Hornets Hype

It is a truth universally acknowledged that this year’s draft sucks and the Hornets will not pick up anyone helpful with the 21st pick. Or at least, so everyone says.

In the interest of curiosity, and good ol’ draft week fun, I put the 2008-09 Hornets roster into draft order. Snarky commentary will be provided below.

1. Tyson Chandler……… 2
2. Chris Paul…………….. 4
3. Antonio Daniels……… 4
4. Melvin Ely……………. 12
5. Hilton Armstrong….. 12
6. Julian Wright………… 13
7. Peja Stojakovic……. 14
8. David West…………. 18
9. James Posey………… 18
10. Morris Peterson……. 21
11. Sean Marks…………. 44
12. Rasual Butler……….. 52
13. Ryan Bowen………….55
14. Devin Brown……….. N/A

Some thoughts that leap immediately to mind based on the above list:

Both the Hornets point guards were #4 picks. Tyson Chandler should be the best guy on the team based on the draft, but his PER makes him roughly the third best guy on the team, so that’s not that big a difference. If he was healthy. All the people who are like, “Let’s draft a big! On potential!” should learn from the placement of Hilton Armstrong and Melvin Ely, who were both picked at #12 and yet managed to suck way more than the next eight guys below them. I dunno, maybe #12 is the pick of death or something. Sorry, Charlotte. Peja being drafted at 14 seems like kind of a steal, but that was a really deep draft, and you can’t really blame the teams who passed over him for the likes of AI, Ray Allen, and Kobe Bryant (random fact: Peja was drafted exactly one spot after Kobe). D West and Posey both were drafted at the same position (#18) after playing the same number of college seasons (4) at the same school (Xavier). How under-the-radar of them. Rasual Butler is the only second round pick to start for the Hornets this year. Devin Brown was the only Hornet not drafted. Imagine my surprise.

But wait! I’m not done! Let’s check out how the world champion Los Angeles Lakers stack up, in…. “If draft order was real life”!

1. Adam Morrison…………..3
2. Pau Gasol…………………..3
3. Lamar Odom………………4
4. Andrew Bynum………….10
5. Kobe Bryant………………13
6. Derek Fisher………………24
7. Shannon Brown………….25
8. Jordan Farmar…………..26
9. Sasha Vujacic…………… 27
10. Luke Walton………………32
11. Sun Yue…………………….40
12. Trevor Ariza………………43
13. DJ Mbenga………………N/A
14. Josh Powell……………..N/A

Utter hilarity. Just because I’m laughing at Adam Morrison, really. But actually the Lakers draft order is fairly reflective of reality. There are only three guys who are super out of place– Trevor Ariza is too low, Kobe should be up at #1, and Adam Morrison………… BWAHAHA! Yeah.

So basically, if you are saying anything after the 15th pick is gonna be garbage, then you are saying the (world champion) Lakers didn’t need those five productive bench players and one starter who were drafted lower than #24. You are saying the Hornets don’t have a chance to pick up a D West, Posey, Mo Pete (well, he didn’t play and we sucked this year– so maybe we did need him! so there), or Sual the Phoenix.

The draft is a huge crapshoot. But I think we’ll be good… as long as we don’t look at a big and go, “Oh, he’s over 6-10, it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t have any skills now. Even if he just stands there, it’s better than–”

No. It is not.

P.S. This post originally included like six Devin Brown jokes. I have removed them. But you can imagine them.

I get it. Teams alleged tanked ends of seasons to get the #1 pick.  They made a lottery to counter.  Yeah, that’s really stopped teams.  Remember the term “tankapalooza” from the last few years?  Riley scouting college games instead of coaching?  Right.  No impact whatsoever.  Worst idea ever.  Beyond that, since 1990, only 4 teams with the League’s worst record have won the lottery, and teams with the second worst record have won it just 2 times.  So who’s really being rewarded?  Teams that don’t deserve it.  It’s total bullshit. 

The Lottery is a joke and an embarrassment to the League.  I think the only reason that they keep it in place is so Stern can laugh at the conspiracy rumors.  Which, speaking of, may be more than rumors.   Ewing anyone?  Duncan?  Rose?  Right.

