Hornets Hype

Hee hee, look at Darren Collison bringing the Krispy Kremes! But I’m confused though: they didn’t talk about the 6 hours of prep Gil McGregor and Bob Licht put in to bring us all those great puns…

Sad news from the Hornets family today. Owner George Shinn has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. OK, fine, we are guilty of criticizing the Man In Charge at times, and we wouldn’t mind ditching the pregame prayer (or at least mixing it up with a little religious diversity anyway). But regardless of all that, he is the owner of the team and this is unfortunate news. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, and Shinn is not. He is the man who brought us a basketball team. We wish him luck with his cancer treatment.

Here’s the statement Shinn and the Hornets released today:

“My wife, Denise, and I remain strong in our faith and will maintain a positive attitude as I battle this with intense fervor and drive,” Shinn said in the statement. “This is not the first obstacle that I have had to overcome in life, but it will be another one that will be conquered. Those closest to me understand my commitment to God and belief in the power of prayer, so all that I ask is for people to add me to their prayers. I’m proud of the fact that I will be joining the ranks of cancer survivors around the world who exemplify the greatest strength and resilience. I am consulting with the finest doctors and they are also optimistic that this will be another example of overcoming the struggles that life can throw your way. Thanks to the medical staff at Ochsner where I am convinced many of the finest doctors in the country are employed.”

Good luck to Mr. Shinn, and good luck to the Hornets tonight as they take on the Raps at home!

Woe. There is no hype. There is anti-hype.

I’m not really going to talk about the Rockets game. There are plenty of other places you can take part in the meltdown. I’m not going to complain about the officiating because, while it was bad, it was so not the reason we lost that there isn’t any point. I was gonna have Pose write you some sad haikus, but unfortunately he and I aren’t speaking right now.

Anyhow, I just wanted to give you the heads up on some upcoming stuff:

1. NBA.com just unveiled its 2009 NBA Dance Team bracket. The Honeybees are up against the Lakers Girls, and amazingly, the picture they chose to represent the team is way better than the Lakers’ one. I think they might have a chance…. So, OK. I didn’t think anyone really paid attention to this stuff. Come to find out, mW takes it quite seriously. He even visits the team’s website to peruse the girls. But only, he informs me, in the case of tiebreakers…

……………… right.

2. Inspired by the NBA Dance Team bracket, I’ve decided to roll out the First Annual NBA Hot Baller bracket. Yes! I’ll probably be starting Thursday or Friday. That means all of you who are dudes can just scroll on by and roll your eyes, while all 5 of us female basketball fans vote for the hottest team in the NBA! I don’t think I’m going to bother with actual seeding based on looks, because that would be highly subjective. I’ll do the matchups based on actual team seedings as of tomorrow. And then, you know, let things play out where they fall. Also, in most cases it’s not going to be only one guy per team. Teams will be represented by their very best. Sorta like the dance team bracket, where you put your three best-looking girls in the front of the photo while hiding the unfortunate-looking ones in the back…

3. Thursday night is Casino Night, which is basically a season ticketholder event where you can mingle with the players… Well, or they’ll deal you a game of blackjack or something. There are prizes and food, and we’ll be there hopefully taking pictures, which we’ll post up. It was fun last year, but we got there a little too late to see some of the players, like Chris Paul, who put in his appearance early. I coulda met David West… we were like two ships passing in the night– OK, lurking by the buffet table– but he kinda looked like he wanted to stay incognito.

I’m out like the Hornets’ fourth-quarter offense…

We are three games into the Second Tyson Era.  We have three wins to show for it, and three monster performances from Mr. Chandler, who wants to show you, Jeff Bower, and the world that he still has it.  As for Chris Paul and David West, two superstars who were vocally opposed to his departure and even more vocally ecstatic about having Tyson back?  Monster games in his absence (albeit, due to injury, but nonetheless after word of the trade was made public), to show the world that with the team on their backs they would carry it.

But with Tyson back on the floor?  We have a young core of Paul, West, and Chandler.  Three against the world.  Add to that a savvy, sharp-shooting veteran in Peja Stojakovic, and a resurgent Rasual Butler hitting from everywhere and an aggressive defender.  Not to mention former-starter Morris Peterson coming off the bench alongside the roughshod championship swagger of James Posey.  This has not only the makings of a championship team, but a dynasty team.  Coach Scott has gotten this team playing well together and they have great chemistry on and off the field.  Moreover, they are all well-known as good people, who stay out of trouble, and contribute to their community.

