Engines ready.
Hornets-Spurs tips in San Antonio at 7 p.m. Central this evening, getting the 2009-10 season underway for both teams. Come watch the game with us at Handsome Willy's in New Orleans, or check lower in this post for the live chat Ryan will be co-hosting with Spurs' blog 48 Minutes of Hell.
Emeka Okafor has ten healthy toes and says he will play tonight, while Ike Diogu, Sean Marks and Marcus Thornton will be the inactives. The Spurs have no injuries or ailments that I'm aware of.
Other Linkage:
- Ryan: 5 things to look for tonight
- ESPN360.com: Watch the game live online
- Get hyped: Last season's top 10 Hornets plays | 2008-09 Chris Paul highlights
Spurs-related Linkage:
- TrueHoop Network: Spurs season preview
- Express-News: Spurs aren't only team that got better | For Spurs, it's a two-man game
- Rival bloggers: 48 Minutes of Hell | Pounding The Rock | Project Spurs
Live Chat
22 marvelous comments post your own
LSUhornet
10/28/09 03:21 PM
Boo for Thornton being inactive. Not surprised, but I'm disappointed. I had a feeling Thornton's gunner-ish tendencies would not make him one of Byron's favorites early on, well that and not being old. On the bright side, we'll probably be treated to a Devin Brown appearance. Oh wait, that's bad.
#1
Mark
10/28/09 05:19 PM
I'm with you LSU. I'm really trying to give coach Scott the benefit of the doubt right now, but if he doesn't even give an opportunity to the rookies (granted, Thornton is a second-rounder), then I'm pretty much through with him.
www.dogpile.com/ #2
Caleb462
10/28/09 05:33 PM
Thirded.
neworleansbasketball.blogspot.com #3
thekourt
10/28/09 07:16 PM
Okafor already has had more quality post possesions (1) than Chandler in 3 years as a Hornet.
#4
Mark
10/28/09 08:43 PM
Not taking anything away from the Spurs, but this is a poor showing on the Hornets thus far, and I'm not even watching the game.
I blame it on the editing of our primary logo last season.
www.dogpile.com/ #5
gregzheng1994
10/28/09 08:56 PM
Its gonna be a long year...
#6
urgmasdaughter
10/28/09 09:34 PM
Biggest disappointment has to be our bench. We gotta get some production from them. Didn't we address this in the offseason? Doesn't look that way in our first game...
#7
Zwie
10/28/09 09:35 PM
OH GOD THE MEMORIES...
they just keep coming... make them stop!!!!
PLZ!!!!
somebody hold me!!!!!
#8
LSUhornet
10/28/09 09:45 PM
My observations:
Need something from the 2 spot...anything.
Bobby Brown is not a good basketball player.
Paul probably won't be getting (or need to get) 5 boards a game with Okafor in
I really don't see any reason to not play the rookies at this point.
I don't see how they could possibly give us less than MoPete/Peja or the Browns.
Usually coaches will cite defense as a reason that younger players can't stay on the court, but or perimeter D was so bad I don't see how the 2 kids could make it worse. Is it too early to start a "free someone" campaign?
#9
urgmasdaughter
10/28/09 09:48 PM
@zwie- sorry, can't get out of the fetal position long enough to help!!!
#10
Lancelot
10/28/09 09:59 PM
I'm really surprised at how quickly everyone is freaking out.
Yes, it was a poor showing. Yes, there were some things that looked rough, but there were also some things that looked great.
Please take all these things into consideration.
Okafor looked great. For having not played during the preseason, he looked as solid as we could have hoped for. In comparison, Tyson finished with 0 points, and 7 boards tonight. Welcome to Nola, Emeka.
David West, and Chris Paul did what we knew they would do. It seemed like cp was a bit more frustrated than I've seen him in recent memory, but can you blame him? There were so many lapses on defense it was ridiculous. It was like Hilton's been our defensive couch during the offseason.
Posey, Peja, and Mo Pete looked slow. It seemed like Julian had more confidence, but no one else had confidence in him.
If there was one thing we could count on from the second unit last year it was at least DECENT defense. Again, our lapses, and rotations were just terrible, but this should improve as our players' familiarity with each other increases.
I didn't think Bobby Brown looked TERRIBLE, but he was pretty rough at times. At least he played with some serious energy, and I can appreciate that a whole hell of a lot.
Hopefully once everything gets a bit more fleshed out our second unit will consist of Posey, Peja, Diogu, Marks, Collinson, and Lil Buckets. I honestly would mind Bobby Brown, or Thornton playing some time in the starting lineup with CP.
I think that's all I've got.
