Hornets Hype

‘Cause here at Hornets Hype we like legal stuff (or, um, to make fun of legal stuff), and we like the Hornets. Rarely do two worlds collide… until today. And, well, you know, we always enjoy hilarity. Check out the following excerpt from a question on a recent bar exam, which features a few familiar characters:

Chris walks into the locker room AND STEALS EVERYTHING!

I love it. Chris is age 23 (and earning more money than he ever thought possible), and he’s committing burglary and thievery left and right. Sounds like someone we know. And he steals Tyson’s cash and gun out of his locker.

But wait! The (hypothetical) story  doesn’t end there!

Chris' spree results in Peja's untimely death

Oh no they didn’t! I’m sure we are all very saddened by the unfortunate death of Peja at Chris’ dastardly hands at the Hard Wood Tavern. I guess Peja is easily startled. That Chris. Always stealing stuff and causing heart attacks. HAHA!

Who’s the mysterious “Dana” though? And Chris moving to an out of state location to pursue better employment what? Bitch, please. You’ve been reading the Dallas paper, haven’t you?

P.S. You also spelled “discreetly” wrong. Bar exam fail! Good thing I quit law school, so I can have the free time to skip pleasantly through life bashing others’ spelling and grammar to my heart’s content.

Via this thread at Hornets Report.

How bout you guys?

I thought this one was over when Dwyane Wade went to the free throw line. Then I thought it was over when Paul and Butler screwed up the pass at the top of the circle. The ball looked like it was going to bounce out of bounds. I almost looked away from the TV because Butler’s shot, after he managed to corral it, looked so bad. Then you saw the arc, and you realized it didn’t look bad, it looked good. How welcome were Peja’s 24 points? How crazy was David “Nah, I’ll just beat you now” West’s 8 point OT, after missing jumper after jumper all game? How driven was Chris Paul?

Oh, team. Whenever I think you’re out of it…

FAN UP, New Orleans! We’re in!!

“CP came up to me after the ball went in and told me, ‘We’re going to win the game for you now."

Chris Paul sucks.  27-8-8.  Can’t even get a triple double.  Only 2 steals and only 7-7 from the free throw line.  Only led the team to victory over the woeful Warriors, and let them crawl back from the -20 they were all game to lose by ten.  Horrible.  I can’t believe Hornets fans want him mentioned in the MVP conversation.

Psych.  Chris Paul = Where Amazing Happens.  I really can’t sum it up better than a friend of mine, Alden, who turned to me after the first quarter of the Lakers game, and said straight-faced, “that Chris Paul is a wizard.”  Right?  CP does seem to routinely defy the laws of physics.  How better to put it?  Incredulously, though, no one calls CP “the Wizard,” “the Little Wizard,” or anything similar.  So how to describe his play?

I mean, most great players have some kind of nickname, right?  We know this much, Chris is often referred to as CP3, or just CP.  Sometime last year, the nickname was coined “Baby-Faced Assassin.”  Not bad, but ever since I’ve seen Kevin Martin play (who, by the way is not “K-Mart”, that one’s already taken, thank you very much), I have trouble calling Paul “baby-faced.”

Luckily, some of our Chinese friends over at Hoop China helped us out. You may recall that during the Olympics, the commentators talked about the Chinese giving several marquee NBA players nicknames.  While, at that time, they reported Chris didn’t have one, we’ve learned since this is not true.  The following comes from HornetsHype poster, Jonas:

[The Chinese] call CP3 “little baby” cause his last name Paul…sound[s] like chinese word “baby”, and he’s so lovely that we call him “little baby”.  We also call CP3…“King of hornets”…we finally call him CP3 as you guys in US. But also we call him…“black ghost”, “small cannon”(Paul also sound[s] like Chinese word cannon), [and] “sun of hornets” (The King is also the sun of hornets).

Also, from HornetsHype poster, Lucialanlan:

CP’[s] other nikename is “pineapple”, in Chinese, pineapple is called boluo, Paul’s Chinese name is baoluo,and CP3’s fans [are] also called boluomi,which means pineapple fans.