So, anyone know who’s been given the #1 pick this year?  My money’s on either OKC or Memphis.  Stern wants the former to succeed and the latter’s already been screwed by the lottery enough that even Stern might feel bad.  But that’s just me.

Discuss.

Well, the offseason is over. The preseason is over. And now, the Season begins. With that, I have a few observations about what I’ve seen in the last few months. And all signs look good.

• D-West will again be an All-Star. The man shows no signs of falling off. I saw him hit 12 of 17 shots at the Hive, and most of them were of the 17-foot-assassin-variety. I was impressed. Da-da-da-da-da-da….yeah.
• The Hornets will rain 3s. Peja. Mo-Pete. Posey. Butler. Mike James. Devin Brown. Even Ju-Ju. In every preseason game CP3 has found guys open for three. And they’ve been knocking them down. Oh yeah, and don’t leave CP open, either.
• Rasual Butler. Looks. Good. Passion? Check. Purpose? Check. Pride? Check. I don’t know what went with for Mmmm-Bop last year, but the man has been a demon in the preseason. I definitely think he’s earned minutes above Devin Brown.
• The second unit. In general. Has impressed. Take a walk haters, the Hornets bench is for real. Quick memo, they flagged a bit only after Ju-Ju got injured. So here’s the real note: MJ, Butler, Ju-Ju, Posey, and Hiltonwatch make for a great second unit, and they beat on other second units all preseason.
• Random request this season: that we get Dave Chapelle down here this year like they got Ric Flair down here “woooing” with CP last year. Only it’ll be with MJ. And he’ll just say over and over “I’m Mike James Bitch,” and MJ will slap him. Then MJ will say the same thing, and Dave will slap him. It could go on for hours.
• Also, the Hornets are going to suck up every loose ball like an Oreck XL this year. Man, it’s only the preseason, but these guys were flying around for everything. They are not going to let anything go.
• Which brings me to my point. This team has had a killer instinct all preseason. We’re talking about preseason, here, man. Preseason. Preseason! (See AI news conference…) They’re 7-0. Who cares, right? But it’s not the fact that they won all of their games so in the preseason, it’s how they won them. They’ve had that killer look in their eyes all preseason, and it really shows that they have one goal and one goal only. To win the NBA championship.

82-0. You heard it here first again for the second time.

Just the other day, I was talking to Ron over at 247 about the battle many souces on the internet have for legitimacy. Other than those established, time-proven, reliable sites, there is a wide perception that internet souces could be just as false as true. Luckily, as basketball bloggers, we have a general indicia of reliability, supported by the basic premise of our existence. That is, for example, why would a Hornets blogger take the time to blog about the Hornets and spout a bunch of lies? It wouldn’t make much sense. But that said, I think a lot of it has to do with content. If TT6 says the Hornets are in Berlin, you can verify that from official team sources. If I say D-West had 18 rebounds, go to NBA.com and double-check my stats. I’ll vouch for anything on this site, but we always welcome corrections when we’re wrong.

The flip side of this is reader/viewer/listener responsibility. I can tell you this much, I’m always skeptical of souces, but some are more inherently reliable than others. For example, Rohan over at athehive has a lot more to lose by saying something blatantly false, like the Spurs are owned by the KKK than some anonymous poster on his site. As an owner of a blog, if you lie, people will stop reading your site (or you may be a target of a defamation website). If you’re an anonymous poster, you have no stake. A grey area in this spectrum of reliability is that which is based on opinion and not “news,” such as blogs, TV talk shows, talk radio, and generally any souce of information that is not an established “news” source. Another issue is that the government does not generally have the ability to restrict untrue statements, but the public, I believe, has a responsibility to do so.

Where does this all come from? Well in the era, where we have downright lies in the public arena, this impacts the reliability of the internet at large. Take for example the blatantly false “Maureen Dowd” article which has circulated in emails accusing Barack Obama of being primarily financed by foreign investors (totally false), or internet postings of the Sarah Palin interview with Katie Couric that makes Palin look like a total moron, which are actually transcripts of SNL’s satire of this event. I raise these two examples, because as prominent as the presidential election is, there are people out there who believe the lies, who believe that something they get in an email from a friend or on a random website must be true: not because they’re dumb, just because it’s the only story they have, and they either have a predisposition to believe what they read or are unwilling to verify its authenticity.

