Hornets Hype

The moment we’ve all been waiting for. So maybe you have to special order yellow and turquoise striped mouthguards… That’s all right. I forgive you, Pose. At least you have the proper colors on now. Better 5 4 games in than never! (OK, it has been brought to my attention he wore it on Wednesday, but we were 25 rows up and couldn’t see.)

Hmm, in other notes, stuff on the butt of uniforms must be the new style. Even that Bobcat has a little Charlotte on the ass of his shorts.

Not content to convince America that Chris Paul and the rest of Hornets are the greatest thing since electricity, we’re trying to spread the Hype across the world. Or at least linking to those that do. You’ll notice we added an “All Hornets International” blogroll to our sidebar. So far, we’ve found German and Chinese sites dedicated to the Hornets and/or its players. So if anyone else knows any other great international sites dedicated to the same, let us know! We’ll add them to our links.

Also, if any of you can translate any of the languages on these sites for us non-speakers, we’ll be glad to re-post cool excerpts from those sites here, link to the original post, and credit you for the translation! Maybe this will help open an international dialogue about the greatness of our team.

¡Vivan los Hornets!

Something I’ve been tossing about with TT6, and also discussed the other day at another great Hornets’ blog, At The Hive, is what I’ll call the Chaos Effect.  I think it’s what makes the Hornets offense great, not just good.  Normally, they are this San Antonio-type mold offense, who just methodically chunks points away like a banker counting his money.  A jumper here, an alley-oop here, a three here, oops, you’re up by twelve!  Sweet!  But part of what makes them uber-effective is Chris Paul.  No surprise, right?  But there are two questions that this specifically begs: (1) specifically why, and (2) how does this translate to the second unit?

1.  Specifically why (admittedly, only in part…)?  Chris is at his most effective when he is swimming through  the lane the offensive zone.  I’m not sure what the right word is other than swimming.  He’s so fluid cutting through defenders and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone do it like he does, his head on a swivel with 360 awareness, juking and jiving, and all at full speed.  That’s what’s the craziest.  CP doesn’t even slow down.  He just tears through everyone.  How can teams react, rotate, or defend when they don’t even know where he is?  It’s pure chaos.  And while teams are scrambling to cut him off, he dishes to the open shooter or someone streaking to the rim.  2 points.  It’s this Chaos Effect that makes him unstoppable and can utterly confound defenses.

2. The Second Unit.  Now for the tough question.  What does the second unit do to replicate this kind of chaotic energy?  So far in the regular season, they haven’t.  Three point howitzers fired by Posey and Butler have been the key to our second unit.  They misfired last game, though, and we lost.  Mike James has seemed utterly unable to get the offense to run like it does with CP.  Of course it’s because he’s not CP.  But it’s also because he can’t create the Chaos Effect.  But Julian Wright can.  Remember the first few games of the preseason, when we started to think that MJ really was going to be a great back-up?  He had Ju-Ju.  With MJ able to drive or shoot, Butler and Posey on the wings, and Hilton underneath, it was Julian who was able to terrorize the opposing team’s defense with his chaotic style of play.  Ju-Ju might spot up for three, he might take a midrange jumper, he might drive to the hole; or he might just pass it off to an open shooter; but moreso, he did it with freakish celerity and balance, and always seems keenly aware of his floor spacing.  It’s chaotic.  He’s frenetic energy.  And I’m not even getting to his defense here.  Julian was the one who created the Chaos Effect on the second unit, and he who made MJ look good.  So for once, I’m not sure why Byron is so insistent on returning him to 110% conditioning.  The man only needs to play 10-20 minutes.  Let him go out there and go nuts on other teams.

I’d like to see it tonight.  Please, Byron.  I believe.  In Chaos.

Just think about it. This could be the President shaking the NBA Finals’ MVP’s and Champion’s hand next June. Hornets. The only team in the NBA to have not lost a game since last May. Only 79 more games and 16 wins thereafter away.

From Blog of New Orleans, an excellent blog/publication that can always be counted upon to ask the right questions:

“I was Shaft for Halloween,” Ely said. “I had a whole suit and a small hat that I taped on to my hair. Then this morning I asked the guys if I should keep my hair like this for the game and they all said yes.”

But he’s not going to keep it.

“It’s unmanageable,” he said. “It retains so much heat and I get so hot on the court. Just look at how much water it retains.” Ely, who had come out of the shower 15 minutes before talking to me, then started flicking his fro at Hilton Armstrong, spraying drops of water on him.

“Man, don’t be spraying me with your nasty hair water,” Armstrong protested.

The original post, in its full hilarity plus an update on Hilton Armstrong’s new arena sound effect, here.

This is the last batch. In case we, like, care about the Lakers or something. As if the Lakers are going to do anything this year.

Golden St. Warriors
Rob Mahoney: Upside and Motor

LA Clippers
ClipperSteve: Clips Nation

LA Lakers
Kurt: Forum Blue & Gold
Josh Tucker: Respect Kobe
Trevor Smith: HoopsAddict

Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Stan: Bright Side of the Sun

Sacramento Kings
Tom Ziller: Sactown Royalty

Also see links to all the previews at CelticsBlog.com

They totally cut to our sign on the jumbotron as James Posey shot his free throws after various acts of world domination in the 4th quarter. So the team is 1-0 when we display Posey signage.

The only thing I am disappointed about is that I can’t find any pictures of Varejao’s fro vs. Melvin Ely’s fro.

In other news, the sun came up this morning, trees are green, and Chris Paul and David West were beastly.

mW: Which of the Poseys was that who just dunked? ticktock6: Oh, that was the one who plays the 4. mW: I see.

I came across this collection of Rhapsody playlists from different NBA players. Lo and behold, there’s a Hornets player on there, and it’s David West. Click over to read his explanation of why he picked the songs he did (and also learn what his favorite thing to order at Popeye’s is, among other stuff). Hey, and be reassured that there’s some badassery mixed in there and it’s not all Jesus songs like Michael Redd’s…

Damn, now I want some spicy chicken…