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Hornet Henry’s Mailbag, Part 2
August 23, 2006
Even though we’ve finally reached a quiet stretch of the Hornets offseason, the Hornet Henry inbox has been absolutely overflowing with e-mails recently. You too can submit your opinions on the Hornets to me by e-mailing hornethenry@hornets.com. Since my last article I sat down to pen a thoughtful haiku about Peja Stojakovic (tentatively titled “Serbian Sensation”). I hope you enjoy it; by all means, feel free to send in your own Hornets haikus and we’ll publish the most touching and poetic paeans in a future Hornet Henry article: Chris Paul dishes ball to you Three-pointer all net Your perma-stubble In its unshaven glory Shines like a beacon WITHER MARQUINHOS? When will the Hornets finally sign Marcus “Marquinhos” Vinicius? Will he play here, or will they send him elsewhere? – Dave Dave, good question. I was starting to wonder about Marquinhos’ status too, but it is fairly common for second-round NBA draft picks to not sign their contract until just prior to the start of training camp. Plus, the logistics of having him sign are a little more complicated because he is currently out of the country and in his native Brazil right now. I’ve been told that the Hornets don’t anticipate any problems signing him and fully expect to have him on the roster in 2006-07. – HH BASS SEASON Hornet Henry, Why is Brandon Bass struggling so much? Why isn’t he as explosive in the NBA as he was at LSU? He is a better player than Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons, so why are Simmons and Armstrong going to play more than him? Are we going to trade (Bass) during this season or after the new season if he doesn’t perform well this year? – Bobby Hey Bobby, I appreciate the e-mail, but I really don’t think it’s fair to say that Brandon Bass is “struggling.” B Bass only appeared in 29 games in 2005-06, his rookie season. As a 2005 second-round pick, he deserves credit for making an NBA roster, which is not an easy feat considering that second-round players’ contracts are not guaranteed. Here’s an interesting fact: Of the 30 second-round picks selected in the 2005 draft, only four players appeared in more than half of their team’s games last season. That quartet includes L.A. Clippers guard Daniel Ewing (66 games), Atlanta guard Salim Stoudamire (61), Boston forward Ryan Gomes (61) and Golden State guard Monta Ellis (49). In B Bass’ case, with the Hornets surprisingly in the hunt for a playoff berth last season, his playing time was limited due to veteran additions like Marc Jackson and Aaron Williams. The Hornets acquired Marc Jax and the A-Train because, especially in the short-term, their experience and proven ability to make contributions off the bench were needed. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe it’s possible Bass would’ve played more if the Hornets had been out of the playoff race as early as most people around the NBA had expected. Regarding your comparison between Bass and the Teal Towers™ (Armstrong and Simmons), I assume you are referring to my projected Hornets playing rotation in the previous HH Mailbag in which I excluded Bass from the mix, but mentioned both rooks. This probably goes without saying, but understand that my writing that certain guys will or won’t play doesn’t have any bearing on what will actually happen. As much as I’d like to put in my two cents to Byron Scott, I have a feeling that Hornet Henry is not on Lord Byron’s “short list” of candidates to serve as an assistant coach! Additionally, it’s a little early to be comparing ANY player to Armstrong and Simmons since they haven’t actually played an official NBA game yet. I am optimistic that both guys will make an impact – The Hilt seems more ready now, at least in my opinion – but we need to wait to see them play in real games before we make any rash assessments. – HH
Hornet Henry, I was wondering if you have any inside info on who will be the captain or captains of the team this year. Lovely ol’ PJ is gone now and there aren’t any old stalwarts or leaders who would automatically be considered for the position. Chris Paul comes the closest to being the team leader right now, but he seems a little young to wear that cap – or maybe not. It depends on how the other players react to him. Henry, do you have any personal “educated guesses” in that direction? I know it’s the team that selects this position due to a hunk of confidence and respect for the player(s). With all the changes it’s going to be a difficult choice. … They need something or someone to act as a catalyst to bring all these new guys and relatively new youngish guys together to play as if they’ve been doing it for years. Wish PJ could do it by long distance... but that chance is gone forever now. Maybe even Hugo the Hornet could get it started. They need someone who can give them pep talks and advice. Hornets can’t talk, can they? – Apple Apple, if there was a Hornet Henry E-Mail of the Week contest, your message would have been the winner. Although some of your suggestions for captain selections may be a tad unconventional, I applaud the enthusiasm and creativity. To try to answer your question, Hugo the Hornet definitely cannot talk, which would make him problematic as a captain because NBA team captains have to speak with the referees and each other at center court a few minutes before every game. While the zebras undoubtedly would be entertained by Hugo’s trademark blend of high-flying acrobatics and hilarious mascot hijinks, I am not sure how player-captains from other NBA teams would react to being introduced to a human-sized, teal-and-purple hornet. Other than ruling out Hugo and PJ Brown, I don’t really have much insight as to who will be the captain of the team. It seems like CP3 would be an excellent choice, but Peja and Bulldog Bobby Jackson also might work too because they are grizzled NBA veterans. I think the only rule regarding captains is that each team has to select at least one. You can actually have more than one captain if a team decides it wants to pick multiple players to do the honors. – HH
