all by himself.

***

In case you have any interest, check out Berri's midseason reports for the remaining 29 teams, and be sure to check the blog next week as he's promised a league-wide analysis for the halfway point.

In case you missed it, At the Hive did a Hornets-themed interview with Berri before the season.

And while we're shouting out to cool stuff on the interwebs, be sure to swing by Hornets 24/7 for a cool article about the Hornet's shot charts through the halfway point.

Peace out.

There is a God

2009-01-22T17:58:00.000-08:00

The Hornets just sent out a press release announcing that our very own Chris Paul has been voted in as a starter for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game.

Congratulations to CP3 who certainly deserves the starting nod. It would've been a shame for the best point guard in the NBA to come off the bench in Phoenix. Here's to many more years with him as the starting point guard in the West.

Woooooooooooooooo!

NBA Heat Maps

2009-01-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

The boys down at BDL linked to a great site the other day called Obsessionism. It's not entirely devoted to basketball, but one particular article was quite intriguing: a feature entitled 2009 NBA Heat Maps

At first glance, the group of them looks a little like a strange tribute to the old Houston Astros or Denver Nuggets logo. But upon closer inspection, we see that they are more than just quirky eye candy. I'll quote them, so you get the whole picture:

Each color is a point range that the team won or lost by in that year. Green to Red bars are wins. Blues are losses... The key [on the right] shows the average share of games won and lost by each 3 point range over the last 5 years of the NBA.

So, with that in mind, we can see at a glance which teams have a history of winning (lots of green and red) and which teams are typically on the losing side (lots of blue). The Knicks (top) and the Spurs (bottom) are the most extreme examples of a good v. bad franchise. Similarly, you can also see which teams are trending up (see: Celtics, Boston), trending down (see: Kings, Sacramento), or are just totally unpredictable (see: Bulls, Chicago). All in all, it's an interesting way to visualize the winning tendencies of teams. Or maybe I'm just totally geeking out since I'm a graphic designer.

Finally, we come to the Hornets map. And for this one, I'll let you make your own extrapolations... enjoy:

Peace out.

Why Not? pt. 2

2009-01-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

Yeah, you're gonna want to watch this (picked it up over at NOLA.com)

New NBA Chris Paul commercial

Thoughts on All-Star Game Voting

2009-01-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

The Times Picayune posted a video report with interviews from Byron Scott, Tyson Chandler, and David West. The paper asked them what they thought about Chris Paul being only the third vote getter for Western Conference guards, behind Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady (whom I won't even dignify with a link).

Listen up, NBA. You really need to change your system in the very near future. Turns out many of your fans *cough*CHINA*cough* don't know much about basketball.

Video: New Orleans Hornets react to All Star Voting

David West: Self-Made Star

2008-12-30T13:56:00.001-08:00

The other day, my friend and I were discussing NBA stardom. The conversation naturally moved to the Hornets, and he argued that David West would be nothing without Chris Paul. Having watched D-West closely since his rookie year in 2003-04 (the first year I lived in New Orleans... and second year the team was here), I felt the need to defend a man that I've witnessed develop into an NBA star. Not a superstar. Not widely regarded outside of sports circles. But a legitimate star, nonetheless.

I can vividly remember a Hornets game I attended in 2003. It was Friday, November 21. My girlfriend (at the time) was in town for her birthday. And, bless her heart, she was kind enough to spend that evening at the New Orleans Arena. The Hornets were playing the Pacers. The winner of that game would go on to have the best record in the Eastern Conference. This was one season before the brawl at The Palace... this was when Jermaine O'Neal still mattered, before Ron Artest went psycho on the world, and while Reggie Miller was heading toward retirement. The game was close throughout -- especially the 4th quarter. With fewer than 30 seconds to go, the Hornets were leading by one point (75-74) when Reggie Miller was fouled and (obviously) hit both free throws. At the other end, Tim Floyd ran a play to get Baron Davis (who was shooting out of his mind that game... 7/10 on threes) an open shot. It didn't go in, and the Hornets were forced to foul. Luckily, O'Neal missed both free throws and gave the team one last chance with a little over a second left. With a timeout, the Hornets advanced the ball to halfcourt and drew up a play to get the ball beneath the basket for a quick layup. David West got the ball right under the basket. He tossed it up and missed as time expired. I was in the lower bowl on the opposite end of the court and remember watching him try to bat in the offensive rebound, but the clock had already run out. That is one of my most lasting memories of David West's rookie season.

And it's amazing to see how far he's come since that game. He had a solid showing in the Hornets' first-round playoff series against the Heat that year. But he was injured for 52 games the next season, so I still considered him the young backup to PJ Brown in 05-06 when it was announced that our starting center -- an All Star two seasons before -- was traded away, forcing PJ to shift over to that role and bringing West into the starting lineup. At the time, I thought the move was crazy (Jamaal Magloire for Desmond Mason leaving us with a starting frontcourt of out-of-position PJ and inexperienced West). But that was the year that D-West started to come into his own. True, the beginning of West's rise to stardom corresponded with Chris Paul's first year in the league. But don't think that West is nothing without Paul. West has an array of post moves and can nail baseline jumpers in his sleep. He is a midrange magician. In that 05-06 season, West hit three last-second game-winning jumpers (vs Hou, vs Mil, vs Was). Only one of them was assisted by CP. Obviously, his game benefits greatly from playing with Chris Paul. But 1) whose wouldn't? and 2) he's much more than just a catch-and-shoot forward.

West has always been a smart on-the-ball defender, averaging only 2.5 fouls per game over his career. He's become a solid off-the-ball defender, averaging 1.2 blocks per game over this season and last. And you can't ignore his rebounding. It's taken a dip this season, but looking at 06-07 and 07-08, you can see he was corralling 2.4 offensive boards per game (8.1 and 8.9 overall, respectively, in those seasons). Getting back to that "catch and shoot" notion, he's making 47.8% of his shots this season (which is incredibly good when you consider how many of those shots have been more than 15 feet away from the basket. And his free throw percentage this season (89.6%) ranks second among all power forwards in the league.

As admitted earlier, CP has made West ... and Chandler and Peja and Mo-Pete and Posey and Rasual Butler and everyone around him better. That's to be expected when playing with a kid on the path to being one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. Chris Paul will be mentioned alongside Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Oscar Robertson. He's not just a superstar; he's a legend in the making. And right now that superstar is playing with a star. A star who, two nights ago, hit another game winner. Against the Indiana Pacers. Not too bad for a kid who botched a crucial lay up when he first came into the league. He might've taken a while to reach this status, but David West is an NBA star. Make no mistake about it.

Celebrating our 100th

2008-12-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

Hometown Hornets is celebrating it's 100th post with a look back on all the great stuff we've done in the past 422 days.

That's right. I started this blog on a wonderful Friday evening in October of 2007, and in that first post I boldly predicted that we would finish the 07-08 season third in the Southwest division, giving us a 7 seed in the playoffs. Who knew that a short 99 posts later, we'd have our eye on the prize, accepting anything less than a 2 seed as a disappointment. That's some crazy progress. Blame it on our crazy(good) point guard.

At any rate, to commemorate HH's rise to mildly amusing and mostly irrelevant, I've put together a look back at some of our more memorable posts:

1. J.A. Freakin' Adande
Here's an angry email I wrote to J.A. Adande after he suggested that the Hornets should be moved before the OKC Kevin Durants. What a dummy.

2. And the Lord Said to Abraham, "Let them rule the Power Rankings"
This post was a long-winded reaction to the Hornets topping the Power Rankings for the first time ever (to my knowledge at least).

3. Holy Crap! All-Stars Everywhere, Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3
Part 1 recaps the Rookie/Sophomore game and the time I met the Big O, Part 2 recaps the actual All-Star game, and Part 3 just has a bunch of cool pics.

4. Trade Deadline and the Return of J. Kidd to the Wild West
Hey, remember that time that Mark Cuban traded for Jason Kidd like that was a solution to his team's woes? And remember when he made his debut? Against us? And then we made him look stupid? And CP almost got a triple double with points, assists, and steals? Yeah, that was awesome.

5. Highlights from the Atlanta Beatdown
The Atlanta game last year was full of hi jinx that would have really sucked had we lost. But we beat them into a pulp, so it was instead it was awesome. Check out this post for video highlights.

6. FANtastic FANale
Hey, remember that time I won Mike James' shoes?

7. Peace Dallas: Round 1 Recap
Hey, remember that time when people didn't take us too seriously in the playoffs?

8. The Recap: a Glorious Season comes to an End
I could re-read this one all day. Best post I ever did.

9. The Live Draft Blog
Have we ever looked like we knew less about basketball?

10. Sonic Doom
Hey, remember that sad day when the Sonics pulled out of Seattle? We were there. And we feel you Seattle fans. We feel you.

11. Hornets and Lots of Other Bugs
Curry had the brilliant idea for the Hornets to partner with the new Audubon Insectarium in town... and then he made it happen.

12. World Domination (a la Chris Paul)
Hey, remember that time CP was a gold medal?

Can't wait for the day I can say, "Hey remember that time CP won a ring?" Get ready. It's coming.

Happy 100th everyone! Thanks for reading.

Chris Paul Named Player of the Week (Dec 15 - 21)

2008-12-22T13:05:00.000-08:00

Not surprisingly, the NBA has named Chris Paul the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from December 15 through December 21. The Chef (I'm saying it until it catches on) has averaged 23.7 ppg, 10.0 apg, 5.3 spg, and 4.3 rpg. And he threw in two blocks during the stretch, just because he could.

During the week, he set his sights on a decades-old NBA record: consecutive games with at least one steal. A record he managed to tie (@ MEM), break (vs SAS), and break anew (vs SAC) over the three games the team played. If he keeps it up over the next five games, don't be surprised to see him capture Player of the Month (an honor he received for November). A few more months like these, and he'll deserve Player of the Year. Oh wait, the kids call that "MVP" nowadays.

Dear Marc Stein...

2008-12-20T18:42:00.000-08:00

I read Stein's article in this weekend's dime in which he handed out awards for the first trimester of the current season.

For the most part his arguments are fairly reasonable, but I had a few qualms with his Western Conference MVP selection (I bet you can't guess where this is going). Marc donned this distinguished honor to none other than Chauncy Billups. Let that sink in. Chauncy. Billups. Granted, he's been great in Denver, but... really?

So, being the good fan that I am, I wrote Marc a very nice letter of dissent. But since he's probably not going to respond to me (so far, no ESPN columnist has), I thought I would share my thoughts before they melt into the ether. Enjoy:

Dear Marc Stein,

Chauncy Billups? Really?

Ok so Billups, who is a very good point guard no doubt, transitions from a team with an identity crisis to an under-achieving team that's 1- 3. Under Billups, the 1-3 teams improves to 17-7 (which means they're 16-4 during his tenure). While that record is indeed Impressive, I think there's a bit of fallacy to your logic that the addition of Billups is the sole reason for the under-achievers' newfound success (and therefore deserving of the title "Western Conference MVP for the first trimester). I actually believe that their winning has more to do with the player who is no longer with them rather than his replacement.

Allow me to elaborate. With the exception of a few seasons, Allen Iverson has been one of the least efficient "stars" in a league that typically over values points. So Denver, under the impression that Iverson is a star/franchise player, adds him to their roster only to find out that two players who are very good at creating shots for themselves (but not their teammates) does not make for a championship bound team. It'll get you to the playoffs, but that's about it.

So after Denver traded an inefficient play-maker for an efficient one, how can we be so shocked that they are doing so much better in their current configuration? Billups is a player who is above average in efficiency and wins produced whereas Iverson is not (see Dave Berri for more). If you replace incompetence with competence on any sports team, a change for the better is likely. Sure, the 16-4 record with Billups at the helm is pretty impressive, but he certainly did not accomplish that feat on his own.

In terms of Tim Duncan... well, I'm a little dumbfounded by your logic:

Duncan merely hoisted the Spurs to a 2-5 start and prevented the rest of the West's contenders from gaining some real distance when they had the chance.

Right. So without any help from Tony and Manu, good old Timmy kept the Spurs alive by scraping 2 wins together. There's your MVP, folks. Two Win Timmy. Even Garnett managed better than that when he was surrounded by trash in Minny.

So who should be the first Trimester's MVP? Why, Chris Paul of course.

Consider this: Though the team's roster is mostly the same from last year's season, the production from the team's role players has decreased significantly. Paul has had to pick up the slack for Peja and Tyson, both of whom are under-performing given last year's statistics, not to mention the team really has no 2 guard worth starting. Also, due to Mike Jame's complete incompetence at all things basketball, Paul has been forced (though he would never use that word) to play an obscene amount of minutes just to keep the Hornets in contention. And he's done a hell of a job as the Hornet's current record is 15-7 which is good for the second lowest loss total in the West (behind Kobe and company).

But let's get a little more specific and bust out some numbers. For starters, Chris began the season by breaking the big O's record for most consecutive games with 20-10 (7). Since then, he's added 6 more 20-10 performances along with a night 15-15 while going perfect from the field and the stripe. Need more proof? Check out his season per game averages:

PTS: 19.7
REB: 5.4
AST: 11.9
STL: 2.8
TS%: 62.0
AST%: 57.4
STL%: 4.1
PER: 30.56

And here are Billups' numbers:

PTS: 17.7
REB: 2.5
AST: 6.9
STL: 1.4
TS%: 59.0
AST%: 32.7
STL%: 2.0
PER: 21.20

Do the math, Mark. It's painfully obvious that Chris has meant more to the success of his franchise than any other player in the Western Conference and is a much more deserving candidate than a competent point who's now playing for a team that hasn't had one for at least 2 solid seasons.

Thank you for your time.

My brilliant research was made possible by the geniuses at Basketball Reference in case anyone wants to pursue their own course of debunking ESPN analysts.

Peace.

Man Crush: Steve Nash pt. 2

2008-12-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

Now he's really going after my heart, what with the Spurs joke and all.

Stealing the Spotlight

2008-12-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

David Gladow, with the Times-Picayune, posted a great article today about the value of Chris Paul's defense. Of course, the article focuses on CP3's steals. But, instead of simply mentioning the NBA record that CP tied last night against the Grizzlies, Gladow actually analyzes that aspect of his defense. And does a damn good job of it.

Turnovers (both for and against a team) are a really interesting stat to study. Because you can never isolate them. A player is either giving his team an extra possession or forfeiting a chance to score. In Friday night's loss to the Celtics, for instance, Sean Marks lost the ball at the end of the 3rd quarter. When he committed his turnover, the Hornets were down 62-68. Let's say Paul Pierce doesn't intercept that pass; instead, let's imagine Marks gets the ball to James Posey. And -- since this is all hypothetical -- let's say Posey nails a 3-pointer. The Hornets would then be within one possession of the Celtics (65-68) going into the 4th quarter.

Unfortunately, what really happened was a turnover that should've led to a Paul Pierce breakaway dunk, putting the Celtics up by eight. Luckily, Posey had the presence of mind to foul Pierce, preventing the fast break and leading to free throws. Pierce still managed to knock down one of two and extend the Celtics lead to seven. To be clear, the Hornets had a chance to draw within three points of the defending champs. Instead, thanks to an untimely turnover, they saw themselves down by seven*. And that's the value of a turnover. Extremely costly to the team committing it. Very valuable to the team forcing it.

So, as Gladow mentions in the article linked above, it's easy to overlook the importance of Paul's league-leading 2.81 steals per game. However, that facet of his game is not something we should take for granted.

========
* For those of you keeping track, Chris Paul sank two free throws to cut the lead to five... but that happened about 15 seconds later, and it's unrelated to the immediate repercussions of the sequence I'm discussing.

The Value of an NBA Franchise

2008-12-13T10:40:00.001-08:00

... or why winning championships helps.

So, I'm a little late to the party on this one (ticktock6 published her reaction a while back). But let's do this all the same.

ESPN recently published a article about Forbes Magazine annual fiscal rankings of NBA's 30 franchises, and Henry Abbott of TrueHoop followed up with his take on the matter.

At $613 mil, the Knicks are the most valuable franchise roaming the hardwood. Meanwhile, our beloved Hornets are pulling up the rear: 28 out of 30 at $285 mil. I mean, sure Memphis is ranked 27, but we're still ahead of Charlotte and Milwaukee.

Apparently, Portland saw the biggest gain from last year and the Nets saw the biggest loss. Remarkably, San Antonio is in the top 10. Hmmmm, looks like a few championships will do wonders for the value of your team... who knew.

So, it looks like the Hornets have some ground to make up financially if they want to cement their status as a New Orleans franchise. The death of the Sonics has bought some time for the next unfortunate fan base, but it won't be long before Stern and company start evaluating teams for the next major move.

Side note: I shouldn't really demonize Stern here. It's his job to run the NBA and see that it remains profitable. It's easy to lash out at him when franchises move, but at the end of the day, it's probably better for the longevity of the sport to have someone in charge who won't be afraid to pull the trigger on deals like that. Granted, that doesn't make anyone in the Seattle area feel any better (and it really shouldn't since there were many other oft-discussed factors that made the move somewhat shady), but they should take solace in the fact that franchises move all the time. One day, the Sonics may return. Until then, you guys should really be rooting against the Clippers, Bobcats, and Grizzlies.

But back to the Hornets. Despite our lack of "value", the team has earned their stripes as a legit playoff threat and has done a lot with a little. Give credit to Jeff Bower for building a stellar team (and give credit to Chris and D.West for being stellar). And give credit to George Shinn for (somewhat reluctantly) believing in this city's ability to bounce back. Finally, give credit to the franchise as a whole selling enough season tickets this year to avoid the "opt out" clause in their lease.

Sure, we may not worth much compared to other, more storied franchises, but at least our fans can relax for the next few seasons and enjoy basketball, knowing that "losing" doesn't equal "leaving." Not that CP3 plans on losing... because he eats losers for breakfast. Now, we've just got to pray for another stellar season and hope the bottom of the economy doesn't fall out... oh, wait...

***

While on the subject of money, here's an even older post from Henry Abbott about a alternate approach for discussing NBA salaries.

Making a Point

2008-12-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

The Hornets have traded Mike James to the Wizards in exchange for Antonio Daniels. And I am extremely excited about the move.

It's been painfully obvious this entire season that the Bees need a legitimate back up point guard -- someone who will run the offense and orchestrate shots for the other players on the floor. Mike "Shoes" James just hasn't been that player. By his own admission, he is a shoot-first point guard, and that isn't what our team wants or needs for the second unit.

The deal hasn't been finalized (Washington is still in talks with Memphis to swap a draft pick for Javaris Crittenton), but it looks like the Hornets are on their way to improving the bench significantly. In eight games, we've seen James post averages of 2.5 ppg and 1.0 apg. In 13 games this season, Daniels has averaged 5.1 ppg and 3.6 apg. It's those second numbers that really make me giddy. After watching our bench give up runs of 10-0 and 9-0 against the Suns and Grizzlies, respectively... I've been hoping we could find someone to distribute the ball and run the offense when Chef Paul is on the bench. Let's hope Daniels is that someone.

UPDATE: ESPN.com just posted a story about the trade. Congratulations, Chris Paul... you can now rest more than 5 minutes a game.
UPDATE TWO: The Hornets have added an official press release to their website.

Chris Paul: Player of the Month

2008-12-01T14:22:00.001-08:00

The NBA announced its Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month today. And who should be at the top of the Wild, Wild West? None other than New Orleans' own Chris Paul who averaged 20.3 ppg, 11.6 apg, 5.7 rpg, and 2.8 spg. The Chef has pretty much willed his team to victory in nine of 15 contests. And, more often than not, he's been the bright spot in each of those six losses. He shares the honor with Eastern Conference counterpart LeBron James. Certainly not bad company to keep.

Congratulations, CP3. Now, players 2-10 in Byron Scott's rotation, take note. Please don't waste such an amazing season from one of the greatest point guards to play the game. He can't do it alone. Not over 82 games, anyway.

Why not?

2008-11-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

In the continuing tradition of amazing commercials from Phoenix players...

Team Blog Rankings

2008-11-24T16:46:00.000-08:00

So, a Lakers blog called L.A. Ball Talk published the results of a poll they had been conducting. I don't know how the nomination and voting process worked but we made the cut, so... go us. Here are the Hornet blog rankings:

1. At the Hive (woot!)
2. Hornets 24/7
3. Hornets Hype
4. Big Easy Buzz Blog
5. Hometown Hornets
6. Hornets Report
7. Swarming the Ball
8. Blog of New Orleans

I'm actually going to lop the list down to 6 entries since number 4 is actually a blog run by the Hornets' organization and number 8 is run by an independent paper (it's actually only a small section in a site dedicated to the entire publication). So, with minor adjustment, we ranked 4 out of 6 in fan blogs. Not a bad showing since we started this thing about a year ago and never really thought anyone but a few close friends would even read it. I'd say it's unlikely that we'll overtake the top 3, but I like being nestled in at the 4. Guess that makes us David West. Ok fine, we're Tyson Chandler for the time being. Shut up.

Looking at the results more globally, we find a few interesting trends. For starters, the following teams only had 3 blogs listed: Rockets, Suns, Bulls. Teams with less than 3 blogs listed: Miami, Orlando, Pacers. Teams with 8 blogs listed: The OKC Kevin Durants. 8 blogs? Seriously? How many ways can you describe losing? Honestly.

The answer to that questions is "not very many." I took a quick perusal of some of the latest posts in these blogs and one has already taken to previewing next season's draft. Nice.

(Oh, and if you haven't already perused the "number 1" OKC blog, Bend It Like Bennet, read it immediately. You will never see a more scathing and perfect impersonation in your life. If you haven't cried from laughter lately, you might want to check out his review of their beautiful logo.)

***

If this post hasn't satisfied your Hornets fix yet, may I present a video: Channel 4 News sits down to lunch with Mo Pete and Posey. Not a whole lot of basketball talk, but if you're interested in which superlatives these guys garnered in high school, this is the video for you.

peace.

Chris Paul Interview

2008-11-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

GQ will feature an interview with Chris Paul in its "Men of the Year" issue. In addition to some nice one-on-one banter with The Chef, the online version of the article includes a slide show that has convinced me to buy a vest.

Highlight of the interview...

Is there anyone in the NBA you don’t like?
[silence.]

I think Bruce Bowen is a cheap player, too.
I didn’t say that.

I'm at a Loss

2008-11-19T20:06:00.000-08:00

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.

We've Been Discovered!

2008-11-02T07:56:00.001-08:00

Great news. People are reading this blog. And they like it.

Curry and I have each been tapped by different blogs/online communities to contribute to their cause. Curry will be writing news stories for the online forum Hornets Report, and I will be joining forces with the guys down at At the Hive.

Don't worry your pretty little heads, though. We will continue to run HH. And it will be awesome all the same. But now more people get to read our rants, railings, praises, and musings. I think this is a good thing.

Curry will post a post a link to his first article after it's published. Meanwhile, I've already begun logging time with @TH. Check out my Southwest Division Preview and my recap from last night's home-opener win against Cleveland.

