With the 2012 NBA draft looming and with it widely assumed that Anthony Davis will be the newest addition to the list of number one draft picks in NBA history, I figured I would rank the top number one draft picks of the lottery era; which happens to be where the Hornets are selecting. The lottery was put into place in 1985 to prevent teams from intentionally tanking a season just so that they could get the number one draft pick. Once put into place, the team with the worst record in the league has gotten the number one draft pick only four times. It's hard to rank these players as some are very young in their careers and others still have years to tack on the achievements. A lot of the last few draft picks will be ranked by potential and performance in their young careers so don't get upset if they're too far down or high on the list. So here it goes: ranking the top No. 1 Draft picks of the lottery era.

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On December 9th, 2011, the New Orleans Hornets traded Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic (from the Rockets), Lamar Odom (from the Lakers), and a pick that would become the 16th pick in this year's draft (from the New York Knicks by way of the Houston Rockets). Devastated, we convinced ourselves that losing Paul for a competitive team (even if losing Paul to the Lakers) was worth it and once the deal got held up, we suffered embarrassment and scorn from the fans outside of the New Orleans area until Chris Paul was eventually traded (for good) to the Clippers on December 15th. After acquiring Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and a pick that would end up being the 10th pick (from the Clippers by way of the Minnesota Timberwolves), we convinced ourselves it would be a long season and began waiting for tonight.

Through it all, we've put up with a lot. Just last season the NBA famously had to make the unprecedented move of acquiring the franchise from George Shinn and faced scorn from other franchises when they made a move to remain competitive in taking on the salary of Carl Landry at that deadline. The Hornets again were the punchlines of the league and of the fans in the league and we scrambled to make sense of that as well. Chris Paul and David West probably left as a result of that (or it, at least, was a huge factor) and we again waited for tonight.

The team was threatened for both relocation and contraction and was rumored to go everywhere from Kansas City to Seattle. Through it all, the city responded by meeting the attendance benchmark (doesn't that seem so long ago) and then stood strong again with the goal of 10,000 season ticket sales (in the middle of a lockout and with no ownership). Paul leaving after those goals were achieved seemed to be a slap in the face of those goals being accomplished but we remained unified through one commitment to the team. We were "in." And we still waited for tonight.

Eric Gordon got injured on the first game of the season. After that, injuries to Emeka Okafor, Chris Kaman, Trevor Ariza, Jarrett Jack, Jason Smith and Carl Landry followed and so did the losses. At one point, the Hornets won only two out of twenty six games from December 30th through February 13th. Through it all, the team remained competitive and stayed in games they had no business being in. Monty Williams was a huge reason for that and it gave a sense of pride in a team that just tried their butts off but weren't good enough on those nights. We took solace in waiting for tonight.

They followed that up by getting healthy at the end of the year and actually winning games. During that time, people wondered aloud whether that would ruin our chances at the number one pick; the one thing that would probably salvage our time spent this year with a losing team, having our franchise player ripped from us and having to deal with all of the uncertainty off the court. Even still, we waited for tonight.

Along the way, Tom Benson bought the team, the Hornets signed a new lease agreement with the New Orleans Arena, the NBA announced the All-Star Game was returning to New Orleans in 2014, the state provided the team with a tax break over the next ten years that would include money committed to renovations on the New Orleans Arena, they signed a brand new television deal to broaden their viewership in the Gulf South region and, finally, things looked good for the NBA in New Orleans. And then tonight happened.

Grabbing the top pick and locking up Anthony Davis is huge for this franchise. They finally have a legitimacy that wasn't previously around in the team's run in New Orleans. There's still that question of bringing back Eric Gordon, but with the good will that's happened to the team lately, Gordon coming back should be inevitable. The Hornets fans and the Hornets franchise deserved the good will. The talks of a conspiracy will come but let them talk. They talked before about how we couldn't support a team, how we were a joke after the league decided where Chris Paul went, how we didn't deserve a franchise over the city of Seattle. Yet here we are.