Great stuff.  TT6 says she likes “Small Cannon.”  I also want to add another, courtesy of our enemies of the night, though cool blog, Golden State of Mind, who posted a comic featuring CP, where the “Name Forge of Destiny,” decides that for CP’s “obvious virtuosity,” and “ability to thoroughly lay waste to all who stand in your way” that he be referred to as the “Grief Merchant.”  That’s my favorite.  Grief Merchant.  

So tell me, what is your favorite CP nickname?

A huge story in the NBA this year is the international effect on the game.  Big free agents going overseas, us bringing back the best of those countries, creating a unique state of flux in international talent.  Although USA has again come to dominate the FIBA scene, there is an unprecedented international appeal for the sport, and even multinational blogging (visit our links to Chinese and German Hornets sites on the right under “All Hornets International,” and let us know if you’re aware of any more).  But no international story has been bigger than China.

First of all, there was the Olympics, which was a smashing success.  China proved to be a great venue, the world showed it could field a lot of talent, and it was a lot of fun to watch a variety of teams, not just the U.S.  Also, there was the outcry about how Chinese voters influenced the All-Star starting line-ups; but, when you leave it to democracy, you have to accept how the people vote.  I just love how excited another country is about the NBA, which, in the end, will only be good for basketball.  Lastly, there was the interesting story of ex-Hornet, Bonzi Wells, going to Shanxi Zhongyu, averaging 34 points a game, hitting 50 and 40 points routinely, pulling down over 10 boards usually, and being nicknamed “His Majesty.”  Great stuff.

And what else?  Oh yeah, China loves HornetsHype.com.  That’s right.  China wants to know more about Rasual “Phoenix” Butler.  China wants to know why Chris Paul should be MVP.  If you don’t believe me, check out these links:

• http://bbs.hoopchina.com/563864.html
• http://bbs.hoopchina.com/567096.html

There it is.  Yao may be huge in China. So is Yi.  But the most populous country in the world is hungry for Hornets news.  Believe it.  Welcome to the Hype, China, we love your interest in the NBA.  It’s faaaaAAAAaaantastic!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: the MVP race is a three way contest.  Be it the writers at NBAtv, ESPN, Yahoo, or wherever: it’s all about Kobe, Lebron, and Dwyane.  What about the guy who came in second in the MVP voting last year, Chris Paul?  Never mentioned.  These major media outlets run through highlights, and someone almost inevitably says something like “CP is playing is out of his mind, and he’s not even in the MVP conversation,” with a tone that’s somewhat apologetic.  But then they move on.  They have bigger markets to address, after all.

I guess the first thought might be that CP is having an off year.  Wrong.  Higher FG%, FT%, higher rebound rate, more steals per game, and more points per game on less shots than last year.  Oh, but his assists are down 0.6.  But he still leads the League in assists per game.  Don’t believe me?  Check out Basketball-Reference.com.  A great site.  (I got the numbers below from there too.)  Maybe the lack of discussion of CP3 for MVP is the Hornets record?  Nope.  We’re only a few games below last year’s pace, and well ahead of Wade’s Heat.  Okay, so forget this year and last.  There are no answers there.  So ask yourself a more pertinent question.  Is CP3 having an MVP-caliber season?  I figured the best way to find the answer was to compare his stats this year to those of past MVP point guard seasons.  Any predictions on how CP will stack up?

You hear now and then that Chris broke one of Oscar Robertson’s records.  Well, Oscar won the MVP in 1963-64.  Byron also likes to call CP a six-foot Magic Johnson; MJ won the MVP three times: in 1986-87, 1988-89, and 1989-90.  And, of course, the most recent point guard to win the MVP, was Steve Nash, back-to-back in 2004-05 and 2005-06.  So how does CP stack up?  Pretty damn well.  Not the best year ever by a point guard, but certainly within the spectrum of MVP-caliber play.  Let’s get to it.