Again, you may be asking yourself, why is this in a basketball blog? Because at the end of last week, two jackass talk radio hosts alleged that Magic Johnson had faked having AIDS. This is precisely the type of story that you will hear a year from now as if it were true. All because two guys, either totally ignorant, or so desperate for ratings, would say something so stupid. It’s unacceptable. Magic says they shouldn’t be fired, but he lashed out at them for trivializing both his own tribulations and the amount of work he’s put into helping others with the same disease. Fair enough. But it also highlights the onus that is on all of us to turn those stations off. To delete the stupid emails we get in our inboxes that are totally fake. And to turn off the news stations when you hear the [insert political party here] pundit trying to tell you that [insert politician's name here] had the greatest debate performance ever, or the best campaign, etc., and it’s obvious that the person isn’t even a source of news anymore, but just an advertising mouthpiece for that campaign. Spin is just that, a centrifuge of chosen presentation wrapped around the truth and shiny. Are you looking at the truth, or the shiny parts?

TT6 recently noticed a highly misogynist string of comments over at a popular website the other day, discussing the WNBA, and was compelled to speak out. The power of information is great, and its influence can be insidious. That’s why it’s always on the reader/viewer/listener, to recognize that they’re being given a filtered story, related through a focused lens, and spun however the relator wants to relate that story. Take it for what it is. Here, at this site, we don’t try and hide what we do. We’re about Hyping the Hornets. But we also try to do that in a truthful manner. And if we ever put something in an unfair light, we expect to be called on it.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Hornets blog.

So if you’ve been on board here since last winter, you know that one of the founding principles of this site is bitching about the Times Picayune and NOLA.com’s sorely lacking coverage of the Hornets. They spent most of the season on our $#*t List, and we gave them their own tag called “T.P. Watchdog.” Gotta keep the media responsible and buzz-friendly, ya know.

However, I am not above giving props where props are due. And, quite simply, the coverage in the first week of training camp is already at a much higher level than Hornets coverage last season. We’re seeing two articles a day, plus there’s usually also some kind of practice update in the afternoon in the Hornets Beat section of nola.com. If you get the Times Picayune analog print newspaper, you’ve also been seeing some snazzy color pictures. Media Day got the front page (a silly color photo of Tyson Chandler and Chris Paul messing around with a giant Peja head). And all this while the Saints are playing. YES! I know! Football season is actually happening as we speak, and there is a Hornets training camp article in the T.P. And it’s not even about Chris Paul. It’s about, like, Melvin Ely and his multiple injuries.

This is a far cry from last season, when the cover story the day after the 2OT win over Phoenix was Tulane and LSU’s freshman signings for NEXT YEAR. Seriously. College football in February was more interesting than the Hornets on top of the West. The Hornets couldn’t buy coverage on that site, or in the sports section, until close to the playoffs.

Clearly this is a new year. Thus I say: Well played, Times Picayune, so far. Well played indeed.

Just before the storm, as you may have noticed, the Hornets pumped their roster up to 14 men by signing journeyman, Sean Marks, who is a forward/center standing at 6′10″ and weighing 250 lbs. He’s been in the league for nine years with career averages of 3.1 points and 1.9 rebounds in 9.1 minutes per game. He seems like a quality end-of-the-bench guy, even if he doesn’t add dramatically to the talent-level of the team. He played previously with Toronto, Miami, San Antonio and most recently Phoenix.

But no more roster analysis.  There are already a couple of other great Hornets blogs for that. We here are about the flip side of sports.  For example, highlighting those that would Hype the team.  Like, the Honeybees.  The Hornets have also sent their cheerleaders to Europe, where the squad performed in Marseille and Lyon, France to promote the NBA through September 1st. Lucky them. I guess they missed the storm too. Hopefully their homes and families are okay. The little bees have been kind enough to write about their experiences over at hornets.com. There’s more pics there, too.  Check it out.