The number one pick guarantees nothing except for that on one night, all the people talking about New Orleans will now have to talk about New Orleans with the most promising prospect in years along with it. And I feel justified in waiting for tonight.

It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Gustavo Ayon.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Eric Gordon.

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Sorry about my absence of late. School's been a Blake Griffin this past week.

It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Jason Smith.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Greivis Vasquez.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Trevor Ariza.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Chris Kaman.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Rocky Balboa Marco Belinelli.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Carl Landry.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Jarrett Jack.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Xavier Henry.

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It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the next player we're going to look at is Al-Farouq Aminu.

Continue reading this post »

It's the dawning of a new era in New Orleans basketball, and with so much attention paid to matters off the court this season, I believe it's time to evaluate how our franchise performed during its time on the court. As a result, I want to begin an evaluation of the front office, the roster and the coaching staff and see how they performed, what could happen going forward, and whether or not you approve of their job this season. Without further adieu, the first player we're going to look at is Emeka Okafor.

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Tanking advocates, rejoice. The Hornets finished last night's game with Jerome Dyson and Darryl Watkins and promptly scored 6 points in the fourth quarter en route to an 84-77 loss to the rival Houston Rockets. It was definitely a rough season all around (one that saw 28 different starting line-ups and 22 different players wear the Hornets jersey), but it's still sad for it to be over. Even if the team is awful, you still develop a fondness for certain players on the roster and wish that you could see them compete more and watch them continue to grow. In that sense, I really do miss the 82 game season. But at least we got basketball as it is and it looks to be an exciting off season for the Hornets franchise. The team finally has stability at ownership for what seems like the first time since 2009. Dell Demps and Monty Williams finally get a chance to build the team in the image that they want (depending on if Eric Gordon stays or not) and don't have to worry about outside factors such as the ownership situation or the Chris Paul rumors altering their decision making. It should be a lot of fun.

And although I made light of Jerome Dyson and Darryl Watkins, it's always nice to see guys play the game so hard due to the fact that they have no guaranteed future in the league. It's what made me root for someone like Squeaky Johnson at the beginning of the year. Sure, they're not the most talented bunch and, of course, it's very unlikely that they turn into consistent rotation players for the Hornets. But it's nice to see players get their feet wet in the league and try and make a name for themselves.

Of course, that's all a consolation. No matter what we tell ourselves, we wish Chris Paul was still here. Not due to any infatuation with him, but because we wish the team was in the postseason again. It's nice to look to the future, but it's better (at least in the moment) to enjoy a victory. Listening to everybody talk about how great it was to watch the team lose to "improve draft stock" over the season really gave me a headache. It was difficult to stomach seeing the Hornets lose close games to good teams only to show up here and see people say "well, at least they didn't blow the draft position." Of course, there's extreme merit in what they're saying though. If you're going to endure a losing season, you'd like to see it result in some kind of reward at the end of the year. And as it stood, the Hornets gave us a glimpse of what could happen next year with an 8-5 record in April and still finished tied for the third worst record in the league. So, I guess, everyone got what they wanted. But don't, for one second, think that the season was considered even a mild success for the franchise. The best way to sum up the year is some words from Monty Williams.

"I knew coming in when I heard all of the speculation with Chris Paul that it wasn’t going to be a ‘normal’ two years," said Williams, harkening back to the previous offseason when rumblings of an impending Paul exit began. "I didn’t want to admit that and tried not to say it. But when I took on the job, I kind of knew that. What happened in December only solidified that.

"It’s one thing to hear the forecast. But to feel the rain, it’s a different deal. When we got to December, I felt the rain. And it was one of those deals that I realized, ‘This is going to be a tough year.’ "

"Some older guys taught me a long time ago, if you’re teaching, then you’re not winning," Williams said. "You’re only winning if you’re coaching. I felt we had to teach a lot this year, and that took away from our ability to win close games.

"Lately, I’ve felt we’ve been coaching a lot more, reminding guys as opposed to showing them the whole deal. That was the tough part: having to teach every day."

