Hornets Hype

Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of Marcus Thornton this year.  TT6 calls him Lil’ Buckets, after a night of torrid shooting earlier this preseason, when he seemed to be making it rain buckets.  A second round pick, yes, but not afraid to shoot, and boy can he.  The man has a quick release, a sweet motion, and finds the bottom of the net more than most other cats in Creole.  He gives me that warm kind of feeling inside.

Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images

Tonight, against the Pacers, he got his second start of the preseason.  And it went well.  He had 19 points in 34 minutes of playing time, along with 7 boards, 2 assists, and only 1 turnover, and 2 fouls.  He also had a plus/minus of +5.  Not bad for a rookie.

He started off a bit tentative, and seemed not always confident about where he should be, spacing-wise.  But then a Pacer goaltend gave him a basket, and after that, he seemed to move with a bit more purpose.  He started to find his spots better on the floor, and when his defender wouldn’t give him the room to shoot, he was aggressive going to the basket, and got the calls.  Smart play.

The supposed weakness of his NBA game, defense?  His main opponent, Dahntay Jones, who aside for being known for having parents that can’t spell, is pretty much only known for being rough on CP last year in the playoffs.  (He was jeered and booed by the home crowd, who won’t forgive or forget.)  Jones managed to get a couple open cutters under the basket to make his statline look decent, but had a -14 plus/minus.  His other assignment, Brandon Rush, was 1-4 from the lane.  I can live with both stats.

Byron Scott isn’t known for playing rookies.  But he’d be absolutely out of his gourd to not play Lil’ Buckets.  A lot.

Team Name: New Orleans Hornets

Last Year’s Record: 49-33, 7 seed West, first round playoff exit

Key Losses: Tyson Chandler, Rasual Butler, Antonio Daniels, Ryan Bowen, Melvin Ely

Key Additions: Emeka Okafor, Darius Songaila, Ike Diogu, Bobby Brown, Marcus Thornton, Darren Collison

Reasons to Smile, Reasons to Be Cautious

What Significant Moves were made during the off-season?

C Tyson Chandler was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats for C Emeka Okafor. Rasual Butler, who took over Mo Peterson’s spot as the starting 2 guard last year when Mo was hurt and ended up keeping it, was traded to the Clippers. Aging backup PG Antonio Daniels went to the T-Wolves for PF Darius Songaila and not-so-aging PG Bobby Brown. The Hornets drafted PG Collison and SG Thornton. Intrigueingly potential-ful (*not a real word) PF Ike Diogu was signed in free agency. As you can see, every move was specifically made with 2 objectives in mind: 1) Get David West better backups so he isn’t playing 38 MPG and 2) Get Chris Paul better backups so he isn’t playing 38 MPG.

What are the team’s biggest strengths?

1) Chris Paul. There is a shortlist of teams in the league that you can never count out, because they have a player who can put everyone else on their back and drag them where he wants them to go through sheer talent. Those teams are Miami, Cleveland, and New Orleans (I don’t include LA because of their depth). Chris Paul is just that good, and I don’t think I need to elaborate.

2) David West. Just a matchup problem for other teams because he’s big and yet he’s a killer with the long two. The combination of him and Okafor on the frontline could be more potent than the West/Chandler combo.

3) Potential! Talent! Rookies! Fun! The Hornets actually did what I’d been begging for last year and got younger. With two rookies on the roster and guys like Bobby Brown and Ike Diogu who haven’t had a chance to show what they can do yet, this could be exciting. (Or a disaster. But I put it in strengths, so we’ll focus on exciting.) Last year’s team just looked old and dragging, especially toward the end of the year, and especially the bench. Even Emeka Okafor is an unknown quantity when paired with Chris Paul.

What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

1) Too many new faces in the starting lineup.

2) Lots of swingmen who are either going to have solid seasons or lose a step due to being 32ish.

3) That quick athletic pure scorer-type SG or SF who we don’t actually have, who combined with Okafor+West+Paul would take this team to the elite level. This guy is a weakness because, as aforementioned, we don’t have him.

4) See Strength #3 and Weakness #1. The Hornets upgraded the talent level of the bench. They might suck anyway. That’s the problem with unknown quantities.

What are the goals for this team?