So I ask you, Mr. Shinn: what will it take to keep this team together?  Tell them.  Tell us.  We know that as of right now, the team salary will be over the luxury tax next year.  Fine.  So how much money do you need to make to make it worth your while?  Throw down the gauntlet.  What if the team makes the second round of the Playoffs?  How much more income would that bring you?  The Western Conference Finals?  The NBA Finals?  What would it take?  Tell the team.  Challenge them.  You might be surprised.

How about us?  The Fans?  We’re already averaging above 97% seat capacity at home games.  What more can we do?  Should the dollar beers at the pre-game Buzzfest cost two dollars?  Are we not buying enough merchandise?  Chris Paul’s merchandise is the fourth most popular League-wide.  Is it because we haven’t bought more Butler jerseys?  Should we have bought matching shorts?  T-shirts?  Is buying two drinks inside the arena instead of three doing it?  Tell us.

I think you’d find that the people of New Orleans have embraced the Hornets and have come to love them as one of their own, as if they were born and raised here.  That’s just the kind of city this is.  So maybe you should talk to us.  All of us.  Don’t just implode the team that you and Mr. Bower and Coach Scott have so masterfully built just because we started a little slow this year.  We understand there are fiscal realities, but look how long Denver gave Iverson and Anthony to gel before calling it quits.   Prove your critics wrong by showing you have what it takes to be a championship owner.  But if you want, put some of the onus on us.

I know that, personally, I’d do whatever it takes to keep our core together.  I love these guys.  I believe they will win this city a championship.  Maybe even more than one.  The NBA is prone to having multi-championship winners once a team evolves to that level of play.  And, honestly, who else would you rather build a winner around than Chris Paul?  He and this team are your future investment.  They will bring the returns you’re looking for.  They just need the chance.

So while we will root for the Hornets rabidly, knowing this could be their last year together, knowing that the summer could bring a heart-breaking roster implosion, and we expect the guys to play like it’s their last year together and give 141%, we ask you again: what will it take to keep this team together?

You told us all to have Passion, Purpose, and Pride.  We do.  Our team does.  But do you?  Or is it just about the almighty dollar?

One of the best posts of the year over at Hornets247: Remembering Bobby Phills.  Read it.

I thought so.

OK, that’s really the only point of this post. In case you weren’t aware, the Wizards were one of the only teams the Hornets didn’t beat last season, and Stevenson absolutely, inexplicably, beasted us from three both times. And, as we learned tonight at Ernst Cafe, at the Hornets post game show, the Wizards were also the only team Chris Paul had yet to grab a win against. Guess he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.

Combine this with all sorts of helpful things like San Antonio losing to the Bucks and Cleveland getting beat by Miami (Why does this matter to the Hornets, you ask? It doesn’t. We just don’t like them. See below), and it became a rather neatly pleasant night, in which the Hornets retook first place in the Southwest Division. Oh, and as mW strangely (accurately!) predicted in the comment thread on the previous post, Devin Brown indeed registered a DNP-CD tonight. You would think I’d feel vindicated. But no, go figure, I’m guilted into feeling bad about it because it’s his birthday. Sigh. Devin Brown. Why’s it always gotta be so messed up, with you?

CP had a triple double while not exerting himself to play particularly well (by CP standards, naturally), TC registered a solid double double himself, Rasual Butler scored 21, Posey was Posey, and DWest was DWest (which is to say they were excellent in their usual ways), and the Hornets pulled away in the 4th. And that’s about it. Oh, except… why did CST interview Jannero Pargo and yet the arena announcer folk didn’t even tell us he was in the house? Aw. Party foul.

For those of you who keep track of this kind of thing at home, this was the third straight 18,000+ sellout. And with the Saints’ season over, let’s just say I don’t see the crowd thinning out anytime soon. Higher and higher, guys. And take the pride with you on the road!

So we play the Kings tomorrow night in the Big Easy. Yet, one question that will not be answered by that game is which team has the superior dance squad. Sactown Royalty posts a Youtube Clip of the SKDT’s photo shoot for an upcoming calendar here. On the other hand, the Honeybees new website can be found here. I’ll let you make the call.