"I told our guys: `If you feel relieved right now, then you're not the kind of guys that I want to be around,"' coach Monty Williams said. "I really enjoyed being in the playoffs last year. It's a little tough right now."

Coming in the next few days (probably starting later today), I'd like to keep things as active as I possibly can with my job and with finals coming up. But I plan on talking NBA with the rest of you over the season; not just Hornets basketball. I want to put up a first round preview where everyone can lend their predictions as well. I want to do a player by player evaluation on the season and end it with what you guys want to see going forward for each player. And I want to get excited about the draft and the off season. Hope to see you guys around. And if this is the last season for the Hornets name, I know that I won't forget it!

Geaux Hornets!

Just like that, something that began on December 26th will come to an end tonight in Houston as our New Orleans Hornets visit a Houston Rockets team that they helped eliminate from the postseason. There's a lot going on tonight in the NBA, this game included, that has implications on everything from playoff seeding all the way to ping pong balls. The last night of the 2011/2012 NBA Season is sure to be a wild one.

Just focusing on our game as a whole, the Hornets, with a win, could fall the way to the 7th worst record in the league. It'd be a huge fall from when the team, at one point, had the 2nd worst record in the league this season and has long maintained the third worst all season long. Monty Williams has been an anti-tanking advocate throughout this entire year and will, certainly, have his team ready to play tonight; what will be available of that team anyways. It's frustrating to watch for some fans as it feels like the extra frustrating year will have no lottery reward for it but it should be encouraging, as well, when you see what Monty is able to squeeze out of the talent that he has.

It's been a really tough year as it is, and both teams enter tonight with some frustrations. Houston had their eyes set on the playoffs all year long and were, in my opinion, a dangerous low seed team if they were to make it. But injuries to Kevin Martin and Kyle Lowry wrecked the season (especially when Lowry tried to come back and messed with the team chemistry). It's unknown whether or not they'll go out there and play, but about a week ago the Hornets beat the Rockets in overtime and dealt them a huge blow in their postseason dreams.

A loss tonight guarantees the Hornets a finish somewhere in the 3rd-5th worst range. It's amazing to see how many teams have become advocates for tanking this season (more so than any other year I've seen) but we must feel dumb because our team is probably the only one outside of Toronto (who's awful) and Sacramento (who just has weird chemistry problems) that will seem to care tonight.

Out for the Rockets will be Kyle Lowry (hernia), Kevin Martin (shoulder), Chandler Parsons (shoulder) and Marcus Camby (back). Meanwhile, the Hornets will be without the services of Jarrett Jack (foot), Eric Gordon (back), Trevor Ariza (listed as ankle), Jason Smith (ankle), Emeka Okafor (knee) and Chris Kaman (tibia).

The games you need to also watch tonight as they have implications on the Hornets standing are:
New Jersey Nets (22-43) @ Toronto Raptors (22-43) at 6:00 P.M. Central Time
If the Hornets win tonight's game, they could very well be passed by one of these teams in the draft lottery. If the Hornets lose, they avoid worrying about that but all of the teams in the 21-23 range (and there's a lot) could be impacted by this game.

Cleveland Cavaliers (21-44) @ Chicago Bulls (49-16) at 7:00 P.M. Central Time
The Spurs could have done us a huge favor and loss last night; assuring Chicago of home court advantage throughout the playoffs but they won at Phoenix without Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Neal and even Gregg Popovich. Thanks, Phoenix! Because of that, Chicago may play everyone which would almost assure that Cleveland would lose tonight; as they'll be without Kyrie Irving. Should Cleveland win tonight, though, and the Hornets lose, it would put the Hornets in prime position for the third worst record.

Denver Nuggets (37-28) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (26-39) at 7:00 P.M. Central Time
Doesn't seem that long ago we were arguing about whether the Timberwolves pick was going to be any better than the Knicks pick, but due to injuries to Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love, it is. Should the Timberwolves lose tonight (and they may; George Karl has mentioned that they will play no matter what and take their match-up regardless of who it is) then Minnesota could finish with a top ten worst record.