From what we hear coming out of training camp, they’re aiming high. However, some bad contracts and the salary cap hampered their moves in the offseason– the fact that they were able to get better in spite of this is actually rather remarkable– and I think we all know they’re missing one or two pieces for the future championship run they want to make. I think these Hornets can be second in the Southwest Division, and I think we’d be satisfied with a second round appearance.

What does Hornets Hype mean when you keep referring to The First Rule?

It’s like Fight Club. The First Rule of the Denver 58 point playoff beatdown is: we don’t talk about the Denver 58 point playoff beatdown. The Second Rule of the Denver 58 point playoff beatdown? You guessed it: we don’t talk about the Denver 58 point playoff beatdown. Seriously, though, this is something that’s crucial to the team as well as the fans. If you have never seen the team you follow look as utterly bone-deep tired and hopeless as I saw the Hornets look that night against Denver, I hope you never have to. But the point is the team needs to find a way to move on.

I believe the Hornets believed they were destined to be “The Next Big Thing” after their run in 2007-08. Now, of course no one will admit this. But you could see that the underdog fire they rode to the top of the West in 2008 just wasn’t there at times last season. Great teams find a way to maintain that fire, and to know that things are not going to be handed to you. So, I say the Hornets need to remember the First Rule. 2007-08 is gone. Last year’s playoffs are gone. The old faces who used to be on the team are gone. The Tyson Chandler trade saga? Done. Over. This year let’s only look forward.

You know what? I’ve broken the rule 4 times just by explaining this to you, and I am really not comfortable with that. So if you don’t mind, we’re going to move on before I ruin the whole season.

Projected Finish: 53-29

You know, I really no idea. I just rolled the dice, stabbed some numbers on a piece of paper with my finger with my eyes closed, and picked 53-29. Unless everyone gets hurt again, the team should be better because 4 out of the 5 offseason replacements represent a talent upgrade. The numbers just don’t support the team being worse than last year.

The heartless staff of Hornets.com have posted on YouTube the video evidence of the rookie humiliation that went down at Saturday’s open practice in Lafayette. Darren Collison totally did the best job, but the video of Marcus Thornton is the funniest, because D West and JuJu jump in the middle and start doing the beat– causing the rookie to stop and turn around like, “All right, who the **** is doing that?” Also featuring Darren Collison and Guy With the Braids Who Isn’t Going to Make the Team (now I feel mean about being too lazy to go and look up who he is– OK, the guilt was too much: Larry Owens), who come and help him finish up the song, James Posey MCing, Peja doing something vaguely mocking in the background, and Ike Diogu looking completely unamused. It’s sort of heart-warming… well, as heart-warming as a bunch of huge 30-ish dudes torturing college kids who can’t carry a tune can be, anyway.

Collison:

Thornton:

1. Chris Paul’s wizardry. There is no other word to describe it. The way he slips into the lane, like dancing. The way he eludes bigger players. That little running teardrop. The feeling that any time you watch a game, you could see something really, really special.

2. CP was the obvious one, but a couple of weeks ago I got to thinking about how I was really craving a good David West game. A good David West game is sneaky, silky, and subtle. It’s a dagger from mid range that looks so easy. It’s 30 points before you realize he has 10.

3. James Posey’s tall socks. I love Pose. I love tall socks. I own his jersey AND a pair of NBA regulation tall socks…. Okay, fine, this one might be particular to me. But I miss tall socks.

4. How Peja starts out the season really dark and then gets pastier and pastier as time goes on. Oh, and I guess, real things too. Like, “Peeejjjjjjaaaaa for threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

5. Julian Wright’s bounce. What can I say? He’s got that thing in his step. Leap for the stars, JuJu.

6. Mercilessly tormenting Mocking on Twitter Being snarkily sarcastic toward Devin Brown jokes. I know, I know. There’s a place reserved for me in the Special Hell.

7. My seat. It is very comfy, although I wish it had a cupholder. It has a nice glass wall behind it to lean on. It has a good view of the bench. In fact an all right view of pretty much everything except someone standing in the Hornets’ bench end on the right elbow shooting a jumper. I’ve been sitting in the same seat for three years running. I’m rather attached to it. And, the New Orleans Arena janitorial staff being what it is, if I put a sticker on it that says “TICKTOCK6′S SEAT” it’ll totally be there at least 3 weeks before someone removes it.

8. Westitude. This is my term for the scowl on David West’s face when he’s being particularly beastly. Or doing things like tapping Dirk Nowitzki’s face. Or not smiling in pictures.