(Quick note: @TH is part of a larger blogging community called Sports Blogs Nation. They have a blog setup for each professional franchise and many universities as well. They're all fan run and worth checking out.)

Get ready world. We're coming for you. One blog at a time.

peace.

Man Crush: Steve Nash Edition

2008-11-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

Check out Steve Nash doing his best Derek Zoolander for Vitamin Water. Big shout out to the crew down at Ball Don't Lie for posting these first.

steve nash “the spokesman” – photo shoot from Bill Connely on Vimeo.

steve nash “the spokesman” – training from Bill Connely on Vimeo.

Preseason Review. Real Season Preview.

2008-10-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, kids. Let's get it started.

Preseason
THE GOOD:
The New Orleans Hornets went 7-0 in exhibition play. Though I won't read too much into that record, I am excited about how they won those seven games. They beat their opponents by a whopping 15.0 points per game. And, in five games, held the other team to fewer than 85 points. The Hornets were running on all cylinders on offense and defense. And they seemed like the definition of "team chemistry."

THE BAD:
Hear me out. During the offseason, Tyson and Coach Scott announced their desire to add a mid-range jumper to the big man's offensive repertoire. And it was evident in many preseason games, where Tyson attempted (and made) a decent number of shots from that range. But I'm worried that moving Tyson away from the basket for those jumpers might have a negative impact on a different aspect of his game: offensive rebounding. In 2006-07 and in 2007-08, Tyson was the league leader in ORPG (4.4 and 4.1 per game, respectively). In the preseason matches where Ty played at least 20 minutes, he averaged only 2.25 ORPG. This might turn out to be an unfounded concern. We might just see The Chairman of the Boards flexing the ability to hit the mid-range shots, as opposed to relying on that spot. I just really wouldn't want to see him sacrifice one (extremely dominant) aspect of his game in favor of developing another one that the team doesn't need quite so badly.

THE UGLY:
Free throws. Specifically, from our front court. Through the seven games, our top big men (D-West, Ty, Ely, Hilt) combined to go 51-of-78 from the charity stripe. That's just a tick above 65%. Ugh. C'mon, fellas! They're free! You just have to throw the ball! The team as a whole didn't do so poorly, but there was the game against the Spurs where everybody forgot their fundamentals and posted a pretty discouraging 64% from the line. The bright side of this equation is the fact that the entire team posted a night with 80% shooting against the Pacers. I'm willing to bet the arena noise was much less significant in Indianapolis. That could have something to do with it.

REGULAR SEASON
Y'know what? I'm just gonna jump straight to playoff predictions.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
1) Boston Celtics
2) Cleveland Cavaliers
3) Orlando Magic
4) Detroit Pistons
5) Toronto Raptors
6) Philadelphia 76ers
7) Miami Heat
8) Washington Wizards

WESTERN CONFERENCE:
1) Los Angeles Lakers
2) New Orleans Hornets
3) Utah Jazz
4) San Antonio Spurs
5) Houston Rockets
6) Phoenix Suns
7) Portland Trailblazers
8) Dallas Mavericks

You Got Dunked On

2008-10-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for your productivity at work to drop below zero? Cause once you take a look at this blog, You Got Dunked On, your life will never be the same.

The right hand column features a clickable list of dunkers featured on the site. Unfortunately, you can't separate the videos by dunkees, but an initial look places Jermaine O'Neal at the top of the "most often posterized" standings.

Oh, and in case anyone forgot, this happened:

For real, yo.

Peace.

CP3 on E:60

2008-10-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Note: apparently, ESPN took down this video. I'll try to relink it if I can find it somewhere else.

The Links, vol. 6

2008-10-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you biting your nails to bide the time until the start of the season, here's a whole smorgasbord of links to tie you over. We're gonna do some of the TrueHoop style, where I include portions of some of the articles to pique your interest a little more. And we'll keep this format until I hear the pounding of lawyers fists on my front door. Until then, enjoy:

BALL DON'T LIE (preview)

So the team down at Ball Don't Lie seems pretty confident that we'll make the playoffs, but they aren't sold on our (admittedly strange) strategy towards team "depth".

Truth is, everyone who's a Hornets fan knows depth (especially in the frontcourt) to be our biggest weakness. We all handle it a little differently: some convince themselves that Hilton will emerge as useful player, some are convinced JuJu can play the 4 off the bench thus allowing Byron to run a semblance of Nellieball with our scrubs which will confuse the opponent by reversing the pace, or some just sit in corners holding their knees to their chest as they rock and cry. I'm a little of all three columns.

At any rate, check out Kelly Dwyer's Hornets preview. It's got some good (albeit sobering) stuff from one of blogdom's more underrated writers:

And if we’re going to give the Rockets the stick for assumed injuries, or guess that the Lakers will have a tough time playing Andrew Bynum alongside Pau Gasol before March, and imagine that the Spurs will go easy on Manu Ginobili’s minutes even after he returns from the shelf, it’s only fair to expect that the Hornets will have to play guys like Melvin Ely (a championship-level backup power forward? To someone who averages 60 games a year?), Hilton Armstrong, and Julian Wright more than they’d like to.

The Hornet fan is thinking, "yeah, and Armstrong and Wright are young and due for breakout years." And they’re not. Or, they’ll break out, but they won’t be that great. Just OK, rather.

***

DAVE BERRI ON THE HORNETS

Dave Berri is the fantastic behind behind The Wages of Wins (which exists in print as well as a continuing online journal. Our buddy Rohan of At The Hive was able to score an interview with him in which he cornered Berri on topics exclusively related to the Hornets. Here's an excerpt:

@tH: Staying on the subject of Paul, various statistics suggest that he had one of the greatest offensive seasons by a point guard in history (#1 all time PER, #1 all time Win Shares). In your estimation, where did his last campaign rank historically and what could he have improved?

DB: Since 1991-92, no guard in the NBA has produced more than 25 wins in a single season. So what Chris Paul did in 2007-08 was very impressive. Basically you have to go back to the 1980s – when Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan surpassed the 25 win mark a few times – to find a guard who played better than Paul.

From Berri's online journal, we learn that he believe the Hornets will fare much better in the absence of Jannero Pargo:

If we compare Pargo to an average point guard we still see a player that’s below average with respect to shooting efficiency from the field, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, and personal fouls. He also offers fewer assists than an average point guard.

If we move from the individual stats to Wins Produced, we see that Pargo produced -1.3 wins for the Hornets last year; with a -.043 WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes]. What if the Hornets had been able to replace Pargo with just an average guard? An average NBA player will post a 0.100 WP48, and in Pargo’s 1,497 minutes, would produce 3.1 wins. So moving from Pargo in 2007-08 to an average guard would have increased the Win Produced in New Orleans from 55.1 (the team actually won 56 games) to 59.6. Last year only the Boston Celtics (68.3 Wins Produced), Detroit Pistons (60.4 Wins Produced), and LA Lakers (60.4 Wins Produced) were able to best the 59.6 mark the Hornets would have under the above scenario.

***

HORNETS 24/7

Ryan Schwan of Hornets 24/7 wrote a nice piece about Hornets' GM Jeff Bower:

His easiest virtue to appreciate is his ability to stick to a team concept and build a team that works together. I've said this over and over here on this blog, but Bower has put together a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. He doesn't succumb to numbers and slap together a team like Denver that has brilliant isolation scorers in Anthony, Iverson and JR Smith that can't work together or play defense, or the Bulls, a team of hard-working players who lack Genius. Bower has brought in players that each provide something that improves the effectiveness of the other players on the team, and more, he's brought in players that fit the mold of what Byron Scott wants on the floor. There are no clashes between coach and GM in New Orleans.

***

TIMES PICAYUNE

The Times Pic is reporting that the Hornets are rolling through preseason:

The Hornets are allowing 83.6 points a game, holding opponents to a shooting percentage of .391, while shooting 45.7 percent on their end of the floor. New Orleans, behind Chris Paul's 10 steals, is averaging 10.1 steals.

They also put up an interesting article about OUR big 3:

Last season the trio combined to average 53.5 points, 24.6 rebounds and 14.9 assists. Those figures compare favorably with the Celtics' big three -- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen -- which averaged 55.8 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists, and the Spurs' -- Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker -- which averaged 57.6 points, 19.3 rebounds and 13.3 assists.

***

TYSON'S BLOG

Here's an excerpt from TC's latest blog entry:

So, we get to Berlin and when we finally got to the hotel, it was probably about 11:30 in the morning. Everybody was exhausted. And then we have a practice at 2:00. So basically, we're on 48 hours of no sleep with a game and then a practice.

Everybody was dying at practice. It was probably the toughest practice that we've ever had. And Coach Scott ran us, because he said he wanted to get the jet lag out of us. So, it was like a semi-training camp practice on top of 48 hours of no sleep ... and being cramped in the plane for 12 hours.

***

BALL DON'T LIE (odds and ends)

"10 Man Rotation, starring CP3-to-Chandler 'oop Magic"

Mo Pete at the German KFC practicing for a second career option that may come in handy if his numbers don't improve.

Everyone knows the Hornets attended an Obama event in Indy a few weeks ago, but here's some photos from the event. Check out D.West hanging with B.Rock.

JuJu says "it's time for donuts; it's donut time".

***

HOLLINGER

No Hornets make the cut this year for Hollinger's All-Breakout Team, though he did admit considering CP3. Of course, despite expecting another huge year from the Chef, Hollinger thought wiser of including an MVP runner-up on the "Breakout" team. Which is understandable.

***

TRUEHOOP

TrueHoop previews CP3's 3rd annual bowling tourney. And BDL's got your followup (with video)

Henry asks a whole host of peeps about the biggest stories awaiting the NBA this season. Check out the answers in TrueHoop's Crystal Ball

Ever wonder how the schedule gets made? TrueHoop has the answer

***

LAGNIAPPE

All my friends know I have a man-crush on Kevin Martin (along with Mike Miller and Andris Biedrins. So they shouldn't be surprised to see me posting a link to a BDL video of Martin juking Rudy Fernandez then taking it to the house on the house against the rest of Portland's defense. Sweetness. I mean, the Kings are going to be abysmal this year, but it certainly won't be this guy's fault.

***

Peace.

Hollinger 2008-09 PER Projections

2008-10-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

For those of you who understand John Hollinger's PER stat, congratulations: you're smarter than me.

Sort of. Hollinger, one of ESPN.com's better writers (and one of the original Basketball Prospectus wizards), uses a stat of his creation that, as a single number, is meant to represent a player's mean production per minute of time on the court. In other words, instead of looking at specific stats like points, assists, or steals, PER translates those numbers (via an immensely complicated equation that equalizes pace and minutes played*) into a single number that sums up a player's efficiency. In this particular system, 15 is the league average, with the league leader landing somewhere in the high 20s and low 30s.

So, with that in mind, check out the PER projections for 08-09 season.

If you are curious as to where he gets his dummy/projected stats to fill out the PER equations, he uses something he calls "similarity scores". Permit me to quote his explanation from a related article:

For each player, I use as a comparison the players from the past 20 years who are the most similar, based on age, height and stats over the past three seasons. Some players will have more comparables than others, depending on how unusual they are -- guys with freak heights (Yao Ming, Nate Robinson), freak ages (Dikembe Mutombo) or freak stats (Andrei Kirilenko) will have relatively few, while a more generic player like Al Harrington or Devin Brown could have over a hundred.

From that point, I see what their most similar players did a year later, and project those changes onto the stats of the player being studied. So, for example, the reason that J.R. Smith's PER is projected to rise sharply this year is because the most similar players also saw their PERs increase sharply at the same age; similarly, Andre Miller is expected to tank because a number of similar players hit the wall at his age.

Great, so maybe I shouldn't have drafted Andre Miller in my fantasy league... of course he does fill the utility slot as I also nabbed CP3 and Jose Calderon in an attempt to OWN the assists in my league. What uuuuuup...

But, seriously, despite CP's position in the numero uno slot, I have to say that Hollinger's stat is somewhat bothersome to me, and I've found that other writers agree (in theory... I'm not actually part of a circle that makes me privy to arguing with these people). For instance, Dean Oliver (author of Basketball on Paper) dislikes Hollinger's method since it produces a completely abstract number in place of quantifiable stats. Numbers that bear no relationship to accrued statistics (see: Quarterback Passer Rating) are difficult to digest, especially for the average sports fan. This is not to say that all sports fans are dumb, but rather that the complicated equations and seemingly arbitrary numbers that are the result hide the logic and brainwork put into their own creation. These stats force people to blindly accept what appears to be an arbitrary system of measurement in which one number is labeled "good", one "average", and one "bad". From there, you are left to extrapolate the rest.

Instead of player-based systems like Hollinger's (and there are many others like it), Oliver believes you're better off measuring team success than attempting to isolate one player's performance. He uses a simple method to calculate "efficiency" through an offensive and defensive rating.

This method produces a number that relates back to the most basic element of basketball: points. The resulting offensive rating reflects the amount of points a team will score for every 100 possessions (likewise, the defensive rating reflects how many points a team will allow from an opponent every 100 possessions). By bringing the possession number to a constant (100), we can effectively compare the run-and-gun offenses of D'Antoni and Nellie with the Mavs and Spurs more calculated (read: slow) approach.

Oliver then goes on to even deeper analysis using ratings to help mold larger extrapolations (at one point even calculating a win/loss record for individual players), but his basic argument is the same: basketball is a team sport with a myriad of player interactions on both sides of the court, and it is thereby almost impossible to truly calculate a single person's impact (though his formulas seek to do so).

This, of course, does not mean that Oliver's method is more correct than Hollinger's. In fact, Hollinger's method is a remarkable indicator of team success (i.e. despite Kevin Durant's gaudy point totals last season, he was never particularly "efficient", as he had to handle the load of his mostly incompetent teammates). It has also a reliable method for predicting rookie success in the NBA.

And so it goes. More and more "holy grail" of stats methods come out all the time. You just have to wade through it and make your own opinions. If nothing else though, it certainly does inspire a greater appreciation for the beautifully complex sport of basketball.

***

*Oh, and by the way, here's the PER formula in case you want to keep track at home:

uPER = (1/Min) * (3P + [(2/3) * AST] + [(2 - factor * (tmAST/tmFG)) * FG] + [FT * 0.5 * (1 + (1- (tmAST/tmFG)) + (2/3) * (tmAST/tmFG))] - [VOP * TO] - [VOP * DRBP * (FGA - FG)] - [VOP * 0.44 * (0.44 + (0.56 + DRBP)) * (FTA - FT)] + [VOP * (1 - DRBP) * (TRB - ORB)] + [VOP * DRBP * ORB] + [VOP * STL] + [VOP * DRBP * BLK] - [PF * ((lgFT/lgPF) - 0.44 * (lgFTA/lgPF) * VOP))])

where...

factor = (2/3) - [(0.5 * (lgAST/lgFG))/(2 * (lgFG/lgFT))]
VOP = [lgPTS/(lgFGA - lgORB + lgTO + 0.44 * 0.44 * lgFTA)]
DRBP = [(lgTRB - lgORB)/lgTRB]

then adjust for pace...

PER = [uPER * (lgPace/tmPace)] * (15/lguPER)

Done. Piece of cake.

Predictions and Other Nonsense

2008-10-08T21:47:00.001-07:00

STATE OF THE UNION

This past Sunday, New Orleans beat Golden State in a preseason game, and the victory marked the beginning of 2008-09 season (more or less). Ah, basketball how I've missed thee. As much as I love watching the Saints and having the requisite conniption in each fourth quarter, basketball is still my true love.

So, in light of the season's commencement, I have put together a little post of predictions and other nonsense. We'll start with a look at some posts from around the internets from people who actually know what they're talking about.

ESPN.com's John Hollinger has a great team by team forecast (here's the Hornets' one). John seems to think that the Hornets' upcoming season will not match last year's effort, mainly citing that the team failed to address their biggest weakness (thinness in the frontcourt... not weight, like depth... it's not a dimensional thing, it's a roster thing... let's just move on). He also thinks an alarming amount of things fell the Hornets' way last season, and he expects that trend to return to normalcy... whatever that means. Basic summary: as good as they are, they ain't there yet... but they could be soon.

Our good friend Rohan from At the Hive has a more positive outlook, suggesting that the team did in fact improve in the offseason.

Of course, if you want to go straight to the horse's mouth (or any other barnyard animal for that reason), look no further than the latest entry in Tyson Chandler's blog. He seems pretty positive on the team, though to be fair he's kind of paid to be (of course, that never seems to stop Kobe).

Finally, ESPN has released the top 190 fantasy rankings. Though the fantasy measure of success in this sport is completely irrelevant to the real sport (since it almost ignore defensive abilities), it's nice to know that the Hornets made a strong showing with 2 players in the top 40, and 4 players in the top 90. That last one hurts, but hey, we still got JuJu and Posey, right? Just kidding... but seriously.

2 CP
36 D.West
83 Tyson
86 Peja
173 Mo Pete

To wrap up our little offseason recap, I'd like to remind everyone that we did revise our look with some swanky new logos, unis, and hardwood. Our friends down at Ball Don't Lie have the real story, complete with photos (one of which is right below this paragraph).

***

PREDICTIONS

So let's talk predictions. Our good buddy, Marc Stein, has taken the time to not only release this season's first power rankings, but also a very interesting extension of his weekly subjective standings, the 02-08 Power Rankings. The Hornets landed in the 3 slot for the preseason rankings and a surprising 13 slot in the six-season-spanning rankings. At least it seemed surprising until I remembered that we went to the playoffs in 3 of those 6 seasons (winning one round between the 3). I guess the slightly sub .500 winning percentage (.488) and the 18-64 season (now known amongst friends as "The Quest for Chris Paul") put a slight damper on the memory of it all. Still, we landed in the top half, so I ain't complaining to no one.

Additionally, ESPN took the time to poll various people, who are probably important in some way or another, in order to compile its own set of predictions. So, before you read on, you may find these articles quite interesting. At the very least you can yell your semi-informed opinions at the screen in front of you... I mean, that's what I did.

Here are the ESPN predictions:
Western Conference
Eastern Conference
Conference Finals
Championship
Awards

What do I think of all this silliness? So glad you asked. Let's take a look at my projected outcomes come the end of the post season:

WEST Round 1
(1)Lakers over (8)Mavericks
(2)Hornets over (7)Suns
(3)Jazz over (6)Rockets
(5)Blazers over (4)Spurs

WEST Conference Semis
(1)Lakers over (5)Blazers
(2)Hornets over (3)Jazz

WEST, Conference Finals
(2)Hornets over (1)Lakers

EAST Round 1
(1)Celtics over (8)Heat
(2)Cavs over (7)Bulls
(3)Sixers over (6)Magic
(5)Raptors over (4)Pistons

EAST Conference Semis
(1)Celtics over (5)Raptors
(3)Sixers over (2)Cavs

EAST, Conference Finals
(1)Celtics over (3)Sixers

CHAMPIONSHIP
Hornets over Celtics

Who are you calling "homer"? I can't pick my own team to win it all?

Seriously though, let's put the bias aside for just a moment. This team definitely has the pieces (and the chops) to win it all. Why? We have core of players that are extremely talented and play very well together. We also have a few playmakers who join in the action from the bench. We have the very competent Byron Scott at the helm. And, perhaps most importantly, we now have a fanbase that can fill an arena (we more than doubled season ticket sales from 5 to 11K, with the entire lower bowl completely sold out).

Is it a done deal? No. Am I insane? Possibly. But I do believe that given a healthy squad (all of these predictions are moot if CP, D.West, or Tyson miss a substantial portion of the season) and a few lucky breaks, we could very easily be contending for a title. The big "ifs" remaining are whether or not Mike "Shoes" James is up to the task of letting CP rest for more than 5 minutes a game, and whether or not the youngins' Hilt and JuJu are ready to play to their potential. JuJu's mostly there, but if Hilt improves (and he did look good in the preseason opener), then the question of front court depth becomes much easier. Besides, none of this even takes into account any deals we might pursue before the deadline. I'm just saying: this could happen. The window's open y'all. Let's see if our boys can make the leap.

But what about the other teams you say? I'm not sold on the Lakers this year due to Kobe's thumb. I mean, granted he played all of last season and the post season and the Olympics with it, but he was planning on having surgery at some point... Besides, there are still some major questions of how Andrew Bynum will get folded into the rotation. Make no mistake, the Lakers are an amazing team who will probably do just fine (if not win the West outright), but the ongoing saga of Kobe's thumb, as well as the perennial need to blast his teammates and/or owner, could pose a very real problem.

San Antonio is older and their role players are slowly moving into retirement (not to mention Manu's hurt for the time being). I do expect big things from the Jazz, but Boozer's health (and production) were trending way down at the end of last season, never mind the annual question of "Will AK47 care this year?" The Blazers could threaten, but they're young and have very little experience playing together (keep in mind that D.West, Tyson, and CP3 had played together for almost 3 seasons before making the playoffs for the first time). I'm more worried about the Blazers in the long term than in the now. That leaves Houston as the only other truly viable threat. To be fair, they may even be the scariest of all of the contenders in the West provided that TMac and Yao can stay healthy AND Artest doesn't go absolutely insane. It's a long shot, but it's possible.

Dallas and Phoenix still have at least one more year before either team moves into a rebuilding phase. Though Phoenix is probably the bigger threat presently, they're definitely going to be the ones who start dismantling first. Nash's health and the general lack of any useful bench players is going to kill them sooner than later. Add the fact that their core, outside of Amare and Diaw, is getting really old. Dallas, on the other hand, looks to be in worse shape presently (who spends their ENTIRE midlevel on DeSagana Diop? Seriously?), but Kidd's expiring contract should give them a decent trading chip come February if the team still hasn't gelled the way Cuban had in mind. I'm also curious to see how much longer they'll put up with Josh "Stop Saying Moronic Things in Public" Howard. Bottom line is that both teams are in a weird phase: their windows are slowly closing, their cores are starting to fall apart, AND they both have a new coach. None of that really screams contender to me.

On to the East, where the most ridiculous prediction I've made is that the Conference Finals will feature the boys from the city of Brotherly Love. I think the addition of Brand is going to really push them into the elite tier out East. Toronto's chances are definitely trending upward (although O'Neal can be a threat to team chemistry), while the Pistons are definitely on their way out (though their eventual demise will be slower than either Dallas or Phoenix). I also don't expect Atlanta or Washington to be joining us this post season since the Wizards continue to have major health problems (as well as two completely forgettable exits from the playoffs in a row) and Atlanta managed to completely undo all the good that accidentally synthesized last season. I feel so bad for that fan base. As a Saints fan, I know the hardship that comes from such incompetent ownership. I applaud you for sticking it out... all seven of you. You are to be commended.

As far as the newcomers to the Eastern playoffs, the Bulls are way better than they performed last year, and I'm fairly certain the growing pains will be alleviated soon. Miami, on the other hand, had a whole host of injury and chemistry problems last year, most of which seem to have been addressed in one way or another. I don't think they're championship bound in the least, but they have too much talent not make it to the show out East.