One caveat must be given.  Oscar Robertson played in a different era, with different rules.  For starters, you’ll see he has no 3-point shooting stats.  There was no 3-point shot back then.  Also, they didn’t break the boards down into offensive and defensive, and didn’t count turnovers or steals. I’ve compared percentages and per game stats because obviously CP hasn’t played a full season yet this year.  The immediate impression that jumps out is that CP’s year is better really than either of Nash’s MVP seasons (something which the below stats will clearly confirm).  The other initial impressions are that Magic Johnson has some awesome years and the Big O played lots of minutes.

Minutes per game to me mostly means how important that guy is to their team.  One could suggest that CP’s longer minutes give him more time to accrue stats, but Nash and Magic played on higher paced teams.  (Yes, I know pace-adjusted stats are all the rage, but I’ll leave those to the real stat masters over at atthehive and hornets247 for now.  Plus, they don’t always work with guys as old as Oscar, as they didn’t keep all the same stats to input into the equations.)  Field goal percentage.  CP may be in the middle bottom of the pack, but he’s over the 50% threshold, which not many guards surpass.  His “weakness” if he can be said to have one, from looking at these stats, is 3-point shooting (one thing Nash excelled at), but CP’s kind of been on a slump from there lately, and he has 20 games to pull that  number up.

Free throw shooting?  CP may only come in at fifth here, but considering Duncan, Shaq, and Wilt have all been MVPs, well.  Yeah.  86% doesn’t sound too bad.  Rebounding, again mediocre, but notice that the only player his height, Nash, CP beats hands down.  Magic had 9 inches on Chris and Oscar had five.  Not bad, really.  Surprisingly, CP actually is only fifth at assists per game, as well.  You’d expect our little basketball wizard to be higher up, right?  Well, I’m going to cheat a little here and go to pace-adjusted stats.  We don’t have them for Oscar’s MVP season, but the best in his entire career was 37.8%.  Magic for his MVP years: 47.2%, 48.6%, and 45.5%.  Steve N with 49.2% and 44.4%.  How about Chris Paul this year?  54.8%.  Let me say that again.  54.8%.  By far the best.  You know how people say if CP played for D’Antoni, he’d average 20 assists a game?  Well, we need to start recognizing in the popular media the difference between pace and recognize CP’s greatness at any pace.

Now, the second set of stats make Chris’ case even more.  First, they show that CP is the master thief among MVP point guards.  Also, CP held onto the ball much better than any of these other guys.  Not surprisingly, thought, he’s not the best shot blocker.  Chris commits a few more fouls than anyone but Oscar, but as long as he’s not on average in foul trouble, which he’s not, who cares?  Magic and Oscar definitely kill CP in scoring, but CP crushed Nash.  Although, in fairness, Stevie was definitely the most effective scorer, as shown by True Shooting % and Effective Field Goal Percentage.

My final observation: CP dominates Hollinger’s Player Efficiency Rating.  Not only does he annihilate Nash, and handily beat the others, but he’s posting the highest PER ever for a point guard.  And guess what?  The guy who currently holds that distinction?  Chris Paul from last year.  And no one’s talking about this guy for MVP?  Seriously?  The case is clear.  CP3 is an MVP.  Not only that, but here’s a bonus stat.  Chris is in only in his fourth year; Oscar won the award in his fourth.  However, Magic won it in his 8th, 10th, and 11th seasons; and Nash won it in his 9th and 10th.  CP is just starting to peak.  Think about it.

The only remaining question is, then, is CP as good as Kobe, Lebron, or Dwyane this year?  One difficulty in making this determination is that they have different style games.  It’s like trying to explain why Nash beat out Shaq in 2006.  How do you really quantify what each one brings in comparison?  It’s apples and oranges.  Two 2 guards, a 3, and Chris at the 1?  You just can’t look at the same criteria for each one, but have to balance the overall impact of each player on his team, in some sort balancing test of shifting priorities.