Los Angeles Lakers (41-24) @ Sacramento Kings (21-44) at 9:30 P.M. Central Time
Nobody really knows what's going on in Sacramento, but this could possibly (again, for the second straight year) be the last game in Sacramento for the Kings franchise and, again, it's against the hated Los Angeles Lakers. If anyone remembers, we were pulling for Sacramento to win on the final night last night to help the Hornets avoid the Lakers; something they couldn't do. Tonight, Kobe Bryant has a chance at the NBA Scoring title and will play (which makes no sense because the Lakers already have the third seed locked up; but Mike Brown has been atrocious at managing minutes all season long so I'm not surprised) so Sacramento may try and, again, fail. But we hope they win!

For the record, tonight's all about Geaux Hornets Cavaliers, Nuggets and Kings.

A lot of the scenarios were covered in last night's game recap/pointless Mr. Wayne Keller rant but this will be an open thread or scoreboard of sorts for those who are cheering for the team to be at the bottom to partake in. We'll look at the big game going on tonight (or at least... big as it relates to this team) and who we should be rooting for going into it.

Washington Wizards (18-46) @ Cleveland Cavaliers (21-43); 6:00 P.M. Central Time
The biggest game for the Hornets as it relates to the third worst record in the league takes place in Cleveland tonight as the Cavaliers host the Washington Wizards. The Wizards are riding a four game winning streak and there was a chance they would win the rest of their games, the Hornets would lose the rest of their games, and the Hornets could get the second worst record in the league. That didn't happen and now, we need the Wizards to rediscover losing. As it stands now, if Cleveland loses their final two games, they definitely will get the third worst record in the league. However, if they win now, then the Hornets need only to lose to Houston tomorrow to control its destiny.

For the record, Eric Gordon is already officially ruled out for tomorrow's game in Houston and I'd imagine Jason Smith will sit out as well. The krewe crew that played last night will likely be the one that takes the court tomorrow. If the Hornets finish the regular season Thursday night with the third-worst record, they will draw a 15.6 chance to win Anthony Davis. If the Hornets finish with fourth-worst record, the odds of landing the No. 1 pick drops to 11.9 percent. It falls to 8.8 percent if they finish with their fifth-worst record.

Some reading material between now and the game:
Times-Pic's recap of last night's game. Nothing too noteworthy except for Monty noting that he's going to begin a conditioning program for the younger players two weeks after the season ends and expect Emeka Okafor to participate in them.

ESPN's David Thorpe believes Andre Drummond is the perfect fit for the Hornets and notes Monty Williams' player development as a big reason why (while calling Monty Williams "Byron Scott" throughout the entire article).

And Tom Ziller chastises Golden State for intentionally tanking last night against New Orleans (while the Hornets are forgiven for sitting people like Ariza and Gordon down the stretch).

Geaux Hornets Cavaliers

Very few of us actually cheer for the Hornets to win at this point (although, I'd imagine it's all epidemic from here on out). While everyone else is worried about the Jazz and Suns (fun game by the way) battling it out for the eighth and final playoff spot and worrying about who has home court here or who has home court there or who has to rest anyone here coming up, everybody is resting players down at the bottom of the NBA. Except for the Bobcats, they're just that bad. While the Hornets have spent all year pretty much with their feet kicked up, basking in the lottery glory that is the NBA's Cellar, that damn Monty Williams and the return of Eric Gordon (in brief cameos) has resulted in the Hornets, instead, winning in the month of April and playing spoilers to everyone except for the Golden State Warriors.

A Warriors fan chimed in, during the game thread, about how badly his team was going to try and tank tonight. Well the Hornets tried to one -up him, but accidentally fell into victory with an 83-81 final score. Marco Belinelli does nothing when anybody wants him to do good and seems to hit everything when anybody wants this team to lose, and rightly came up big tonight in Oakland. For the record, he's done well against his former team every time that they've played during his two years in the Big Easy. The Hornets were without their entire starting five: Jarrett Jack, Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, Jason Smith and Emeka Okafor and possibly their best bench player in Chris Kaman. Yet, they were matched by the Warriors who sat Stephen Curry, Andrew Bogut, David Lee, Nate Robinson, Dorrell Wright and Andris Biedrins (remember when he was good?). I might have even preferred to watch the injured players hobble around on the court and attempt to put on their own game, but I don't want to do a disservice to the guys that do show up and play nightly for these teams.