All in all, this season is going to be great. We've got a few young teams that are starting to mesh that will be challenging the older established guns. It could be the year the young make the leap and the old rue the day that they crossed the age of 30.

And guess what? It's fun to be one of the young guns.

***

LAGNIAPPE

Before I wear out my welcome, I'll leave you with a little something extra.

Anyone who wants some clarifications on the subtle intricacies of reffing in the NBA, check out this really cool post by Henry Abbot. I'll still be screaming any time a foul is called against the Bees, but at least I'll know if I'm full of it while doing so.

Also, quick followup on ESPN the Mag's newest blogger, Lil Wayne. In his newest entry you'll note that CP3 called... and he wants Lil Wayne's loyalty back.

Sorry for the Greg Easterbrook-ness of this entry, but thanks for sticking it out. Post some comments if you can stand staring at your screen for another minute.

peace.

Lil Wayne blogs... about the Packers

2008-09-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Looks like Lil Wayne will be joining ESPN the mag as a blogger. Many of you would say "Great. One of our hometown (Gert Town, actually) brethren will be joining the world of ESPN as a voice for New Orleans sports". To you, I would reply, "False". For the correct answer, let's go to his first post:

Besides the Packers, my favorite teams are the Red Sox, the Lakers and the Boston Bruins.

Oof.

I mean, I can forgive the whole hockey and baseball thing, but the Lakers? And the Packers?! This can only mean one thing: Lil Wayne is obviously joining the Ohio-based, elite organization, Bandwagonners R' Us, founded by none other than LeBron "Global Icon" James . As many of you know BronBron's favorite teams include the Yankees, the Cowboys, and the Bulls (hell, I bet he's a big USC fan, too). All of this is completely reasonable considering he grew up in Ohio, a state with no fewer than 6 professional teams.

Right. Whatever.

But come on, Lil Wayne. You've got to show some love for your own stomping grounds, for crying out loud. I might be able to let the Lakers thing slide since the Hornets are a fairly recent addition to the city (god-in-heaven help you if you're just "a big Kobe fan"). But what about the Saints?! Sure, they've sucked for... well, always actually... but come on! They've been here forever. They're an institution. An institution of sucking maybe, but an institution all the same.

This would actually hurt so much less if it were any other NFL team. Scratch that, the Cowboys would be worse. So there you have it. At least he's not a Cowboys fan.

It's just sad. That's all.

***

This story was also reported (somewhat more gently) by one of my favorite music sites, Pitchfork Media .

Also, for those of you who need the clarification, Page 2's Patrick Hruby breaks down the different types of bandwagon fans.

Basketball! Olympics! Bowling! What Can't He Do?

2008-09-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

We're almost out of that painfully slow period between The Finals/Draft and the preseason. But we haven't made it quite yet. The Hornets' roster is pretty much set. The team has 14 guys signed to guaranteed contracts and is just about to start training camp. As I would hope you all know, The Chef has been keeping himself plenty busy over the summer with charitable events, appearances on behalf of Nike, and a stellar performance in the 2008 Olympic Games. One thing that you might not know is how CP spends his (extremely limited) down time.

Lucky for you, the Times Picayune and Sports Illustrated are here to tell us. It also seems that they're competing to come up with the cheesiest bowling pun to run in a headline. A strike is better than a spare, so I guess the T-P wins this round. Actually, I take that back. SI at least tried to make the pun work. Thank you, Steve Aschburner.

Marks-ist Revolution (I Can't Beat This Title from ESPN)

2008-08-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

In what is likely their final offseason move, the Hornets have signed veteran power forward/center Sean Marks. The New Zealand native is entering his ninth season in the NBA. For his career, he's averaged 3.1 ppg and 2.0 rpg while playing for four teams. And he comes to the team with exactly two minutes and thirty seconds of playoff experience.

If you search YouTube, you probably won't find any Sean Marks highlight videos* on there. His best year came with the pre-Dwyane Wade Heat of 2001-02 when he posted season averages of 4.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, and 0.5 bpg. There's no denying that he's a career backup (127 games played, 6 starts). But he gives this team frontcourt depth... which became a gaping hole at the end of last season with uninspiring play from Melvin Ely and inconsistent output from Hilton Armstrong.

Marks will give Coach Scott and his staff a pretty versatile second unit. The team now has a good number of reserves that can play multiple positions: Devin (PG, SG, SF), JuJu (SG, SF, PF), Pose (SG, SF, PF), RyBow (SF, PF), and Sean "The Kiwi" Marks (PF, C). If nothing else, he'll probably become a fan favorite, and we might have a new player's-head-on-a-stick for the 2009 playoffs. Welcome to the Crescent City, Sean.

* I stand corrected. Mistilynn apparently had enough time on her hands to put together this tribute. Musical accompaniment provided by Incubus.

World Domination (a la Chris Paul)

2008-08-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Unless you just woke up from a coma, you probably caught at least one Olympic event over the past few weeks. I'm hoping you were able to catch some of the men's basketball tournament. And -- if you only saw one game -- I hope it was Sunday's gold medal match between Spain and the United States of America. Team USA outlasted the Spaniards 118-107 in one of the most exciting basketball games in Olympic history. Both teams looked great, and they were on pace at halftime (when the US led 69-61) to set an Olympic record for points scored.

Not surprisingly, the Hornets' own Chef Paul was a key component of the Redeem Team. Over eight games, he posted averages of 8.0 ppg, 4.1 apg, 3.4 rpg, and 1.8 spg. He shot exactly 50% (19/38) from the field, and he was money from the free throw line at 91.7% (22/24). His two best games were against Spain. In the USA's fourth game during preliminary play, CP13 had 14 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals. In the gold medal game, he posted 13 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. More important than any stat I could track were two things: his composure on the court and his control of the tempo in these games. He and Dwyane Wade were always the first two players off the bench for Coach K. And they always pushed the lead out of the opponents' reach (or regained control when the starters had slipped up).

And don't think his contributions have gone unnoticed. In an interview about his Olympic experience, Kobe "The DoberMamba" Bryant was asked which teammate impressed him the most. I'll bet you can guess his answer. Over at the Times Pic, John DeShazier has an article about how proud all of New Orleans is to have CP representing our city and our team. And Dime Magazine has an interview with the Golden Child himself. Congratulations to Chris and the rest of Team USA on winning Gold. Now, let's go try to get excited about tennis and baseball until the season starts.

Player Movements

2008-08-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

After Jannero Pargo received a $3.8 million deal from Russia (with love), I've been wondering what the Hornets would do to shore up the depth of the bench. As we've reported, the team has added veteran James Posey, and the coaching staff will be relying on the improvement of JuJu and Hilt to strengthen the reserve unit. In addition to all of that, the Hornets re-signed Mr. Hustle himself: Ryan Bowen will return to action to give us another season of bust-yo-ass highlights and flailing-arm defense.

Although most of the 2007-08 roster remains intact, the team and its fans will no longer enjoy the heart-stopping play (sometimes in a good way... sometimes in a bad way) of Mucho Jannero. But they will have a familiar face on the bench in guard Devin Brown. Earlier today, the Times Picayune reported that he'll be re-joining the team after appearing in 58 games during the 2006-07 season. I'm excited about the signing. After key players went down with injuries, Brown was a big reason why the Hornets stayed competitive through the final week of 06-07. In his first stint with the Bugs, he averaged 11.6 ppg, 4.3rpg, and 2.6 apg (all career bests). Although he primarily plays shooting guard, he can spend some time at small forward and can handle the ball well enough to spell CP3 at the point.

The roster is really starting to fill itself out. Chef Paul will be better than he was last year... if you can even imagine that. D-West will likely play right around the All-Star level he achieved last year. Tyson will probably put up slightly better numbers than he did last season. Peja (with any luck and no injuries) will give the team reliable shooting. Mo Pete could improve his offensive output and will continue to provide defensive pressure. Look for JuJu to improve. Posey will offer a new threat from the bench. Devin will give us what we lost in Pargo. And that's a pretty formidable eight-man rotation.

HH Sponsors JuJu

2008-08-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hometown Hornets is proud to show its support for great sources of knowledge and the Hornets by sponsoring Julian Wright's page on Basketball Reference. We figured his pretty face, octopus-like arms of impenetrable defense, and general dunking awesomeness would provide a good face or our fledgling project of a blog.

Furthermore, we encourage the readers of this blog to use Basketball Reference to strengthen their arguments [read: comments] against our otherwise pithy statements and analysis. The link is also in the side-bar if you ever lose the ability to spell or operate google.

peace.

Re-Branding the Rebirth

2008-08-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

As has been expected for quite some time, the Hornets will have new uniforms for the 2008-09 season. Earlier today, they unveiled the new designs at an event for the media and some season ticket holders.

You can follow this link to learn more. And check out the home page on their website to see the interactive re-design. I was able to make it over to the unveiling ceremonies this afternoon, so I'll upload pictures of JuJu and Mo Pete modeling the new digs.

Hornets Fever is Spreading

2008-08-14T22:26:00.001-07:00

For the first time since the franchise has been based in New Orleans, the Hornets have surpassed the 10,000-seat benchmark for full season ticket sales. The team is also only 100 tickets short of selling out the lower bowl for the entire season. They will begin selling partial-season ticket plans next week.

2008-09 Hornets Schedule

2008-08-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

The NBA released its schedule for the 2008-09 season earlier today. Our beloved Hornets will be appearing on national television at least 13 times -- including a high-profile road game on Christmas Day against the Orlando Magic. The team's full schedule has more details. I wouldn't be surprised to see the national stations pick up a few more Hornets games throughout the course of the season. Plus, NBA TV hasn't finalized its lineup.

Over at ESPN.com, Marc Stein goes through his favorite matchups of the season. Can't wait to be back at the Arena on November 1. Bring it on, Bron.

Just Because

2008-07-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

Cox Sports to Show Top Ten Games of 2007-08

2008-07-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Beginning tonight at 7:00 pm CDT, Cox Sports will re-broadcast some of the best games from the 2007-08 season (See CST Spotlight). This evening, they'll show the Hornets' early season road win against the Lakers. Y'know, the one when Chef Paul handed out 21 dishes. And when Peja lit up the building with 10 made 3-pointers. The station will be broadcasting one game per week from now through the last week of September. A Hornets Top Ten, if you will. I've posted the full schedule below. Check out the games if the Olympics don't satisfy your basketball jones.

CST Hornets Encore Schedule (All games are 7:00 pm)
Tuesday, Jul 29 = New Orleans Hornets @ Los Angeles Lakers (from 11/06/07)
Tuesday, Aug 05 = Dallas Mavericks @ New Orleans Hornets (from 12/01/07)
Tuesday, Aug 12 = Phoenix Suns @ New Orleans Hornets (from 12/15/07)
Tuesday, Aug 19 = New Orleans Hornets @ Phoenix Suns (from 2/6/08)
Tuesday, Aug 26 = Utah Jazz @ New Orleans Hornets (from 2/29/08)
Tuesday, Sep 02 = San Antonio Spurs @ New Orleans Hornets (from 3/12/08)
Tuesday, Sep 09 = Houston Rockets @ New Orleans Hornets (from 3/19/08)
Tuesday, Sep 16 = Boston Celtics @ New Orleans Hornets (from 3/22/08)
Tuesday, Sep 23 = New Orleans Hornets @ Cleveland Cavaliers (from 3/26/08)
Tuesday, Sep 30 = New Orleans Hornets @ Orlando Magic (from 4/01/08)

New Jerseys in New Orleans

2008-07-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Hornets will have a new look next season. And not just because they signed James Posey to his contract this afternoon. Although it hasn't been officially reported, the team will have new uniforms for the 2008-09 season. I'm lucky enough to have a few people with access to the team. Here's what they've told me. The teal in the color scheme will actually be more of a blue-ish teal, as opposed to the green tint that we've seen in the past. Maybe you can see the difference in this picture between the shirts that most fans are wearing and the lane on the court. The team will have pinstripes on their jerseys and their shorts. The waistbands on the shorts will have NOLA on them. The Fleur De Bee will appear either on the back of the jersey or the side of the shorts. And there might be a really cool alternate jersey that has "NOLA" on the chest (instead of "New Orleans").

I've searched the web and stumbled across a few fans' guesses as to what they might look like. And I finally found one that is very closely in line with everything I've heard from connected friends or read from trusted sources. I wish I could convince someone to supply me with an actual photograph, but -- for now -- I can provide this pretty accurate drawing thanks to moubre4 over at Hornets Report.

Once again, special thanks to moubre4 at HR.com for the approximate depictions of the new uniforms for 2008-09.

Pocket Full of [Reactions to James] Posey

2008-07-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

A [very knowledgeable] friend of mine down at At the Hive posted a reaction to the Posey signing. And I have to say that I agree with him on most of his points. I actually experienced the exact same progression of reactions (1. Yes, 2. NOOOOO!, 3. Yes), eventually coming to grips with the fact that The Hornets have effectively mortgaged part of our future for a shot at the here and now.

Part of me still wishes we had addressed our thinness at the 2, 4, or 5 (especially with the Clips possibly nabbing Azubuike for 9 mil over 3 years). But at the end of the day, Posey does address the bench depth and his presence just means that we will be playing smaller off the bench... which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I can't belive I get to play with Chris Paul next year!"

My one concern with the signing (that falls squarely into one of Hollinger's points) actually has nothing to do with money, but rather the development of one of our brighter youngsters: Julian Wright. How does Byron work him into the mix with Posey on board? Does JuJu fill Bowen's now empty role as backup of anything from the 2-4 slots (since JuJu can play the 4) or does Byron go through with his strange plan to make JuJu the backup for CP3? (That last statement comes from Stein Line). I just have trouble seeing how Wright can develop alongside a player who is going to be eating minutes as the backup 3. Other than using him and JuJu as a guard-forward tag team behind Mo and Peja, I'm not seeing too many other options... even though that one doesn't sound too terrible now that I've written it out.

However, just for fun, last night my buddy and I played "What would Byron do?" and devised a plan in which we would start Peja at the 2 and JuJu at the 3 and have Wright guard the better player at either position on defense. Then bring Mo off the bench at the 2 and Posey at the 3. It's a scrambled version of the above plan, but it could work. Even good defenders at the 2 might have trouble blocking a jump shot from a guy who's 6-10.

Other than "You are absolutely insane" or "this will never happen", if you have any thoughts on this plan, please feel free to comment.

Oh, and how about that Bobby Brown and the ruckus he's been a-making down in Vegas. Looks like Christmas might come a little early for CP.

Hornets Sign James Posey

2008-07-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

And the wait is over! James Posey has agreed to a four-year deal with the Hornets. The contract will cost the team their entire mid-level exception (approximately $5.6 million per year). This move addresses two big issues for the Bees: 1) their need for some veteran leadership from a proven winner and 2) the lack of any bench scoring.

It will be fun to watch Posey pair up with Julian Wright as the team's bench swingmen. With Posey's sharp shooting and JuJu's athleticism, they should complement one another very well. Plus, neither guy is solely a shooter or a slasher. Posey can put it on the floor and draw a foul, and Julian can spot up on the perimeter.

Welcome to the Crescent City, James. We can't wait for you and your championship rings to arrive. I hope you're not happy with just two of 'em.

Now, if the team can just re-sign Pargo or offer Summer League sensation Bobby Brown a cheap contract, the rotation for 2008-09 is pretty much set.

Go Hornets!

The James Posey Sweepstakes

2008-07-14T14:32:00.001-07:00

Right after I post that there's nothing to report in free agency, I stumble upon all sorts of articles talking about the Hornets' desire to sign James Posey.

The Times Picayune is reporting that Posey, according to his agent, is still interested in the Hornets. Ken Trahan at NewOrleans.com has an article up about why the team wants to add the veteran swingman to the roster.

And Marc Stein of ESPN.com has confirmed that the Hornets are the team with the best chance to lure Posey away from the defending champs.

Meanwhile, NBC Sports is saying that Posey and the team might agree to a contract today. Although it's getting late in the day, and we still haven't heard any official news.

Stay tuned.

Leaps and Bounds

2008-07-14T11:23:00.001-07:00

With nothing to report in the realm of free agent signings, we'll take a look at our two biggest potential internal improvements: Hilton Armstrong and Julian Wright. Both "veteran" Hornets are participating on the summer league team in Las Vegas. Two games into the offseason scrimmages, Hilt is averaging 13.5 ppg and 7 rpg. As usual, JuJu is filling up the stat sheet with some impressive numbers: 11.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3 apg, 3 spg, and 1 bpg. Granted, that's a sample size of only two games. And it's not exactly against the world's greatest competition. But it's nice to see the team's two most recent draft picks (Hilton was 12th overall in 2006 and Julian was 13th overall in 2007) have a solid showing.

It's really no surprise for either player. Armstrong did very well last offseason; unfortunately, that never translated into any significant improvements during the regular season or playoffs. His averages in scoring and rebounding actually dropped from his rookie season to his sophomore year. One writer over at Hoops World thinks that Hilton is a bright spot in the team's future. He certainly could be. But he hasn't proven anything yet. If he can get his on-court game to match what he's shown during the summer, this team will have one thing fewer to worry about.

With JuJu, we've seen more immediate progress. And plenty of long term promise. In his first season as a pro, Julian "Flight 32" Wright averaged 3.9 ppg and 2.1 rpg, all while shooting a very respectable percentage from behind the arc (41.7%) and from the floor in general (53.3%). The per game stats are a little deceptive, because his turning point didn't come until after the All-Star break. His breakout stretch came during two back-to-back home games: March 5 against the Hawks and March 8 versus the Nets. In those two games, JuJu had a combined 33 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. His field goal percentage during those two outings was an out-of-this-world 70% including 2/3 on three pointers.

Coach Scott himself has said he'll be keeping an eye on Julian this summer. A midrange jumpshot should be JuJu's main concern during the offseason. He has no problem driving the lane or getting to the rim. But if he could become a shooting threat, Julian would have a good chance to be the league's Sixth Man of the Year. And I wouldn't be surprised to see him crack the starting lineup soon enough. Although he saw limited time on the court (a little over 11 minutes per game), he should be a major part of the rotation next season. Weighing in his favor is the fact that he's an extremely versatile player. At 6'8" he could arguably play either forward spot. And his explosiveness and athleticism make him a good fit for both wing positions. With an improved shot, he could increase his role as a backup shooting guard. And he has a good enough handle to give the team an oversized playmaker on the floor at all times.

The Offseason: who wants some cake?

2008-07-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

Now that the free agent cake has had a large chunk taken out of it, I thought it was time for me to revisit the potential offseason game plan. After all, let's face it: who doesn't like cake?

Curry has advocated a nice plan that would certainly give us the depth we'd need to conquer the West (and beyond), but I'd like to try something a little different. An approach that I feel addresses our weaknesses and doesn't quite put us in luxury tax land. Now that Corey Maggette and Mickael Pietrus are off the boards, let's start with arguably the best available (restricted, mind you) free agent at the 2: Ben Gordon.

The problem with going after Gordon is that the Hornets are at/over the cap. They could offer him their full midlevel exception, but if Gordon turned down a 5 year 50 million deal from the Bulls last year, I find it hard to believe that he'd jump away from Chicago for a little more than half that yearly salary (the midlevel this year is about 5.8 million). This means that to get Gordon, Bower would probably have to arrange a sign and trade deal. So who would we give up for Gordon? I personally wouldn't want to touch any of the following players: Paul, West, Chandler, Stojakovic, Wright. That leaves Mo Pete, Shoes, Hilt, Ely, and Butler. Does anyone honestly believe the Bulls would trade Gordon to us for any of those players? Short of us giving away all of them, I don't see it happening (not even then, actually). Plus, if we make any deal that sends Mo over to Chicago, Gordon would have to start... which would be bad.

Instead, I'm going to offer a different approach. It will require a little bit of that whole "suspension of disbelief" thing, but it could work. Think "improbable", but not "impossible". Keep in mind that none of this has any grounding in reality; I'm simply musing on the subject. Here's the 3 step plan.

Wouldn't it be nice...

1. Send Hilton Armstrong over with Mike James for Andris Biedrins in a sign and trade. Shoes makes sense for a point guard-less Golden State, especially now that it looks like Chicago may not open to deals involving Kirk Hinrich. James is a poor (very poor) man's Baron Davis. He's fast, he doesn't always like to pass, and he'll throw up contested 3s all day if you let him. The warriors are dying for a point man, and James' recklessness (which is somewhat effective) could be a good fit.

As for Biedrins, the Warriors only use him off the bench (which is a crime given their lineup), so Hilton will be just as useful for them considering he is one of the quicker big men in the game. His 40 minutes averages are far from Andris', but Nellie might be willing to spend more time developing his skills (something Byron had no interest in). Plus Hilt would cost less for them keep, making room for Maggette's contract and anyone else Chris Mullin wants to overpay (4 years, 17 million for Ronny Turiaf? C'MON!).

2. Resign Jannero Pargo. I'm fairly positive we can do this without it counting against our cap. Sure, we could use a backup who is more "pass-first" minded, but Pargo did do well this year all the while managing to avoid Byron's doghouse (despite a field goal percentage hovering near 43). Yeah, he's streaky (but so is Gordon), but he's comfortable with the team and the coaching staff. I still don't think the shot to save our season should have fallen to him, but I'd welcome him back in a heartbeat.

3. Assuming we still have the option (after a very hypothetical trade for Biedrins), offer the full midlevel to Josh Childress. He's restricted, but I'm not sure that Atlanta will match any offer, considering he really isn't their top priority. Childress is super talented, he can play the 2, 3, and 4, and he has a release that will confuse anyone who tries to guard him. He's likeable and he loves Tyson. He's a more solid backup than Bonzi and gives us depth with his versatility. Of course, if we do land him, you'll probably have to switch out you old Josh Childress Wallpaper.

If we couldn't drag Childress away, my vote would be to re-sign Bonzi. It wouldn't be ideal, but then again, if we pull of the above sign and trade, I'd be cool if we signed Curry.

Here's how the Top 10 Bees stack up if my plan goes off without failure

PG: Paul, Pargo
SG: Peterson
SF: Stojakovic, Wright, Childress (or Wells)
PF: West, Ely
C: Chandler, Biedrins

Does the word unstoppable come to mind? It should. Granted, this probably won't happen, but on the off chance it does, you heard it here first.

Peace.

Hornets! And Lots of Other Bugs

2008-07-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

This story is from the middle of last month... but it's still noteworthy, because I made it happen. The advertising agency where I work does the marketing for the Audubon Nature Institute. When I found out they were planning a day-long extravaganza for their newest facility, I thought it would be a natural partnership with the Hornets. On June 13, they opened the Audubon Insectarium in downtown New Orleans. And the Hornets had a presence at the festivities.

I hadn't seen this news story until today, but I definitely wanted to post it. Due to the common "bug" theme, I thought it would be a good idea to pair the team and the museum. So I got in touch with the VP of marketing for the Hornets and asked our client if she'd be interested in having the team make an appearance. Both sides thought it was a great move, so I coordinated getting them in touch with each other. And the rest is history. Pretty cool to see something when I was behind the scenes.

