He lost the hat, though. Awww… The hats were cute. (But wait. According to TV, these outfits haven’t happened yet. Carry on. Nothing to see here.)

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.   

The next step on the road to total Hornets world domination has been achieved. And we are very, very pleased.

Last year the Hornets had only 2 nationally televised games on the schedule. Granted, they got an ABC game thrown in there late, when it became obvious in March that something exciting was going down in New Orleans. The end result of this was that the parts of the world that don’t have Bob and Gil on CST all “discovered” Chris Paul at the same time when Game One against Dallas went live on April 18th. So while a couple of games were added to the national schedule in the 2007-08 season, for the purposes of this post, we’ll state that there were two Hornets games on ESPN’s schedule at this point last year.

This year there are 13.

Thirteen! Whoo!  Nine on ESPN, three on TNT, and one on ABC. We’ve also bagged two major holidays in Thanksgiving and Christmas. For greater breakdown of the pros and cons of the 2008-09 schedule, cruise on over to Big Easy Buzz. It’s important to note that this isn’t counting NBATV, which hasn’t come out with its schedule yet. So all the sports package folks not in the immediate area can probably look forward to greater Hornets goodness.

The Hornets are coming for you. Worldwide.

But the most important date? Saturday, November 1. 7:00 PM. Cleveland Cavaliers. New Orleans Arena. You want to be there.

Full 2008-09 schedule here.

Hoops Addict is doing a pretty cool Floor Burn Tournament. The first round is up right now and voting runs through August 11th. It’s basically about recognizing hustle players vs. stars who get hype all the time. Here’s the description:

Each night ESPN, NBA.com and YouTube are flooded with clips of players soaring through the air for rim rocking dunks, buzzer beating three-pointers and blocked shots that make your jaw drop in amazement. While those are all entertaining plays, teams who win championships need players who are willing to get a little dirty and do the little things needed to help their team win. As valuable and crucial as these players are to their respective teams success, these players rarely get the credit or respect that they deserve.

(Note: We wrote up a description for both Ryan Bowen, the Captain of Hustle, and Julian Wright, the Giraffe Calf, but the Hornets haven’t resigned Bowen (yet?) for next year, so therefore the Hornets are being represented by JuJu.) Said mW:

“The man is a physical freak; with a wingspan longer than you’d expect, explosive speed, and the intelligence to read opposing players and anticipate their moves, Ju-Ju has quickly become one of the Hornets’ best defenders, while simultaneously snagging steals left and right when he’s not hopping around for boards. He may not have dominated the stat sheet like other rookies last year, but he did a little of everything and was a total hustle player.”

Anyway, he’s up against Damien Wilkins from Seattle/OKC, so go vote for JuJu!

Edited to Add:

1) The Hornets’ schedule is supposedly going to be out tomorrow around noon.

2) If Jannero Pargo signs with the Spurs I will get violent.

That is all.

(Photo credit: Storm Surge Photography)

It has been brought to my attention (thanks, Matt!) that the Hornets folks are sending out an e-mail asking fans to provide their input on 300-Level Concessions improvements that they want to see for 2008-09.

As some of you may know, one of the foundations upon which this blog/movement was built is the gradual removal of local favorite Abita Beer from all New Orleans Arena concessions. (No, seriously.) We have lamented the lack of Abita on several occasions.

So now I am totally co-opting their survey in order to further our own Abita agenda. Please please click the link and tell them it’s not the N.O.L.A. without the A.B.I.T.A. It will take like 30 seconds, I promise. Do not let this opportunity to help knock an item permanently off the $#*t List pass us by! (And you know, like, if you actually sit in the 300-level, to tell them other things like you want healthier food and chairs to sit in, which are also totally things I can get behind. Because we were up there for the All Star Game and I was thinking, “Man, this is the sad little stepchild of concourses.” And then I thought, “Oh, there’s Jamario Moon walking by!” and got completely distracted.)

N.O. Arena Concessions Survey– Click here and remember to write in Abita on the last page!

It is for the good of all of us in this great city. The people demand Abita.

Okay, so no big moves, but the NBA ranks to continue to be depleted by those heading overseas…

• Brian Skinner, PF:  signed by the Clippers.
• Walter Hermann, SF: re-signed by the Pistons.
• Adonal Foyle, C: re-signed by the Magic.
• Louis Williams SG: re-signed by 76ers.
• Dee Brown, SG: signed by the Wizards.
• JamesOn Curry, SG: waived by the Bulls.  Honestly, I just wanted to use the name “JamesOn.”  Seriously.  What were his parents thinking?
• Taureen Green, SG: recently traded to the Knicks and then cut, he apparently signed with Cai Zaragoza in Spain.
• Dwyane Mitchell, SG: this former D-League and Summer League  standout is getting his shot in the big league.
• Ndubi Ebi, PF: this big man, who played for the Hornets in Vegas, is heading to Carife Ferrara in Italy.
• Carlos Arroyo, PG: signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
• Nick Fazekas, SG: had his tender offer rescinded by the Clippers; that’s pretty weird.  I mean, they gave him an offer so he wasn’t a free agent, waited for the market to dry up with money already spent, and then let him go?  They can do that?  He too should tell the NBA to f*&# itself and head overseas for a big pay day.