9. This is for things we haven’t seen yet– “Chris Paul to Emeka Okafor! Ohhhhh!”, Ike Diogu’s potential finally being realized, a young and hungry second unit.

10. This is for things we’ll never see again– the Crescent City Connection, Ryan Bowen hustling down the court, game winning threes from Rasual Butler, Tyson’s goofiness.

It’s been a long summer, longer than we would have liked, and it took me until about August to realize it, but… I miss my team. I don’t care about the trades. I don’t care about Game 4. I just want to see you out there again.

As far as the future goes, I wish only one thing for you: That when the lights come up and you get out there on the floor, you go hard and never look back.

Well, that should get Google’s attention. Maybe even someone who follows basketball. Apparently, my breakdown of how Chris Paul’s numbers last season gave him one of the most historic point guard seasons ever, and which, incidentally, blew away Steve Nash’s two MVP seasons, is forgotten.  Some people, who don’t believe in small markets, are convinced the Hornets will finish no better than 7th this year, and that CP3 does not even get consideration, let alone a single vote, in the MVP category, though Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant do.  Crazy.  And people wonder why I disappear in the offseason.  People are so fucking ridiculous that they forget what the sport of basketball is and/or are so fucking bored that they just invent stories to keep themselves occupied.  Oooh… Stephon is insane, Rubio won’t come over, C.J. Watson only took a one year deal?!  Whatthefuckever.

Listen.  It’s not rocket science.  If you’ve ever watched basketball, it’s pretty fucking obvious that Chris Paul is a once-in-a-generation talent.  Quick, name the best players in the NBA.  If you didn’t say CP, Kobe, and one other person, then you’re a moron.  Yeah, yeah, freedom of choice, opinion, etc.  All that also includes the freedom to be wrong, to be a moron, and just plain ignorant.  Congratulations.  Sometimes I wish this country was a totalitarian state and they made everyone worship the players who had talent and heart (yeah, I’m talking to you Vince Carter), rather than just those that get the most attention.  At least it’d be a little more honest.

Sorry if I don’t drop to my knees and worship the capitalist propaganda that would make us believe the Knicks deserve a championship when they haven’t even put forth a team that resembles a professional unit since Allan Houston played for them and don’t bask in the glow of yet another Celtics-Lakers matchup when there are are 30 teams in the league with 30 equally laudable fanbases, or for that matter, drool at the mere mention of the “Chosen One”—a.k.a. the Nike whore or whoever makes the sponsors figure will make them the most money (um, Dwayne Wade?).  Call me an elitist, call me a purist, yeah, like those are bad things, but I appreciate the game of basketball.  I’ll follow the talent like Deep Throat said to follow the money.  And the media is complicit.  Already they’re putting it again as Kobe-LRJ for MVP and Celts-Lakeshow for the ring.  Fucking sad.  Unprecedented parity and they mouth the same shit?  Dimemag is one of the few that gets it.  They ask the hard questions.  Steve Nash (no offense, dude, I love your game), and Duncan (ditto) both have two MVPs, and Shaq one?  What the fuck?  Dime thought that weird.  Me too.  But I digress.  Dime also noticed that no one has truly appreciated  CP3’s greatness.  That the rest of the country isn’t onboard makes me want to drop a bunch of downers chased with beer like Hunter S. Thompson and go on a shooting spree.

But why cry over spilt media milk?  That’s just how it is today, money, money, money.  No one cares about the truth or the purity of existence that is exemplified by the beauty of physical perfection, which is exactly what excellence in sports is.  Forget that Chris does things that no one has, probably ever, other than Magic, Johnny Stock, and the Big O.  That’s okay.  People can forget.  And then the season will start.  And then you’ll all remember why they called him the Baby-Faced Assassin, the Grief Merchant, or the guy who could talk about Fight Club.  Call him what you will, or ignore him if you will; I’ll be watching, though, and I’ll call him what he is: a warrior, a winner, and the-real-MVP, and someday soon, an NBA Champion.

And it will happen in New Orleans.  And people will wonder why they don’t know more about him.  They’ll wonder what inane thing they were doing when Chris Paul did ______ because their TV station didn’t carry that game.  You really want to know what “amazing” is?  Just watch CP do his thing.