2008 Free Agency Updates

2008-07-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, the Hornets officially completed their number one priority of the offseason: re-signing Chris Paul to a contract extension. That move will keep the starting five intact through the 2010-11 season. With a few more savvy moves from Jeff Bower, that should be enough time to see the Hornets bring home a championship to the Crescent City.

Let's take a look at some potential moves for this summer. I'll start by ruling out a couple of things that won't be possible. First, ESPN reports that the Orlando Magic have taken Mickael Pietrus off the market. And the Golden State Warriors, in response to losing B-Shiddy and Pietrus, have agreed to sign Corey Maggette to a ridiculous deal. So there go my top two free agent swingmen. However, the team's top two targets (James Posey and Jarvis Hayes) are still available.

Last week, NewOrleans.com reported that the Hornets are interested in Hayes. And the Times-Pic/NOLA.com recently had an article detailing the team's interest in Posey. Those two weren't on my list; only one of them -- Posey -- was really on my radar. And you can be sure it will be one or the other, not both, that the team really makes a run to get... since they offer more or less the same things. Honestly, I think I would be OK with either. I would prefer Posey as I think he's more reliable. He certainly has more experience, including in the playoffs (60 postseason games to Hayes' 15). But I don't think either one alone will solve our bench problems.

At this point, my ideal summer would be something like this. The Hornets could wrangle Ben Gordon away from the Bulls, since they'll hopefully be bogged down in contracts in order to keep other players. And the Hornets offer a contract to Eduardo Najera with any leftover money. Gordon would be an upgrade from Pargo, so we can let him walk. And Najera could play either forward spot giving the second string some size on defense and another 3-point threat on offense. If Hilt and JuJu can both improve, we'd really only need a backup point guard as insurance.

1) Chef Paul, Point Guard X, Mike "Shoes" James
2) Mo Pete, Ben Gordon
3) Peja, JuJu
4) D-West, Hilt, Najera
5) Tyson, Mel Ely

I'd be happy with that lineup.

Tyson to Travel as Team USA Alternate

2008-07-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Great news for all the fans in the Big Easy. According to Chris Sheridan, New Orleans' own Tyson Chandler will be traveling with Team USA throughout the summer as the first alternate for the twelve man roster.

For him to officially crack the roster someone else would have to get injured, but that puts a small possibility out there that he and CP3 could go global with the Crescent City Connection. Think about that. Extrapolate it. Now we can haunt Dirk's dreams in the summer, too.

The addition of Tyson to the team addresses a slight shortage of front court talent (the team is only bringing 3 "true" big men, opting for Melo to start at the 4). Basically this means that Coach K and Company are going to playing small ball... unless TC gets on board.

Hornets fans should be proud of their crew as only 2 other teams have more than one player representing them abroad on either the roster or reserves. Detroit has Prince on the roster (who was actually selected instead of Chandler for the last spot) and Billups in the wings, while Utah actually has 2 players on the official roster: Boozer and D.Will.

At any rate, we at HH would like to extend our congratulations to Tyson... and our condolences to Bill Paxson.

And for those of you who want a little more of a preview for the "Redeem Team" check out my boy Sheridan. Expect more Olympic coverage to come as the summer continues.

Peace.

WE GOT HIM!

2008-07-04T08:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday it was announced that CP3 and the Hornets came to an agreement over a contract extension. It's a three year deal (with a player's option for a fourth). The package is worth 68 million... money well spent. The CP3 era is here. Bandwagonners, we are accepting fan applications.

ESPN has the rest of the details.

peace.

Sonic Doom

2008-07-03T15:21:00.001-07:00

So it's official. The NBA will be leaving Seattle for the not-exactly-greener pastures of Oklahoma City. I have my own views on the relocation, based partially on some extremely harsh things that a handful of Oklahomans said about my city and state shortly after Katrina. Obviously, I know that those views (for instance, hoping that New Orleans was abandoned and never rebuilt) represent a very small and radical portion of the population. Over the years in college and elsewhere, I've met plenty of pleasant people from the state. And to them, I have to say I'm sorry. But I simply can't get behind the SuperSonic's decision to leave Seattle.

For the time being, I'm going to leave this one up to the pros. Plenty of writers have covered the impending move. So, here is a sampling...

Official AP article announcing the move

You can find JA Adande's take here.

Kevin Jackson, who grew up in the greater Seattle area and lived in Oklahoma as a child, has a particularly good write up.

Jim Caple of ESPN's Page 2 adds his thoughts.

Berry Trammel of The Oklahoman (recently voted the worst newspaper in America) also has something to say.

And a great entry from Henry Abbott of True Hoop.

Sorry Seattle. We were pulling for you.

5 or 3? That is the Question for CP3.

2008-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

According to article by John Reid of the Times Pic, it appears as though the question of whether or not the Hornets resign CP3 is no longer an "if". Rather, Paul seems to be wavering between signing a 3 year, $60 million deal or a 5 year, $80 million deal.

Which shall he choose? I don't care (actually, I do: I'd love for him to take the 5 year deal). The reason I don't care? D. West and Peja have 3 years remaining in their contract and Tyson has two. That means that there are at least 3 years remaining in the Hornet's new era of contention (for those of you worried about my math, we will absolutely be resigning Tyson is CP is still around... the two complete each other).

***

Now then. I shall react to Curry's free agency rundown.

PLEASE GOD DON'T LET BOWER SIGN KWAME BROWN OR DeSAGANA DIOP! AND I DON'T CARE IF JASON WILLIAMS HAS A RING! SO DOES MARK MADSEN! PLEASE GOD, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE!

Sorry. Actually, unless we can land Carl Landry, I say the Bees should focus on wingmen or point guards, hopefully nabbing Sessions, Gordon, or Maggette. These guys really would be excellent additions to the crew we already have. Never mind that one of the under-reported stories the last season was the over-use of CP. The blame for that lies both in Byron and Chris' court (and you could hardly argue with the results until the playoff), but with a more consistent backup crew for the 1 and 2 slots, CP might feel less pressure to win everything by himself.

Meanwhile, Byron could try whipping Hilton into shape the same way he made a bruiser out of Tyson. Scott threatened to fine and bench Chandler every time he caught an offensive rebound and kicked it back out. Either get the second chance points or die trying.

Go Team.

Gimme Some Agents... for Free

2008-06-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

With the free agency period officially starting in a matter of moments (at midnight), I figured it was just about time to post an offseason outlook. You could also argue that it was time to do that about a month ago. But -- since I waited so long -- we now know that the Hornets will not be adding a new draft pick to the roster, so this will be a bit more accurate (you see what I did there... positive spin). But it will still be a complete guess. The good news is that the future is brighter than it has ever been for the Hornets. Unlike in years past, the focus can now be on the immediate future, since we've got a solid core (Chef Paul, D-West, Tyson, and Peja) and a decent supporting cast (Mo-Pete, JuJu, Pargo, ...) that will only require a handful of tweaks in order to turn this team into a perennial championship contender.

The main issues the Hornets need to address are a backup point guard, the 2-guard spot, and front court depth. So, summing up... the bench. Some things could work themselves out if players currently on the roster improve. Namely, if we see Julian Wright continue to get better and if Hilton Armstrong can match what he showed in last year's summer league, the team would have addressed two weak spots. I think we can count on JuJu improving. With Hilton, I'm not so sure. For the purpose of this blog, let's just assume the Hornets look to free agency for all roster improvements. Here are their best options in my opinion.

Guards
Chris Duhon - would give the team a true point guard off the bench; he wouldn't offer the same scoring ability as Pargo, but he would be there to run the offense when Chris Paul needed a rest.

Ramon Sessions - really came on at the end of the season with the Bucks (when he actually got up from the bench). Although it's an extremely small sample size, his numbers in 17 games were incredibly impressive (8.1 ppg, 7.5 apg). Would be a dream come true if he could come to New Orleans and keep up that production.

Jason Williams - could be a good option to run the second-unit offense, and he would come to the team with valuable veteran experience (not to mention a championship ring).

Wings
Ben Gordon - although he's restricted, Chicago might have more important signings to make before they think about matching any offer that the Hornets or other suitors could tender. I see him fitting in pretty perfectly with the team: he would definitely bring a much-needed scoring punch to the bench. And there's no question about whether he'd start or play from the bench, since he has some strange allergic reaction to starting. He's a bit undersized for the 2 guard, so I'd like to see the team bring back Bonzi Wells if they go after Gordon.

Corey Maggette - Are you ready for Maggette? I sure as hell am. The Hornets could play him as the sixth man (Ginobili style) or insert him into the starting lineup in place of Mo Pete. He shoots a decent clip from behind the arc (33% over his career) and slashes often -- and well -- enough to get to the line at a good rate. Last season, he averaged almost 10 free throws per game. And, when he got there, he didn't miss much (81% FT).

Mickael Pietrus - had an underwhelming year in 07-08 after putting up career-high averages in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks one season earlier. More of a perimeter specialist than a slasher, he would really need to improve his percentage from the free throw line. But -- for the time being -- he makes up for it with his defense. Pairing him with JuJu would prevent every opponent's second string swingmen from scoring a single point against the Bees.

Bonzi Wells - I'm probably in the minority, but I'm able to look past his no-show in the Spurs series. I can remember a handful of games during the second half of the season where Bonzi's contributions on offense (25 pts vs HOU) and defense (8 stls vs BOS) were incomparable. I really do want to see him return to the team. I think we can get him for a reasonable price, I have no memory of him being more well behaved on any other team, and I was amazed to see him become a fan favorite at the Arena.

Big Men
Kwame Brown - if he'd be willing to agree to a significant pay cut, Brown would be worth picking up. He averaged just under 5 pts and 5 rebs this season, and that's probably worth a cool million or two. Certainly not the $9 million he earned this year. But he's got good size and decent enough stats to earn him some attention before he's cast off into early retirement.

DeSagana Diop - Sure, I'll throw his name out there. But there's no doubt in my mind that some desperate team will eventually drive up his price and make it completely impossible to hope the Hornets would be pick him up for a deal.

Carl Landry - If the Rockets decide, for some strange reason, to let him take another team's offer unmatched, the Hornets need to be that team. He's undersized, but Landry stands his ground in the post. Not exactly a rebounding machine... I'd hope that Hilton proves he deserves to stay in the league, because -- honestly -- if he doesn't improve upon his numbers from last year, I don't see any future for him in the NBA. However, if Hilt does show some promise, he and Landry could be a potent duo coming off the bench.

We'll see if the Hornets are thinking any of the same things that I've written. Maybe even as soon as tomorrow. Of course, just because they're eying any of the guys on my list doesn't mean it's a done deal. Here's hoping we know something sooner than later. Otherwise, it'll be a long summer.

The Live Draft Blog

2008-06-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

Ah yes. Draft day. Time to make predictions based on our poor excuse for expertise. Get ready. There will many picks, many misses, and many drinks... and maybe a few rules.

Let the show begin!

***
Curry: I'm taking Derrick Rose for Chicago. Since Andy Katz just reported it was going to happen.

Lee: Wow. Too bad Chicago didn't wait for us to post the rules for our drinking game before they started picking players. This blog is about to lose any shred of credibility it might have gained over the past seven months... Oh wait, here's the Sterninator.

Curry: I didn't know Atlanta didn't have any picks. Which means they won't be any better next year. Which means they'll be knocked out in seven in round 1 again.

Lee: I'm taking Beasley in the 2 slot to Miami. Who do you have.

Curry: Beasley

Lee: Good. This little game will be so interesting if we keep picking the same players.

Curry: Hey, the Hornets still technically have their pick.

Lee: Whaaaat?

Curry Yeah, we've offered it to them, but apparently we don't have to go through with it if all the players we want are off the board.

Stat Alert: Memphis allowed 100+ points in 63 games

Curry: So, they only played good defense in 19 games? Ouch.

Derrick Rose goes to Chicago

Curry: We both win. Do we both have to drink?

Lee: I don't know. I haven't stopped typing. How was your dinner by the way. Did you enjoy watching me play scribe as much I enjoyed typing your every word?

Lee: Who do you have going third?

Curry: Uh... can I look at a mock draft?

Lee: No. We only have one computer, doofus.

Curry: Please?

Lee: Curry and Lee: 1. Credibility: 0

Curry: Uh... O.J. Mayo? The good Lopez twin.

Lee: Great. let's just wait until Miami picks.

Michael Beasley goes to Miami

Curry: Curry and Lee: 2. Credibility: 0.5

Lee: Mayo to the Timberwolves. Though I wish Seattle could nab him.

Curry: Mayo has to go to the Timberwolves. I actually think the Sonics would be better off grabbing one of the big men.

Lee: Can you even name one of "the big men?"

Curry: Ouch.

O.J. Mayo goes to Minnesota

Curry: HHHHAAAAAA!!!

Lee: We both picked Mayo, doofus.

Lee: Who you got next?

Curry: Kevin Love

Lee: To the Sonics?

Curry: Yeah

Lee: I'm taking Westbrook. By the way, we should both take a drink anytime Bilas makes any type of homoerotic description of a player. If I have to hear how "long" a player is or how well he "penetrates" all night, I'm going to slap everyone from Duke, ever.

Lee: Oh, and Mayo looks cool in glasses.

Curry: I like Richard Jefferson to the Bucks. Good trade. Simmons was doing nothing in Milwaukee and Yi was overrated.

Lee: But he was better than this sausage.

Curry: No he wasn't. He was as impressive as this sausage. I know my commercials.

Lee: But none of players who might go from 5 to 20.

Curry: Shut up.

Russell Westbrook goes to Sea... er... Oklahoma City

Lee: BOO-YA! Sweet. My brother just called to tell me he hates me.

Lee: Lee: 4, Curry: 3, credibility: dropping.

Curry: Memphis is on the clock. I got the good Lopez twin.

Lee: I'm going with Kevin Love. I want Lopez to fall to the Bobcats.

Curry: They could always get Robin. No one would know the difference.

Lee: Credibility: -1

Kevin Love goes to Memphis

Lee: I can't type what Curry just yelled at me. By the way: Lee 5, Curry: 3.

Curry: I think it would be stupid if the Knicks took that Italian guy.

Lee: Well, they can't draft him if they don't know his name.

Curry: Here's to hoping they did their homework as well as I did.

Lee: Who's your pick for the Knicks?

Curry: Wow. Love has to move from LA to Memphis. He's going to get fat.

Lee: Focus. HUUUUUMMMMM. Never let up...

Curry: Brook Lopez

Lee: I'm going with Jerryd Bayless

Curry: In that case, I should pick Bayless.

Danilo Gallinari goes to New York

Curry: I'm pretty sure Knicks fans boo whoever they select.

Lee: Well, that makes us smarter than Donnie Walsh.

Lee: By the way, Bilas just said Danilo will never be a superstar, but he will become a solid contributor. That's how I want to spend my 6th overall pick, on a guy who's ceiling is a step above a role player. Bilas also thinks he can become a Jeter in NY iconography. How can he say these things back to back. He must have the memory of a horse.

Curry: Jerryd Bayless to the Clippers

Lee: Me, too.

Curry: You copy me for the first three picks, then I try to make things interesting and your the one with more points.

Lee: You should have read my prospectus.

Eric Gordon goes to Los Angeles

Curry: That's a good. Plus it means Milwaukee is definitely taking Bayless.

Lee: I think the NY fans are still booing Danilo. Talk about class.

Lee: And yes, I agree that Bayless is heading to Brewtown. Call Kevin. His new lineup will be half-decent after this pick and the Jefferson trade. Maybe he can start rooting for the Bucks instead of the Hornets.

Curry: The center (if Bogut is at the 4) is their only weakness if they nab Bayless.

Lee: But that means they could still grab Brook Lopez. Play a lineup of M. Williams, D. Mason, R. Jefferson, A. Bogut, and B. Lopez. Not terrible.

Curry: I hate the "This is NY, these fans are tough to please" argument... great, we just alienated 9 million possible readers.

Joe Alexander goes to Milwaukee

Lee: Credibility: -5.

Lee: But now Alexander's years of Mandarin practice will go to waste since the Chairman is gone.

Curry: Brook Lopez to the Bobcats

Lee: Ditto.

D.J. Augustin goes to Charlotte

Lee: We are also smarter than MJ. Now the Nets have to grab Lopez... man, Bayless is really slipping.

Curry: Honestly, I'm going Lopez, too. I don't see them grabbing a guard.

Lee: Wouldn't be surprised is they nabbed Darrell Arthur, either.

Brook Lopez goes to New Jersey

Lee: Breaking News: credibility is on the rise.

Curry: Lee: 6, Curry 4.

Lee: I'm thinking Arthur or Rush. Who do you got, Curry?

Curry: Arthur.

Lee: I'll go Rush to make this interesting.

Lee: Andrew thinks that the Cavs are grabbing Robin Lopez to confuse fans as well as the other teams. You know, so they make people play "Who's that awkward, fro-bearing giraffe in the front court? Is it Robin or Anderson?" Oh, and he thinks Bayless is headed to Indiana.

Lee: New lineup for New Jersey: Harris, Carter, Simmons, Yi, Lopez. They should draft a small forward with their next pick.

Jerryd Bayless goes to Indiana

Lee: Damn. Andrew wins... and he doesn't even like the NBA. Darrell Arthur is going to Sac-town.

Curry: Darrell Arthur.

Lee: You are so good at repeating whatever I say.

Jason Thomspon goes to Sacramento

All Parties Involved: WWWOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

Lee: Is he even there?

Curry: Uhhhh... way to go? They said his dad's a referee. Maybe they're hoping they can sway the Donaghy contention.

Lee: I just think they're trying to avoid a repeat of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. They do need a few good "company" men on their side.

Curry: Ouch.

Lee: Who do think Portland takes? I got Mario Chalmers. I know they wanted a point guard. Brandon Rush makes sense here, too, though.

Curry: Still thinking.

Lee: Andrew thinks it'll be Brandon Rush.

Curry: Wow. Let's just point out that last year's 13th pick was Julian Wright. This year's 12th was Jason Thompson.

Lee: Suck it, lottery teams.

Curry: Darrell Arthur.

Brandon Rush goes to Portland

Lee: Now they have 2 Brandons who can play the 2. That's almost as confusing as Robin Lopez and Sideshow Bob in Cleveland.

Curry: Wow. Portland is really good. They easily knock off Denver next year.

Lee: Troof.

Lee: Who you got for the Warriors. I got them taking Koufos. Anthony Randolph or Darrell Arthur makes sense here, but I think they'll grab Kosta.

Curry: Anthony Randolph. Come on LSU... god, I'll never say that again.

Anthony Randolph goes to Golden State

Curry: Yeah. Suck it, Darrell Arthur. I should have guessed Brandon Rush last time, so I'd be tied with Lee.

Lee: Lee 6, Curry 5, credibility: who knows, Andrew: better than all of us.

Lee: I'm thinking Donte Green here. It's not a great pick, but who else do you get here? Who you got, Cur?

Curry: I'm not even sure who the top people left are?

Lee: You want to Tyler Hansborough here. Trust me.

Lee: Wait. Darrell Arthur. Defintely.

Curry: Ditto.

Robin Lopez goes to Phoenix

All Parties Involved: HA!

Lee: The hat doesn't fit his fro. It's not a good look for him.

Lee: The 76ers have to draft Arthur. No way he slips past here.

Curry: If he slips past here, I hope he goes undrafted.

Lee: Robin Lopez looks like Carrot Top. No, but seriously. That's too high for him. But then again, he does fit a need, since Amare Stoudemire...

Curry: ...isn't funny.

Lee: I was going to say doesn't play defense.

Curry: Score. Lee 5, Curry 1. Beer Score. Curry 3, Lee 1.

Lee: I should be killing you right now.

Marreese Speights goes to Philly

Curry: You realize I've picked Arthur for the last 5 picks. That's made up, but sure.

Lee: Ok, I want to say that Arthur is heading to...

Curry: ...the NBDL.

Lee: Right... If I pick Arthur again, Toronto won't pick him. Wait. I thought the Pacers had this pick.

Curry: They're picking for Indiana.

All Parties Involved: Darrell Arthur.

Roy Hibbert goes to Indiana

Lee: I quit.

Curry: I like Roy Hibbert. I think he's going to be good in this league.

Lee: Ok, Washington HAS to take Arthur. They say he's the second coming of Jamison. This just makes sense.

Curry: UHHUHUUHHUHH

Curry: DeAndre Jordan. I think we have to pick differently in order to break the curse of Darrell Arthur.

JaVale McGee goes to Washington

Lee: So... that didn't work. I had McGee penciled in for the Jazz.

Curry: I thought I could break the curse.

Lee: Now I'm going to break the curse: Kosta Koufos. Andrew's going with Chalmers.

Curry: Koufos.

Lee: I feel bad for Darrell Arthur. He's too good to be losing this much money. He looks better than Brady Quinn did, though... suck it, Notre Dame.

Curry: I hope Arthur drops to the Hornets.

J.J. Hickson goes to Cleveland

Lee: We suck at this.

Curry: No, we're good at this. The GMs are the ones who aren't any good.

All Parties Involved: DARRELL ARTHUR. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!

Lee: New Jersey is licking their chops right now. If Arthur falls to them, the Brooklyn Nets will win every championship post-2010.

Lee: Andrew thinks the Stern Button is being used to get Arthur to fall to the Celtics.

Alexis Ajinca goes to Charlotte

Lee: Everyone drink. Bilas just said that the Bobcats went for a big, long player.

Lee: Andrew's willing to put money on the next pick being Arthur. I'm on board. Curry?

Curry: I guess.

Lee: Andrew: 9, Lee: 6, Curry: 5. This is same score from 6 picks ago.

Lee: Portland just got ridica-good.

Curry: Yeah, I'm scared.

Lee: Bayless, Roy, Webster, Aldridge. Oden. Holy. Freaking. God.

Curry: By scared, I mean terrified.

Lee: Larry Bird is an idiot. He got crap and Rush for Bayless and Diogu. Awesome.

Ryan Anderson goes to New Jersey

All Parties Involved: WHHHHYYYYYYY?????!!!!!

Curry: Did Arthur admit to being a child molester during his team workouts.

Lee: Andrew's got CDR for this pick (Orlando). I've got them taking Courtney Lee.

Curry: I give up.

Curry: Darrell Arthur.

Courtney Lee goes to Orlando

Lee: NIIICCCCEEEE!

Curry: Kosta to Utah

Lee: Arthur.

Kosta Koufos goes to Utah

Curry: BOOO-YAAA!

Lee: Andrew: 10, Lee: 7, Curry: 6. Wow.

Lee: I'm going to stick with the prospectus for this next one. Seattle takes Serge Ibaka.

Curry: Darrell Arthur. And that's Andrew's pick as well.

Serge Ibaka goes to Seattle

Lee: WHOOOOOAAAA! YES, BABY!

Curry: That sucks.