** Update: Pargo is going to Russia’s Moscow Dynamo. **

Okay, been busy with that whole thing over in China, so I’ll make this recap quick. Kind of.

• The Big Swap: three teams made a massive trade, so we’ll do it team by team:
  • Cavaliers: get Mo Williams (from Bucks); luckily, he cares more about scoring than playing PG, which is handy with Lebron on your team.
  • Bucks: get Damon Jones (from Cavs), Luke Ridnour (from OKC), Adrian Griffin (from OKC); I guess this clears up some heavy contracts and gets them a pass-first, if average, PG to go with Redd and Jefferson. I like it.
  • OKC: Desmond Mason (from Bucks) and Joe Smith (from Cavs); this gives them two good players now, and incidentally, this deal will mean that between these guys and those already on the roster, OKC will have about $26.4 million in expiring contracts for Summer 2009.
• Andre Iguodala: finally got his deal from the 76ers, 6 years and $80 million. 76ers are looking young and dangerous now.
• Hawks: made a bunch of useless moves, signing former-Piston Flip Wilson to a contract, turning back rumors that he might be headed to Europe (the same report suggested Pargo might be considering Europe also); they also picked up undrafted free agent forward, Othello Hunter, and guard, Thomas Gardner, who’s played four whole games with Chicago.
• Michael Finley: looks to be re-signing with the Spurs.
• Josh Powell: Lakers signed this former-Clipper forward. Woo.
• Francisco Elson: the Spurs’ free agent moved North to sign with the Bucks; always love when the oversized West loses big men.
• Dan Dickau: this former Hornet, a quasi-cult favorite in the short time he played here, respected for his hard work and dedication, decided to take a European vacation–and I’m not talking Chevy Chase–with Italy’s Avellino team.
• Kyle Weaver: the Bobcats’ second round draft pick was traded to OKC for their second round draft pick next year…talk about speculation…and disappointment in Weaver?
• Louis Amundson: the Suns signed this young energy player, hoping to continue their make-over under new coach, Terry Porter.
• Jaycee Carroll: another young player, after performing well in the Summer League, but getting no guaranteed contract, has decided to head overseas: agreeing to a 1-year deal with Italy’s Siviglia Wear Teramo.
• Pops Mensah-Bonsu: has ruled out a return to the NBA, and plans to play for Joventut Badalona.
• Andre Barrett: this ex-Clipper guard is headed to FC Barcelona; the story sounds like a broken record now. What does this mean for the future of basketball?
• Rafer Alston: arrested on DUI charges. Now he’s hanging on police officers’ coattails.
• Brandon Roy: sadly, BR needs arthroscopic surgery to repair damage to his meniscus (knee); although, this type of injury might put him out a month, not a year.
• Shaquille O’Neal: call him the Big Reconciliation; word is he and Shaunie have stopped their divorce proceedings. (Yes, I admit it, I shamelessly wanted to get in on the Give-Shaq-A-Nickname Sweepstakes…but seriously, congrats, Big Guy!)
• Zaza Pachulia: the Hawks’ Georgian superstar appeared on CNN Wednesday to discuss the Russian-Georgian conflict. “I am not trying to talk about who is wrong and who is right,” Pachulia said. “The most important thing to me is that there be peace, and that the people of Georgia not have to live in fear for their lives or their homes.” As I write this, I’m sitting safe in my house, in my safe country, watching a bunch of people swim around a pool live from half a world away. It’s easy to take that existence for granted.
• Nate McMillian/OKC: the current coach of the Blazers said he has no intention of letting Clay Bennett hang his jersey in OKC, saying he never played there. Hmph.
• Jason Kidd: in his best assist of the Olympics, he called out the Spanish team, for their ridiculously racist photo, which even after international outcry, they insist was good-natured humor. This isn’t about being PC, it’s about respect. What were the Spaniards thinking? Kudos also to Kidd for saying that it is ridiculous to argue that this is FIBA jurisdiction and Stern needn’t take action against the players involved.

