Hornets Talk "Because it's great"

With one month remaining on the old NBA calender, we at Tdub'n3Q are required to watch pro basketball from 6:00 PM until 9:45 PM (central standard). Most of us (myself included) tend to go overtime with game watching, sometimes even finding ourselves watching games passed the midnight hour. Lately we've been forced to watch Hornets games, due to a glitch in the interface system where we work and watch basketball. Lately, one of our peers, Doug Mandavale, has been sitting with us during Hornets broadcasts, which has been annoying, because Doug's constantly complaining about how the Hornets are "just another lottery team," and that he "can't (expletive) wait until the corporate fat cats stop getting bail outs and start fixing the glitch in our interface system so we can watch any game we want," and that he wishes he could watch the "Spurs put the smack down on Minnesota instead of another (expletive) Hornets game." Thankfully, Doug isn't sitting with us any longer. Jerry was pretty adamant to him, so Doug is now sitting near the back with the Dagger Boys (gotta admit, Dagger Boys write good stuff about the NBA). Anyway, seen every Hornets game for the last two and a half weeks, including tonight's late show match-up against the Reggie Williams and Chris Hunter Golden State team.

Let's take a quick moment to discuss head coach Jack Bower. This guy has really let himself go physically. He was once a fictional character played by Kiefer Sutherland, and now look at him. Guess what. He's doing it to get an edge on the competition. And it's working! Coach Bower has really tricked his players into giving their all, and the opposition can't figure out where he's preparing for at any given moment. "I just can't read him," said 76er guard Jrue Holiday. "He's a coaching mystery."

As I watch Hornets games unfold, I tend to keep my eyes closed when Mo Peterson has the basketball. Fred usually taps me on the arm after Mo passes/misses, and I resume watching.

When the Hornets back court has the looks of Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton, that is when Doug's annoying shit talk really doesn't make any sense. I've seen plenty of every team play basketball this season (except the Heat, because they are the worst) and I can say with great certainty that the young rookie duo of Collison and Thonton is the most intriguing and potentially epic guard combo in the league. Thornton's a real NBA guard, and as his career continues you'll see his brain start making more and more right decisions that lead to winning ballgames. The real story here though is Darren Collison, whose future shines just as bright as those rookie of the year candidate Blue Chip names you hear about on AM radio such as Tyreke Evens, Brandon Jennings, or Stephen Curry. While his assist totals remind you of a young Mark Jackson, his shooting touch and ball dribbling maneuvers ring just as true. I'm talking about a ROOKIE POINT GUARD that is shooting .498 and .816 during the last month. His numbers have resembled the likes of Chauncey Billups's during the same period, except Collison has almost three times as many assists. Brandon Jennings knows what's what. He recently stated that Collison was his choice for Rookie of the Year. I think I might agree with him. Finding a rookie point guard gem like Collison with the 21st pick in the draft is a wonderful feeling for such a mediocre team like New Orleans. I'm loving today's Hornets. They compete hard, and they follow their veteran all star David West to the final whistle, and even though they will not be competing in the post season, the future looks pretty nice in soggy New Orleans.

Oh that's right... Chris Paul plays in New Orleans. And he's coming back next week to reclaim his starting spot on the Hornet roster. And he justifiably demands as many minutes as he can handle, because he's the best point guard in the NBA, even though his team is so mediocre (I blame Emeka Okafor and the city's shitty fans who don't go to games which leads the team's ownership group to lose lots of money and thus trimming payroll which inevitably creates a pretty consistent state of mediocrity such as this year's edition with and without Chris Paul). So what am I getting at? You guessed it.

There is no excuse to not trade Chris Paul this summer. Throw him in there and let him play 35 minutes a game for the last month of the season. Show the world that he's healthy and incredible and still the best point guard in the NBA, because guess what? He's also the second highest paid point guard in the NBA (behind Sweet Gil Arenas). Trading Chris Paul might not be popular among your shitty fans, but come on Hornet team managment, your fans don't come to your games. You have to do what's right for you. If you insist on cutting payroll and your losses, this is the no brainer of all no brainers. Paul will command the kind of interest of a young Joe Mauer, and trading him to a playoff contender who can part with a sizable package of young talent including household names is almost a sure thing. Would Memphis offer O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol, Hasheem Thabeet, and a few first round picks for the best point guard in the NBA? Maybe Atlanta could pair him with Joe Johnson and offer up Al Horford, the rights to Josh Childress and draft picks. Then maybe the Hawks go out and sign freshly waived Erick Dampier and Marcus Camby to create a very very cool Eastern Conference basketball team (but that's another story). Maybe Michael Jordan doesn't particularly care for Raymond Felton and decides to make some big changes, trading Gerald Wallace, cash, and draft picks for Chris Paul. Pretty much every team that doesn't have a top three point guard will want him.

This summer, New Orleans will be in the driver's seat with this whole possibility. Hopefully they'll take the car and drive it like a metaphor for pulling the trigger on a Chris Paul trade.