NOEngineer posted this in the comments, and it really is a pretty cool take on how NBA teams are doing, and definitely a different take considering the Hornets came in third to last on Forbes’ recent list of the most valuable NBA franchises. So, if you had $285 mil, hell, you could buy them. They’re that cheap.

What it is: a chart that takes into account a whole bunch of factors like attendance, payroll, ticket cost, and size of the market… and spits out the Hornets as a monstrous statistical outlier. So basically, if you are a Hornets fan and you go to games, the return on your investment is WHOLE INCHES beyond what the rest of the NBA teams are doing. Check out the graphic here.

So, valuable according to Forbes? No. But are they valuable to us? Absolutely. I am very pleased to be getting such bang for my $1(000) buck(s). And imagine, they didn’t even take into account the dollar beers.

Anyway, guys, I’m too busy right now to post anything else. I’m sitting here on my couch watching ESPN and trying to decide who I love more: Brandon Roy or Paul Pierce? Seriously. I will be awake all night trying to figure it out. SERIOUSLY. Oh my god, and now they are trash talking each other. On my TV. It’s madness.

I’m out like the Phoenix Suns’ run and gun game…

A look at the Hornets season tickets, which were packed in a nice fleur-de-lis-covered purple shoebox, and came today via UPS. Also in the box were two lanyards, two clear plastic ticketholders, and one gold Hornets pin. Pretty slick presentation. Last year’s tickets were teal, and this year’s are purple. I bet you can’t wait to see our analysis of whose head on the ticket = the best record. (We take this quite seriously.)

UPDATE: mW would like to state that he takes full credit for the fact that there is no Morris Peterson ticket this year. Now, we love Mo to death. But the fact remains that he was the only Hornet last year for whom the team had a losing record in home games when he was on the ticket (2-3 regular season, 0-1 playoffs). Plus he was on the ticket for Game 7. Sorry, Mo. But you know you can’t fight karma.

Stat of the Night: In 2007-08 the Hornets went a combined 8-0 whenever David West appeared on the ticket.

Finally! The NBA plans to impose fines on floppers next season. (Why oh why couldn’t they have come up with this idea sooner, so we could all be watching Hornets/Lakers right now?) So, right on. If players feel they’re not doing the right thing unless they fall on the floor to “sell” calls, something is awry. Hockey eventually began to penalize diving, and that’s worked out pretty well. Of course, the best part of this article is what Rasheed Wallace had to say about it. I won’t quote it here because, hey, this is not a Sheed blog, but trust me. You’ll be (expletive) entertained.

Over on the official blog, it’s been announced that they’re going to have Hornets Insider articles, along with a couple of other new features, next season. The first one is Eight Things to Know About NBA Scouting, which was an interesting read, especially the parts about the off-the-court stuff the Hornets look at in prospects.

And don’t forget to go to At the Hive and vote on the How’d He Do? season player review series. He’s done Ely, Peterson, West, and Wells so far. (Wow, I decided I was gonna go with all last names on that one to keep it consistent, but it felt really weird to type. Like my fingers really were resistant to not throwing in nicknames or initials. Wah.)

And here’s a sentence you never thought you’d see:

The Spurs are going to have to put better players around their big three. They’re going to have to get younger and more athletic, and they’ll need to get a better power forward to match up with David West in N.O., and Pau Gasol (who will move to the 4 when Andrew Bynum returns) or Odom in L.A.

That’s from the ESPN Roundtable today, which discusses the Spurs’ future. I just love the name drop of D West. A year ago, you didn’t think you’d see that, did you? (Of course you didn’t think Gasol would be in L.A., either, come to think of it…) They also call the Hornets “ascendant.”

Ascendant. Great word.

Anyhow, tomorrow morning I’m taking a flight to Syracuse, on my way to visit the (expletive) awesomeness that is St. Lawrence University, where I will be getting up to All. Sorts. Of. Trouble at my 5 Year Reunion. So I will clearly not be seen in these parts until Monday, not that I’ve been posting much lately anyway. But I do want to go through that playoff swag next week and figure out what to send to who. So ticktock6 = partying. Ticktock6 = not in the NOLA.

And then next Friday is my birthday, which, if someone wants to make it a real memorable one, you know, it would be great to wake up and be notified that next year’s season tickets are now free. Or like, Tyson Chandler on my doorstep… I’m just saying. No? Fine, I’ll just have a Tanqueray and tonic, I guess…

Later, Buzz Friends. I’m out like Ginobili’s flop.