Oh, and word is out that the Hornets will soon make their official announcement about the new team jerseys!

these electronically stored zeroes and ones with the world, which results in words and images slow-loading or snap-loading, depending upon your WWW connection, onto your screen. And all to know that too tall too strong overpaid gladiators will kill lions for another team this year–or in Europe. Enjoy, you animals.

• Someone decided not to let lie the sleeping bear; only instead of roaring, it sniffled, poo-pooed its waker, and whispered that a measly $11.6 million per year, for five of them, would be enough to buy the summer’s most coveted restricted free agent, when the Grizzly has about forty-seven billion under its cap, hasn’t spent anything all summer, and the I-don’t-want-to-be-a-Hawk-and-am-not-cool-with-my-head-coach-player in question’s team had vowed to retain him. Seriously? Were they upset that they didn’t have another Pao Gasol to give away? Perhaps Chris Wallace has Alzheimer’s? News flash: the Hawks giddily matched, dancing their way to the bank, counting all the way the money they don’t have to pay their biggest name.
• Dear God, man, who knew it? Who knew it? Mike James is the next big name in the game of orange balls! Well, he does have the initials MJ. So did Michael Jordan, you know. And Magic Johnson. And, maybe, kind of, the “Chinese Magic Johnson.” Yup. He exists (CMJ, not MJ (James)). A.K.A. Sun Yue. At 1.8288 meters and 96.1615 kilograms (6′9″, 212 lbs. you anachronisms!), he is the archetypal point forward, just like MJ (Earvin). He was drafted by last year’s last losers in 2007 and can be glimpsed this year getting pummeled by other, better teams in the Olympics. And then on the end of L.A.’s bench next to Coby Karl.
• Some people like white chocolate, nothing wrong with that. But it’s dark chocolate that has the health benefits such as, among other things, lower blood pressure. So if the Clippers have done anything right this summer, it’s not throwing wads of cash at White Chocolate and pretending it’s a big move. Jason Williams got his new team, his new deal, but the 32-year-old is a back-up now, and the Clippers’ fans’ blood pressure can rest easier knowing that B-Diddy is their mainstay. And when Dark Chocolate’s knee/ankle/back/[insert injured body part here] goes out, the Clips know they have a starter-quality point guard they can rely on. Albeit, one that causes higher blood pressure.
• By the way, the reason we’re even talking about antioxidant-rich food is because the Clips first choice for their second point guard turned them down. Their former first point guard, Shaun Livingston, was offered a one-year guaranteed contract and said no. Interesting. No one knows if the man can take practice, let alone a full speed game, and he said no. Hmmm. Ask the 76ers second center, Jason Smith, how fragile these things are. He just blew out his ACL without any contact being made in practice. Wonder if his contract’s guaranteed? Then again, even making a pro-rata minimum (like G, Shannon Brown, who just signed with the Bobcats for 1-year and $800,000 following his 2nd season), the amount of which depends upon how long you’ve been in the league, is more than any one person could ever deserve to earn. These capitalist pigs will be the death of us all, I say!
• While we’re on the subject of the Clippers (are we? Damn, how did that happen!?), the other-L.A.-team also made the masterful move of swooping down and gathering in freakishly tall sharpshooter Steve Novak from the Rockets. He’s so valuable, the Rockets received the option of switching second round picks with the Clips in 2011. What?
• The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling! some say. It’s all Much Ado about Nothing! others say. Ballers to the Euroleagues is no big deal. Or maybe it is. Unless–they ALL say–you know, we lose someone like “King James”, LBJ, “Video-Game James,” or “The Chosen One.” Then it’s real. Then we’re in trouble. Then Boston and L.A. and the Knickerbockers can finally dispense with the cap to compete globally and buy their championships just like baseball teams. But that won’t happen. It won’t. Unless, those guys in question say, each doing something different around the pool, they pay him $50 mil a year. Or help him become a billionaire. Even MJ (Michael) lost a good $11 mil or so out of his $30 mil a year to taxes. But not if you play for the right team in Europe. Then THEY pay your taxes; what you read in the papers is what you keep (minus what you pay your agent, your publicist, your chef, your housekeeper, and the dozens of other blood-thirsty man-servant leeches). Think it’s crazy? Dime Magazine unearthed some interesting comments from ‘07, where the Lebrons talked about going global. Does it all fit into some masterplan? Think about it. Let’s say you’re a bank teller in Metairie. They pay you $10 an hour for 40 hours a week, 2 breaks a day, and an unpaid lunch. Only you talk to some cat from Greece while on vacation in the mediterranean and learn that their bank tellers make $50 an hour, work 30 hours a week, get several weeks more vacation, and their employers pay their taxes. Could you say you wouldn’t do it? It’s a global world, man. (Postscript: Kobe says he won’t sign an extension until he tests the global market. Read: I’ve won a scoring title, an MVP, and a championship, what do I have left to prove other than that I can get more money than Lebron from Euro teams with no cap?) P.S.S. What’s three inches shorter than me, weighs about twenty pounds less, and will make about 3.5 million more a year than I ever will in the coming year? Earl Boykins. Italian League. Virtus Bologna. [Author shakes his head dejectedly...]
• The floor, the floor, the floor is on fire. So for fuck’s sake go vote in the Floor Burn Tournament and give Ju-Ju his props. Vote! Vote again. Vote from a different computer. Trick the statistical gods with celebratory defiance! Hahaha! The man is only winning by 1449 votes, so get out there and Hype him!
• Meanwhile, in their effort to regain legitimacy, and to fill the gap at PG, the Heat signed former-Nugget, swingman forward, Yakhouba Diawara. He’s over 3 in reverse dog-years and started his career in the French leagues. Whoo.
• And what the hell is wrong with Oklahoma City? Wait. Scratch that. What the hell is wrong with Oklahoma City’s NBA franchise? When internet evidence pointed to their franchise being named the Thunder, they pulled the website. Just pick a fucking name already. No one’s going to care anyway.
• Darko hurt his Achilles playing with the Serbian National Team. Bummer. You gotta feel for a kid that’ so young and has struggled so much on the floor to be what people want him to be. No, not really, the man’s made obscene amounts of money just to disappoint people. We should all be so lucky.
• Toronto Globe and Mail reporter questioning Chris Bosh–Q: “Chris, would you take this opportunity [at the Olympics] to make a political statement?” A: “No.” Q: “Have you been instructed not to?” A: “Yes. It’s a no-win situation these days.” But ITS THOSE CHINESE COMMUNIST PIGS THAT CENSOR US!!! With their damn socialism, equal pay for disparate jobs, healthcare-for-all, government controlled propaganda….oh.
• Scraps to end, Warriors sign G, Anthony Morrow, and Cavs sign G, Tarence Kinsey. ‘Cause, you know, neither had enough players that you’d never heard of.