Let's face it, this is in an impossible situation. You suit up missing so many players, it's been such a long and hectic season and you know it's all over in a couple of days. A lot of the guys that are still playing are those playing for their futures with the team, their futures in the league and for next season's paycheck. Whatever motivation they have to get into, the Hornets players and coaching staff should be commended for still competing regardless of who puts on the jersey on a nightly basis. It's a tired thing to say, but Monty Williams deserves heaps of praise for his work with this franchise this year. I'm ecstatic that there's no rumors running around about Tom Benson wanting to shake up the front office and the coaching staff. These guys have done a job that can't simply be measured by wins and losses.

But, to most fans, it's still frustrating to see the team be in last place in the Western Conference all year and blow it at the end. It's its own little race for the teams at the bottom to try and push each other in line for the most ping pong balls. Liken it to a Great Depression line for chicken noodle soup. Any extra ping pong balls means a greater odd to get Anthony Davis, and some teams just don't care how bad they look in getting the part. With one game left for most teams, here's how it stands. Charlotte has clinched the worst record in the league (and possibly the worst percentage in a regular season in NBA history). With the Hornets win tonight, the Washington Wizards have clinched the second worst record. As it currently stands, the Hornets and Sacramento Kings are tied for the third worst record at 21-44. The Kings, however, won the season series and hold the unfortunate tiebreaker. So as it stands, the Hornets still have the third worst record in the league. If they lose against Houston or if Sacramento wins, they will be guaranteed the worst record in the Western Conference. However, Cleveland is sitting at 21-43. And although we want to point and laugh at Sacramento for holding the tiebreaker with us, we hold the tiebreaker with Cleveland. So if Cleveland loses out (they play the Wizards tomorrow), they will be sitting with the third worst record in the NBA.

The Hornets no longer control their own destiny. They must lose and root for other losses to give the fans what they truly want. But seeing the way the team has competed this year and all without ever being fully healthy, what's wrong with two top ten picks anywhere in that vicinity? And that's the beauty of a draft lottery. Only one out of every three times does the worst team in the NBA ever get the first overall pick. Maybe the Hornets efforts and competitive nature will be rewarded with good spirits on the night the draft order is revealed.

Until then, there's one game left, people. Enjoy what's left of this season and what could be the last game for the New Orleans franchise with the Hornets name.

Tonight, the Hornets will not play the role of spoilers unless it is their own lottery chances that they're spoiling. Two of the worst teams in the Western Conference meet up tonight in Oakland as our beloved New Orleans Hornets visit the Golden State Warriors. The teams have fought two other times this season with both teams losing to the visitor. The Hornets, coming off of a frustrating loss to the Clippers, have spent the past couple of days complaining about that and you have to wonder if they'll either be distracted by that going forward or if they'll use that to play hard tonight. Time will tell.

The Warriors entered the season with a new Head Coach who promised a commitment to defense and a postseason birth. Well, Golden State is 23-41 and they rank 27th out of 30 teams in the NBA in Defensive Rating. They specifically traded Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks to tank their season so they could retain their top 7 protected draft pick that was given to the Utah Jazz. Bogut and Stephen Curry can provide a great tandem moving forward if they ever get healthy, but that's a big if. And neither is playing tonight.

For the Hornets, Carl Landry saw reduced playing time in the loss to the Clippers and Monty has specifically stated that he wanted to limit the minutes of Eric Gordon in these last two games as well. We also know that Trevor Ariza has been excused from the team on this final road trip. Who knows what that implies going forward, but it's safe to say that tonight will be a game that only fans of both teams should care about.