Lee: Andrew: 10, Lee: 8, Curry: 6. By the way, I know I've said this before, but Darrell Arthur cannot slip past this pick.

Lee: Andrew, "Yeah, give me DeAndre Jordan so I can cry for a long time."

Curry: I want to give Darrell Arthur a hug. And I am also picking him for this pick.

Nicolas Batum goes to Houston

Lee: Well then... for the love of all things decent! I guess I'm going Ante Tomic since we all know San Antonio won't draft Americans.

Lee: Holy crap! We're probably going to keep our pick. We get either Darrell Arthur or CDR! Wow!

Lee: Oh wait, Arthur has an undisclosed kidney condition. Bummer.

Lee: Andrew votes for CDR. Damn Spurs... ruining my life at every possible turn.

Curry: Darrell Arthur to the Spurs. And Andrew switches to Arthur.

George Hill goes to San Antonio

Lee: There are no words. And Curry is presently ranting about how insane this school is...

Curry: ...oh, but he has 3% body fat. Awesome.

Lee: I'm picking CDR for us. So does Andrew.

Curry: I want CDR.

Lee Andrew says Curry has to pick differently than us for this to work.

Curry: I don't care, I want CDR! I hope that they didn't go through with the Portland trade yet.

Lee: Andrew, "I have picked Darrell Arthur 9 times."

Lee: Wait, that trade to Portland is going through pending league approval? This is confusing.

Darrell Arthur goes to New Orleans... or Portland... or who knows

Lee: Well, that sucks. We just got the steal of the draft so that we could trade him for some cash. Awesome, Jeff Bower. Awesome.

Lee: Donte Green for the Griz... got to be.

Curry: CDR.

Lee: I like CDR for Detroit.

Donte Green goes to Memphis

Lee: Andrew: 12, Lee: 9, Curry: 6. Andrew officially wins.

Lee: No way CDR doesn't go to Detroit.

Curry: Ditto.

D.J. White goes to Detroit

Lee: I quit. When even Joe Dumars doesn't know what to do...

Curry: I don't care any more. I will now sleep through the second round.

Lee: I'm going... CDR? They need a 2... I guess he can do that. Now way they take Jordan. I don't think projects interest them.

Curry: CDR? And I hope I wake up tomorrow morning to see that the Hornets got to keep their draft pick. In the meantime, Lee wins. Well, technically Andrew wins. Next year, I will win... second place. Good night.

Lee: Peace, Curry.

J.R. Giddens goes to Boston

Lee: Why not?

***
Ok, we're going to sit out the second round. I've been typing for 2 hours and I'm hungry. Thanks for stopping by. We'll post a follow up to this epic event after the dust settles. Curry's even going to post a "What we should be doing in the off-season" post. Little something to look forward to...

Just so we're clear: Andrew: 12, Lee: 9, Curry: 6. Terrible. Those GMs, I mean.

Peace out.

2008 Draft Prospectus 2.0

2008-06-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, first off, let me apologize for Curry's ongoing attempts at funny headlines. Moving on.

So, the plan was to do another round of draft prospectus (ergo the title), but as Curry pointed out, the Hornets have traded their one and only pick in this draft for cash considerations. "Why?" you may ask. I have no idea. I'll have to look into it more. My guess (like Curry's) is that Bower thinks he can take care of the team's needs with free agent signings. The move does concern me a little since, even though this draft class isn't that strong, next year's looks to be even weaker. Never mind that we could have drafted CDR or Courtney Lee to help fill out the wing or even Nathan Jawai or DeAndre Jordan to strengthen the front court (Chad Ford seems to think that Jordan will drop as far as pick 28). But, you know what? I trust Jeff Bower. For now, at least.

Even with the Hornets taking a day off tomorrow, we at HH still have a vested interest in the draft. This year's group has been hard to peg since, after picks 1-4 (which are by no means set), the remaining 26 picks in round 1 could fall any which way. I was going to write that the Hornets should be targeting the following players in the following order: CDR, Lee, Jordan, Jawai. But now, that's irrelevant. I just thought you should know. Just in case.

Really, the saddest part of this day is that the Hornets have ruined one of the best fan ploys in the history of fan ploys. After drafting Courtney Lee this year and Stephen Curry next year... well, let's just say that the crew at HH would have been sporting some sweet jerseys. Alas.

Starting at guard: Lee and Curry!

The projections below are a cross between what teams might do and what I think they should do (you know, GM Lee just donning advice for multi-million dollar corporations in his spare time). Also, with the exception of the Hornets trading their pick, this prospectus does not take into account the possible trade rumors. Too many hypotheticals if we accounted for those. We've got enough as it is.

***

1. Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose (PG, Memphis)

2. Miami Heat: Michael Beasley (PF, Kansas State)

3. Minnesota Timberwolves: O.J. Mayo (SG, USC)

4. Seattle Sonics: Russell Westbrook (PG, UCLA)

5. Memphis Grizzlies: Kevin Love (PF, UCLA)

6. New York Knicks: Jerryd Bayless (PG, Arizona)

7. Los Angeles Clippers: Eric Gordon (SG, Indiana)

8. Milwaukee Bucks: Danillo Gallinari (SF, Italy)

9. Charlotte Bobcats: Brooke Lopez (C, Standford)

10. New Jersey Nets: Joe Alexander (SF, West Virginia)

11. Indiana Pacers: D.J. Augustin (PG, Texas)

12. Sacramento Kings: Darrell Arthur, (PF, Kansas)

13. Portland Trailblazers: Alexis Ajinca (C, France)

14. Golden State Warriors: Anthony Randolph (PF, LSU)

15. Phoenix Suns: Brandon Rush (SG, Kansas)

16. Philadelphia 76ers: Kosta Koufos (C, Ohio State)

17. Toronto Raptors: Donte Greene (SF, Syracuse)

18. Washington Wizards: Marreese Speights (C, Florida)

19. Cleveland Cavaliers: Robin Lopez (C, Stanford)

20. Denver Nuggets: Roy Hibbert (C, Georgetown)

21. New Jersey Nets: DeAndre Jordan (C, Texas A&M)

22. Orlando Magic: Courtney Lee (SG, Western Kentucky)

23. Utah Jazz: JaVale McGee (PF, Nevada)

24. Seattle Sonics: Serge Ibaka (PF, Congo)

25. Houston Rockets: J. J. Hickson (PF, NC State)

26. San Antonio Spurs: Ante Tomic (Croatia)

27. Portland Trailblazers: Nicholas Batum (SF, France)

28. Memphis Grizzlies: DeVon Hardin (C, California)

29. Detroit Pistons: Chris Douglas-Roberts (SF, Memphis)

30. Boston Celtics: Jamont Gordon (SG, Mississippi State)

***

For those of you who can't get enough draft talk, I'd suggest Hollinger's draft class PER predictions for big men and wing men (the idea was to predict each draftee's PER after three years in the pros using college/international statistical data). Also, be sure to check out Andy Katz's draft day trade rumors.

Be sure to pop in tomorrow night for the live blogging battle between Curry and myself as we duke it out trying to project each pick. There will be many bad puns, silly references, and Miller High Life (no that was not a product placement, no we do not get paid to mention that stuff; if we did, we'd be buying better beer). So stop by for entertainment guaranteed to be more enlightening fun than whatever's being broadcast.

Peace.

Did Someone Open a Window?

2008-06-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

Because I feel a draft.

Well, I was gonna come on here and break down which player I thought the Hornets should (and/or would) draft with the 27th pick. But it looks like the title/intro of this post is going to be the most entertaining part. The team has apparently sent its first-round draft pick to the Portland Trailblazers in exchange for cash.

In a move that I find more confusing than intriguing, the Hornets just moved out of the draft entirely. Because of the Bobby Jackson/Bonzi Wells/Mike James trade, this year's second round pick was shipped to Seattle via Houston. Following the swap with Portland, the Hornets are now pick-less. That should make for a pretty dull NBA Draft Party tomorrow night.

I have to assume that this is the first step in a series of moves. At least, I'm hoping that Jeff Bower has something up his sleeve. But I'm still a bit disappointed with this news (for the time being, anyway). It was starting to look like Chris Douglas-Roberts was going to fall to the 27th pick. He might still fall that far. But it won't be to the Hornets. Who knows, maybe the team is looking to package something together to get an earlier pick. Maybe they were fearing that their favorite prospects would all be off the board by the end of the first round. Or maybe we'll just have to wait until later in the offseason to see any improvements to the roster.

Goodbye CDR. Goodbye Courtney Lee. Goodbye Kyle Weaver. Goodbye Draft Party. Hello... Free Agency?

The Links, vol. 5

2008-06-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

How about those Finals, huh? Oh, you didn't really watch them? Me neither. Although, apparently Boston sports are a big deal. With no disrespect to the legions of elated NBA fans (who may or may not have hopped on the bandwagon), if I have to see one more interview with KG, the Truth, or Ray "I don't really have a cool nickname" Allen, I will puke. We get it. You guys are awesome. Not to mention, now we have to inundated with unnecessary stories about Len Bias and "what he could have been". Sorry, I don't mean any disrespect to Bias and his family, but we spend all year long talking about CP3, Dwight Howard, and Deron Williams and everyone says the same thing: they haven't proved themselves. No one is ready to declare them the forces they are, yet we're ready to hand Bias a ticket into the pantheon of basketball legends without him having played one game. Why? Because the Celtics drafted him. If any other team had laid claim to him, he'd have passed into nothing. Geez, doesn't this bother anyone else?

Call it total and unconditional love for my Hornets or call it embittered protest, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay much attention to the Finals, Celtics, Lakers, or ESPN this June.

Bleh. Let's move on to something more exciting: links about the Hornets. Most of these are sort of outdated, but all are fun. Just like the Crescent City Connection. Enjoy.

1. This just in: CP3 is really good.

2. On second thought, there might be some holes in his defensive game... say some people. (Good read, I promise.)

Cool interview on JuJu courtesy of The Capital Journal in Lawrence, Kansa.

3. In case anyone still cares about the "Cheap Shot Rob" foul from Game 6 versus the Spurs, I did happen to get J.A. Adande's opinion on the matter (in one of his chats):

Lee (New Orleans): J.A., love your work and love the lounge. Please offer your honest assessment of Horry's foul on D.West last night. As Hornets fans, my buddy and I want to relabel Horry as "Cheap Shot Rob", but I'm curious to get an unbiased perspective. Thanks.

J.A. Adande: Actually, I'm more biased on this than any other issue because Horry is my favorite guy in the league. Although the play was similar to Gasol's push of Okur (that wasn't called) I think Horry knew what he was doing. He's old school enough to have the mindset of going after someone's weak spot. But I don't think the league could do anything about it because it wasn't a flagrant foul. Didn't like to see Horry doing that at all. Between that and the Chuckster's gambling debt issues, it wasn't a good day for 2 of my favorite guys.

4. For those of you with spare time (and the mental capacity to understand complicated stats) here's a little help calculating players' plus/minus. Yeah. Good luck with that.

5. Finally, as a precursor to the Draft Prospectus 2.0 that will be posted by tomorrow, here's a breakdown of Simmons and Chad Ford's draft predictions.

Peace (and sorry about the Celtic rant).

NBA Final(ly)... PJ Gets a Ring

2008-06-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

All right, first off. I'm sorry. We're sorry. For leaving you high and dry here without a post for two weeks. It won't happen again. I blame Lee. He probably blames me. You should blame him. With that dirty work out of the way, I'd like to get back in the swing of things with a very special shout out to the original Hometown Hornet: PJ Brown.

As many of you may already know, PJ Brown is a Winnfield native, a graduate of Louisiana Tech, and a Slidell resident. So he's pretty much from everywhere in the Bayou State. He transcends space and time. PJ -- whose initials stand for "Collier Brown, Jr" -- can now add a new section to his biography. As of Tuesday, he is an NBA Champion. He is also about 33% of the reason I was rooting for the Celtics (the other 67% can be attributed to two things: I once played for a biddy basketball team called the Celtics that won the league championship, and I have a general disdain for the Lakers/Kobe... and the average Laker fan, plus screw Hollywood).

We at HH extend our congratulations to PJ Brown on an NBA Championship 15 seasons in the making. Six of those years were spent with the Hornets. And one of those included the horrific 2004-05 campaign (aka The 18-Win Season, aka The Season That Begot Chris Paul). I gave PJ the nickname of "Old Faithful" that year, though it never caught on. However, he certainly deserved it. To back me up, I'm pulling out a rant I wrote exactly three years ago (right before the 2005 NBA Draft). Enjoy.

PJ's nickname should be Old Faithful. He was the only shred of consistency on our team this (04-05) season. From a professional standpoint, he's one of the league's finest players. I personally respect any player who is willing to put his personal agenda on hold for the better of the team. I'm sure he'd secretly rather be on a contender. But he's not. And, last I checked, he isn't complaining. Basketball is a team sport. Unlike many of today's stars who are more about appearance and personal statistics rather than substance and teamwork, PJ represents the true definition of a team player and a leader. He's averaged over 10.5 ppg in each season since the team moved to New Orleans (that would end the next season). He's also averaged 9+ rpg in two of those seasons. Statistics like that have helped him to earn status as a top-20 player in double-doubles, free-throw percentage, and total rebounds (during the 04-05 season). Keep in mind that was all while playing out of position (Magloire was out for the season). And he relinquished his starting role for younger guys like David West and Chris Andersen on several occasions. Add to this that he was the only player to appear in all 82 games, and I don't see how anyone can argue that PJ isn't the heart of this team.

So... Old Faithful, thanks for what you did here. Congrats for what you did in Boston. Now, please retire and return home as an assistant coach.

- CWS

Lakers-Celtics Rivalry: The BMac Take

2008-06-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

I am not alone in this world. A guy named Brian McCormick shares my frustration (albeit somewhat indirectly) over the state of a professional sport that caters to its stars' every whinny-whim (Kobe for MVP) and over-hypes big market teams. He recently posted an entry to his blog that voiced these frustrations along with other ones concerning the "rivalry" between the Lakers and Celtics. One piece rang so true to me (and Henry Abbot, as it turns out) that I had to include it here:

But, I find it difficult too root for the Lakers to win. It seems wrong that Kobe Bryant can epitomize everything wrong with the NBA last summer, belittling his teammates, demanding a trade, calling out his GM, etc and now he is the MVP and on top of the world. I have a hard time rooting for this to happen.

On the other hand, I also hate when players like Sam Cassell are able to get their team to buy out their contract mid-season so they can sign a new contract to play for a championship contender.

Hells yeah. That first paragraph is ostensibly what I've been screaming since the first day of MVP talks. You can't be an MVP (no matter what the numbers) if you actions off the court are detrimental to both your team's confidence and well-being. That would be the opposite of value.

He goes on to say that the league has adopted certain rules in the past twenty years that are now indirectly preventing rivalries. I don't quite agree with him in this regard, as I feel it has less to do with NBA rules and more to do with the average player's allegiance to money over team (with rare exception). Regardless, for the most part, Mr. McCormick's words on spot-on. I shall now buy him a beer.

***

As an addendum to the above introduction, I've just found out that Mr. McCormick happens to be an ex-coach and writer, having authored a book called Crossover: the Model of Youth Basketball Development.

The More You Know [wink].

2008 Draft Prospectus

2008-05-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have no idea whatsoever about anything scouting related. However, I have been reading tons of Chad Ford et al articles about the upcoming draft. Does this make me any wiser? No. Does this make me think I should post my own Round 1 predictions? Yes. Does the answer to the last question make me stupid? Probably.

I've always hated these types of articles. You make one guess, then make a another guess that's predicated on the correctness of the previous guess and so forth and so forth. So, by the time you land on the Celtic's pick (at number 30), you're basically suggesting that Boston would take so-and-so (Ibaka, if I'm the one talking)… oh, but that's only in this one highly unlikely scenario I've drawn up. Awesome.

1. Chicago Bulls: Michael Beasley (PF, Kansas State)
You couldn't go wrong with Rose, but Chicago is desperate for a real scoring threat in the front court. Plus they have a good enough point man in Hinrich — and he's got a contract that'll make it hard to move him.

2. Miami Heat: Derrick Rose (PG, Memphis)
The heat are lucky: they have so many positions to fill that any player in the lottery would probably be a good fit. The addition of Rose, however, would do wonders for this team. Of course, if Beasley fell to them, no one would be complaining (except for Udonis Haslem).

3. Minnesota Timberwolves: Brooke Lopez (C, Standford)
It's feasible that that the Wolves might grab Mayo or Love here, but what they really need is a big, defensive-minded addition to their front court since Al Jefferson only really does that offensive thing.

4. Seattle Sonics: Jerryd Bayless (PG, Arizona)
The Sonics need a capable point guard more than another scoring machine (i.e. Mayo). Bayless is the best in the draft after Rose.

5. Memphis Grizzlies: O.J. Mayo (SG, USC)
It seems unlikely that any team (even Memphis with its overloaded back court) could pass on Mayo. Or maybe they could pass the Mayo… or hold the Mayo. Wow. That's not going to get old. Actually, the most likely scenario is Memphis drafting Mayo then immediately trading him to the Lakers for Colby Karl and a $20 gift certificate to Del Taco.

6. New York Knicks: Danillo Gallinari (SF, Italy)
Supposedly D'Antoni isn't too high on this Italian star, but Danilo is a talented and intelligent player who could easily thrive under this coach. The question is can thrive next to everyone else on the roster.

7. Los Angeles Clippers: Eric Gordon (SG, Indiana)
A lot of the analysts are picking Westbrook to go here, but with Maggette and Brand possibly leaving, it would seem that the Clips would need a stronger scoring option than Westbrook. Plus Livingston should be back from injury to helm the point.

8. Milwaukee Bucks: Donte Greene (SF, Syracuse)
Most people insist that even though the Bucks need a SF, Greene has too many question marks to take this high. Ford even suggested that they'll probably just take the best talent on the board and then work the phones all summer. Bottom line: when your options at the 3 are Bobby Simmons and Desmond Mason, why not gamble on Greene?

9. Charlotte Bobcats: Kevin Love (PF, UCLA)
This guy's stock just keeps rising, and since it appears that Sean May might never come back (did he ever even show up?), Love is a great option to compliment Emeka in the front court and take some of the pressure off of Crash. Randolph is also a good option here.

10. New Jersey Nets: Anthony Randolph (PF, LSU)
Sean Williams was good int he first half, Krstic can't stay healthy, and Josh Boone is… Josh Boone. So, the Nets need help in the front court. Randolph is great fit for this young team's fast-paced play. He just needs to add a few pounds to his Tayshaun-ish frame.

11. Indiana Pacers: Russell Westbrook (PG, UCLA)
The Pacer's need a point guard like nobody's business. Even though Jamaal Tinsley is locked up for another few (expensive) years, Westbrook would be a perfect addition to this squad if he fell this far.

12. Sacramento Kings: D.J. Augustin (PG, Texas)
Udrih was good, but the Kings are looking for someone to really fill Bibby's shoes, especially now that there are scorers to pass to in Sactown (read: K. Mart 2.0). If there aren't any good points left on the board, look for the Kings to grab Darrell Arthur to replace what's left of Shareef Abdur-Raheem.

13. Portland Trailblazers: Joe Alexander (SF, West Virginia)
Other than Love, this guy's stock has soared over the past few days. Truthfully, Portland is really solid at the 2, 4, and 5 so look for them to grab Alexander at the 3 or possibly Augustin or Westbrook at the 1 (if they fall this far).

14. Golden State Warriors: DeAndre Jordan (C, Texas A&M)
This is the most logical pick for the Warriors. However, even if they do gamble on Jordan, Nellie probably wouldn't play him anyway, as big men who play defense well do not quite mesh with the 2 seconds or less philosophic structure of Nellie Ball. I mean, last season he only played Biendrins twenty-seven minutes a game for crying out loud. Still, Jordan would give them a strong front court presence who is young enough to run and gun.

[So, that was the lottery. I won't break down the rest of the picks since each one gets more and more absurd as we go (on uninformed decision on top of another), so I'll just list them. If the all of the 14 above players are off the board, here's how I'd draft the rest of them.]

15. Phoenix Suns: Darrell Arthur, (PF, Kansas)

16. Philadelphia 76ers: Marreese Speights (C, Florida)

17. Toronto Raptors: Robin Lopez (C, Stanford)

18. Washington Wizards: JaVale McGee (PF, Nevada)

19. Cleveland Cavaliers: Kosta Koufos (C, Ohio State)

20. Denver Nuggets: Ty Lawson (PG, NC State)

21. New Jersey Nets: Chase Budinger (SG, Arizona)

22. Orlando Magic: Brandon Rush (SG, Kansas)

23. Utah Jazz: Roy Hibbert (C, Georgetown)

24. Seattle Sonics: Bill Walker (SF, Kansas State)

25. Houston Rockets: J. J. Hickson (PF, NC State)

26. San Antonio Spurs: Nicolas Batum (SF, France)

27. New Orleans Hornets: Courtney Lee (SG, Western Kentucky)

28. Memphis Grizzlies: Nathan Jawai (PF, Australia)

29. Detroit Pistons: Chris Douglas-Roberts (SF, Memphis)

30. Boston Celtics: Serge Ibaka (PF, Congo)

So, to recap, none of this will probably happen at all. I do hope, however, that the Hornets have the sense to draft one of three players at the 2 (Rush, Douglas-Roberts, or Lee depending on who's available) or grab Nathan Jawai to help fill the black hole caused by the tandem of Ely/Bowen. I'll be thrilled for next season no matter what, but any of those picks would make me happy.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Recap: a Glorious Season Comes to an End

2008-05-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

I would first like to apologize for my absence. I had to impose an ESPN ban on myself for the past week in order to effectively get over the end of the season. But now I'm outside the tunnel and feeling good… I can now enjoy sports again without ripping the nearest pillow to shreds. So... recap, anyone?

The Man and his Mentor.

To help me sum up the fantastic ride that was the Hornets' season, permit me to call on the golden-age rapper Whodini's "Magic Wand".

Hey y'all, we'll be back again
So tell all your friends
Good things don't always come to an end

This is, in so many words, a great encapsulation of the last six months. I could wax philosophic for paragraphs on end about how awesome this season has been, but I've opted for something that should be more fun and completely expose me for the compulsively organized individual I am. For your enjoyment, I've decided to recap the season High Fidelity style. I will now blast some mad tunes while I channel John Cusack's character. Let's get started.

***

Top 5 Games of the season:

1. Dec 1, 2007 [New Orleans 112 | Dallas 108]:
Peja hits a trey at the buzzer to send the game to OT. Hornets take care of business, outscoring Dallas by 4 in the extra quarter.

2. Jan 28, 2008 [New Orleans 117 | Denver 93]:
On their way to a dominating route of the Melo-less Nuggets, the Bees hold Marcus Camby to something like 5% of his normal nightly contributions and make AI do all the work. More importantly, this was the first game in which we heard the "MVP" chants fill the arena. Goosebumps all around.