Until then, pretend that someone else deserves the headlines.  Pretend that some other player should be the league’s MVP.  When the truth is he can do things that no one else can, is a leader like few others, and who will continue to smash records on his way to greatness.  I know where I’ll be when it happens.  Do you?

Logical argument is apparently a lost art in today’s culture.  Chris Paul, in Vegas to watch the Hornets’ Summer League team, was asked about Tyson Chandler, and how that trade might indicate that even someone like him could be traded.  His response: “In this league, anything can happen,” Paul told Pro Basketball News. “I can be dealt. It’s possible. It’s possible.”  Courtesy of the Times Picayune.  Notice the gap in the quote?  Who knows what was said in there.  Nonetheless, the resulting headlines in the national media were:

1. Paul says trade ‘possible.’  - Pro Basketball News
2. TRADES: CP3 thinks he could be traded.  - ESPN Insider
3. Chris Paul thinks he could be traded.  – Dimemag.com

Some headlines might be better, if one scours the net?  Right?  Okay.  Let’s take a look around.  The Times Picayune read: “New Orleans Hornets president Hugh Weber says there’s no way Chris Paul will be traded.”  Of course that headline was belied by the additional inclusion of: “the [Hornets] are desperate to dump salaries to avoid having to pay the tax penalty next summer. Due to its financial limitations, New Orleans is the only team in the Southwest Division that has yet to acquire a player through free agency or by a trade to improve its roster this offseason,” and then included the above CP quote, attributing it to Pro Basketball News.  This was followed by the quotes from the Hornets organization that led to its headline, and then absolutely no comment on either.  Way to analyze all the facts before you.

Sports Illustrated got close too.  Their headline?  “Hornets Will Not Trade Chris Paul.”  Good right?  Well, not if immediately followed by this: “Chris Paul told a reporter there’s chance he soon could be traded,” the article then quotes the purported financial/trade situation of the team from the TP (see the above), and then simply added that the Hornets say they won’t trade him, without bothering to include the quotes from any of the Hornets people.  And again, no analysis of the information.

Chris Paul, himself, nauseated by the explosion of articles about his “imminent trade,” used Twitter to tell the world: “Jus for the record too…I’M NOT GOIN ANYWHERE!!! No clue what Chris Thomasson was talkin about, but I didn’t say any of what he was sayin.“  So there it is, the truth.  No matter what was said in a hypothet, this was and is the truth.  CP knows it.  The Hornets basketball organization knows it.  And any serious basketball fan or  journalists, should damn well know it.  Why would the Hornets trade CP?  He’s a once in a generation talent.

Instead of letting it go at that, Pro Basketball News decided to follow up with “Paul Feeling the Pressure.”  Where, Thomasson argued the whole conversation was taped, and that this was what Paul really said.  Allegedly his editors listened to the tape and backed him up.  Okay, but what was the context?  What were the words before, after, and in between?  The reason Paul doesn’t remember it, in my opinion, is because he was talking in general, how the NBA is, how no one’s safe (remember to even qualify for a no-trade clause,  the player must have at least eight years of service time and four with the same team, and must then bargain for one in their contract; to my  knowledge, only Kobe has one).  As Hornets team President, Hugh Weber, said: “I think [Chris] was talking about the nature of the business and the fact that the question was asked the way it was.”  Funny how Thomasson didn’t address that point.  Just become some crafty reporter backs a star player into an awkward answer doesn’t mean his integrity is in place.  To the contrary, manipulating an honest person into giving a random quote that you intend on using as an inflammatory headline proves just the opposite.

Case in point: in supporing Thomasson, notorious Chris Paul-hater, Brett Pollakoff, posted the following article on NBA Fanhouse: “Chris Paul Caught Lying on Twitter?”, in which beyond supporting his fellow “journalist,” Pollakoff called CP a jerk for pretending not to have said what he said, and naive for not understanding the media business.  Right.  Why would Chris think that his opinion on a throwaway hypothet would be a headline?  How naive.  Or maybe it’s indicative of a larger problem; funny how the media always paints it as a player being too foolish to keep his mouth shut rather than the artificial frame of discouse constructed by a willing media agent who cares more about his name in the byline and his next paycheck than even the smallest smigden of self-respect, or dare I say it, the Truth.

