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February, 2006 With the recent small acquisitions and the passing of the regular season’s midpoint, it is time to examine the Hornets’ season and to look at what lies ahead in the second half of the season. From the initial uprooting from New Orleans to Oklahoma City, to the waiving of George Lynch and the Jamaal Maglorie trade, even the two-year banishment of Chris “The Birdman” Andersen from the league for violating the NBA’s anti-drug program, the Hornets have had their fair share of drama. Despite all of this Hornets haven’t made any excuses this season-- they haven’t needed any! The Hornets are currently sitting at a solid .511 record (23-22) and are the 8th seed in the playoffs. When put in contrast to some analysts’ preseason predictions of being potentially the worst team ever, things are looking promising. Chris Paul, David West, and Speedy Claxton have been leading the way for the Hornets this year and are receiving strong considerations for Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, and 6th Man of the Year Awards, respectively, with Paul being the runaway leader up to this point for ROY. I feel the team’s mentality thus far into the season can be summed up in one quote by Hornets’ Head Coach Byron Scott: “The NBA stands for . . . No Babies Allowed. It's a man's league”. Lynch and Maglorie didn’t want to play here; just like that they are gone... “No Babies Allowed”. JR Smith didn’t put in the effort that Scott deemed necessary, just like that he is benched…”No Babies Allowed”. So who gets credit for this team’s turnaround? Byron Scott? Chris Paul? David West? The fans? They all do. Scott himself deserves much of the credit for implementing this mentality and for sticking with it. He hasn’t put up with anyone’s crap and as a result he has this team exceeding expectations and not coincidently himself in the Coach Of the Year race. Chris Paul is playing like a seasoned veteran and doing what a great point guard should do-- lead. David West has stepped up his game enormously by improving in every major category, and tripling and doubling his PPG and RPG respectively. Lastly, the fans in Oklahoma City deserve some credit. They have been loud, very loud. In fact the upper bowl of the Ford Center has been coined the nickname Loud City. Attendance has been great for a city with the smallest market size in the NBA. Overall the Hornets are averaging 17,736 people in attendance good enough for 11th in the NBA. This number is somewhat deceiving though when you consider games that haven’t actually been played at home, but have been included in the average. One such game was a game versus the Suns, which was played in Baton Rouge. A mere 7,302 showed up to that game, which distorts the total. When you include only home games that were actually played at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City the attendance numbers look much better at 18,577, good enough for 8th in the NBA. Even players not yet mentioned get credit: PJ Brown for being the consistent veteran presence on a young team and for not pulling a George Lynch. Speedy Claxton for not complaining about coming off the bench despite the fact that he could be a starter on other teams. JR Smith for not complaining about being benched despite starting most of his young career, etc. Everyone knows their role and has bought into the team first mentality and thus they all share credit for the team’s success. New Acquisitions By now, most have heard of the Hornets’ new big men Aaron Williams and Steven Hunter, but what can we expect them to bring to the team? In Williams, Hornets fans can expect much of what they get in PJ Brown, a classy veteran who consistently does his job and doesn’t complain. Williams has a history with Scott from their New Jersey days so you can expect him to feel comfortable with the offense right away and be an integral part of this team for the remainder of this season. I suspect Scott has some expectations that Williams will resign with the team when his contract is up this off-season. I think this was a very good addition to the Hornets and certainly helps their playoffs chances, if nothing more than by simply cutting back PJ Brown’s minutes, however that isn’t all I think this will accomplish, I think that Williams can play productive minutes for the Hornets. In Hunter, Hornets fans can expect athleticism, a few dunks, and a few blocks. I don’t know that there is a lot more to expect from Hunter. Teams have always been attracted to Hunter due to his athleticism, but beyond that Hunter doesn’t seem to offer much, not to mention his heart and basketball IQ have both been questioned in the past. I personally have mixed feelings on this trade; while I recognize the need for a big man up front I don’t think Hunter is that player. If he were signed to a short contract then I wouldn't really be opposed to it, but his current contract goes through the 2010 season. Granted, Hunter can block shots from the weak side, but that doesn't necessarily make him a good defender which is what I think the team needs down low on defense. Not to mention that for a 7-footer he is relatively soft on the boards. They need a solid man defender, not a poor mans Sam Dalembert who he coincidently just played with. Currently that post defender is PJ Brown who isn't getting any younger. On the other end of the court, I don’t know how well Hunter is going to fit into the offense. He should do fine on the fast break, but I don’t think the Hornets can count on that to get them into the playoffs. The Hornets have opted to run the Princeton offense, which relies very much on the center being a good passer. Passing isn’t something that is considered to be Hunter’s strong point. Also, don't let last year fool you, everyone looks better playing with Steve Nash and you can take that to the dunk contest. Remember there is a reason he is already on his 5th team in his young career. Orlando traded him, the Cavs waived him, the Suns neglected not to keep him and now Billy King only months after signing him couldn’t wait to give him up. All in all, the Hornets accomplished what they wanted in terms of trades. They didn’t give up any players and they were able to get two big men in return, however I’m inclined to think that both players could be had at a cheaper price considering their teams’ respective situations. The Raptors are in the process of a youth movement, which makes Aaron Williams expendable, most of all considering he was only getting 7 minutes per game as it was. With that in mind it seems as though one 2nd round pick would have been sufficient. Regarding Hunter, the Sixers seemed anxious to get rid of him. I think King acknowledge his mistake of signing Hunter to 5 years and jumped at the chance to get rid of him for two 2nd rounder picks. What’s ahead? So what must the team do in the second half of the season to potentially make the playoffs? The easy answer would be to just keep up what they have been doing, but there is more to it than that. A win is a win, but one benefit the Hornets have had is that many of their wins this season have come against teams playing without their star player. While the Hornets capitalized by taking advantage of those teams, it doesn’t mean things will be the same next time around. One thing I would like to see is Chris Paul and PJ Brown’s minutes come down just a bit. I foresee Brown’s minutes coming down as a result of the recent acquisitions, but I’m not so sure Paul’s will. Paul has played wonderful so far, but I can see him wearing him down or injuring himself the way he lays it all out on the floor. After all he is only a rookie, he isn’t accustomed to such a long enduring season, especially if the Hornets do indeed make the playoffs. So taking into considering the fact that he has one of the best backups in the league, I’d like to see his minutes come down just a bit. As for a few other things we can hope for in the 2nd half of the season: We can all hope to see the Desmond Mason that everyone expected when the Hornets traded for him earlier this year. We can hope that JR Smith steps up his work ethic and ultimately his defense to par with what Scott expects of him, he is freakishly athletic after all. We can hope that Aaron Williams and Steven Hunter get fully acclimated to their new team and help their chances towards a playoff position. And finally we can hope the fans and the team continue to embrace each other, as they will be spending another season together. The team has yet to give us a reason to doubt them, so ultimately I’m going to take the easy way out and suggest that the team just needs to keep doing what they have been doing. Apparently it works… |