3. Feb 20, 2008 [New Orleans 104 | Dallas 93]
Dallas comes to town for their first game after completing a blockbuster deal in which Cuban mortgaged the Maverick's future for the likes of Jason Kidd. While it was no surprise that this new mix of players couldn't take a game on our court, no one could have predicted Chris Paul's unbelievable performance (see number 3 in the next list). By the way, Jason Kidd's agility owes CP's agility like thirty grand.

4. Mar 12, 2008 [New Orleans 100 | San Antonio 75]
After failing pretty miserably against this team in NOLA earlier in the season, the Hornets bounce back and route the reigning champs. An entire quarter of booing (after some poor officiating) led to an 8 point effort in the fourth from the Spurs, allowing the Hornets to bounce back from a 7 point deficit. It was an even bigger victory for us when include the amount of attention and head-turning it prompted from the media.

5. Mar 22, 2008 [New Orleans 113 | Boston 106]
If the heads hadn't been turned by this time, all eyes would soon be on the Hornets after the Celtics came to town. After shutting down the Spurs and Lakers at home, the Hornets' played host to this year's media darling. After a shaky start, the New Orleans came back to win in a scintillating fourth quarter as they outscored the Celtics 32 to 17.

Top 5 Individual performances by players named Chris Paul:

1. Jan 28, 2008 [New Orleans 117 | Denver 93]
23 points, 17 assists, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block

2. Feb 6, 2008 [New Orleans 132 | Phoenix 130]
42 points on 55% shooting, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 8 steals, and 1 turnover in 50 minutes of play. Damn, son.

3. Feb 20, 2008 [New Orleans 104 | Dallas 93]
31 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 9 steals, and 1 turnover

4. Apr 22, 2008 [New Orleans 127 | Dallas 103
32 points, 17 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals (Dallas series, game 2)

5. Apr 29, 2008 [New Orleans 99 | Dallas 94]
24 points, 15 assists, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, 0 turnovers (Dallas series, Game 4)

Top 5 Individual performances by players not named Chris Paul:

1. Nov 6, 2008 [New Orleans 118 | Los Angeles Lakers 104]
Peja: 36 points, 10-13 beyond the arc, 5 rebounds, 1 block

2. Jan 4, 2008 [New Orleans 116 | Golden State 104]
Tyson: 22 points, 22 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block

3. Mar 5, 2008 [New Orleans 116 | Atlanta 101]
JuJu: 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists.

Jump on it, JuJu. Jump on it.

This game is less important for the numbers, but rather it marked our first of many "Holy crap! Julian Wright is going to be awesome!" moments. My buddy Nat had this revelation the other day: "Julian Wright is really good. He could be as good as Ron Artest… you know, minus the crazy". Additionally, he had two highlight dunks and danced like a fiend to The Sugarhill Gang's "Apache". Read about it or watch the highlights.

4. Mar 25, 2008 [New Orleans 114 | Indiana 106]
D.West: 35 points, 16 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 3 steals

5. May 13, 2008 [New Orleans 101 | San Antonio 79]
D.West: 38 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks, 2 steals (San Antonio series, Game 5). A god among men.

Top 5 Moments of the playoffs:

1. What's playoff experience?
Every single analyst in the country had the Hornets either losing to the Mavs or pulling off a close win in a game seven. This seeming lack of faith was justified at the Hornets' lack of playoff experience. That statement remained true for roughly 24 minutes, or the first half of Game 1 against Dallas. After that, the Hornets exploded and never looked back, taking the series in 5 games. CP averaged 25 points, 12 assists, and 1 turnover during that stretch.

Where playoff experience is optional happens.

2. West owns Dirk's pride.
After taking an elbow from the reigning MVP, D.West gets in the big German's face, tells him he "only gets to do that once", and then taps his cheek. Dirk's response? Fear.

3. Where the savior destroys hope happens.
Game 4 versus Dallas. The Mavs are about to lose on their own turf and go down 3-1 in the series. Out of bitter frustration, the man who was sent in to save them all, commits a tasteless, flagrant foul. When Jason Kidd, pulled Pargo down by the neck on a fast break late in the game, the Dallas season was effectively over. Read more in this entry.

4. Stop the Flop.
Dirk had been flopping all throughout the series (so much so that Nat suggested that "maybe falling is just part of his shooting motion"). After 5 games, the Hornets' fans had had enough. During a Dirk and-one, a fan's sign prompted the entire arena to chant "Stop the flop!" at the top of their lungs during every single Dallas free-throw until the end of the game.

5. Love, even in a loss.
In the final minutes of Game 7 against the Spurs, after Pargo missed an open trey that would have tied the game, Chris gathered his sixth foul on the other end of the court and promptly went to the bench. As fans, we recognized that moment as the end of our season, despite the ninety some-odd seconds remaining on the clock. As Chris reached the bench, the entire arena stood up and cheered louder than I've ever heard them. Instead of being bitter, there was a feeling of love and gratitude flowing through the building. It was a hell of a way to thank the guys while simultaneously drawing attention away from the Spurs' victory.

Top 5 Ways to make myself feel better after getting booted from the playoffs:

1. We took the defending champs to game seven.
I don't care that we were the two seed: the defending champs are always the defending champs (unless they're from Miami). Let's face it, the Spurs ARE a freaking dynasty. They've won 4 of the last 9 championships, and their big 3 have played in over 100 playoff games together. That's more than an entire season of just playoffs. This team is incredible and we took them to seven games.

2. We won the Southwest Division.
We won our first divisional championship this season, outperforming what is easily the hardest and deepest division in the league — and that's including the likes of Memphis. Though (as we found out) the regular season means nothing in the playoffs, it's still nice to finally have a divisional championship under our belt (and a banner hanging from our rafters).

Where earning respect happens.

3. The nucleus is returning.
Here's a list of the young talent that is returning next year: Chris Paul (23), David West (27), Tyson Chandler (25), Jannero Pargo (28), Julian Wright (21), Hilton Armstrong (23), and whoever the hell we draft next month. Peja is the oldest of the crew, but he only recently cracked 30 on the odometer (he'll be 31 on June 9th).

4. We have Jeff Bower.
In hindsight, that trade with the rockets was not the greatest move ever. Though Bonzi performed really well during the regular season, he all but disappeared in the playoffs (that was partly Byron's fault, but we'll save that for another day). Plus, I'm not even sure that Mike "Shoes" James even traveled with the team after the regular season ended. Regardless, Bower is a genius of GM in league so full of ineptness. Though drafting Paul was a no-brainer, Bower built this team from the ground up after Baron Davis' oscar-worthy portrayal of Vince Carter destroyed the franchise back in 2004.

5. Home Court Advantage for ALL of next season.
I will concede, despite many posts arguing to the contrary, that we had embarrassingly low attendance until mid-January. Home court advantage was really hard to come by (especially considering that when people did show up, it was often to see the other team's superstar). However, the Hornets still won 56 games. Imagine how many more they could win if the fans showed up for an entire season. Now that we have our own superstar, we won't have to wait too long to find out.

Top 5 Songs to listen to while writing a blog entry about basketball:

1. "Harder, Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk

2. "Basketball" by Kurtis Blow

3. "Inside Game" by Royal Trux

4. "Rock Box" by Run D.M.C.

5. "Rebel Without a Pause" by Public Enemy

***

All in all, who could have asked for a better season? Ok, maybe the whiny Boston fan-base, but I sure couldn't have. For a small market team, nothing could have beaten the credibility and exposure we were able to [slowly] amass over the past six months. I mean, how many people get to say, "Hey, I got to watch [insert name of athlete who becomes god-like and joins pantheon of icons in his sport] transcend to greatness. Yeah, I had season tickets. Yeah, I was there before anyone thought to look…" how awesome is that?

This year was the beginning of something great, not the end. The old powerhouses in the West are slowly succumbing to age. Their time has past. A new era is being ushered in. An era in which the likes of young guns are out to make a name for themselves. The wild, wild west is about to get a bit wilder. And look for the Hornets to be wielding a young point guard hungry for victory.

***

Thanks for sticking it out with us all season. Just so you know, we'll be continuing to post during the off-season, so be sure to check back periodically. I expect Curry to post a season recap in the near future, but also be looking for a draft preview as well as the Hometown Hornets' official draft day live blog, in which Curry and I will go head-to-head predicting picks while consuming alcohol... admit it, you're excited. Of course, we may not make it to the second round. Stay tuned!

Peace.

(Quick thank you to hornets.com. All of the images from this post (minus Kurtis Blow) can be found in their online photo gallery along with hundreds of others from the entire season.)

The Links, vol. 4

2008-05-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

Western Semis, Game 5. Last night was nothing short of amazing. Curry will post a recap, but I do have to interject with one thought: DAVID WEST IS A GOD AMONG MEN. He played through injury and owned anyone in a San Antonio uniform who got near him. Kicked ass and took names. Wow. I just went from six to midnight. Before this gets anymore inappropriate, let's move on to the links.

1. In case you were looking for an easy-to-understand, fairly well designed overview of every one of Chris Paul's dimes this season, well look no further. The Times Pic has you covered. Just click the image below to get a closer view... then enjoy the awesomeness of CP3.

2. Chris made the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.

3. The crew at Ball Don't Lie did coverage of Game 5 with a live blog. Funny stuff. I promise.

4. The guys at Basketbawful had a pretty fantastic entry in their daily "Worst of the Night" column. So who made the list of worst on the night?

Anybody who guarded David West: Holy Moses. West was so hot last night that I got first degree burns from just watching him destroy any and every Spur who dared to defend him. Tim Duncan included. West finished with 38 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocked shots. If you thought Fabricio Oberto was ugly before, imagine what he looks like now that West scorched his eyebrows off.

5. Even the perennial whiners in San Antonio are impressed by David West. Check out this article in the San Antonio Press full of well-deserved love.

6. I heart John Hollinger and his numbers and stuff. Read article.

7. Cool video, courtesy of ESPN, about CP paying tribute to his grandfather. The number 61 will never be the same.

8. Funny post from ESPN the mag about Ric "WOOOOOOO!" Flair.

9. Check it. Great interview with JuJu from TrueHoop.

10. Page 2 feature on Chris "Birdman" Andersen's improbable (albeit insane) journey to the NBA, to drugs, to suspension, and back again. Worth the read.

11. So, this last link is sort of unrelated, but you'll just have to deal. A member of my beloved Cardinals (at least for part of his career... the good part) is hanging up the spikes. That's actually only partially true, but unless the Cubs (BOOOOOOO) sign him to a a one-year deal, Jim Edmonds may be finished with Major League Baseball. Check out this fantastic Page 2 article that recaps his (almost historic) numbers. Thanks for the memories, Jim.

West Semis, Game 2: Messing with Texas

2008-05-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

My buddy Ted -- an avid Mavs fan -- sent me the following message after the last game (NOH 102, SAS 84)...

"INSTANT CHAMPION

Ingredients: Floundering basketball team in the best division in the NBA, disloyal owner, disinterested fan base, economically crippled city, Curry Smith, Lee Domingue (Section 325).

Directions: Just add Hall-of-Fame-Caliber point guard

I hate you."

Despite the jealousy he throws in there at the end, I like it. Honestly, it's a good analogy. The Hornets' offense is similar to a recipe. I won't do some hokey post that includes phrases like "17 parts David West" or "4 parts Julian Wright's headband." I will, however, write the following...

In recent memory, we've seen it in almost every game. The Hornets stay close or post a small lead at halftime. Then, they come out in the second half like men possessed. The team takes away opponents' rhythms like they're Vanilla Ice ripping off the beat from a David Bowie-Freddie Mercury song. The Hornets' defense leads to their offense; steals, blocks, and rebounds often immediately precede a Peja 3, a Tyson dunk, or a D-West mid-range jumper. It's more or less the same formula they've used for the entire season. It's not exact, but you know what to expect. It's also just one more reason that I think Chris Paul's nickname NEEDS to be "The Chef." The great thing is... most opponents are unable to stop it. Case in point: the Spurs on Monday night.

At halftime, the Hornets were down 42-43. Pretty familiar territory (they were down 44-49 at the break of Game 1). After a 19-point loss on Saturday, everyone expected the Spurs to bounce back to their defending championship form. Specifically, people looked for Tim Duncan to vastly improve upon his Game 1 performance. And he did; by halftime, he had exceeded his point and rebound totals from the first game. But the Hornets turned it on. They limited Timmy to only one field goal in the second half and outscored the big guy's team 60-41 in the same span.

While he was trying to get himself back to form offensively, Duncan and the rest of his frontline were doing a much better job defensively against David West (2-11 shooting for 10 points). Problem for the Spurs is when they kept one of our All Stars under 30 points... our other All-Star went ahead and got himself 30 points. To go along with 12 assists. And two rebounds. And a steal. A pretty good early birthday present that Chris Paul gave himself.

There were plenty of times that the Hornets looked noticeably younger and quicker than their "experienced" counterparts. That definitely has something to do with the average ages on the two teams: 27.7 for the Hornets and 31.5 for the Spurs. Not to be overlooked is Coach Byron Scott's infamous military-esque training camp. Those extra laps around the gym are starting to come in handy.

Before this series started, I guessed that it would go the full seven games. I'm not surprised the Hornets are up 2-0. But I am surprised at the dominant fashion in which they got there. Now, let's see if the team can impress me once more and take Game 3 on San Antonio's home court.

- CWS

The Links, vol. 3

2008-05-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hello all. In case you want a recap of Game 2 versus the Spurs complete with witty banter and intelligent observations... well, you'll just have to wait. Curry's on top of that task. My task: to provide you with another set of wonderful Hornets-related links that will allow you to waste countless hours on this here internets thing. I do want to mention that Game 2 was pretty awesome. I keep getting this sense of "is this really happening or is the endless cup of beer I'm consuming prompting some kind of illusion?" Turns out, it's all very real... and very amazing. Even Page 2's subhead on Tuesday had a reaction: Page 2 ... WHERE PAUL IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD IN SAN ANTONIO. Amazing. On to the links.

1. In case anyone is wondering how our owner has assembled this remarkable squad with a fraction of the budget of other teams, the answer is simple: Jeff Bower. Not a man of many words (I had a brief conversation with him earlier this year before the trade deadline), Mr. Bower appears to be beyond competent in the front office. NBA.com has the story.

2. Happy Birthday CP3!. ESPN the mag honored CP on his 23rd birthday (which was yesterday) with a batch of cool links spanning from high school to his total domination of the NBA. Had to include the Sportscenter commcerial he did after landing the ROY:

3. Man, the love just keeps on coming. Chris is named to the First Team All-NBA. In fact, he finished an extremely close second to Kobe in total votes received. Somehow, though, the league (or whoever gets a vote) managed to overlook D.West. He definitely deserves to be there more than Carlos Boozer, if only for Boozer's lackluster April (and playoffs).

4. J.A. Adande continues to drink the CP3 Kool-Aid. Pretty awesome article about what he calls "CP3's mean streak".

5. Chris continues to impress everyone. Check out this feature from the latest victim: Mr Eric Neel. The quote below sums up his fascination quite well:

[H]e's someone we can view as a symbol, a turning of some historic page, a bellwether signaling the end of one era (that belonged to Kidd and Steve Nash) and the beginning of another.

6. Air Jordan tribute video to CP. Sweet.

7. Another entry from the mag. This one pits Jannero Pargo against Tyson Chandler's wife, Kim, to see who knows the Chairman of the Boards better. The best friend against the love of his life. Watch the video to see who wins.

8. Need something to help pass the antsy-ridden hours leading up to each game? Check out this nifty flash game. Fleur-de-Bee... ENGAGE!

9. One final entry. I managed to get on DJ Gallo's chat the other day (on espn.com). He's more of a satirist than a journalist, but you should check out the chat anyway; it's pretty funny. In case you aren't an "insider" at espn, I took the liberty of reproducing the part of the chat where he answers my question:

Lee (New Orleans): San Antonio was unable to overcome the Hornets by playing a surprisingly clean Game 1. Think they'll return to the regular flop-o-rama to try and take Game 2?

DJ Gallo: They are legendary floppers. But I doubt it. Chris Paul has made it clear that if one Spurs player flops, it's going to be crotch-punches all around. Even Popovich will get one.

Peace.

Pure Energy

2008-05-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

I noticed that Lee used this term in his last post to describe the crowd in Game 1 of this series. I just want him -- and the general public -- to know how disappointed I am that he didn't immediately link to the following video...

I am here to right his wrongs (and his lefts). You're all welcome.
- CWS

Western Semis, Game 1: Peja Heads

2008-05-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

New Orleans 101 | San Antonio 82
Western Conference Semifinals: Game 1 [box score]

On any other day of the week, I'd be terrified to face the reigning champs in a playoff series. Even with home court advantage, the looming Spurs are a seasoned crew who frequently show up for big games and squash the dreams of many a player and fan. But somehow, Saturday night in the hive did not feature any anxiety about the fact that the Hornets were playing host to a team who's won 4 of the last 9 NBA titles. Instead, there was excitement: a distinguishable "buzz" was running through the crowd.

But why, you might ask. Was it the fact that the Spurs looked a little older and moved a little slower this April, than in others past? Was it that the Hornets had split the season series with the Spurs, with both of their victories having a 20+ point margin? Was it that the Hornet's had just won their first seven-game playoff series? Or that the last time they even played in the Conference Semis was in the Least? Was it that CP3 seemed utterly unstoppable against Dallas in the previous series with no signs of slowing up? Or was it the sea of yellow that graced the arena provided by the "Mardis Gras Gold" t-shirts that each fan was given (at the behest of Chris Paul)? Maybe it was the Peja on-a-stick that each fan waved wildly in the air?

What's not to love?

Truth be told, the above may have had something to do with it, but in all actuality the crowd was so loose and carefree because the game didn't actually start until 9:00pm. As such, the league inadvertently gave the Hornets an additional advantage by allowing its fan base to have an additional two hours to get "loose" before the game. And in New Orleans, we're at our best when we're 11 or 12 sheets to the wind.

So that was it. No anxiety in the fan base. Just pure excitement and pure energy.

And the Hornets fed off of this energy, jumping out to a quick 8-0 start. They then promptly relinquished the lead after the Spurs had their own little run of 10-2. The advantage stayed in San Antonio's hands, bouncing between 11 and 4, for the first 24 minutes. But after half-time, the Hornets came out full throttle and outscored the Spurs 56-33 to end the game with a 19 point victory.

Even with home court advantage, you've got to hand it to this crew. Byron wore his huevos on the outside, double-teaming Tim Duncan all night which led big Timmy to go 1-9 from the field and finish with a measly 5 points and 3 rebounds. In case you want some kind of reference point, here are Duncan's per game averages for the regular season: 19.3 points on almost 50% shooting with 11 boards.

Doubling Duncan meant risking a deluge of treys from San Antonio's very capable - albeit aged - jump shooters. Remarkably, it was Bruce Bowen who made us pay the most by dropping a team-high 17 points with 5 bombs from beyond the arc. But the Hornets stood firm and forced plenty of bad shots that eventually led to 16 and 17 point quarters in the second half.

On the offensive end, D.West proved to be unstoppable when the likes of Kurt Thomas (whom I like) and Fabricio Oberto (whom I hate) attempted to guard him. He finished the night with 30. CP's 17 point, 13 dime performance actually fell below most people's expectations (especially after he exploded against Dallas in game 1 of the first series), but additional help arrived via Peja, who gave everyone a reason to wave Peja-on-a-sticks by contributing 22 points (remarkably, though, only two of his buckets were treys, leaving the rest to slashing and creating off the dribble... it was nice to see some versatility in his game). Best of all, when Popovich implemented the Hack-a-Tyson defensive method late in the second, Chandler responded by sinking both free-throws.

The remarkable part of this game was actually the lack of flopping on the part of the Spurs. Manu fell a few times away from the play (but failed to draw any fouls), and if Oberto or Duncan made such a move, I was totally unaware of it... or it just didn't work. I expected to see more of that strategy since it has proved to be successful for them in the past. It also seems like a good way to get a younger team frustrated. There were a few skirmishes involving Oberto and whoever happened to be posterizing him at that moment, but none of them resulted in anything other than a loss of Fabricio's pride.

The only real run-in of note was yet another entry in the Paul-Bowen saga. Bowen committed a relatively physical foul on Paul near the perimeter that the fans were chalking up to be technical (like we always do). I don't even remember what the call was because of what happened next. As Bowen followed the ref, doing a perfect Duncan impression, Paul followed behind to drop in his two cents. And then, Paul took an elbow in the head from Bowen as he flailed about making his case to the ref... or did he? Did Paul fake it? It looked fishy, no doubt, and, in a wise move, the arena saw fit not to replay it. It all hearkened back to the incident that ended Bowen's NBA-leading consecutive game streak. The replay of that play shows Paul as the victim... but also a little as the instigator. Looks like our boys will be fighting fire with fire. It's like many a reporter has stated... don't be fooled by Paul's charm. He's got a fire inside all the same.

In the end, the "technical" didn't really matter. In the second half, that particular matchup was reduced to Paul lighting up Bowen and then staring him down each time Paul thought Bowen got too physical. The look was ostensibly as follows: "Keep it up. No amount of hips or elbows can stop me from owning you. Oh, and you hear all of those people? They love me and hate you... just like every single fan in this league that doesn't root for Utah" I am, of course, paraphrasing.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night's matchup in Game 2. We'll see if the Spurs make adjustments and if Byron can live up to his COY honors and out-adjust Pop.

Peace.

The Links, vol. 2

2008-04-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, just thought I'd drop a few more links on you before we head into the Round 2 of the playoffs and I glue myself to espn.com forgetting that I have to feed and bath myself, let alone that I run a blog. For those of you that are concerned about Curry's strange absence after so recently learning that he was to be a contributor to this blog, you should know that he's come down with the Swahilian flu after eating a few rotten dates in his oatmeal the other day... I'm just kidding, Curry hates oatmeal. He got it from a monkey bite. Anyway, we wish him a speedy recovery. Perhaps I can convince him to post from his bedridden state. Enjoy.

1. Great post from ESPN the mag about how the Hornets are err... preparing?... for the next round against last year's champs. Am I worried? Nope, not one iota. I trust you Byron... but only because you have that silly trophy of a guy sitting on a bench.

2. Henry Abbott down at True Hoop is officially on the JuJu train. Check out this article simply titled JULIAN WRIGHT! Oh, and for those of you that are down on the nickname "JuJu", you ought to try the new one that's been floating around the sports anchors: Flight 32.

3. Great coverage from two different sources on the Jason Kidd foul from Game 4. The first entry is from our buddies down at Hornets 24/7, and the second entry is from Kelly Dwyer down at Ball Don't Lie. The latter pretty much sums up all of my emotions surrounding this travesty. I'd bitch to Mr. Stern that he didn't suspend Kidd, but I'm pretty sure it was a bigger punishment for the Mavs to keep him on the court in Game 5. Besides, has enough problems as it is. For instance, he has to worry about not being lit on fire by Suns fans (and perhaps even the 9 guys who go to Hawks games) for not suspending KG, Kendrick Perkins, and Marvin Williams. The NBA... where consistency in application of the rules happens... oh, unless your league stands to gain money from a potential Celtics/Lakers Finals. Right.