#11
ticktock6
10/28/09 10:08 PM
I'm with Lancealot. Okafor impressed me. WAY better than expected in his first game. Having two guys with identical 18-10 lines is nice.
I just have this feeling I am going to grow to hate everyone named Brown. Look, Bobby can score better than that. We've seen him do it. But if NBA.com is correct, at one point after the half I saw he had 15 shots and everyone else on the bench had combined for 5. They were on the floor way too long for that. It is the point guard's job to help facilitate for those guys, and he didn't do his job. Period. He ended the game 9-17. Chris Paul was the only guy who took more shots than him with 18. That's just unacceptable. You can say "oh, people weren't scoring, so he took initiative." I say, he needs a yellow light, not a green. He's just not that good a player to get that many shots. He needs to be trying to involve Peja, a much more talented shooter. Also I saw at least two loose balls he just lackadaisically stared at-- he was the closest guy and could easily have gotten them but didn't bother.
I know Byron hates playing rookies, but the rookies have more talent than some of the bench. You drafted them for a reason. Suck it up and play them. Thornton would have made mistakes but he would have hustled. I can 100% guarantee he would have brought more than Devin Brown.
hornetshype.com #12
urgmasdaughter
10/28/09 10:18 PM
I do agree our starters can hang for sure and Giraffe Cafe was better than expected, for me at least. But I do think our bench was eerily reminent of last years bench - a drastic drop off! Marks/Diogu/Thorton DNP but I hope we can expect more from Posey/Peja/The Browns
#13
bniz
10/28/09 10:31 PM
Our SG situation is atrocious.
First of all, Morris Peterson is worthless. He wouldn't even see the floor if he was on another NBA team. Fact.
Who does that leave us with?
The "Brown Brothers." and.... Marcus Thornton, our apparent-4th string SG, despite the fact that he led all rookies in scoring in this year's summer league.
People are going to try to explain away Byron's failure to give minutes to Thornton by pointing to the fact that he was a second rounder.
But you know who was never even drafted? Both Bobby Brown and Devin Brown. Not a damn one of them was ever drafted. And what have either of these guys proven in their miracle-NBA careers other than the fact that they aren't difference-makers?
I understand maybe giving Bobby Brown a few more minutes than Thornton- he's shown enough flashes in his 3 year career to think he might end up being a poor man's Pargo. But Devin-freaking-Brown is getting burn over Thornton? This guy doesn't even belong in the D-League. In his 3 minutes in tonight's game, D. Brown he got called for a charge and threw a wild pass for a turnover. I would have have played better drunk. And would have done so for free.
So "What can Brown do for you?"
Answer: Nothing, other than waste an opportunity to develop a young player whose college resume alone outweighs anything these clowns have done.
All I have to say is, the front office better be ready to intervene if Scott fails to give this homegrown kid get a chance. If this is still a problem by the All-Star break, my season tickets will be promptly canceled.
#14
RocksimusMaximus
10/28/09 10:35 PM
Longtime reader, first time ...Commenter?
I've been a pretty big Hornets fan since CPs Rookie season. I was living in Norman, OK at the time, and my girlfriend wound up making the Honeybee squad... so I got to go to all the games. That year I fell in love with a team that seemed to have a never die attitude and a coach they would jump in front of a train for. They scratched and clawed to stick around in games they were supposed to get blown out in, and then D West hit something like 106 game winners that year.
What happened to that team?
I know they only won somethin like 38 games... but by God they were exciting. I just miss that attitude.
I digress...
About tonight:
Hilton Armstrong should not be getting paid to play professional basketball. Watch the backup center on ANY other playoff team... go ahead... watch. Good... then we agree. Devin Brown should only be on the roster as a 15th man... so you can threaten talented players with being replaced by Devin. Nobody wants to suffer that indignity. I saw a lot of stuff I liked out of Emeka... I was almost giddy when we started the game off with a few D west jumpers and some Emeka post action. However, I didn't see David really fighting as hard as he used to... which is too bad. Gotta get that killer instinct back. I don't think Peja is as far gone as people say he is. Bringing him off the bench is a fine idea... but if hes coming off the bench... pair him with a more passing minded Point. I'd rather have Peja take 17 shots than Bobby Brown any day of the week. I like Songalia already. Just do. Hilton and DB should be replaced by Marks and Thornton... indefinitely. I saw a lot out of JuJu that I liked. I think hes gonna do just fine once he realizes hes not gonna be banished to the end of the bench again. With Mo Pete giving us so little... there is NO excuse for not letting Thornton show everyone what he's capable of. Chris Paul can shoot LIGHTS OUT. Dudes been in the gym.
