New Orleans 6-foot-10 center Sean Marks will be providing periodic blog updates this season. Now in his 10th season, the 33-year-old Marks was the first native of New Zealand to play in the NBA. Marks compiled the most productive season of his NBA career in 2008-09, his first campaign with the Hornets.

March 1, 2010
PLAYOFF STRETCH
It’s been a crazy last month and now with only a little over 20 games remaining in the regular season, we find ourselves just out of the playoffs in ninth place.

I guess these days could be referred to as the “dog days” of the NBA season. It’s a period in the season in which many teams struggle to remain healthy, some have had playoff dreams already shattered due to record or injuries and find themselves with not much hope on the postseason horizon. Well that does not apply to this Hornets team, organization nor fan base. Many could write off our postseason chances due to record and injuries, however this past month’s games prove that there is fight in the Hornets. In a Western Conference that is so close, with the standings changing on a nightly basis, this season is really going to come down to the end.

Unless you have been living under a rock, or perhaps still feeling the effects of the Saints’ extraordinary Super Bowl win, or still struggling to wake up from your Mardi Gras coma, you know that the Hornets have been without their star point guard. Having Chris sidelined for the past two weeks has forced the team to rally and find ways to grind games out and to win in his absence. It’s been tough and looking at our upcoming schedule it’s not going to ease up any time soon. The good news is that Chris will return. In his absence we have all witnessed some great performances from an array of guys – namely both rookies have really made names for themselves. They have produced several highlights, including a triple-double from Darren and a career-high 37 points from Marcus. Obviously David has been his normal steady self and has had to carry most of the load, as we also lost Darius to an ankle sprain.

As I write this we are coming off undoubtedly one of the best wins of this season. On Friday in front of a great crowd at the Hive the Hornets handed the Magic a rare loss. It was great to see the guys rally from a large deficit and keep fighting until the bitter end. There was another huge individual performance from D West, who hit the 40-point mark for the second time this year. Also it was the first chance for the newest member of the team, Aaron Gray, to step out on the floor and really contribute. Aaron – more commonly known in the locker room as “Tiny,” played a terrific second half in really making life tough for Dwight Howard.

Injuries are certainly part of the game and as all of our fans know we have had our fair share this year. Fingers are crossed that we all remain healthy and the guys that are currently out return soon so the team will be at full strength for our final stretch before the playoffs.

A MONTH OF CELEBRATION
Outside of basketball this past month has been somewhat of a blur. It seemed that every time I turned around there was a parade going by, beads being thrown, black and gold was everywhere, “Aints” were being retired and “Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints” was blaring. I must say it was an incredible celebration and no city deserved it more or could have done it better.

My kids had black-and-gold days at school – this was prior to the Super Bowl victory, when school hours were curtailed to make way for the parade and I’m assuming a late Sunday night. Saints players are now household names in our house.

This was also the first Mardi Gras that I have been a part of. It is really incredible, the amount of planning and time that goes into the parades and festivities. We braved the chill and made it to four or five parades. The kids had the time of their lives; they only got a couple of beads to their face and no severe injuries, so a pretty good outcome considering we have bags and bags of beads at home.

I also wanted to mention the best restaurants I have tried lately, Stella and Cafe Atchafalaya. Incredible raw oysters at Stella, and I really enjoyed the shrimp and grits at Cafe Atchafalaya.

Catch you all at the Hive this week! Cheers.

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December 17, 2009
Well, so far it’s been a pretty wild ride for Hornets players, the organization and fans alike. Unless you have been on a deserted island, you would know that there have been a number of changes – some major (replacing Coach Scott) – and a few injuries, including Chris’ ankle being a major one and losing Ike for the year – a heartfelt one.

There have also been new additions to the Hornets who have played key roles, namely Emeka and Darius and our two rookies showing that they both deserve to play in this league. There have been some dramatic last-minute wins at home and some great comebacks. Also some tough loses along the way that have raised questions. There seems to never be a dull moment around here.

I believe I speak for all the guys in saying that we are still not playing to the level that we expect of ourselves or each other, especially for a full 48 minutes. It is clear that we are playing a lot better than early in the year – wins and losses don’t always tell the whole story but team morale does. After a pretty shaky start to our 2009-10 campaign and also having played the toughest schedule in the NBA through our first 16 or so games, the team now is closing in on the .500 mark. We could look back and make a number of excuses as to why our record is what it is. I believe that none of us want to make these excuses, but would rather learn from the past not dwell on it. With continued hard work and a little luck (no more injuries), we will have a great remainder to this season.

A few personal highlights from my eyes both on and off the court:

What I’m looking forward to:
To all the fans, have a Merry Christmas and thanks for all your support – we really value it and it has not gone unnoticed.

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BACK IN NEW ORLEANS

Hi Hornets fans, just want to let you all know how excited I am to be back in the Crescent City and also to be blogging throughout the upcoming season. I was thrilled to hear that I would be getting the opportunity to come back to New Orleans after a great experience last season. I had a great summer back in California, where my family and I make our offseason home, however as we all know it was a little longer than we would have all liked. Speaking for all the returning players, guys are excited to get back on the court and get the lingering bad taste of last season’s finish out of our mouths. During these periodic blogs I hope to give you a little insight on life as a Hornet both on the road and at home.

I’ve been eager to relocate my family down south in order to get settled in as soon as possible. Relocating and uprooting family members is never an easy thing, however it is something that comes with the nature of this job. Last year was difficult at times due to the fact that my family was unable to move out to New Orleans, since my wife was forced to have back surgery. It was also tough to play Daddy from across the country. I can imagine that it was probably a little confusing for the kids too. One such story sums this up: On my return to California for the summer and being reunited with the family, on one occasion where I was telling my youngest son to not do this or that, he approached me a few minutes later and asked “if I could go back to my house in New Orleans.” I could only laugh and give him a big hug after his innocent remark.

My wife continues to let me know she could have never imagined how welcoming and generous “New Orleanians” are, from our new neighbors to other parents and teachers at our boys’ school. I have to remind her that this is just down south hospitality, something I felt during my first year here.

As my two boys established friends and became comfortable with their schools in California, it was a difficult decision to make the move, however I was told at a point last season by Anita Scott that “home is where Daddy is” and that was the way the Scott family managed it through Coach Scott’s playing days. What she said was something I took to heart and made a lot of sense. On the other side of things I’m glad that I have my boys here with me, since they thoroughly enjoy going to games and yelling and screaming with the rest of the Hornet faithful.

On that note I will sign off and catch you all a little later.

Cheers.