Just because, I’ll sign off with Kobe’s quote when asked about playing overseas: “I’d probably go,” Bryant said. “Like Milan or something like that, where I grew up … Peace out. Do you know any reasonable person that would turn down 50?” Nuff said.

Just kidding. This is a Hornets site. I leave you with this quote from SI.com:

Though Team USA boasts an eye-popping 49-0 record all-time when Kidd is listed on the roster, blind adherance to the history book is the worst mistake Mike Krzyzewski could make. The sooner Chris Paul takes over primary duties at the point, the better America’s chances to reclaim the gold.

That’s the end. For now.

Iowa’s Hawk Eye is reporting that on Friday Ryan Bowen has signed a one year deal to come back to the team.  No word yet on the amount.  I like the move.

It looks like Rasual Butler may escape criminal charges related to his Florida arrest on gun-related charges. The Times Picayune is reporting that the charges will be dropped if he complies with the negotiated terms: that “Butler must donate $500, which is equal to the charge’s appropriate fine, to the “Do the Right Thing” program for kids in the Miami community, perform 50 hours of community service in Dade County, take and complete an appropriate weapons education program in which he will be taught the safe and appropriate handling of a firearm, and renews his personal firearm license, which had lapsed.”

Lucky move, Rasual.  Learn from this and move on.