The official injury report for the Golden State Warriors lists Andrew Bogut (ankle), Stephen Curry (ankle) and David Lee (groin/hip) are out, Andris Biedrins (concussion) is doubtful, and Nate Robinson (hamstring) and Dorell Wright (ankle) are listed as questionable. For the New Orleans Hornets, Jarrett Jack (foot), Emeka Okafor (knee), Chris Kaman (tibia) and Trevor Ariza (being too old to play for a bad team) will definitely be out for New Orelans.

Live in Staples tonight, the New Orleans Hornets visit the Staples Center to take on new-found rival the Los Angeles Clippers. Obviously, much could be made about the match-up again between Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets, but following the two times that the Hornets have already matched up against Chris Paul, that particular storyline seems a bit played out. Instead, it's just a match-up between the Hornets and a team that's vying for a particular playoff spot. Depending on the result of the Lakers game today, the Clippers still have a legitimate shot at the number three seed in the Western Conference and avoiding the Memphis Grizzlies. The Hornets, spoilers here down the stretch, look to give the Clippers some problems as well.

Some could be made about Eric Gordon returning to the Clippers. He was injured for the previous two match-ups between the Clippers and Hornets and still has seemed bitter about the way things ended with the Clippers prior to his trade for Chris Paul. However, Monty Williams has made it a point to say he won't play Gordon or Landry much down the stretch because he wants to continue to expand the minutes for his younger guys. So who knows how much revenge he'll really get or how well the Hornets will play without their two best offensive players. It's also worth noting that this is the first time that Jason Smith and Blake Griffin will play each other since their first fateful encounter (Smith was suspended for the last game). But I doubt too much will be done there on that end.

For the Clippers, they will be without Chauncey Billups (Achilles), have Blake Griffin (neck) and Reggie Evans (illness) listed as questionable and Chris Paul (thumb) listed as probable. For the Hornets, they will be without Jarrett Jack (foot), Emeka Okafor (knee), Chris Kaman (tibia) and Trevor Ariza (being under contract next year).

As always, Go Hornets!

The Hornets' home finale at the New Orleans Arena is tonight as they welcome the division rival Houston Rockets into The Hive. Coming off of a very disappointing effort last night against the Grizzlies, the Hornets look to rebound against Houston, who is in the middle of a very difficult stretch of their own. As it stands, the Rockets have fallen completely out of the playoff picture and are a half game behind the Utah Jazz for the eight and final playoff spot. They're also fresh off of being demolished in the fourth quarter by Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks last night and are looking to get back to their winning ways.

The Hornets, meanwhile, are still pushing to finish the season strong after a long stretch of disappointment from about January to March. Even with last night's loss, they've won five out of their last seven games. I'd also imagine they held Eric Gordon back last night in order for him to play in the home finale tonight against Houston (got to sell those season tickets). Jerome Dyson is coming off of a career high 24 point performance last night and the rest of the Hornets will look to continue to play spoiler tonight versus Houston.

The Rockets got both Marcus Camby and Samuel Dalembert back last night for their match-up versus Dallas but will still be without former Hornet Kevin Martin (shoulder). The Hornets seem to switch it up all the time with their injury list but the official report as of now is that they will be without Jarrett Jack (foot), Chris Kaman (tibia), Emeka Okafor (knee) and Trevor Ariza (for being under contract for next season). Eric Gordon is listed as questionable with his sore back. Chris Johnson is no longer on the injury list for the Hornets with his concussion because he's no longer with the team.

Go Hornets!

Our beloved New Orleans Hornets (enjoy it while it lasts) continue on the road tonight to take on the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum. The Hornets enter the game having won four straight and five of six; easily their best stretch of the season. Memphis, meanwhile, just beat Minnesota (thank you) to get back to their winning ways as they've won 11 of their last 15 games as well. I suppose, in essence, this makes it a match-up between two of the hottest teams in the league.

New Orleans, still with nothing to play for, continues to compete on a nightly basis and seems to enjoy playing the role of spoiler. They just defeated this same Grizzlies team on Sunday 88-75 at the New Orleans Arena. In that game, the Hornets forced 21 Memphis turnovers and held them to one of their lowest scoring outputs for the season. Essentially, they shut down everyone except for Rudy Gay. But the Hornets, although coming off a win, are coming off an ugly offensive performance of their own at Charlotte last Sunday. Something's gotta give.

