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Make room in the hive A long, hard road leads to Charlotte's bandwagonPosted: Tuesday April 02, 2002 12:24 PM
I've always tried to be honest in this space, so let me tell you why I've written nary a word about the Charlotte Hornets thus far this season. Because I didn't care. I didn't care about the poor-mouthing being done by co-owners George Shinn and Ray Woolridge, whose massive egos might have kept Michael Jordan from joining the Hive fold a couple years ago. (Charlotte is where Jordan really wanted to be.) I didn't care why fans were staying away from Charlotte Coliseum in droves even before S&W threatened to move. I didn't care whether the City of New Orleans, a better Arlo Guthrie folk song than a basketball town, showed the requisite civic support to prove it really wanted an NBA team once again. Tell you the truth, I didn't really care about the players, who seemed to be Baron Davis, his headband and a bunch of other guys who have been around a while without leaving much of an imprint. But with the season winding down, and the possibility of the weirdest, most awkward playoff promotion in history looming, I admit that I now care about the Hornets. First of all, the team is incredibly resilient and has a lot more to it than just Davis, who, on those evenings when Jason Kidd is laying brick, is the best point guard in the East. (Davis just nudges Cleveland's Andre Miller for that second spot.) David Wesley might be among the most overlooked of players at the glamour position of shooting guard but he's an ideal complement to The Baron. Jamal Mashburn and P.J. Brown are what they've been throughout their careers -- the former a prolific scorer, the latter a reliable rebounder and enforcer. And big guy Elden Campbell, though never mentioned among the top centers in the league, has been getting it done for 11 seasons. The bench (George Lynch, Jamaal Magloire and Lee Nailon ) is as good as any in the East, and Paul Silas is and always has been an underrated coach, a guy whose teams always finish better than they start. Silas's Hornets were 14-4 in their final 18 games in '99, 14-2 in their final 16 in '00, and 21-11 down the stretch last season. This edition is no exception. Going into a matchup with the Knicks in New York Tuesday night, Charlotte is 8-2 in its last 10 games. Silas's deft touch has kept together a team that has faced not only significant offcourt distractions but also various injuries to Davis, Mashburn and Wesley. And won't it be enjoyable watching the front office engineer a marketing campaign for the playoffs should the move to New Orleans be approved, which it might be before season's end? Here are a few possibilities for slogans. COME WATCH US NOW BECAUSE WE WON'T BE HERE SOON! WE DON'T REALLY LIKE PLAYING HERE BUT YOU SHOULD COME SEE US ANYWAY! Playoff ticket schemes are limitless. BUY SIX TICKETS AND HELP US PACK THE U-HAUL! ONE GAME AT THE COLISEUM EARNS YOU THREE NIGHTS IN NEW ORLEANS! This would be sad if it wasn't so funny, and it's going to get funnier the further the Hornets advance. Make no mistake about it: They can get to the Finals, particularly if they avoid a 4-5 first-round matchup against Orlando, another team with the potential to pull the biggest surprise in the postseason, if winning the East can be called a surprise. Wesley says the hubbub over the team's move has not affected Charlotte's play. "Whether we move or not, or fans come to the games or not," he said, "we want to win." But the fact is that the Hornets are a sad 17-19 at The Hive, and a conference-best 21-15 on the road. They deserved a better fate this season, including more favorable attention from people like me. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA beat for the
magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his NBA
Mailbag.
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