Oh well.  That’s it for now.  Nothing huge.  Except the for the continued exodus of legit players to overseas teams.  It kind of makes me wonder how good these leagues are…

In case you were at work and didn’t watch the USA thrashing of Lithuania, mad ridiculous CP3/Wade give and go dunk in four… three… two… one…

Or, “See, this blog’s mission is not over because ESPN haters still exist!”

The other day, Chris Broussard listed the top Big Threes in the league. The Hornets came in at #5 with Chris Paul, David West, and Tyson Chandler. “These three have tremendous chemistry,” is how he leads off, citing CP’s general amazingness, D West’s versatility, and TC’s defense. The ordering of the rest of the list, though, is sort of wacky to my mind, not just because I’m a Hornets fan. And, since it’s been awhile since I pointed out why someone on ESPN was wrong (waahhh, the offseason is no fun), I’m going to point out my biggest issue with two of the “Big Threes” ranked ahead of the Hornets.

#1 Boston: Garnett, Pierce, Allen. OK, moving on.

#2 San Antonio: Duncan, Parker, Ginobili. Old, but good. They have great past success together, so I’ll agree.

#3 Los Angeles: Bryant, Gasol, Bynum. See, OK, I’m aware that he got the idea for this article from the fact that, with the Ron Artest trade, Houston now has a three and the NBA is currently stacked with Big Threes rather than great duos. But. This three has never played together. If I was making this list, I wouldn’t be putting “paper” threes in there. I mean, we could just have a paper season if you want to do it that way.

#4 Houston: Yao, Artest, McGrady. Big fat ditto. If you’re going to say chemistry is one of the main reasons NO is so good, how can you rank totally untested trios higher?

#5 New Orleans. Move us the hell up until these dudes above have proved they can play together.

#6 Phoenix: Nash, Stoudemire, O’Neal. Not buying it. Just on rep? Past individual success? Phoenix got worse in the second half of the season. No way should they be above…

#7 Detroit: Billups, Hamilton, Wallace. Right? How many successive deep playoff runs have they had together?

#8 Dallas: Nowitzki, Howard, Kidd. Broussard: “Man, I’m giving the old trios lots of credit.” Yeah. Ya are. And this is why you are wrong. In fact everyone but Dirk sucks. Did he watch our series?

#9 Washington: Arenas, Butler, Jamison. Provided they’re healthy, higher.

OK, now that I’ve had my fun telling ESPN why they’re wrong– I feel refreshed, really– let’s step back for a sec and realized that I’m not really offended by this list. Why? Well, the Hornets don’t actually have a Big Three, do they? If that’s our Big Three, we’ve also got a nasty extra 16 points per game coming from Peja, who is definitely not the fourth offensive option. We could swap him and Tyson in that list and still have a pretty decent Big Three. So it’s pretty much the Lakers and us alone at the top of the Big Four list, huh? Bryant-Gasol-Bynum-Odom vs. Paul-West-Chandler-Stojakovic. Who else has as good a Big Four?

Fun year coming up in the West.

P.S. Totally off topic, but I have NBATV on and they have NBA Stories: Rookie Life on, and it’s rather funny. They filled someone’s entire car with popcorn. Interestingly enough, they had Kobe on and he was just raving about how lucky he was to have Byron Scott his rookie year telling him what to do. And there’s a clip of Byron directing little Kobe.

The summer of the defection continues and moves abound, with players switching allegiances, reuniting with old cities and coaches, and the NBA diaspora is in full swing in search of greener, tax-free pastures…summaries to follow, starting with the big splash:

• Rockets: get Ron Artest by giving up their first round pick this year, their first round in later years, and poor Bobby Jackson, who’s had trouble finding permanent residence as of late.
• Kings: give up their 1 year left with malcontent, Ron-Ron, and get (probably) Donte Green (there’s a 30 day waiting period after his signing), B-Jax, and a future 1st round pick. Smooth move. Also, if you hadn’t heard, they stole our Summer League sensation, Bobby Brown.
• Lakers: they may have had to let Ronny T go to do it, but the Lake-show retained the services of Sasha “the Machine” Vujacic for a cool 3 years and $15 million. Looks like a solid move in light of the $60 mil deals disclosed below…
• Warriors: the Bay Area cats finely chose to pony up for their big two free agents, paying out 6 years and $67 mil to keep SG(/PG?), Monta Ellis, and giving Andris “Not-so-Big-Daddy” Biedrins 6 years and $62 mil. GS also strangely choose to match the Clips’ offer sheet on Azubuike, because…um…they don’t have enough lanky swingman that don’t play D?
• Clippers: meanwhile, losing out on Azubuike, the Clips continued their own mad sprint this summer by signing SG, Ricky Davis, to a 2 year, $4.7 mil contract; not a bad replacement for Maggette, and um, for about $100 mil less. They also chose to waive F, Josh Powell, with Camby aboard.
• Bobcats: MJ’s crew finally signed their big man, Okafor, to a 6 year $72 mil contract. See The Machine, supra. They also re-signed C/F Ryan Hollis.
• Knicks: yes, yes, I swear, the Knicks are still around; the rumors of their demise have been greatly ex–er–linked to Isiah Thomas? Any way, deciding they didn’t have enough guards already on the roster, and refusing to cut Starbury, they picked up G, Anthony Roberson, from the Summer League. But realizing they then had 17 players (there is a max of 15 during the regular season), they traded away Renaldo Balkman for, um, two more players: Tauren Green and Bobby Jones, along with a 2nd round pick in 2010. So, realizing that they had 18 players, they quickly waived both, saving about $2 mil a year, and ending up with only 1 player over the ultimately allowable roster.
• Nuggets: apparently, their GM was told to make moves or find a new home. And he started by giving away Camby. Not content, he acquired Balkman from the Knicks, and then signed our own Birdman to a 1 year deal, and also gave G, Dahntay Jones, a contract. Wow. Strong moves.
• Pistons: interesting move in giving Kwame Brown 2 years and $8 mil; that’s a lot for someone everyone considers a bust in all three of his stops so far. They also signed G, Will Bynum. Woo.
• Timberwolves: re-signed restricted free agent Ryan Games, a nice move.
• Bulls: finally gave Luol Deng his big contract, at 6 years and $71 mil. And they think we overpaid for Posey. Cheer up Hornets fans, you could have been stuck with this.
• Hawks: fresh off their Josh-Childress-slap-in-the-face, they gave Mo Evans a 3 year deal worth $7.5 mil. Considering he started starting for the Magic last year, this is a nice pick-up. They also signed C, Randolph Morris.
• Nets: already having made several good moves this summer, the Nets lost Krstic, who didn’t appear to be a part of their plans anyway, to Triumph Moscow, for around $9 mil a year; and don’t forget Euro teams pay their players’ taxes, so that’s his take-home. Damn. I need to work in Europe.
• Magic: not content with losing players left and right, they waived F, James Augustine.
• Raptors: lost another player to Europe, as Jorge Garbajosa took off for Russia’s BC Khimski, the terms undisclosed; but let’s just assume its like they’re giving him all the money they “nationalized” after throwing that oil tycoon in jail. They did, however sign free agent G, Will Solomon, who conversely, played the last two seasons in Turkey.
• 76ers: continued their moves by signing G, Royal Ivey, and 3-point shooter, Kareem Rush. Guess Kareem didn’t like his brother, who his former team, Indiana, just drafted.
• Jazz: matched the OKC offer sheet on C.J. Miles, keeping him around. Smart move.

That’s it for now. Some news, some just recitation, but it’s all relevant because we’re going to play them all next year. Of course, it’s nothing to get excited over, because, you know, the Hornets will win it all anyway.

P.S. check back soon for Hype on TT6’s elsewhere declared Hiltonwatch.

In which the Hornets have an(other) day of the offseason and Ticktock6, freshly returned to da 504 from foreign parts a.k.a. NYC, takes a look at some of the various search terms that bring folks to our fine site.

1. “how to shoot a free throw like peja” - Dude. If we knew, we’d all be making a cool $12 million a year.

2. “do new orleans hornets not wear the teal jerseys” - Ah. You must have caught a glimpse of the team’s slightly eye-searing gold third jerseys. The Hornets usually wear the teal, but in the playoffs each time they lost, they switched to the other road jersey to mix it up a little and perhaps for superstitious purposes. Hence: Dallas Game 3 = TEAL (L), Dallas Game 4 = GOLD (W), SA Game 3 = GOLD (L), SA Game 4 = TEAL (L), SA Game 6 = GOLD (L). I’ve heard the yet-to-be-revealed new jerseys will not include the gold.

3. “what will eat hornets?” Manu Ginobili’s bald spot?

4. “what color accessories to wear with teal?” Oooh! I am actually qualified to answer this question, being one of the few female NBA bloggers! I would go with silver or white.

5. “hornets that are black white and brown” Whoa, like real ones? Like multicolored stinging bugs? Man, get some pesticide. I guess our Hornets, too, could be described to be black, white, and brown. In, um, varying shades. And with teal over the top. Otherwise they’d be naked.

6. “Charlotte Hornets to Seattle” ….

…

… There are so many things wrong with this I don’t even know where to begin.