So how did we go from having a completely hypothetical, sure, anyone can be traded, argument to “he soon could be traded”?  Simple.  The almighty dollar.  Today’s it’s all about the scoop.  First in time, first in line.  To get paid, that is.  Alternatively, create a crazy enough headline and just maybe enough people will jump to your site to bump your ad revenue.  What, CP is getting traded (to who)?  What, CP is a jerk (what he’d do)?  Either way, it’s about money.  Should Freedom of the Press even apply to these people?

There was a time when “journalists” researched their sources.  They got corroboration.  Apparently, today, it doesn’t matter.  So they have a tape and tore the quote out of context, guess that makes it okay.  Besides, no one trusts the internet anyway.  So what’s one more stretched truth?  Moreover, who really wants truth in an age when bickering people thrown into awkward situations with suggested responses is “entertainment?”  Reality television is the new gladiatorial games, and like then, the masses now eat it up.  It had occurred to me that sports was the purest form of entertainment left, an honorable exercise where persons are forced to play by the same set of rules and compete, their individual and/or aggregate excellence determining the winner totally removed from any political, personal, religious, or other frame of bias.  Only the media keeps ruining it.

The Truth Is Out There.  Only no one’s looking for it.  Although, apparently, no one misses it.  Maybe we should all be to blame.  We all bury our heads in the sand and accept headlines as truth when all they are is a collection of words carefully crafted by someone with an agenda.  As for me?  I’ll keep thinking for myself.  Chris Paul is going nowhere.  He’s our savior; not just for the Hornets, but for all of New Orleans.  His importance is uncomparable to any other in sports right now.  As we’ve said here over and over, his performance on the floor isn’t just MVP like, it’s historic.  As ticktock6 shared with you all, we just went to the Basketball Hall of Fame.  No Chris Paul there yet.  But someday he will be.  And while I hope it’s in a Hornets jersey, I can’t say that for sure.  Anything’s possible.

So maybe tomorrow’s blogosphere will have headlines of “Even Hornets’ bloggers unsure Chris Paul to remain in New Orleans.”  But as for me, I believe he’ll be here for a long time .  It’s what Chris said, it’s what the GM said, it’s what the team president said.  And it’s what I say.  Make up your own mind.

Addendum 07/20/09 by Ticktock6:

It took me forever to locate this post, which I remember reading back in June, because I originally thought a Celtics blog had done it. Turns out it was a Mavs blog, but it’s a fantastic account and critique of how one basketball “news” outlet put out a Rajon Rondo trade story, lifting out-of-context quotes made in 2007 out of an article and implying that they were recent. The story was then picked up by SI, ESPN, and other major news outlets and reported as fact. This was done without double checking the first story or attempting to put context to the original quotes which they then passed on to the public. And so a whole story about how all the Celtics hate Rondo was manufactured out of nothing and perpetuated all over the internet. Rondo’s agent was pissed, and rightly so. I wanted to post this link as another example of what we’re talking about and to emphasize that we’re not against this because it’s Chris Paul– we’re against bullshit like this in general.

ESPN True Hoop, good stuff.  ESPN headline: “Buzz Kill: Hornets thriftiness costing team?”, not so much.  For those of you that may not know, True Hoop likes to aggregate various media sources and present them all for the reader in one place.  What spurred this headline?  John DeShazier, who wrote in the Times Picayune:

The silence has been deafening, the inactivity telling. All we can figure is that the Hornets didn’t seriously intend to add any meaningful pieces in free agency, that their declaring a willingness to pay the luxury tax if it meant putting together a championship-caliber team was hollow. The franchise seems to have done everything in its power to make sure it doesn’t add payroll this summer. … If the Hornets can’t or won’t do what they have to do to catch the Lakers and to beat the Nuggets, Spurs, Trail Blazers, Jazz and Mavericks, then they shouldn’t sell bluster, knowing full well that fans and players are going to call them on it. The lack of activity wouldn’t be so glaring if the Hornets hadn’t gone out of their way to sell the theory that they’d move boldly, swiftly and effectively to plug their holes. Instead, the teams that really were interested in getting stronger let their wallets do the talking. They roared; the Hornets haven’t yet even mustered a whisper. Their silence if deafening, and their inactivity is telling.”