4. One more (mostly unrelated) link for you in honor of the Derby approaching (god, I love horse racing). ESPN the mag has a post where they interviewed professional athletes about what they'd nae a racing horse if they had one. Some of them are particularly inspired, though the piece does prove that Mark Madsen is an idiot, Ryan Church isn't very creative, and Samuel Dalembert spends way too much time thinking about this stuff. Of course, he did have time to kill during the two hours it took to carve that monstrosity of a haircut he trotted out the other night against the pistons. I'm all about the fro-hawks, but Sammy, baby, you need to get your life together. You can start by not taking Willie Green's advice/suggestions about anything... ever.

Peace, Dallas: Round 1 Recap

2008-04-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings, loyal readers. It is my pleasure to inform you that Chris Paul's Hornets have already exceeded the McGrady line by winning a playoff series.

Let'em know, Rudy. Let'em know.

I'd say it was hard fought - if only to make all of the journalists at ESPN feel better - but I'd be lying. The Hornets quickly hit a groove and, despite a loss in Game 3, beat the Mavs rather handily. For your reading pleasure, I have put together a quick look back over the series.

Game 1: New Orleans 104 | Dallas 92
CP3 plays out of his mind, part 1. New Orleans gets off to a shaky start, but eventually Chris takes over and drops 35 points, 10 dimes, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover on 65% shooting. Avery and company tried a myriad of traps and other ploys to contain Paul. Nothing worked. Add Pargo's relentless defense on Jason "Hornet Killer" Terry and all the Mavericks could do was watch. The game gets physical in the second half. Dirk flop (and I mean FLOP) off a Chandler (soft) foul, which starts igniting sparks on the court and in the crowd. Then Dirk throws an elbow into D.West's lip. West's response? He gets in Dirk's face, says "That's the last time you get to do that, ok?", and then pats his cheek as Dirk white and still as a marble statue. I'd insult him, but Simmons has already done a better job than I could ever manage (in his playoff awards article):

The C.T. Memorial "I Will Work You! WORK! YOU!" Award
To David West for his in-your-face manhandling of Dirk Nowitzki in Round 1, capped off by the same derisive cheek tap that Robert Conrad used to perfection after his concession speech to Gabe Kaplan in the first "Battle of the Network Stars." It's unclear if West was apologizing to Dirk or intimidating him, but we haven't seen a German back off like that since the German army fled from Russia in the winter of '44.

Game 2: New Orleans 127 | Dallas 103
CP3 plays out of his mind, part 2. 32 points, 17 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 turnovers on 63% shooting. Seriously... that's just sick. The team itself sets 5 franchise playoff records: most points in a quarter (39), most points in a half (67), most points in a game (127), most 3 pointers made (10), and most assists in a game by one player (CP with 17). Don't worry, Muggsy. We won't forget you.

Game 3: Dallas 97 | New Orleans 87
The inevitable Game 3. Dallas fans were out for blood after it became painstakingly clear that the Bees were about to close down their season... which would make it 2 first round exits in 2 years. Peja, D.West and CP come out cold, shooting a combined 14/50 (28%) from the floor (although Paul did finish with 16/10). Despite Tyson's 11 boards, he only manages 4 points. Jannero "Malibu Forest Fire" Pargo is the only Hornet who figures out that whole putting the ball in the basket thing; he drops 30 points. It was all in vain, though, as the Hornets never came within a half dozen of the lead.

Game 4: New Orleans 97 | Dallas 84
The end of the line. Sure, we still had one more win to notch before moving on, but it was in this game that the Mavericks officially lost. The Bees went down early in the score, but the Hornet's bench showed up in the second quarter to pull a sick run that would give us the lead for the rest of the game.

The big moment, though, came with 7:16 to go in the fourth. On a fastbreak, Jannero ran the ball up the court only to be grabbed by the neck and then thrown down to the ground by Jason Kidd. Fortunately, Pargo is part feline and managed to get his hands down before crashing head first into the boards. Immediately JuJu showed up ready to pound Jason (and probably his family) six feet into the ground. He had to be restrained by multiple players... it was crazy. Meanwhile, what did Pargo do? He walked away coolly... smiling as he did. Why? Because he knew (as did all of the fans) that the series was over. Dallas had officially cracked. They were now running on the wrong kind of passion: frustration. It was a beautiful moment, really. Think about it, in that 10 second span, we witnessed a player showing the utmost class and not stooping to the level of an idiot defender, we witnessed the wrath and man-up-ingness of JuJu (who joins Al Horford on the list of rookies who don't take no crap from nobody... Al Thornton can come, too), and finally, we witnessed the grand irony of Dallas' "veteran leader" (for whom they mortgaged their future to acquire) get ejected for a stupid (and dangerous) foul. It was truly a beautiful moment.

Furthermore, the W allowed us to start recouping damages from our 0-14 run in Dallas over the past 9 seasons or so (since 1998... the year Chris was in 7th grade... no, seriously).

There's actually an even bigger irony concerning the Kidd trade. Devin Harris and Sagana Diop are going to laugh every day forever after 2010 when LeBron shows up for the Brooklyn Nets and leads them to 4 bazillion championships while the Mavericks crumble to pieces 1500 miles away. Ok, Diop might not even be there by 2010, but Harris will for sure... holy crap... the Hornets have to win it all this year or next... the LeBron era is coming.

Game 5: New Orleans 99 | Dallas 94
CP3 plays out of his mind, part 3. Avery cancels the Mavs practice the day before because Half Baked doesn't cancel his birthday bash the night before (in NOLA, no less). Earlier that day, Howard also admits to using pot in the offseason (and implicates the rest of the league). Kidd has to wake up and live with himself for another day. And then Byron Scott is honored before the game as this season's Coach of the Year. Dallas had not a prayer in the Holy Land. To make matters worse (for Dallas), a fan gets on the Jumbotron with a sign that reads "Stop the Flop" and from that moment forward, every time Dirk visits the stripe, the entire arena chants "Stops the Flop" at the top of their lungs. In the end, Paul finishes with a triple double, recording 24 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds 53% shooting (not to mention 2 steals and 0 turnovers). Elias, why don't you take it from here:

Chris Paul capped a historic playoff debut series with a triple double in the Hornets' 99-94 win, eliminating the Mavericks from the NBA's postseason tournament. Paul averaged 12.0 assists in the five-game series, the second-highest mark in NBA history by a player in his first postseason series. The record is 13.0, by Kevin Johnson in 1989. Over the last 20 years, the only other players to post a triple-double in their first playoff series were LeBron James (2006) and Steve Francis (2004).

***

Want to give a quick shout out to my Dallas buddies Ryon Buchman and Ted Hall for being classy about the series (especially given the overall poor officiating... it was disgusting at times). You guys are troopers and you have my utmost respect. It takes a lot to be a Dallas sports fan. Believe me, I know: I spend the other half of the year cheering/crying for the Aints.

***

Are we ready for the Spurs? Sure, why not? The experts will pick against us again... but I think that's good fuel for the fire. San Antonio may have more experience, but our crew is out to prove that they're for real. And when those boys get in sync on something like that... well, there's nothing I know of that can stop them. It's time to fan up New Orleans: San Antonio's coming to town.

The Links, vol. 1

2008-04-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

To our beloved readers,

We at Hometown Hornets sincerely apologize for not providing coverage of the first two playoff games in what is turning out to be an extremely fun series against Dallas. We realize that by adding another writer to the staff (of one) it should hypothetically be easier to churn out fascinating posts covering games, off the court activities, and whatever other crazy stuff we find. This is apparently not true, as the Hornets' recent successes has prompted us to more often be twelve sheets to the wind instead of waxing philosophic on the mental toughness and brilliant performances of CP3 in his NBA playoff debut.

As rabid fans of basketball, we understand your insatiable need for copious amounts of unnecessary, biased, and ego-centric writing. Since we have failed you in providing this service as of late, we offer you these here links and the possibly flimsy promise of doing better in the coming weeks.

Take these and love us again:

1. Hollinger has done an excellent job as the ESPN writer assigned to our series. His coverage of Game 1 and Game 2 of the Dallas series has been phenomenal, especially since it strokes every Hornets fan's ego six ways from Sunday.

2. Scoop Jackson has started drinking the Cresent City koolaid as well. His recent article is somewhat heavy-handed in its conceit, but how can I say no to something so beautiful. Scoop uses a great quote by Mark Jones concerning CP:

Don't be fooled by the angelic face; there's a killer inside.

3. Great article by Ian O'Connor of MSNBC commenting on the irony of Byron Scott effectively "bum rushing" Jason Kidd out of the playoffs four years after their famous run-in. The last paragraph floored me:

He [Byron]has the Hornets playing defense and making life miserable for one of the great playmakers of all time. If Kidd offers to shake his hand at the close of this series, Byron Scott should do what Kidd used to do best: Pass.

4. ESPN the Mag published the results of some of their recent research and compiled a pretty cool Franchise Rankings for all of professional sports. Hornets koolaid anyone?

5. And finally, if you happen to be focused enough to see beyond the playoffs (or perhaps your team isn't participating in such events) and you're looking forward to May 20 and June 26, here's a Mock Draft Listing. Again, this kind of prediction and analysis is about as reliable as my insights on curling, but it's still fun to yell at your computer screen when various writers make dumb (albeit fake) picks.

XOXOXO,
HLD & CWS

Changing Our Lineup

2008-04-21T12:20:00.001-07:00

While it's league policy for NBA teams to go with smaller rotations in the postseason, we are actually expanding our roster here at Hometown Hornets. In addition to H. Lee Domingue, the one and only Curry W. Smith (that would be me) will now contribute to the blog. I plan to bring much in the way of enthusiasm for the Hornets and little in the way of unbiased analysis. Before entertaining you with stories of basketball glory, I'll go ahead and introduce myself...

Like Lee, I am a Louisiana native. We've actually known each other since we were about 4 years old. You might say that we're best friends. I might say that I'm offended by that label. Either way, we have season tickets right next to one another in Section 325. This is the first season that I've had full season tickets (unless you count the 3- and 6-game packs from the post-Katrina seasons of 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively). I originally became a fan of the team back in the days of Dell Curry. This has a lot to do with the fact that his last name is my first name. But I was really just a casual observer of the league. When the team relocated to New Orleans in 2002, I was ecstatic. Thus began my journey as a die-hard fan of the New Orleans Hornets.

I was there for a handful of games during the inaugural season in New Orleans; the first Hornets game I attended was against the Milwaukee Bucks in March of my senior year of high school. After picking Tulane as my college of choice, I was there for a few more Hornets games in 2003-04, encouraging my friends and classmates to come to games and support the team (with varying degrees of success). I was even there for the excruciating 18-win season, this time begging friends to go to games (with less success). And, of course, I was there for the days of the temporary evacuation to that other state. Thankfully, I've been there for the past 82 (83 including this weekend's playoff opener) games. And I couldn't imagine a better story for the team's homecoming season. Chris Paul had an MVP year. Hell, he had a Hall of Fame year. The city successfully hosted the NBA All-Star Game. Over the course of the season, New Orleans warmed up to, embraced, and then fell in love with this team.

It's been a fun ride. And I'm not ready for it to be over. See you in the playoffs. Probably be back later tonight with a playoff "preview" (I'll pretend I didn't see the amazing come-from-behind win that was Game 1 of this series).

Peace, Love, and CP3.
- CWS

Final Standings: the chart

2008-04-18T08:36:00.001-07:00

New Orleans 56-26
[final league standings]

Yeah, Yeah, I know. We dropped our last game of the season to none other than the team that we will be hosting for the first round of the playoffs. I was too busy basking in our Southwest Division title to notice, but if I had, here are the points I might have made:

1. Our starters played roughly 30 minutes, which is nowhere near their normal totals.

2. We owned Dirk. He put up one of his worst performances of the season with 12 points, 5 boards, and 25% shooting.

3. In the process of shutting down the big German, we left Jason Kidd wide open. Ordinarily, this would not even remotely be an issue. Why? He's averaging 11 points on 39% shooting for the year (never mind him going for 1.5 for 4 behind the arc every night). That game (27 points, 5 treys, 10 dimes, 10 rebounds on 64% shooting) was a fluke for him. He still has some gas in the tank, but those numbers are not indicative of his nightly performances.

4. We had nothing to lose int hat game. They had everything. Had they lost, they'd risk playing the Lakers in round 1. Had we won, we might have played Denver in the first round. Denver... Dallas... Denver... Dallas... yeah, that's what I thought.

5. For those who watched the game, that dumb stat they showed concerning the Hornet's 0-11 record in the Dallas arena is misleading. First, that stat only extends to 2000, and for 4 of those seasons we were in the Eastern Conference. This means that, despite making the playoffs in those 4 years, we only played 1 game a season in Dallas. Second, the current team is only 0-2 in that arena... and that's what matters. Not how Baron and company fared.

***

Anywho. While I continue to attend Hornets' pre-playoff celebrations all over the city, I will leave you with a pretty cool encapsulation of the season that the crew down at ESPN the mag posted on their blog (if you click on it, it will enlarge to a legible level). They also put up a post that explores an alternative way for the media to cover the playoffs. Enjoy.

Hooray design geeks!

There Can Only Be One

2008-04-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

The league has put out four of these for the playoffs. According to the Times Pic the team that created these are the very same ones who brought us Little Miss Sunshine It's a pretty creative campaign, and the commercials a really cool, if not a tad unsettling (I mean, Kobe and Shaq blink at the same time, for crying out loud). You can find the other ones at youtube.com by searching "there can only be one".

But, of course, I can't just put a link in for the CP3 one. I 've got to show some love. So, without further ado, enjoy.

FANtastic FANale

2008-04-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

New Orleans 92 | Los Angeles Clippers 114
[league standings]

Let the people know. With the easy victory over the Clips, the Hornets have clinched their first ever Southwest Division Championship. Scratch that; first Division Championship in their 20 year existence. It was a pretty momentous occasion. What's more is that it was especially needed after a close losses to the Lakers and Kings on the road. The "W" put the Bees in the top slot in the Southwest and sealed their fate as at least the number 2 seed in the Western Conference. Not too shabby, eh?

The past four games have seen CP3 shooting at 33% a clip and putting up statistical performances that would really only make Tyronn Lue jealous. Ok, that's not true, he's averaging a very Jason Kidd-esque double-double over that stretch. Unfortunately, despite an otherwise brilliant season, these past few performances on his part may have ultimately have moved the MVP trophy out of Paul's reach. I (obviously) still think that he should win it if only because he didn't piss and moan (and bad mouth his fellow players) for the first fifteen games... but hey, what are gonna do?

Tonight, Chris came out guns blazing and put up his 54th double-double (good for second in the league behind Superman and tied with Al Jefferson). He finished with 22 points, 12 dimes, 4 rebounds, 1 block (no, seriously), and 2 steals. D.West also showed up to play notching 32 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block. The rest of the squad split the stats pretty even with the only notable oddity being Peja's anemic 2-11 behind the arc. It's un-Peja-like, but to be honest, I'd rather him suck it up against the Clips and show up against the Mavs than the other way around.

One quick observation on the Clippers: Al Thorton is a beast. Holy crap. That guy was all over the floor draining treys, slashing into the lane, making sweet fakes. I swear, every time I looked up, he was finishing up an and-1. Unbelievable. Never mind the fact that he got called for traveling something like three times (all of which would have been dunks if he'd pulled them off). When this guy figures out how to run and dribble, we [read the NBA] are in trouble.

So that was it. After a close first half, the Hornets pulled away and sealed the deal by the end of the third quarter leaving us, the fans, to bask in what an incredible season we've shared with this crew. It was an amazing feeling. 56 wins (and counting). I feel like Irene Cara all over again.

After the game, I had the pleasure of being one of twenty fans to go on the court and participate in a raffle for autographed, game-worn memorabilia. It was one of several give aways the organization did as part of the FANtastic FANale.

I was lucky enough came away with a pair of Reebok Pumps (apparently, they still make them) signed by none other than Mike James. I think they took my picture, too. I was too excited to even notice. I should shook his hand, told him "Congrats and good luck", and that was that.

My feetz is too smallz!

Now then, all of this celebration might be well-deserved, but now is no time to get too caught up in self-congratulation. The true test awaits us, and we still have a lot to prove to this league. Hey, who's excited? Well, me. I am. But hopefully if you're reading this blog, you are too. Expect detailed coverage of the post-season as I have secured my tickets through the Finals (god-willing). Oh yeah, it's game time, baby.

***

Quick aside. I emailed my main man Chris Broussard today (who, despite that last name, was raised in Ohio). He put out his picks for All-NBA teams and his Coach of the Year votes. The main reason I emailed him was to thank him for showing some love to D.West (even if it was on the third team). However, I quickly transitioned from gratitude to inquiry as I noticed he had penciled in Doc Rivers as his second choice for COY. This pick continues to baffle me, especially since he is one of dozens of writers who feel this way. Doc Rivers' only contributions to the team this year have been coining the team slogan ubuntu (Bantu for something close to "unity"... read more) and relinquishing his duties to coach defense to someone who is a thousand percent more competent at such things than he is (read Tom Thibodeau... who is also remarkably not from Louisiana). So, to recap, all you need to do to get second in the COY voting is have a passive interest in African dialects and have the ability to pass responsibilities to others when you realize that you yourself are incapable handling them. Oh, and you have to have 3 All-Stars land in your lap. Amazing.

Why isn't Mo Cheeks getting more love, you ask? Because apparently getting a crap team that Billy King all but punted into oblivion to the post season (and as a seven seed no less) is a little short of the requirements. I mean, the guy coached a nucleus of Andre Miller, Samuel Dalembert, Andre Iguodala, Reggie Evans, Willie Green, Rodney Carney, and Thaddeus Young to the playoffs. Extrapolate that. That group does not even remotely scream playoffs. Plus, Doc Rivers probably doesn't even know who half of those guys are.

Or what about Jerry Sloan. Under his tenure, he's brought the Jazz into into winning season after winning season... and he's had to put up with thinner air, not to mention Kirilenko's 5 year-old mindset about teamwork and that whole "trying" thing. He has made that group a contender with way less than ever landed on Doc Rivers' plate.

Sorry, rant over. Our very Byron Scott should run away with the award, so it really doesn't matter. I guess I'm just sick of the East Coast media bias and the snubbing of small market teams. But as my buddy Mike says, "Get over it". Thanks, Mike. Thanks.

***

So, tune into ESPN tomorrow night for our final outing of the regular season (against Dallas). After that, feel free to crack a brew (preferably Abita), bask in a glorious season, shout "CP34MVP!" to at least one stranger on the street, and check back before the postseason starts for my obligatory post containing all of my Top 10s from the regular season.

Peace.

The "Ouch" Game

2008-04-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Utah 77 | New Orleans 66
[league standings]

The Anti-Statement Game. The "CP-who?" Game. The "Don't we usually score that much in one half?" Game. Call it what you want, but last night's home loss to the Jazz was a completely brutal experience for the team, coaches, and fans alike. Utah's defense came swift and hard, holding our hometown hero to a lousy 4 points and 7 assists (and 2 of those points came on a trash bucket at the end of the game) and the team to a season-low 66 points. In a word: awful. In another word: ephemeral. The Hornets are in a near dead-heat to score home-court advantage for the entirety of the Western Conference playoffs. Despite the loss, the ugly playing, the bewildered fans filing out of the arena, the Hornets cannot afford to dwell on this. Reflect on the mistakes, make improvements, and blow Minnesota out of the water tonight as an appetizer to the showdown that awaits in the Staples Center on Friday. That should be the new game plan.

That having been said, I do have a few thoughts on last night's perfor... errr... implosion.

1. I should have seen this coming. We were in the midst of an 11 game home win streak. We were getting a comfortable lead in the standings (by beating a few easy teams). I had floor seats right behind the Jazz bench (a perk from Mr. Shinn for renewing my season tickets). Curry made CP smile before the game with his sign: Chef Paul: Best Dishes in the NBA. We were both sporting our CP34MVP shirts. There were just too many good things in one place, and the universe saw fit to provide balance. We were doomed from the get go. Good thing this wasn't nationally televised or anything.

2. Utah is unbelievably physical on both ends of the court. Their defense was brutal and they continued to push until the Hornets couldn't take it anymore. They just flat out wanted it more. And I hate using that kind of baloney/intangible/malarkey to account for a team's ability to outplay another one. But the truth is, they pushed harder, boxed out better (we were out-rebounded 47 to 36), and forced an unbelievable amount of bad shots (Hornets % from the field: 36.5%). Though we were "off" shooting-wise, they certainly weren't "on" at 43%. They just played harder. Basketball cliche number 5, or something like that.

3. The refs were terrible. It was on both ends for sure, but man they were awful. Seriously, I actually made the Utah bench laugh by screaming so much. They missed tons of hard fouls that were easy to see and then settled for calling soft crap late in the game as though they realized they hadn't hit their quota. In the first quarter the fans started booing during Jazz possessions in protest (think Boston and San Antonio), but none of the fouls (or lack thereof) were outrageous enough to sustain the booing. Instead, fans sat bewildered at the train wreck in front of them.

4. D.Will totally outplayed Paul. Sure, he was pitiful from the field (4 points on 2 for 11 shooting), but he created 16 shots (to Paul's 9) and played such good defense that Paul couldn't get into the lane for his signature soft-hands-pull-up shot. And Paul's poor contribution ended up being the big difference.

The one bright spot? We were so close to the court that during the shoot around we might as well have been involved in the game of HORSE going on between CP3, Bonzi Wells, and Jannero Pargo. In fact, Pargo came off the court and sank a shot from (sort of) behind the goal about 2 feet away from me. Seriously. I could have blocked the shot. So cool.

After it was all over, we listlessly filed out of the arena in a stunned silence. It wasn't like the silence from the buzzer-beater loss to Washington. There was a distinct pain in this silence. Maybe even a little fear. A loss is one thing. A dismantling is another. Ok, 11 points does not a dismantling make. It wasn't the loss itself... it was how we lost...

But hey, you didn't come here for gloom and doom. Let's not forget that since my last post the Hornets not only clinched a playoff spot in what is easily the toughest conference in the history of the sport, but they also tied a franchise record for wins in the season. So what if we drop one to Utah? So what if they own the series on us? Utah is one of only three teams (and the only one in the West) that we have a losing record against. Detroit. Washington. Utah. 3.

There's no loss of love here. When I married this team in the holy sacrament of fandom, I swore to stay by its side in good times and bad. And right now? This is the equivalent of an extended honeymoon (6+ months worth) with the sudden realization that my spouse sometimes gets a bad case of gas after eating dairy. Gas? Dairy? Who even cares?

Admit it... even with the occasional flatulence, my wife's hotter than yours.

