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The following update came from the Hornets last night:

Hornets guard Chris Paul, who has been out the past five weeks due to left knee surgery, was medically cleared to begin running at half speed yesterday.

Hornets forward James Posey missed last night's game against Denver with flu-like symptoms. He did not travel with the team to Phoenix and is out for tomorrow's game. He is questionable for Monday's game against the Clippers.

Hornets center Sean Marks will undergo right shoulder surgery on Tuesday morning and will be out the remainder of the season.

Hornets forward Peja Stojakovic, who has missed the past two games with a lower abdominal strain, will remain out for a minimum of the next 10 days.

Yeah.  I said it.  It's not Chris Paul.  It's not D-West.  It's Emeka Okafor.

Now, before any of you blow a gasket, I'm not saying Emeka Okafor is better than Chris Paul.  That's not even a contest.  What this post is about is depth and skill sets, and in my opinion there is one player that the Hornets have to have on the floor - and playing well - for the Hornets to have any chance of winning.  That player is Emeka Okafor.

Yes, Chris Paul is amazing, but Darren Collison did alright with Paul out in running the team.  He can at least dribble, pass, defend and drive a little.  Behind David West is Darius Songaila, who really is David West Lite.  He shoots the same, assists the same, turns the ball over the same, but shoots less often and rebounds a little worse.  Then there is Peja Stojakovic and Devin Brown and the "talent" behind them.   The Wing positions are so fungible I'm convinced one of our Wings could sink into the bayou and be eaten by a catfish and we'd not even notice. (Except for Thornton.  I'd be out there noodlin' for that damn catfish if he ever even thought about eating Lil' Buckets.)

Behind Okafor, however, is a complete dearth of his primary talents: rebounding and shotblocking.   David West is the teams second best rebounder, with a weak 12.1% rebound rate.  Among power forwards, that ranks 48th out of 68 . . . and it gets worse: Other than Okafor and West, the Hornets have a grand total of one player with a rebound rate in double digits: Julian Wright, with 11.8(4th among SF) . . . and he only plays 7 minutes a game.

That means, of course, if Okafor is struggling, there is no one else on the team capable of picking up the slack, and the wins-loss numbers tell the tale.  The Hornets have two primary correlations between individual production and wins-loss:

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After watching this game, I'm torn.  On one hand, for the first time this season, I turned off a game after a loss and I was fine with it.  Not only was I fine with it, I felt like I had hope that the season would turn around for the first time.  Yes, Paul was hurt and left the game.  It didn't ruffle that kernel of hope.

On the other hand, I felt a small pit of anger in my stomach.  Scott not playing the rookies to this point was criminal.  Criminal.

Okay, now that I've said that, I'll move on to the bullets:

• The first change in the rotation by Bower was using Sean Marks instead of Hilton Armstrong as the first big off the bench, and instantly it paid dividends.  On his first play in the game, he tipped a rebound away from both Blazer's big men to West.  On the third, he set a wicked back pick on Andre Miller, getting Thornton open for a wide open shot in the corner.  That's right, an off-the-ball pick.  Wow, I hadn't seen that in a while.  Marks was the primary reason the Hornets battled the Blazers to a draw on the boards in the first half, and his foul trouble keeping him out in the second half led to the Hornets being crushed in that department.  He matters.
  
  
• Marcus Thornton stepped onto the floor on fire and scored a dozen different ways tonight.  Yes, he forced a couple shots in the fourth, but it didn't matter at all considering everything else he did.  8-15 FG, 2-5 3PT, 2-2 FT, 20 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal in 24 minutes.  It was great to see someone making their open shots - and he and Collison ran the break so skillfully I shed a single glistening tear.  One thing is certain, once Thornton gains some respect from the refs, a little NBA strength and a little more experience, he's going to be drawing fouls left and right.  The guy drives without fear, and his back cuts are swift.
  
  
• Collison started off pressing and a little shaky.  He opened with a couple bad shots, but after an early timeout, I saw Posey take him aside on the sidelines, patting at the air, and clearly telling him to settle down.  From then on, the rookie played well, particularly defensively as he continuously put pressure on the Blazer's ballhandlers, and kept in Bayless' and Miller's shirts.  He was clearly irritating Miller at points too.  Haven't seen that kind of pressure since Pargo was in town - and Collison is no gunner like Pargo.  Collison finished with 18 points on 7-14 shooting.  4-4 FT, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals and continuous pressure by bringing the ball up quickly.

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I didn't watch it.  I half listened as I worked on other things.  I'm glad I was distracted.  I'm also glad it's pre-season so I don't have to get upset over it.

Some random observations:

• When the third quarter came to a close the Magic already had 100 points and more than half their shots had been three pointers.(24 of 47)  Their percentages? 62.5% from deep, 64.6% from the field.  The three point barrage had been so withering that Dwight Howard had been required to take exactly one shot from the field.  He made it, of course.
  
  
• During that three-quarter long barrage, the Hornets responded with a tremendous 36% from the field as anyone not named Chris Paul, David West or Julian Wright proved themselves unfamiliar with the whole "efficient scoring" thing.

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I got to record several video interviews at Media Day today. I missed out on some of the big names when my memory card filled up, and the camera work is like something out of Cloverfield. Regardless, enjoy...

Jeff Bower

My favorite interview of the day. Among the questions I asked:

• Do you think the Hornets are now a tougher team and better equipped to handle a physical team like Denver?
• Do the Hornets use advanced statistics?
  
• Do you find any value in measurements such as PER and Win-Shares?
• Do the Hornets really have a smaller front office staff than most other teams in the NBA?
  
• What other GM or front office most impresses you?

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