Hornets Hype

Last night we were lucky enough to be able to attend the Hornets annual Top Hats and High Tops gala to benefit the George Shinn Foundation. We had never been before, and we had a lot of fun. It was at the Roosevelt Hotel. Didn’t take too many pics, or really stalk the players, but here’s a short recap, bullet-style.

• Emeka Okafor pulled up and handed his car to the valet just as we arrived. It was a black Benz. Surprise, surprise (if you’ve ever gone to the airport to greet the team after a road trip, you know that this is THE official NBA player car or something).
• Everyone was there, even Sean Marks, Ike Diogu, and Peja. Marks had his arm in one of those huge immobilizing casts that looks like a box. Ike looked fine, but Peja had a bit of a limp. I would not expect him back on the floor just yet.
• Julian Wright sang a John Legend song on stage. He was pretty good!
• Emeka’s date bid on his signed Mardi Gras jersey and photo at the silent auction. And I am pretty sure I saw them walking out with it at the end of the evening too. LOL!
• I didn’t really stare at any of the players’ wives/girlfriends/dates, so don’t even ask for details on them or what they wore.
• We got a player at our table, and they pulled names out of hats to see who. It turned out to be Aaron Gray. He and his date were super nice and put up with everyone at the table talking nonstop about Twitter. Aaron (as George Shinn gives a speech about his cancer): Are you all twittering right now? … We were. We are all horrible people. Haha.
• Aaron Gray ate two dinner plates.
• The event was 1920s themed. Turns out that’s what the ’20s photoshoot the Hornets players did last month was for. They had big, sepia versions of all the players on the wall and in the silent auction.
• One of the coolest silent auction items was the entire team’s signed shoes. It took up like a whole table. I’m not sure what you would do with it.
• I only saw James Posey from afar. Sigh. For those of you who remember, last year Posey was in a bad shooting slump, and the day after I took a picture with him at an appearance, he came out and went off like crazy from three. I took credit, and the joke was, any Hornet who touches me will have a great game the next night. Unfortunately, I forgot about this until late in the evening. The only players who touched Lucky Ticktock6 were Marcus Thornton, Darren Collison, and David West, and let’s face it, they were all going to have good games anyway. Wasted opportunity…
• My goal for the evening was a pic with Buckets. I ended up getting both rookies, because they were sitting beside each other talking when I walked up, and I didn’t want to leave Lil Dimes out. I did not explain to Thornton that I am responsible for him getting stuck with being called “Lil Buckets.” (Niall at Hornets 247 recently told me it says Lil Buckets on his sheet that the Hornets hand around to the media.) Maybe another time…
• The ladies love Peja. I don’t get it. Haha.
• Chris Paul was wearing a velvet blazer and gray and white (I think) Dunks. And glasses. Stylin.

Our table (except mW, who's taking the picture)with Aaron Gray. His date is sitting. I'm on the right. He was popular with the ladies, as you can see.

And… wait for it… wait for it… the highlight of my night:

ROOKIE SANDWICH!!

I thought I had pretty much poured out my soul this week on the topic of female NBA fans. And then someone pointed me in the direction of the “Body Shots” contest the Memphis Grizzlies official site was running this week in advance of the NBA Dance Bracket. I’m really glad they did. Let me tell you what this “contest” is. It’s this:

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I wrote a guest post on Hardwood Paroxysm on why I think the NBA needs to reach out to its female fans. It’s also on True Hoop, along with some related thoughts. Check it out, Hornets people, and let me know what you think.

For anyone who’s checking out the site because of that post, expecting to see all sorts of ranty “female” blogging, sorry. We’re fresh out of that today.

But we do have a nice Wu Tang/Chris Paul mashup and… uhhh… a very short video of Marcus Thornton dancing at practice. (via @ABC26RobertO)

Chris Paul warms up Thursday before the Denver game

I give up. Just come back, Chris. We need you. I know it’s too late for the playoffs. I know, wah wah wah, every game we win we could drop a spot in the lottery (oh no! the difference between the 12th and 14th pick might mean the destruction of the franchise’s future!). But do this for the fans.

Give us something to watch. Even if it’s just one last week or two of something great.

Update: How imminent is imminent? Monday night or Wednesday night?

Update to the Update: Planets crash. Worlds end. DeShazier and I agree 100% on something.

If this blog posts any more stuff about Marcus Thornton you’re going to get me a restraining order.

But.

I had to:

Is this when you know you've made it?