"The Big Easy"

2008-04-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

I've railed on Mr. Adande in the past, but today he has regained a bit of my favor by posting an article commending both Chris Paul and Byron Scott's performances this year. This may not sound like much since many writers have jumped on board the Hornets' bandwagon, but it is a huge step for J.A. considering his article about relocating the team from earlier this season (seasoned readers will remember my response as well).

Additionally, as if he is trying to woo me, J.A. has also posted a new episode in his continuing web video series, J.A. Adande's Lounge, that glorifies what has become a New Orleans staple over the past five and a half months: the CP3 to Chandler alley-oop. Take a peak:

Awwww. J.A., you know just what to say to take my breathe away.

Five for the Road

2008-04-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

With tonight's 106 to 77 win over Miami, the Hornet's not only closed out 5-1 road trip, but it also gave New Orleans 52 wins: good for the second highest in franchise history. By the way, the loss that spoiled a perfect road trip came at the hands of a vengeful Boston team. That whole "statement game" thing had a few repercussions. Who knew.

The Heat game wasn't all that interesting. The Hornets were head-to-head with a bunch of scrubs and never relinquished the lead. Tyson finished a perfect 10 for 10 from the field and pulled down 10 boards. David, Chris, and Bonzi added good (but not spectacular) performances. Actually, it was JuJu who stole the show at the end with 2 fantastic alley-oops. He finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals. Best part of the game? Toward the end of the fourth quarter, Chris (sitting on the bench) threw his shoes over his head and into the lap of a lucky Miami fan sitting in the third or fourth row. Had to be the highlight of that guy's season. After that, we got the funniest (and perhaps most informed) comment of the evening from our TV announcers as Gil started complimenting Chris' no-look passing skills.

Side note: if you want to experience a conniption first hand, give this a try. Next time anyone talks to my brother, Andrew, mention how informed and talented the Hornets' TV commentators are. Be sure to mention what a big contributor Melvin Ely has been to the team's successes this year. Oh, and bring a dicta phone if you have one.

Speaking of passing skills, a big congrats to Chris Paul who, tonight, became the third fastest player to reach 2000 assists. He ranks behind Kevin Johnson and the Big O. That's pretty good company to say the least (although I would have sworn Stockton would have pulled it off before Johnson).

***

It also comes in purple! Who loves the Honeybees... you do!

Great news! The same Cafe Press store that brought you the CP34MVP shirt now features a I Heart Honeybees shirt... and in 2 different colors! Get on board now so you don't look silly in front of all of your friends. And I know because I have friends. I swear.

***

Let's have a little MVP discussion. Everyone else who writes anything about basketball is chiming in, so I figure, why not? Hell, even the McPaper has chimed in with an article that breaks down the competition with a strange formula that ranks the top contenders. I would tear into it more, but it named Chris Paul as the MVP, so... yeah.

Actually, the main point of this discussion is a reaction to an
article on ESPN's True Hoop about how KG is getting snubbed in all the MVP talks. For those of you who don't know, Garnett is averaging just shy of a 20-10 season with one a quarter blocks and one and a half steals to boot. By comparison, CP3 is averaging 21-11.5 with just shy of 3 steals.

The article's main focus is the defensive prowess of Garnett, something that is difficult to capture with the poor set of defensive stats analysts are forced to work with. In fact, this is one my biggest complaints about the game of basketball, since it hinders one's ability to discuss the overall impact of a player or team. After all, defense is half the game. And so, we the fans of basketball are left with rebounds, blocks, and steals as incomplete--albeit poor-- indicators of an overall defensive performance.

Part of the reason for this deficiency is that, unlike baseball, it can be hard to isolate quantifiable actions by specific players at specific moments. Defense is a fluid act that is orchestrated by multiple players. When a team rotates well in a zone defense and forces a poor outside shot, who gets the credit? Better yet, what if someone doesn't rotate and a jump shooter is left to knock down an open three? Does someone on the defense accrue a stat for that misstep? The league doesn't seem to have an answer for these questions, so it sticks with things it can "count". But even here the league overlooks some stats (jump balls) and miscalculates others (I , for one, have always thought that steals should be calculated like sacks so that the stat can be split if one player causes the steal and another gains possession of the ball). So, there you go. It's an imperfect system, so we do the best we can with what we got.

So, back to the article. I've scoured sports websites galore and this is the first piece of writing to offer compelling evidence as to KG's effect on his opponents... which, in turn, makes a pretty good case for him to named MVP. According to Celtic's owner Wyc Grousbeck:

Players that KG is guarding are shooting 13.1% below the league average at their position. So he's guarding power forwards, and they're shooting 52% league-wide, or whatever it is. Guys that he's guarding are shooting 39% all year. That's just KG, one on one, against his man, when he's on the court.

LeBron's guys are shooting 2% below the league average for their position. Kobe's are 3% below. Chris Paul's are 4% below. And KG is keeping people 13% below. In other words, he's snuffing them out.

Good points, but not complete ones. Despite that rant a paragraphs ago, the race for MVP goes beyond a player's defensive abilities (remember: defense = half a player's performance). Now then, I think LeBron as a candidate is kind of a moot point. I'm not sure that I could never get behind any MVP candidate on a team with a record as poor as Cleveland's. Ok, so 42-33 isn't all that terrible--and LeBron is definitely the reason they've won all 42--but compared to the rest of the league? They'd be the ten seed in the West. 10. Not so good.

That leaves 3 guys. Before I move forward, I feel as though I should share my understanding of the criteria for the award. The MVP should go to the player who is having the most outstanding year. We've determined that this is not LeBron. Is it Kobe? No. You don't whine and complain for half a season to get traded and then get an MVP for it, I don't care what your statistics are. His moaning was a huge distraction to the team and a sizeable portion of the league. Furthermore, talks of him as a candidate didn't even really start until later in the season when they became relevant by adding Gasol and subtracting no one. Granted, he's part of the MVP talks every year, but his push came much later... after everyone conveniently forgot about all of the ruckus he caused in the previous months. And for those of you that think he should get it because the league owes it him after passing him over in the past four years, well then you need to get a clue. This isn't the Oscars... with apologies to Sean Penn.

That leaves us with Paul and Garnett as the best choices. Both are having outstanding statistical years and have helped lead teams that were irrelevant less than a year ago to the top of their respective conferences. So who gets my vote? Don't be silly. I would obviously vote for CP. But why? Am I just an irrationally biased fan in love with my hometown hornet (hey, that's the name of the blog!). No. I have my reasons. And no, it's not because his numbers are down (which they are). If anyone throws that argument at you, you should slap their mother and steal their kit kat bar because KG's playing 6 less minutes per game this season than he did last year, which puts his per minute averages at roughly the same spot.

My reason? I am just not convinced that KG has had a more of an overall impact on his team as Chris Paul has. The article doesn't agree, as it is quite insistent that KG is the sole reason Boston has become so hot. Really? Am I really expected to believe that adding Ray Allen to the squad doesn't count for anything? Or that Pierce's return from an injury riddled season (he only played 47 games) played no part in it? Give me a break. The only added piece for the Hornets is a healthy Peja. Never mind the fact that the Hornets played the first half of the season in front of an empty arena leading to virtually no home court advantages. On top of all of that, if Chris finishes on his present pace, he'll be the first player to lead the league in assists and steals in the same season since Stockton did it in the early 90s. Add that to increased percentages across the board and an over 20 point scoring average and... well, what else do you need? The KG line about opponent's shooting percentage is pretty impressive--and I certainly wouldn't be upset if he did win--but averaging almost 3 steals a game shows some pretty aggressive defensive skills. Plus the article shows that Paul does cause a drop in shooting percentage. Even if it's a fraction of KG's, it still shows him to be above average in this stat. And when we flip to offense, every coach in the league is complaining about not having an answer for Paul (except maybe Nellie). At the end of the day I think you'd be hard pressed to rank Garnett's overall contribution higher than Paul's.

***

One final thought before I leave for the tarmac to welcome home the Hornets. I found a funny article from the National Post describing Paul's prowess at the point.

The main comparison is to Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, widely considered the greatest little man ever. But Isiah was a shooter first. Paul is what would happen if Isiah and John Stockton had a kid.

True, perhaps... but what would CP look like if that occurred?... hmmmm... gross.

Oh, and a special shout to my friend, Kevin. His beloved Milwaukee Bucks came back to win tonight on the road in Washington (the night of Agent 0's return no less). Thus, the Bucks have remarkably kept their playoff hopes alive despite a 26-48 record. Amazing.

Wash U is Division III Champ

2008-03-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

You've got to love Division III basketball. A bunch of white guys who were no way near good enough to start at a state school, but still have skills and happen to have above average intelligence. It's remarkable how a group of guys who have no hope for a career in basketball and not much of a fan base can play with such drive and energy. The stage may be small, but as of March 22, 2008 the Wash U Bears are the kings of that stage. My Alma Mater has taken the crown.

After I don't even know how many drunken trips to the Athletic Complex, after god knows how many offensive and terrible things screamed at the opponents and the refs, after.... hell, who cares. We won the damn thing. And though I may be sad that I wasn't there to witness it, I'm glad Troy Ruths got a ring and some major props as D3 player of the year (which he can add to his First Team All American and NCAA Championship MVP).

Division III: where Troy Ruths happens.

I totally said hi to him once at a Thai restaurant on Delmar Street. Oh god. I sound like a 15 year-old girl. Let's move on.

The Wash U men's and women's teams have actually been very good in the past few years (last season we became only the second school to send both of its teams to the final four... but then both teams lost in the finals). So congrats to the crew: to Tyler Nading, to Aaron Thompson, to Danny O'Boyle, to Troy Ruths, and to Coach Edwards. Job well done, guys. I knew Mike, Sam, and I hadn't consumed all of that bourbon in vain.

(You probably don't care, but here's a recap and a box score.)

***

And now for something relevant to the title of this blog.

The Hornets just polished off the Cavaliers in a nail biter of a game Final score: 100 to 99. LeBron was able to keep it close (actually he had a little help from Big Z in the form of 29 points), but in the end, D.West would hit the winning jumper with 0.6 seconds left in the fourth. Tag it and bag it. Despite the Hornet's win completing the "sweep" of the Cavs in the regular season, LeBron ranks (to this committee of me) as the team I'd least like to to play if we make it to the finals. I saw him beat the Pistons last year. And he's better this year. And he probably hasn't reached his ceiling yet. Terrifying.

Oh yeah... we beat the Pacers last night as well. The spread wasn't as much as I thought it'd be, but a "W" is a "W". Plus David dropped 35 points and grabbed 16 boards. And after tonight's performance of 20 points, he's averaging 31 since returning from injury (over 3 games).

***

One final thought before I leave you. Since most of you probably frequent espn.com more than this blog, you've probably seen the David Thorpe article advising rookies on who they should study to reach their potential. I don't care if you've read it. I'm still going to link the entry for JuJu. You'll just have to follow the link if you want to know who his "mentor" should be.

See you this weekend for a recap of the second encounter with the Celtics.

***

Oh wait. This is the first entry where I didn't say Chris Paul. Or CP3. Oh wait. Damn.

The Statement Game

2008-03-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

New Orleans 113 | Boston 106
[league standings]

Since March 12, the Hornets have wins against the Spurs, the Lakers, the Rockets, and the Celtics (ok, and the Bulls; but that doesn't really inform what I'm about to say). Within that stretch, they also lost a not-even-remotely-close game against the Pistons. My point? In the span of ten days the Hornets went 4-1 against the toughest and highest seeded teams from both conferences (with the exception of Utah... who will be a 4 seed almost by default due to the sluggishness of their division). That's an unbelievable statement to anyone who doubts the abilities of this team. I know the playoffs haven't happened yet, and I know this team still has a lot to prove, but let's face it, they're winning. And they're winning against good teams. In fact, it seems like every game I've been to in the past few weeks has been "the greatest game ever!". It's like Christmas every damn day. It's fantastic.

However, this win in particular is quite exciting. I was hoping we'd have a chance to play the Celtics earlier in the season; the thought being that wouldn't have gelled yet. That particular line of logic proved to be stupid, as it took the Boston didn't lose it's tenth game until February 19. So, knowing that "chemistry" and "gel-ingness" was not an issue (for them, at least), my worries to shifted to the probable player matchups. My main concern was that Peja was going to have to cover Paul Pierce. Normally we would slide Mo Pete over to cover small forwards that go to town on Peja, but that whole Ray Allen thing screwed up that approach. This fear was further compounded during the game by the fact that (A) Kevin Garnett boxed D.West out of every rebound ever and (B) Rajon Rondo ended up being much better at the point than I expected. Hell, I can't lie; I love his style of play. He's quick, he's aggressive, he drives, he drains threes, and he is pretty good at exploiting the ridiculous amount of double teams on the big three. As scary as all of this was, nothing could have prepared me for the first three quarters of this game.

All season, I've been saying this: if any team wants to beat us, all they have to do is get in Chris Paul's head. Force him to make bad plays or force him into foul trouble. Because if you can't manage that, you'll just have to pray that one of our jump shooters is firing bricks. It's true. My brother points it out all the time: we run every play through CP3. Hell, he's probably calling plays from the bench. If you can't trip up his game, you've got no hope. The Celtics... they tripped up his game.

Paul was limited to 29 minutes of play due to foul trouble (compared to the 37.5 minutes he averages this season). It was completely frustrating. The combination of Rondo's aggressive play and the Celtic's stellar defense was forcing Paul to make bad plays. Additionally, Boston's just-as-stellar offense exacerbated the scenario, and it was visibly frustrating for Paul (and for all of us in the stands). For a moment in time, Doc Rivers looked like a genius... nah! Just kidding. Doc Rivers couldn't out-think a cocker spaniel, let alone have the foresight to write any play whatsoever. KG and Pierce run that team. It was probably their idea. Doesn't matter. It worked.

For a while at least. Then the Hornet's bench came alive, mainly in the form of Jannero Pargo (15 points, 6 assists) and Bonzi Wells (13 points and 8 steals). I'm actually convinced that Bonzi single handedly saved this game on account of his sticky fingers. Nevertheless, the bench was able to score fairly well and kept the gap at/around 10 points all the way through the third. When Paul returned in the third he only had 7 points and 2 assists, but he would would finish the game with 19 and 7. Add that to D.West's 37 points and... Boom! Tag it and bag it.

A friend of mine, Ron Hitley, who runs Hornets 24/7 has a nice entry that covers the steadily increasing attendance (scroll down for the graph) as well as a worthwhile youtube clip.

In case anyone out there is wondering how to beat the Celts without any of the Hornets on your roster, consider booing Boston for a whole quarter. That's right. Similar to our strategy against the Spurs, Hornets fans booed the Celtics for almost ten straight minutes of regulation play. The fans were already restless by the time the third ended, feeling as though the refs had unfairly targeted CP3 and managed to forget about KG, so the booing came naturally. However, the catalyst went a little something like this: Paul steals the ball, fastbreaks to the paint, and then kicks it out to Peja for an open trey. Peja drains it. Three points? Nope. Paul is called for an offensive foul, after passing the ball, for running into one Rajon Rondo (who was in motion). The refs called back the three, the fans (all 18,200 of them) went to work. And you know what? The Celtics couldn't focus (honestly, who could focus under such a barrage of negative energy). Done and done. It's an effective strategy considering it held the Spurs to 10 points and the Celtics to 17... just a thought.

The "W" puts the reinstates the Hornets as the 1 seed in the western conference and put us into the 2 slot in both Stein's and NBA.com's power rankings... second to the Celtics. We'll see what happen in the rematch on Friday.

***

The next home game isn't until April 4 (almost two weeks). Expect coverage of the away games over that stretch, but don't expect it to be sober since we have find bars for this wretched [read "expensive"] entity that is NBA League Pass. Cheers!

Directed by Steve Nash

2008-03-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

There's a reason why that lucky number 13 jersey still hides in my closet instead of being thrown to the masses on ebay. There's a reason I followed man behind that number from Dallas to Phoenix. All along I assumed my fascination was with the brilliant court vision, sick no-look passing, run-and-gun style, pull up to drain a three kind of guy. But no. It isn't. At least not entirely.

Steve Nash is looking to filmmaking as a his next step after the nba. This Arizona Central article gives a behind the scenes look at his first piece--a nike commercial that he wrote, pitched, and produced. Check it out:

Yep, I think the two of us may be cosmic twins, separated at birth (even though we were born 13 years apart) to do wonderful things across this magnificent planet. It all makes sense now. I mean, how else could you explain the physical (and I mean, agonizing) pain I felt in games 1 and 4 against the Spurs last year.

Of course, if any of this had a shred of truth to it, it certainly would resemble the plot line of Twins, where Nash gets to be the governator and I get to be Danny DeVito. But that's not so bad, right? I mean sure, he got all the looks, talent, charisma, pure awesomeness... but at the end of the day, Steve Nash is still my twin. Everyone wins.

(I case you're confused about my fascination/love of Steve Nash, this entry should clear things up)

***

Few quick thoughts on the Hornets win over the Rockets Wednesday:

1. Despite his 25 points (20 in the fourth quarter alone), apparently Bonzi Wells does not attribute Wednesday's sudden spike in playing ability to the fact that the Hornet's were facing his ex-squad, although he did admit that knowing their style might have helped. Now, if only we can figure out what really sets him off like that...

2. David West made a beautiful return from an ankle injury with 23 points, 11 rebounds, a block, 2 steals, and Rafer Alston's pride.

3. If you didn't get that last reference in number 2, here were Alston's words (on TNT) before the game: We beat New Orleans and people say they were without David West... Well David West isn't a superstar. He may be a star to their team, but he's not a superstar like Yao Ming.

4. CP3's response: Tracy McGrady is a great player. If I was Rafer Alston, I'd probably ride his coattails too.

5. Julian Wright is a godsend. His defense on Tracy McGrady led to an anemic second half performance by the Rocket's leading scorer (1 for 7). Actually the whole team had trouble in the final two quarters, only scoring 25 points.

6. 69 is the lowest point total in a game for the Rockets all season

7. Chrisette Michele was everything her album promised and more. If you have the means, you should loot and plunder for a ticket to see her live. If this is impossible, you can settle for her debut album I Am and sit anxiously until her next release arrives.

Peace.

CP34MVP

2008-03-20T12:01:00.001-07:00

For those of you who can't get enough of the Crescent City stroking Chris Paul, now's your chance to wear your pride. Thanks to the genius of CafePress (and a little design ingenuity on my part) you can now be a part of the greatest comeback in NBA history.

Purchase the CP34MVP shirt and wear it everywhere. Wear it to work, to school, to sleep, to bars, to weddings, to galas, to prom, and even to games! Seriously, how can you go wrong? Answer: you can't. There is no markup and no one is making a dime on this (except for the cafepress people who host it). So spread the word on CP34MVP nation-wide... oh, we are going global with this, baby.

16 dollars? That's a bigger steal than the 2.73 Chris gets every game!

The Hornets have also launched CP3MVP.com. Coincidence?... yeah, probably. But it is a cool site, plus they're offering an insane gift package for whoever makes the best short video about why CP3 deserves the award. All you have to do is upload your entries to their myspace page. Hmmmmm... I need to join myspace... and think of an idea...

***

In the totally unrelated world of links, check out John Hollinger's extremely flattering article about the Hornets quiet rise to the top of the Western Conference (as of posting we are the 1 seed since we own the tie-break with the Lakers).

And finally, there was a great article via Yahoo! that is setting the stage to make the late, great "Pistol" Pete Maravich the Chuck Norris of the NBA.

Pistol Pete's chest pass wound up being our best attack during the Vietnam War. It's too bad he never had to pass.

***

Coming your way: commentary/recap/poor attempt at humor for the Hornet's big W against the Rockets last night. Peace.

Big Win, No Bull[s]

2008-03-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

New Orleans 108 | Chicago 97
[league standings]

Let the record be clear: the Bulls are much better than they appear in the standings. They have a lot of young talent, and if they can get someone in there who knows what they are doing, they might be able to mold that bunch (or at least the core) into a bona fide contender... in the East, at least. Hell, it almost happened last year.

In fact, it was the Bull's talent that nearly cleaned the Hornets out on Monday night. D. West missed yet another game (let's pray he's healthy for Wednesday against the Rockets... why does it fee like we play them every other game?) and Byron saw fit to start... wait for it... here it comes... no, not Julian Wright, even though that would have made a world of sense (he finished with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, going .750 from the field)... no not Melvin Ely or Hilton Armstrong, who have both been added to the endangered species list... brace yourself... we started Uncle Bowen. Again! Why? Well because he matches up so well against Drew Gooden, of course. Wait. FALSE! I feel like Bob Uecker in Major League II when he's trying to rationalize Taylor's [Tom Beringer] decision to let Rick [Charlie Sheen] walk Beck so he can face the ever dangerous Parkman: "Obviously, Taylor's thinking... I don't know what the hell he's thinking". Seriously, we almost lost because of a mismatch that Mr. Gooden rightly took advantage of to the tune of 23 points and 12 rebounds. Drew Gooden. The Duck Foot guy. Really? Actually, Tyson was also having a little trouble locking down Gooden. Probably had to do with the fact that, soaking wet, Tyson weighs half of what Gooden weighs. But seriously Byron, we're in the most heated playoff push of the millennium. Now is no time to start Ryan Bowen. I actually can't think of any appropriate scenario to start him without using the word "Knicks". And even then it's a close call.

The main reason we won is CP3 played out of his mind (which was partly due to the sudden appearance of bricks in the third quarter). Seriously, Byron actually called him a "Hall of Famer in the making" after the game. Even Tyson chimed in with some praise. Check out this quote that appeared in the Daily Dime:

It was all Chris Paul. The little man was all over the floor. It was incredible. It's one of the best performances I've seen from him yet. He, at least to me, made his bid [Monday night] to consider him the MVP.

I guess 37 points, 13 assists, and 3 steals will get you that kind of attention. Peja also showed up for 21 points; however, most of those came off the dribble as he only landed 3 of 11 from beyond the arc. We desperately needed both of these performances as Ben Gordon appeared to be on a mission from god. He single handedly (along with Duck Foot) kept this game close until the fourth by dropping 31 points (at 59% from the field). Oh, and for those of you who are wondering why the Gooden thing didn't put the Bulls over the top? I've got two words for you: Bonzi Wells. This guy is insane. He can cover any position (maybe not center... but definitely the 4) and he's extremely physical. He's aggressive in the paint and his seeming recklessness puts him at the line quite frequently. at 7 points, 4 rebounds and an 80% stroke from the stripe, he's exactly what we need (never mind his filthy dunking skills). It turns out Jeff Bower knows what he's doing... well, sort of. Ask me about that Mike James contract in two years. All the same, I never imagined the day when I would be rooting for Bonzi Wells. But that day has come. That day has come.

***

Unfortunately, I'll be missing Wednesday's match-up against a 23-0 or 22-1 Rockets. This may turn out to be good thing, though, as the Hornets have won all but 1 (November 21 against the Pacers) of the games I've missed at the Hive. Either way, it'll be the 1 and 2 seed in the Western Conference going head-to-head. This Chrisette Michele better be everything she's cracked up to be.

See you Wednesday. Peace.