I wanted to respond by posting on ESPN, something I rarely do, but wasn’t sure if I had an account there, so here’s my retort that would have been posted there:

John DeShazier is one of the least-credible and exaggerated sportswriters in New Orleans.  The fact is, the Hornets as of today, have significantly higher payrolls than the teams he mentions: Denver, San Antonio, Portland, Utah, and Dallas, as well as Cleveland and Orlando.  Only Boston and LAL seem to be outspending the Hornets.  New Orleans simply is standing by the team they’ve put together, which wasn’t healthy last year, and is putting trust in their draft picks.  Considering they like to have 14 guys on the roster, they only have one more slot to fill.  To suggest inactivity is always a negative is foolish.  They easily could have hosted a firesale this summer.  To their credit, they’ve realized the mistake made with Chandler last year and are trying to keep a winner together.  It makes me sad that this joker somehow makes an ESPN headline.  New Orleans is not “penny-pinching” by any stretch of the imagination.

Feel free to double check my numbers on HoopsHype.com.  I mark New Orleans at $78M, with others at: Denver $72M, San Antonio $76M, Portland $48M, Utah $73M, Dallas $69M, Cleveland $77M, and Orlando $77M (with Boston at $79M and LAL at $84M).  The fact that the national media spreads its usual ignorance by using a local sportswriter defies all reason and only perpetuates the complex feeling of persecution that New Orleanians often endure.  Maybe we should stop blaming the national media if the TP writers have no clue.   Or maybe the TP should hire a fucking basketball person and the rest of the country should wake up.  This isn’t some kind of transcendantal realization, it’s a few minutes of research.

That’s all right.  No problem.  They can all suck it when Chris Paul is eating everyone’s souls next year and the media flip-flops more than Bill Clinton on Monica Lewinsky.  This team gets it now.  They know their time is now.  They want vengeance.  And CP, the Grief Merchant, will deliver it.

Free hats. Disclaimer: This picture was not supposed to look so naked. There

We checked out the official Hornets draft party last night down at Gordon Biersch, as some of you who might have been following my Twitter feed already knew. Living in New Orleans we usually try to make it out to as many of the Hornets events as we can.

It was about an hour before the draft when I hopped into a space at the bar and started to follow the rumors that were going down on Twitter, which was creaking along there and might have actually died at one scary point due to Michael Jackson’s death (RIP). Everyone was running with the idea that Phoenix might be trading Amare Stoudemire to Golden State or Ben Wallace to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler or possibly both. Meanwhile an older gentleman at the bar was buying me shots of Jager and trying to convince me that I did not, in fact, want to watch the draft at all– I wanted to go across the street to Harrahs and play the slots.

I was pretty sure I wanted to watch the draft, however, so I stayed, and chatted with some nice people I’d been Twittering back and forth with (I’m not sure Twittering is the verb, but I really hate to say Tweeting, so I’m going to declare that, on this blog at least, I was Twittering.) After a while mW got there. Oh, in fact here we are (The below video is approximately 12 seconds of me yelling because I can’t hear myself. I actually had no idea if you could hear me at all until I just watched it. Um, you can. Because I’m yelling.):
Hornets draft party! on 12seconds.tv

Now, for those of you looking for all the salacious celebrity pics, I forgot my camera and was following the draft on my laptop, which I had out on the bar. I also realized that I’d picked a spot close to one Hornets table, but the players were actually at a different table on the opposite side of the room. So not only did we not want to lose our spot, which I had staked out 2 hours prior, but there were about a hundred people packed into the approximately 30 foot space between us and CP. I was more concerned about melting before we even got as far as the #13 pick than stalking Hornets players. Therefore I had to acquire all these pics the good old-fashioned blogger way: uncredited, from Getty Images. But I will assure you that Chris Paul and Julian Wright were there. I could hear their voices, even if I couldn’t see them. (If it had been Tyson Chandler, I probably could have seen him over the crowd from my barstool, but we are talking about CP here.) The Hornets ran some interactive fan contests, and it seemed like everyone packed into that itty bitty area had fun.

CP is interviewed outside by some local stations, ticktock6 realizes in terror that this is the same CST mic that was stuck in her face into which she has NO. EARTHLY. IDEA. what she rambled on about. Oh help.