Of course, I didn’t read the article because it’s Insider only. But we all know the article is not important!! (But if you want to know what they said about him & Collison, Hornets 247 has an excerpt…)

A bunch of us were brainstorming NBA player comparisons for Marcus Thornton on Twitter after the Suns game. His game is sort of hard to pin down, because he has more speed (including that lightning-fast release… seriously, watch him next time) than a straight-up three point specialist is usually working with. He’s stockier and plays tougher around the basket than most of the usual “little guys” you could compare him to.  But he doesn’t have the crazy athleticism of some of the other inside scorers. Neither is he a point guard or a multi-tasker who’s going to fill up much of the stat sheet besides points, threes, some rebounds, and one or two steals. “Pure scorer” is probably the best description for him, since he’s shown an instinctive ability to get his hands on the ball and get points from anywhere on the floor. Comparisons get more difficult when you consider his role– which is, currently, coming off the bench as a 6th man who, since the All Star Break, is responsible for 75% of the Hornets bench points. (Seriously. CST dropped this stat last night.) He plays the role of Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry, but his game is different. Some of the comparisons I’ve been hearing either don’t fit or are too old school for me to really agree with or disagree with.

Who else in the NBA plays or played like Thornton? Here are some of the ideas we (@snavetrebor, @LSUhornet17) came up with, plus a few other names I’ve seen thrown around. If you have a comparison you think is spot-on, let me know in the comments and I’ll add it! Oh, yeah, and if you think it’s a combination of two of the players on the list, you are allowed to select up to two. And if you picked “Someone completely different” you better leave a comment and say who, or else… well, you’re no fun.

In the meantime, take it to the hoop, Buckets. Maybe you’re just playing like you.

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This time the kids go to LSU to check out Marcus Thornton’s old stomping grounds. I think my personal highlight is when the 6-year-old kid runs up to the tiger fence and yells, “Hey kitty kitty!” and both rookies run away. Or when Buckets makes a little tiger noise. You decide for me.

As always, we thank the Hornets for dragging their rookies out and recording this stuff for our entertainment. In case you missed the previous installment, in which Darren and Marcus visit a California Pizza Kitchen UCLA, it’s here.

Kelly Dwyer on Ball Don’t Lie:

These guys are really, truly, giving great effort. Jeff Bower has been the coach of the Hornets for about four months, and he’s had Chris Paul(notes) on hand for less than half that time, and yet he’s had this team playing .500 ball in the West. It’s a phenomenal accomplishment, because more than any other team with any other player, the ball really rolls right off the table once you take Paul away. Bruce Sutter-styled dropoff, my man.

But the Hornets worked their way back. These two rookies are unflappable, Darren Collison(notes) might be a bit excitable, but Marcus Thornton(notes) is as cool as … geez, don’t touch that! That’s freezing. Damn.

When are we going to start considering this kid for the Sixth Man Award?

And speaking of dropoff, after Collison, on the Hornet bench? Darius Songaila(notes), and Aaron Gray(notes). Every opposing announcing duo laughs at Gray when he comes off the bench. Seriously. Every one.

The Hornets are always there, though. So much respect for this team. Give ‘em a watch if you can.

I’m really glad someone else (besides our little band of Hornets fans) sees this. I know we’ve lost, what, eight out of the last ten, and it’s hard to get used to the losing. But damned if I’m not having so much more fun watching this team lose than watching last year’s group of disappointed vets. I’m now truly at the point where Thornton and Collison are worth the price of admission, and don’t look now but David West has actually done a pretty good job leading this team lately.

Marcus Buckets gettin more buckets

6th Man of the Year, though? I’m happy someone brought this up, although just like the rookie honors, I think we can blame Byron Scott for blowing Thornton’s chances early. From every indication, from LSU to summer league (led all rookies in scoring) to preseason (outplayed Devin Brown and Morris Peterson yet unfairly was the guy starting the year in a suit), he could have been doing this all along for the Hornets given the opportunity. However. For your consideration:

Buckets Post-All Star Break

30 minutes
21.5 points
4.2 rebounds
47.2% shooting … FROM THREE
48.5% overall
1.5 assists, 1.5 TOs, 1.1 steals
All off the bench

I think I speak for us all when I say, “Eeep.”

D West: For the love of god, if you lose Anthony Morrow one more time I am going to come over there and kick your ass. I’ma slap you in the face like Dirk.

Pose: But–

D West: Shut up, Pose. Man, what is up with you this month? You give away and-1s like they’re candy. Defensive stopper my ass. And what happened to your three?

Pose: I just hit a three. It was a big one.

D West:  You have made 6 field goals in the last ten games.

Pose: That can’t be true. Total?

D West: Total. Let us not forget how you only played 10 minutes against Memphis and managed to rack up five fouls and lose the game in the last 7 seconds.

Pose: Aren’t you guys over that? It was last week.

D West: No one is over that. Back me up here, Darius.

Songaila: No one is over that.

D West: Marcus?

Marcus: Were yall talking? ‘Cause all this talking is getting in the way of me scoring.

Did a little gameday Q&A action. Check it out here.

And then check out the game on ESPN. The Hornets kind of need this one.