The Honeybees are great, but why isn’t there something for the female fans? We want an all-male dance team! – Tena That is definitely an interesting idea. In fact, as someone who earned the nicknames “Sweet Feet” and “John Travolta Jr.” back when I was wowing classmates at my school dances in the 1980s – skillfully cutting the rug to classic songs by the likes of Air Supply and Robert Palmer – I think I would make an outstanding Honey-Dude. The Hornets actually did have an all-male dance team called the Bumblebees during the 2003-04 season. They were a group of lovable, big lugs, who made up for their complete lack of classical dance training with boundless chutzpah, enthusiasm and all-around show-stopping charisma. Have you ever seen that hysterical NFL Network commercial for the “NFL Players Big Man Dance Challenge?” That ad paints a pretty good picture of what Bumblebees routines were like. – HH LED BY CP3, HORNETS ARE ‘TIGHT’ Hornet Henry, The roster is tight and CP3 is the best point guard in the league. As long as you got that dude, the Hornets will be in the playoffs. Cedric Simmons will also be a great asset to the team. Yo, got to get mo’ of them games on the national television circuit! – D-flan Given that I am in my 40s and stopped being hip sometime around the inaugural Hornets season in 1988, I didn’t initially understand it when you described the roster as “tight.” But since Hornet Henry always tries his darndest to be all things to all people, I enlisted the help of my teenage daughter and son, who informed me that the phrase “tight” can be used as a synonym that roughly translates to “of high quality.” (Kids these days, with their newfangled terminology!) As an additional service, I will attempt to include as many of those contemporary words and phrases in my response to your e-mail: The Hornets have done their best to make sure the 2006-07 roster is fly and the bomb. You know who deserves props? Your boy Jeff Bower, because he’s got skills. JB is The Man for being money and putting together this tight squad and a bunch of playas who will represent this season. This team is gonna be sick when it hits the floor. I’m out. – HH NBA RULES, REFS CAN BE CONFUSING I was a below-average NBA fan until the Hornets came to OKC. My wife was not a sports fan until the Hornets came to town. Now she loves it. She and I have a problem understanding what some of the fouls are. For example, I saw the A-Train (yes I know he is gone) get whistled for a loose-ball foul while he was defending on a free-throw shot. Having a column or spot in the program to explain these rules and what refs should be thinking would help a lot. – Alex I haven’t seen it myself, but I am told that the Hornets actually did periodically include a page in their GameTime program last season that was called the “NBA’s Unique Rules.” Among the rules explained were clear-path-to-the-basket fouls, defensive three-second violations, eight-second violations and flagrant fouls, just to name a few. Maybe I can get them to add a similar feature to their Web site, but I finally got this column going after nearly a decade of pleading, so I probably shouldn’t push my luck. As far as what the referees should be thinking, I think the best place to start with those cats would be for a trained professional to give each of them a thorough eye exam (just kidding guys!). All joking aside, I have a great deal of respect for NBA refs because it is easily the most difficult sport to officiate and the number of calls they are required to make on a nightly basis is staggering. I have no problem with the job they do – that is, until they make a call against the Hornets I don’t like! In that case, Mrs. Hornet Henry usually has to talk me down. (That is assuming Mrs. Hornet Henry’s watching the game, and not just waiting for Bob Licht and his boyish good looks to appear on-screen). – HH KEEP THE FAITH, HORNETS Hornet Henry, How are you? I thought you guys did a great job this season, especially coming from that horrible hurricane. Everyone expected you guys to be worse and allow the obstacle to overcome the team, but instead you guys overcame it. Just keep the faith and never give in. – Marie That’s very sweet of you, Marie. I appreciate the e-mail but I assume that your message was intended more for the Hornets team rather than Hornet Henry. Especially since my primary contributions to the Hornets in 2005-06 consisted of tuning the TV to Cox Sports to watch the games, sitting on my couch, and attempting to break the world record for Cheetos consumption. When it was all said and done, what our boys accomplished last season didn’t result in a winning record or a playoff berth, but I Bee-lieve it was special nonetheless in many ways. After things reached the equivalent of an all-time low in 2004-05 (we were 18-64 and even immortal former Hornet Dell Curry couldn’t have saved us), the entire outlook of the Hornets has completely changed. From the drafting of ROY 2006, to the surprising emergence of D West, to vying for a playoff spot in the loaded Western Conference, last season was a tremendous step in the right direction. One of the notable things about last year was that despite the turmoil caused by Hurricane Katrina and the team having to evacuate from New Orleans, I can’t recall anyone ever making any excuses. I think the general attitude of the team was that they still had a job to do, which included winning as many games as possible and playing hard every night. There were a multitude of built-in excuses that the Hornets could have fallen back on if they had experienced a second straight abysmal season, but instead they were recognized as one of the NBA’s most surprising success stories, improving by 20 wins to 38-44. – HH SUAL’S THE MAN! This one is short and sweet – just want to say how happy I and many other Hornets fans are to have Sual Bop (Rasual Butler) re-signed. He adds a much-needed “pure shooter” element to what I believe will prove to be a great team this upcoming season. Go Sual and Go Hornets! – Jay Indeed, the re-signing of Sual Bop was a wise move, given the Hornets’ requirement for perimeter shooters. Rasual certainly had stretches last season when he was the team’s most dangerous 3-point shooter and delighted fans with his clutch baskets. I can’t wait to see Sual acknowledging yet another one of his successful 3-balls with that trademark “OK” signal he flashes with his right hand. – HH Hey everyone, thanks so much for all of the e-mails! There were so many of them I couldn’t get to every one in this humble article. Check Hornets.com soon for another edition of Hornet Henry’s Mailbag, including one fan’s surprising opinion on who he believes is really the Hornets’ best player. Until next time, Hornets fans, whose ball is it? HORNETS BALL! Hornet Henry hornethenry@hornets.com The opinions of Hornet Henry do not reflect the views of the NBA, the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets nor Hornets.com.
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