I have to admit I was unenthusiastic about #21 pick Darren Collison. I know next to nothing about him. Well, I know next to nothing about college ball in general, so that’s hardly a surprise. But I really thought we should’ve take DeJuan Blair, who ended up falling into the second round presumably because teams were scared off by his knee surgeries. I am fairly sure I managed to control these opinions when some cameramen came up and shined a light on me and asked me what I thought. I am also fairly sure I talked for a while. I am also fairly sure the two Jager shots had a significant effect on the fact that I kinda forgot about this whole experience till the above picture of Chris Paul and the CST mike jogged my memory and I realized that’s who I talked to. So, if you’re watching whatever draft montage they put together and air as a pregame or halftime feature next fall, and the girl wearing turquoise and (I think, oh lord) a Hornets draft cap backwards comes on and talks a mile a minute, that is me. CST, feel free to not use this footage. Anyhow, I feel a lot better about the Collison pick today, having checked out At the Hive’s post regarding his stats (they’re right up there or better than some lottery PGs). He was a 4 year college kid and didn’t have the hype of some of the others, but I think we’ll all remember we have a guy named David West who was in a similar situation when we drafted him and turned out all right.

I should make a note here that by the time we left the party I’d managed to collect Hornets beads, a turquoise T-shirt (I already have this particular one, and it’s XL… we may have 1 or 2 up for grabs), and the aforementioned Hornets draft cap, which was given to me by @hornetsdotcom. I have been asked a lot of times around town where I got such and such magnet or sticker or whatever, and the answer is you should try to make it to at least one official watch party a season, because they give out massive amounts of Hornets shwag. This particular party, however, should probably have been at a larger venue, because the place was packed wall to wall from when the draft started through when Chris Paul left. But overall, the staff at GB is highly awesome and they’ve hosted some solid Hornets events.

This nice man drew CP's picture

There were other fun moments about the draft, like the Minnesota Timberwolves Mad Point Guard Rampage of 2009, but the other significant moment for the Hornets didn’t happen until we were already home. We watched Blair finally go to San Antonio (where he’ll probably be perversely good, causing us to hate San Antonio more than we already do), and LSU product Marcus Thornton go to Miami at 43. Then a couple of minutes later, David Stern’s apprentice minion (I didn’t know that Stern doesn’t hang around to do the second round, funny!) came to the podium again. As soon as he said, “The Miami Heat convey the rights to the #43 pick Marcus Thornton…” I just had a feeling it was us. And sure enough, it was! So the Hornets ended up with two picks after all. (From what I’ve read today, Thornton was always on our board, and as soon as he didn’t get picked in the first round, the Hornets got on the phones.)

Whew. Crazy end to a crazy week in the NBA. But you know what? We got through another big trade week without selling low on Tyson Chandler, who, I have been vehemently arguing to anyone who will listen, deserves a chance to prove he can rebound from his injury before we melodramatically rant and rave about how he’s “NEVER GOING TO BE THE SAME AGAIN!” We turned a lone low #21 pick in a junky draft into two guys who can hopefully fill roles on the roster and allow CP to get some rest and the Hornets to shop Antonio Daniels’ expiring contract with no worries. We drafted safe, 4-year player types. The Hornets’ front office sneakily drafted a 2nd rounder who, if he makes the team, will appeal to local fans and create buzz. Sometimes I am concerned that they don’t “get” this market, so that was a good thing to see. And maybe I’m being a girl here, but it kinda made me all warm and fuzzy to see the team give the local kid a chance to play for his hometown team.

About the t-shirt. I’d give it to a commenter who wears an XL, but I don’t know…. I think the Hype Cat has an interest in it…

Hype Cat's New Hornets T-Shirt

Here are things you will hear: “That’s good Playoff basketball.”  Or “a good hard Playoff foul.”  Perhaps “they tend to let them play in the Playoffs.”  Bullshit.  Bullshit.  And…..bullshit.  Maybe I’m crazy, but I’ve never read the Playoff Rulebook.  I guess it’s different than the one they use in the regular season.  Oh wait, it’s not.  Well then, listen closely.  A foul is a foul is a foul.  Yet there is a long-standing Myth that teams like the Celtics, Rockets, Cavs, or surprisingly, and at least for this year, the Nuggets, play good defense and this is proven in the Playoffs.  But if you’re slapping elbows and hands to get steals, making body contact though your hands are clean, or if you in any way impede the offensive player’s motion when you’re not set, it’s a foul.  Period.