Nonetheless, somewhat inexplicably, for “analysts,” all anyone ever says is that Chris doesn’t score as much as these guys!  If it was, Allen Iverson would have 4 MVPs and Tracy McGrady 2.  Yet, anyone who’s ever watched Chris play more than once or twice knows that he doesn’t try to dominate the game by scoring as much as these other guys.  That said, Hornets fans have seen him go off in a quarter for more than 20 on multiple occasions, just because he can, and the situation dictated it.  

But it’s not all about scoring.  It’s about making your team better.  CP knows it’s a team sport, and that even if he scores 50 or gets a triple double (the latter of which he leads the League with the most so far this year), and his team isn’t playing well, his team won’t win.  All that matters to Chris is winning, not personal stats, and his goal is a championship, nothing more, nothing less.  But along the way, he deserves to be mentioned by the rest of us as an MVP candidate.  And I say, as an MVP, period.  Here’s what some other people have to say:

• John Hollinger, ESPN;
• Dave Berri, The Wages of Wins Journal;
• Alejandro de Rios, The Gambit; and
• Rob Fitz, Celtics 17.

I know this much, Chris Paul’s stats this year compare favorably to those of past point guard MVPs.  Not just All-Stars.  MVPs.  So anyone that doesn’t at least put him in that conversation is crazy.

Whose face is on the ticket.

Those of you who visited our site last year may remember that we inexplicably decided to keep track of which person’s head was on the season ticket to evaluate how the cosmic strings came together and caused a win or loss.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, get excited.  HornetsHype, via this half-statistical analysis half-divination, has determined that the Hornets will win tonight!  Not only was David West’s head 5-0 in the regular season last year, and 2-0 in the playoffs, but it is 4-0 this year.  It’s like money in the bank.  What about our injuries you say?  Pshaw.

Haven’t you heard, Calderon’s having trouble with his hamstring and Bosh with his knee?  It’s destiny.  Somewhere, somehow, the cosmic scales had to be balanced.   Some players heads on a ticket might not mean much, but David’s?  It’s like having Kobe, Wade, and Howard traded to your team for a day.  Karmically, that is.

So, while the Raptors are TT6’s and I’s adopted Eastern Conference team, and we feel for our Northern compatriots (were they invited to the ledge?), we gotta root against them.  Only we don’t really have to.

The outcome is already written.

He made the team!

West Reserves:

Shaq, Gasol, West, Nowitzki, Parker, Billups, and Roy

I don’t know how I feel about that. I mean, obviously, we’re happy. But Gasol averaging 17/9, West 20/7, Shaq 18/9…. Al Jefferson 23/10. Let’s not quibble over who’s a forward and who’s a center. Let’s not say who out of those three guys should have been left off. But um… yeah.

There are two other equally on-the-bubble bigs, but you know the haters are totally gonna pick David West to hate on. “David Who?” Sigh. STFU.

But this time, it’s a good thing!

Chris Paul is an All Star starter. Thank you, David Stern. Thank you. And yes, I am thanking David Stern. You cannot tell me CP made up 158,000 votes, or whatever it was the last time we saw the numbers, in like a week. The more everyone cried out that McGrady starting the All Star Game over him was utterly indefensible, the wider the gap grew. So you can’t tell me that the trend suddenly, magically reversed just like that. I flat out won’t believe it. And yet, they’re saying Chris got 1.1 million votes in the last two weeks!

But hey, it’s totally like the Shaq Scrabble ad. “How did you…?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

It’s all good, Mr. Stern. We won’t. CONGRATULATIONS, CHRIS!!

Update: Hornets 247 disagrees. But then, that’s the difference between us and 247. Next thing you know, they’re going to be trying to tell us The X-Files wasn’t a documentary about the 1990s…

He might not actually be a real person right now. He might not even be on the same planet as everyone else. Outscoring Kobe Bryant with 40-11! Make that the same planet as everyone else except Chris Paul (32-15!).

