Posts tagged ‘New Orleans Hornets’

[Heaven is a playground in Oklahoma City--and perhaps Wizards fans will get there, one day.
Hat-tip SpreeGoogs.]

A word of warning: I’m Truth About It’s resident pessimist. You may remember me from such posts as “Memo to NBA: Contract the Wizards” and “Clearly, God Hates DC Basketball Fans.” (OK, I made that second one up.)

But I don’t feel like a pessimist today. Just a realist.

Kyle and John have artfully explained why the big Emeka Okafor-Trevor Ariza-Rashard Lewis deal is a net good for the Wiz.

Still, I think we need to go by a simple question: What Would Oklahoma City Do?

Answer: Not this.

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Well, we had a trade.

On an off day between NBA Finals Games 4 and 5, involving the team formerly owned by the NBA, the New Orleans Hornets, and the model of NBA asphyxiation in the nation’s capital, the Washington Wizards, we had a trade.

Between the two cities in the U.S. I love most, we had a trade.

With Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor coming to D.C. in exchange for Rashard Lewis and the 46th overall pick in 2012, we had a trade.

Lot’s of questions, let’s FAQ… with myself (@Truth_About_It), along with some helpful additions from TAI’s John Converse Townsend (@JohnCTownsend), as well as some thoughts on the incoming Hornets from Jason Calmes, writer for the ESPN TrueHoop blog, Hornets 24/7 (@hornets247). Read more »

McGee vs. Duncan in the Phone Booth? Not going to happen. [photo: K. Weidie]

Crafty spin moves by Dirk in D.C.? Don’t count on it. [photo: K. Weidie]

The Monday after Thanksgiving, just two days after David Stern and Billy Hunter posed together in the middle of the night indicating that a handshake deal was bringing back in the NBA, I found myself face-to-face with a co-worker. Prior to that deal, this co-worker would pick my brain daily, seeing if I knew when the NBA would resume. I’d refer him to ESPN True Hoop for daily coverage, and I’d do my best to tell him to stay optimistic, but I ultimately I was just as clueless.

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I spent some time last night charting the Wizards responsible for each point scored by the New Orleans Hornets as Washington fell 97-89, putting their road record on the season at 0-25. Some of the blame assignment certainly comes via judgment calls, but from watching some plays countless times, I think the chart below gives an accurate survey of the landscape.

As you can see, exactly which Wizard was responsible for how many points a specific Hornet scored is listed. The PA column indicates how many total points were allowed by each Wizard on the night; PPM indicates the points allowed per minute of court action — sure, points per possession might paint a more accurate picture, but all Wizards fans have is time … so seeing what a player does with his time on the court defensively still tells a story.

[Link to Wizards defensive charting vs. the Hornets, 2.1.2011] Read more »

One of the difficulties of working at a relatively new TrueHoop Network blog, as opposed to a major newspaper or a well-known website, is the ability to nail down good relationships with actual NBA players.  Veterans like Michael Lee, David Aldridge and Marc Stein, have been around long enough to cultivate solid, trustworthy relationships with certain players, and they are granted more access  because of their well-known employers (The Washington Post, NBA.com/TNT, ESPN.com).  When you’ve only been around for only three years like I have it is more difficult–but not impossible.

My quest to get to know some of the NBA players a bit better has been even more difficult this year, because I mainly cover the opposing locker rooms (thus the title of this particular post).  I see the Wizards players in passing, and if I’m lucky I’ll get a head nod or a “What’s up man?”, but nothing close to a substantive conversation that produces some juicy bloggable information.  When I’m in the opposing locker room, the beat writers for whatever team is in town that particular night usually have a monopoly on those close relationships–as they should.  Players are friendly to me, and they are willing to answer questions, but I can never really get over that hump where they are comfortable enough to truly talk to me–with one exception.

I first caught up with New Orleans Hornets forward, David West in March of 2009, when they took on the Wizards.  I had seen him talking to Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson (Dr. Dyson is a minister, a professor, a radio talk show host, and he has written numerous books on race and cultural matters in this country.  He’s also a frequent guest on the HBO Show, “Real Time With Bill Maher), and I wanted to ask him what they talked about.  Before disappearing in the training room for treatment, West explained that he admired Professor Dyson, and he just wanted to finally meet the man.  He thanked me for noticing, and we parted ways.