The concept that refs should “just let them play” in the Playoffs is insane.  Listen, like anything involving logic, which is pretty much everything, you can isolate the truth through variables.  Imagine someone trying to convince you that their team could field six players against your team’s five because it’s the Playoffs and they’re just willing to take that extra step to win.  It would be absurd.  Okay, but why?  Why is it absurd?  Well, first of all, it violates the rules.  Second, it gives the other team an unfair advantage.  Third, it’s pretty fucking obvious.  Okay.  Well, then, what about if you let a defensive player hack an offensive player?  That’s against the rules, gives the defensive player an unfair advantage, and generally is pretty fucking obvious.  Ultimately, the result is no different than fielding an extra player.  Is one more obvious than the other?  Sure.  But is one more excusable than the other?  No. Both are ILLEGAL.

The general belief that the Playoffs should be treated this way is bad enough.  But what really aggravates the situation is that some teams, who are perceived as good defensive teams, are less likely to be called for fouls, even if they commit them, because it is assumed that they are just playing good defense, and they get the benefit of the doubt.  But the fallacy of this logic is that they very well may be perceived to be good defenders because they’ve gotten away with it in the past.  It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Also, when you call plays different in the Playoffs, then all of sudden, players who have gotten used to a certain level of contact have no idea what they can or cannot do on the floor.  This freezes them, and makes them appear to be slow, indecisive, or just poor defenders.  Yet, this is something attributable to poor officiating more than personal deficiencies.

Even worse, this kind of game calling sets the scene for chaos.  Or worse, for someone to get hurt.  Because as we’ve seen with, significantly this year, the Nuggets, when you let a team manhandle the other, two things happen.  One, the other team gets frustrated, and tends to commit harder fouls, which only exacerbates things.  (I know, it’s no excuse, but to psychologically frustrate one team to the glee of the other is in itself an unfair advantage, especially in basketball, the most psychological of sports.)  But beyond that, the team creating the contact in the first place, once not getting whistled for what is ostensibly illegal contact, tends to keep creating harder and harder contact, because when you’re not called for a foul, the tendency is to try and see how far you can push things, to see what you can get away with.  So these teams keep fouling harder and harder, until all of a sudden flagrants and techs are flying, bodies are flying, people are getting hurt, and the refs have lost all semblance of control.  It’s ridiculous.

Yet, the NBA and their TV mouthpieces just pretend it’s so hard, and the Fates forbid anyone but Jeff Van Gundy criticize the refs (and even for that, Stern once again, took an on camera jab at JVG; Stern is like the Borg: resistance to him is futile).  Sure, basketball happens fast live.  No doubt.  It is hard to call.  But it can be better.  Don’t be fooled.  And the changes aren’t that complex.  1. Call it the same way over the course of the regular season and the Playoffs.  2. Encourage refs to watch each others’ games and try to establish consistent calls from ref to ref.  3. Standardize when you use replay; as it is, sometimes they use it and sometimes they don’t, and it’s insane how some obvious calls are missed because refs would rather huddle for 60 seconds and talk it over to get it wrong rather than take 30 seconds to look at the screen right off the court to get it right.  That the NBA doesn’t do these things doesn’t just do a disservice to the players and the fans, but the game itself.

So when people tell you about “Playoff Basketball,” tell them to fuck off.  Hitting shots with a guy in your face is Playoff Basketball.  Trying to fight through dudes hacking you?  That’s bullshit.  We all deserve better.

The Hype has been quiet lately.  Sorry.  But the grind of the 82-game season and the subsequent Playoffs emotional rollercoaster doesn’t just take its toll on the players, but sometimes those that follow it.  I wish I was a professional journalist, someone who did this for a living, who had all day to scour media sources for information, to talk to players and coaches, and, finally, to write.  But I don’t.  I don’t get paid for this.  I have another job, and it takes a lot out of you to work long hours and then spend almost all your free time on the Hornets.  Don’t get me wrong, I love basketball, I love the Hornets, but the Hype too needs a break.

Never fear though, ticktock6 and I have been watching the other games on and off, and with a much more objective eye, we have plenty of observations we’d like to share in the coming days and weeks, especially, as we’re one of the few sites out there accountable to no one.  We say what we say because we believe at the end of the day that it’s true.  Even if no one else will say it.  Like, for example, that Lebron IS overrated, or that the officiating is broken on a universal level but IS fixable.  Also, we love to give you all a forum to talk about those things.

So there you go.  Two sneak peaks.  More to come.  Stay tuned.