You know, to tell you the truth, I had a good feeling about this one. I had it all day. You ever read the Harry Potter books? The best comparison I can think of is when Harry takes the Felix Felicis potion, the one that makes you lucky, and he’s coasting through the day like, “Nah, man, it’s aaaaaaallll good. Let’s just roll with this.” And I can’t even explain it. I felt very relaxed about this game, very unstressed. And the Hornets just roll in and show us who they can be. No pressure or anything, guys. They did it with great performances. They did it with one of the best games of the season. (Three All Stars going off? Insanity. There was total insanity happening at the Staples Center.)

I’m scared to officially announce this, but the Hornets’ season might be out of beta. Looks like we’re scheduled to release on time after all.

It’s on. Tell your friends.

Fourth quarter. The Hornets are in the hole big time. The crowd doesn’t know what to do. The usual shots just aren’t going in. We’ve been here before. May 19th. The Spurs went on to take a heartbreaking Game 7 on the Hornets’ floor, 91-82.

Tonight, on Chris Paul’s historic record-setting ball-thieving night, the Hornets also found themselves down in the fourth quarter. The crowd was subdued, after coming out screaming and booing and standing in what absolutely looked and felt like a playoff game. With 8 minutes to go, the Hornets were behind 74-67. I sat in the arena watching the shots not falling, thinking, “Not again.”

Not tonight. I wrote on May 19th that Game 7 would be one that defined the team.

And maybe it did. This time New Orleans won 90-83.

• Wow.
• CP’s huge jump ball against Manu Ginobili. Insane. He’s at least 6 inches shorter, maybe 7. It was like he just went, “I will not be stopped.” (mW while watching the replay: “Oh my god, I think he actually flopped on the jump ball. No, seriously, I think he’s in the act of flopping WHILE IN THE AIR.”)
• D-West for three? Wait, really? OK… D-West for three AGAIN??
• I straight up want to have sex with James Posey. But that’s OK, because so does everyone else who was in New Orleans Arena. Yep, even the dudes. The man seals the deal like none other.
• Our side of the arena saw CP’s steal right away and everyone leaped out of their seats and started yelling. “THAT WAS IT! Was that it? That was it!” It rolled into a standing O that lasted several minutes, drowned out the PA guy, and ended with Chris Paul going to center court alone and waving to the crowd.
• I forgot about mW’s rampant hatred for Kurt Thomas.
• Tyson! Making both free throws down the stretch to give the Hornets the lead! Tyson, I love you! I wear your jersey!
• I want a stat for how many consecutive games CP has done that thing where he runs in a circle around the opposing team’s entire defense and then either passes or scores. That alley oop with Chandler where no one should conceivably have been looking that direction was… whoa.
• Oh, yeah, and this all happens with Peja and Mo Pete not dressed, and in fact not even there. The Hornets rolled with the same nine guys all night (they didn’t have to– hello, Byron– but whatev).
• “Why are they booing Tony Parker?” - random commenter on Spurs blog. Psshhh. Why AREN’T we booing the Spurs? That is the question.
• Rasual Butler’s ridiculously ridiculous stretch of what had to be the best 10 seconds of his career. He races down the court to get the hard foul on a Spurs breakaway, somehow comes up with a block instead, steals the ball back, dives to save it from going out of bounds, and then scores on a jumper.
• LOL at CP being interviewed after the game calling his steal record “a weird stat.” Also, sure enough, as he’s said before, he also mentioned the fact that D West shoots threes all the time and is perfectly capable of it, he just doesn’t take the shot in games. We’re all glad he took it tonight.
• Quote of the Night: “Ginobili is 6′6. He used to be 6′7. But his hair flopped.” - mW
• At the free throw line with 17 seconds left, Chris Paul received the first MVP chant of the season. This time he hit both of the free throws too.
• Best game I’ve seen this season, hands down.
• I wore my tall socks to this game, and I am not sure I should launder them ever. I wouldn’t want to wash the Win off them.
• Wow.

I told you I was going to wear tall socks. They are an homage to Posey. They are the wrong color for tonight's game, but the gods of the three care not.