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Limbs get tangled all the time in the NBA. But for some reason, when it involves tangled arms, you can depend on a two things: arms from two opposing players will become inexplicably intertwined so fast that you’d think elastic were involved, and the result is going to be tension filled until there is separation.

Sometimes the tangles and locks are unintentional. Sometimes the maneuver is enacted by a foe with the simple intent of getting under someone’s skin by quite literally, getting under their skin … knowing that referees are more likely to see and respond to retaliation rather than the instigator’s act. And the instigator can be an offensive or defensive player.

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{Wall vs. Paul - photo: K. Weidie}

I’ve been a Philadelphia Eagles for over 25 years. I’ve endured ups, downs, mediocrity and everything else associated with loving a team too much. But because I’ve lived in Washington for most of those years, and NFL League Pass is still a relatively new invention, I’ve seen more way more Redskins games than I have Eagles games — which means I saw plenty of Joe Gibbs in his heyday.

One of the staples of the Gibbs era was his ability to make halftime adjustments based on what the other team was or was not doing. Part of this ability was based on his stellar assistant coaching staff, and part of it was that Gibbs often paid attention to even the smallest of details.

New Orleans Hornets coach Monty Williams is from the Washington D.C. area (Oxon Hill, Maryland to be exact), so maybe he was somehow inspired by Gibbs last night, because his team’s second half play was key to the Hornets’ 92-81 victory.

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Andray Blatche’s play is becoming a thorn in the Wizards’ side. Sure, he puts up numbers here and there. Sure, he’s only whatever young age people keep citing as an excuse. He’s also induced boos from the home crowd on more than one occasion … and for good reason.

I’ve seen grown men, eyes reduced to glowing red from rubbing in despair at his ineptitude on defense (and I wasn’t looking in the mirror). It’s an abomination to the game of basketball, I say. And that’s why I’m here, simply as a concerned person for the game. There will be more to dissect and observe about 7-Day Dray’s defense, but let’s take a look at the equivalent of 4,000 words about his bad help defense on a particular hand-off in Saturday night’s 92-81 Wizards loss to the New Orleans Hornets.

Blatche’s man, David West, is in hand-off mode to Rashard Lewis’ man, Trevor Ariza. Lewis is trying to stick his hand in there to keep this from happening … and maybe Lewis’ own defense got him a bit behind the 8-ball in this situation, but it looks like Blatche will need to help nonetheless.

Yet, Blatche has yet to move his feet in this next shot.

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[Hilton Armstrong with his last NBA team, the Houston Rockets.]

Hilton Armstrong you say? Hilton Armstrong I say.

The Wizards have signed him to a 1-year deal for the veteran’s minimum of $992,680. I suspected something might be up as I stood watching the conclusion of the Mavericks-Bucks game, awaiting the Wizards-Clippers game. Armstrong was exchanging pleasantries with Wizards personnel, including Flip Saunders and VP of basketball administration Tommy Sheppard, that were much beyond a “Hi, how ya doin’?” Not long after, news of the signing made its way around the gym.

How should you feel about Armstrong? Well, let’s read a bit of what others have written about him.

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This is Capt. Jeff Bower, been with the ‘force for years … too long to count. He was a Lieutenant forever, but then finally said, “I’m getting too old for this sh*t,” the prerequisite about of times and Bam! … he was promoted to Captain. You’ll never find him without a wad of chaw tucked in his cheek … Chattanooga Chew is the preferred brand, but he’ll settle for Brown’s Mule should the situation become dire. Cap’n Bower has often impressed with his ability to drink coffee and eat donuts while he’s working on a fat tobacci wad. Otherwise, he holds the distinction of being from Pennsylvania while also looking like he’s from Pennsylvania.

In another life, Bower is the current head coach/GM of the New Orleans Hornets and coached Rik Smits at Marist.

This is Rufus McKenzie. Rufus has looked the same exact way since the sixth grade — haircut, body-type and all — except that he’s now bigger, much bigger. Rufus was “discovered” outside of a Louisiana Wal-Mart where he was accepting a challenge to see how many shopping carts he could pick up at once. He could tell ya how many he lifted, but then he’d have to kill ya. Ever since, Rufus has been a bodyguard/roadie on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. He’s also holds the Arkansas state record for amount of Lil’ Smokies consumed in one settin’ (that’s “sitting” for you city-folk). Again, he could tell ya how much he ate, but he’d have to kill ya. Read more »