Aside from that... we got our butts whooped by a really good team on their home floor. It happens. Hopefully not often.
Sidenote... does anyone REALLY think that if we let Hilton go we'll suffer another "D'oh" moment like we did with Brandon Bass and Birdman... REALLY? Some team in Eastern Europe will be very happy to have him on their squad in about 9 months.
#15
Niall Doherty
10/28/09 10:45 PM
I'm not too concerned about the final score tonight. It was really nice seeing Okafor out there playing well. I'm sure the defense will pick up as guys get used to playing with each other more.
But there were a few things that concerned me. Bobby Brown jacking up shots was one. He took more shots than all the other reserves combined. Like ticktock said, that really shouldn't happen.
Byron continues to baffle me, playing Okafor more than the 20-24 minutes he said he would play him, despite the game being a blowout, leaving Chris Paul in there for a lot of the fourth quarter and barely giving Collison any time at all. Maybe he just wanted to give the big guns more time playing together and feeling each other out, but I'm not convinced that's the best move.
And Hilton Armstrong got eaten alive by DeJuan Blair and Antonio McDyess. Rough night for him. Blair looked like a young Larry Johnson out there. I'm hoping that kid stays healthy, because it would be a damn shame to see such a promising career cut short by injury woes.
Overall though it's just one game, so no need to freak out. The Hornets are not championship contenders this season, the Spurs are. We knew that going in.
www.ndoherty.com #16
Niall Doherty
10/28/09 10:54 PM
@RocksimusMaximus: Agreed on everything, especially the last point about Hilton. Well, maybe not the Europe thing, but I'm certain he won't end up haunting us like Bass and Birdman.
www.ndoherty.com #17
bniz
10/28/09 11:05 PM
Neil, I agree there were some bright spots (i.e. Okafur) but there is plenty of cause for concern. Since Pargo left every major commentator has opined that the Hornets have a desperate need for off-the-bench scoring.
This is not just a "significant" point of concern: remember 121-63?
Yea, that was actually just a few months ago. (It wasn't "last year", as the popular euphemism goes. )
Hell, remember our bench getting outscored 30-0 in the first half *tonight*?
Our "Big 3" are going to be great this year, but you can't expect to get more than 60-65PPG from them. Where are the rest of the points going to come from? There is simply no reliable scoring to be found on this team after them.
With that considered, you can't sit here and pretend it's not a big deal when our coach is not playing Marcus Thornton. We're talking about one of the most prolific scorers in the NCAA over the last couple years, someone who played very well in the tournament, and who put any doubt to rest about his scoring ability at the professional level by leading all rookies in scoring in the summer league. With those accomplishments, you might even see him STARTING on some teams in the NBA. And yet we're here pretending it's not a big deal that he didn't clock one minute tonight because Scott didn't like what he saw in "practice." OK.
#18
Mark
10/28/09 11:15 PM
I'm not going to hate on Bobby Brown, but where was Collison? I would assume the problem with our second unit would be ball distribution. Placing Pose, Predrag, and Hilton on the second unit is not the best option when you don't have someone who can distribute the ball well.
It's fine that we lose games this horribly. But, deja vu, I said this 365 days ago: the regular season is when you try different things. Failure with trying is not bad. But our line-up showed little ingenuity. Hilton is a bust. I'd rather see Sean Marks on the floor.
Hopefully the 'net will show a game so I can see what you guys are *itching about. And glad to see DeJuan Blair destroyed us. Prove every team that passed on you during the season wrong.
www.dogpile.com/ #19
Mark
10/28/09 11:17 PM
Oh, and RocksimusMaximus: Congrats on the girlfriend thing. hahaha
www.dogpile.com/ #20
Niall Doherty
10/29/09 08:21 AM
@bniz: Agreed to an extent about Thornton, but remember that he was a second round pick. That means every team in the NBA passed him up at least once. He may have starter potential, but it's a bit much to expect Byron to start him right off the bat.
But yes, having him inactive doesn't make any sense. I'm hoping he gets 8-15 minutes a night over the next month or so. I think he'll come along nicely with that kind of PT.
www.ndoherty.com #21
bniz
10/29/09 01:45 PM
Neill, I guess you missed this part of my earlier post...
"People are going to try to explain away Byron's failure to give minutes to Thornton by pointing to the fact that he was a second rounder.
But you know who was never even drafted? Both Bobby Brown and Devin Brown. Not a damn one of them was ever drafted. And what have either of these guys proven in their miracle-NBA careers other than the fact that they aren't difference-makers?"
#22