Comments on: Take Me To Your Leader

By: NOEngineer

NOEngineer — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:12:55 +0000

I still say our lack of blow-out wins is part of Byron’s plan to improve our team’s toughness. Whenever we get a big lead we put in the bench players against the other team’s starters and force them to take a beating. Last night I remember a line-up of Devin, Mo, Posey, Marks, and Hilton against A’m'a’r'e’, Grant, Boris, Leandro, and one bench player. We got spanked due to hot threes from them and fozen turkeys from us, but hopefully we’re building the bench so they can compete effectively against the other teams’ 2nd unit. As an added benefit, our starters get to play more close games and build their toughness as well. I’d rather get the 4th seed with a battle-hardened roster top to bottom, than get the 2nd seed like we did last year when the bench could not contribute. Sudden thought – Both Devin and Pargo seem much tougher than Mike James.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:08:02 +0000

The Hornets are roughly at the same position they were last year, the big X factor will be once we get to the playoffs how much hungrier will Chris Paul be this year. Last year his stats sky rocketed and I think with a player like Posey who steps up his game come playoff time every year that we’ll be a much more powerful force this year. We are roughly the same team this year not worse, we need to find the time during the regular season to step up from here. Our real test will be december 12 against the C’s if we can at least split the season series with the champs that’ll say a lot about us. Course even better if we can take both games who knows, either way anyone who is saying la is better because of a four game difference….really twenty games into the season and people talk like this….that’s just sad.

By: ticktock6

ticktock6 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:36:30 +0000

Did someone say Machine and Lakers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwTDPvXszhw

By: Mikey

Mikey — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:22:23 +0000

Perhaps Bill Simmons can talk about the Lakers now, after all they LOST a game. Actually, they lost to the Indiana Pacers. Guess they are not machines, they are MEN…. thank you ROCKY IV.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:34:44 +0000

From the one piece I read (I didn’t look into this article, nor do I have any incentive other than bias), he’s horrendously caustic and genuinely inflated from his own ego. So maybe Bill Simmons knows a spiteful ulterior motive due to his character, which was derived from my initial impressions of his article.

All joking aside, I’m with you guys on the rather hasty generalizations we’ve had to endure from ‘analysts’. We were quite literally cast away after moving West, and never generated any interest only until recently. Now everybody’s putting expectations of championship. Which is fair for us die-hard fans, but the media? The same media who, again, neglected us for over 3 years? The same media who still make erroneous associations with Charlotte/Oklahoma City? The same media who vehemently support the All*Star that is Doug West? Give me a break. Media is fickle. We know. Just don’t try to tell us otherwise.

Of course, maybe I’m just being bitter at bandwagon fans/’analysts’. Probably the latter, per the usual.

By: ticktock6

ticktock6 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:31:45 +0000

I read Bill Simmons. I think he’s pretty funny…. but his pieces have ALWAYS had factual errors sprinkled through them. A lot of times he writes from a fan’s perspective, not necessarily an analyst’s. I still think it comes down to sample size. If you haven’t seen a ton of Hornets games, how do you know that’s not the way CP and Byron always act? How can you say that in your opinion things are souring? Did you see anything of the two of them last year other than, for instance, that clip you mentioned? You are a Celtics fan with tickets to the freaking Clippers.

I just generally (gee, you think?) can’t deal with people who watched approximately 2 Hornets games ever, especially last year when the playoffs arrived and the team was finally televised, and then spouted all kinds of nonsense, like the Hornets ALWAYS this or are DIFFERENT that.

So I guess that’s really my issue.

And yes, the people who are like, “Hey what about that PARGO guy who had those two AMAZING NATIONALLY TELEVISED GAMES, how could they ever let him go?” without seeing the zillion game stretches of ill advised threes early in the shot clock… they can also kiss my ass. I mean, I liked Pargo. But I know exactly which two Hornets games those people saw. They were probably the only Hornets games they saw last year.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:12:47 +0000

Simmons confused Paul with Mike James. Not a common mistake, but certainly excusable. I recommend glasses.

But yeah, I’ve heard much esteem for Bill Simmons (I’ve only read 1 article, so my judgment would be faulty… which is… ironically reciprocating), but I’m not sure Chris Paul has to immediately express great joy with coach Scott or the entire team, primarily because we’ve been lackluster this year. The only real image the gen. public (and more than likely the media) has of CP + Scott is when CP was yelling, albeit half-seriously, at Scott: ‘put me in, coach’ during that GSW (I think) game. So I’m with mW here. Sure that paints a happy image, but I severely doubt that any player in this league has that kind of relationship with their coach every game (except for maybe Latrell Sprewell and PJ Carlesimo). It’d be sickeningly thespian.

Although, I won’t lie, I could see CP becoming frustrated with Scott. It’d be out of character, but we’re running essentially a Peyton Manning offense out there: just let CP run everything, playcalling and all.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:48:00 +0000

WOOO PAUL IS PLAYER OF THE MONTH WOOOO!!!!!! ….had to say it.

By: NOEngineer

NOEngineer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:40:18 +0000

I think we (fans and team) are all falling into the trap of bloated expectations. We expect post-season chemistry at the beginning of the season. Remember, after November of last year we had a record of 10 and 6, versus 9 and 6 this year. Here is how those games match up:

2007 quality wins: LAL, DEN
2007 mid-range wins: PHI (twice), ATL, SAC, LAC
2007 bottom-range wins: NJN, MEM, MIN
2007 quality losses: SAN, UTA, ORL
2007 bottom-range losses: POR, IND, MIN

2008 quality wins: PHO, CLE, DEN, POR
2008 mid-range wins: GS, MIA
2008 bottom-range wins: LAC, OKC (twice)
2008 quality losses: LAL, HOU, POR, ATL
2008 bottom-range losses: SAC, CHA

I see a higher-quality opening schedule with very similar results. Philly and Atlanta were not so great when we played them early in 2007, and Portland is a playoff team this year. However, last year we expected to be competing for a final playoff spot, so 10 and 6 looked rosy. This year we expect to compete for the world championship, so we aren’t satisfied with 9 and 6. If our team is likewise unsatisfied with missing some opportunities (just like we did last year), then maybe that is a good thing. Maybe we won’t lose twice to the Wizards…

RE: Bill Simmons, he is looking at our team and expecting a group of malleable kids eager to be coached by Byron Scott during a game. What we have is a group of MEN who are professionals and know what they should be doing (after hours of listening to and working with the coaches), what they are capable of doing, and also know when they aren’t doing it. Our core group are extremely mature compared to many, and shouldn’t need constant coaching on the fundamentals. Byron’s strength is that he lets players play their game, while reinforcing the need for every player to do the routine and unpleasant things that create wins.

By: YoungFella

YoungFella — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:29:19 +0000

I too have had season tickets for several years now and I don’t see the same camaraderie this year that i did last year. It’s not awful, but it’s not as good. Hopefully something will click – maybe a long successful road trip.