The Links, vol. 6

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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".

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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.

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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

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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.

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Peace.

The Links, vol. 5

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).

The Links, vol. 4

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.

The Links, vol. 3

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.

The Links, vol. 2

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.

The Links, vol. 1

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