Martin C. Sumners

At Ease in the Big Easy
When it comes to basketball, it's all good in the Big Easy right about now. In less than a month, the city will host the 57th All-Star Game and All-Star Weekend. But I had to do a double take when I recently read NBA.com standings and noticed perched atop the Southwest Division were the New Orleans Hornets. Un huh, the Hornets at 28-12 are above the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.

Late last week, Bob Licht of Hornets.com in his column In the Lane noted that the team was off to their best start in franchise history. That prompted him to compare this year's team with the best team in the franchise's history, the 1996-97 squad led by Muggsy Bogues and Glen Rice. In some ways, he concluded the teams are very similar.

In the Official Blogspot of the New Orleans Hornets, The Big Easy Buzz, Jim Eichenhofer, spreads the news about all the honey-like love the team is receiving from around the basketball media world. Fox Sports.com tabs the Hornets as the No. 1 team as does Sporting News.com. And ESPN.com, SI.com and NBA.com all have the team in their top five.

One of the big reasons that the team is playing well is of course the play of dynamic point guard Chris Paul. But many insiders see another reason being Tyson Chandler. In the In the Lane column referenced above, Licht, writes that Chandler is turning into one of the greatest steals in recent NBA trade history. NBA.com was ahead of the game and has had the 7-1 center blogging for the better part of the year. In his latest installment, Chandler recognizes that the Hornets are a good team. In between bouncing and dunking the ball, Chandler blogs about quality time he spent on his daddy-daughter date and his Rebound to Rebound community program.