For the Grizzlies, Marco Gasol still played against the Timberwolves coming off of a knee bruise he suffered in the match-up against the Hornets, but they will still be without Darrell Arthur (ACL). For the Hornets, it changes on a nightly basis, but the team is supposed to be without Jarrett Jack (foot), Emeka Okafor (knee), Chris Johnson (concussion), and Chris Kaman (tibia).

May not be able to say it much longer so I'll say it as often as I can: Geaux Hornets!

I was born and raised in what is referred to as the "Gateway to New Orleans"; a small town in Southeast Louisiana named Ponchatoula. For the first major part of my life, I grew up in that area that was void of basketball; which was always my first love. One of my earliest memories with basketball is watching Alonzo Mourning hit that game winning shot against the Boston Celtics in the 1993 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. For my sixth birthday, I was rewarded with a purple Larry Johnson jersey and a teal Muggsy Bogues jersey, my two favorite players, and I was hooked. Hornets basketball was all I ate, slept and breathed for a huge period of my childhood. And as I matured and my basketball tastes developed, I still stuck with the team in the face of Michael Jordan seemingly always showing off against his hometown team and despite the team's inability to ever make huge noise in the postseason. It was just an affection for a team that's so rare in so many people. It had nothing to do with regional affiliation, it was just a boy cheering for his favorite team. It's what makes sports so personal for so many people. You develop attachments to teams and players who don't know you exist and you do so for no personal reason; only to grow up liking that team and only that team.

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Well on a night where the two worst teams in their respective conferences matched up in Charlotte, one team had to win and the Hornets stumbled into victory lane by the time tonight's game ended with a 75-68 victory in Charlotte. Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman were added to the list of DNPs and somehow the team managed to score 75 points. And that was enough to beat Charlotte. It wasn't pretty.

There weren't many highlights tonight and I feel that if you had a drinking game that required you to take a sip every time a shot clanged off the rim, that you won't be able to read this recap until tomorrow morning. The two teams themselves combined for 49 made field goals tonight and 20 total points in the third quarter. I think the biggest shot of the night was Bobcats announcer Dell Curry looking at the Bobcats' shot chart in the third quarter and remarking how it looked like his junior high Math tests. It wasn't pretty.

In closing, tonight was just a weird night in general. The fans who cheer for the Hornets to tank for the lottery pick will be upset that they won, and those of us who are pulling for the team to still win can't even really be proud of the victory. It wasn't pretty.

Welcome back, Hornets fans. Tonight, the Hornets square off with the Charlotte Bobcats in a match-up that used to have worst record in the league implications. Sadly enough, Charlotte has all but wrapped that up. With one of the worst possible teams in recent memory, the Bobcats players and former Hornets coach Paul Silas play to the best of their abilities, I guess, but simply aren't very good. The Hornets, meanwhile, have been really good lately (much to the chagrin of some Hornets fans). Coming off of the first three game winning streak all season, the Hornets went 4-1 on the team's recent five game home stand and are riding a ton of momentum into the place they used to call home.

While the Hornets can longer match the Bobcats record for futility this season, they could have a more embarrassing mark if they were to be the only team that the Charlotte Bobcats beat twice in this ugly season for them. The Bobcats won in New Orleans earlier on the year when a Trevor Ariza dunk attempt was blocked at the rim to close out the evening. The last match-up between the two teams was supposed to feature the first time two Mexican born players ever faced off in a game, but Eduardo Najera was unable to play due to injury. He will be unavailable again tonight, giving this game no ultimate significance.

For the Bobcats, DeSagana Diop (Achilles), Corey Maggette (Achilles) and Eduardo Najera (skull) are all out. For the Hornets, Jarrett Jack (foot), Emeka Okafor (knee) and Chris Johnson (concussion) will be out as well.

Geaux Hornets!