Couple of video clips more than worth your time on this fine Thursday morning.

First, the Colbert Report on the NBA lockout.

And second, and more importantly, we've got the Taiwanese animation explaining the NBA lockout we've all been waiting for. Featuring appearances from the untimely death of a Detroit Pistons logo with human arms and legs, David Stern marrying a cross dressing Time Warner Cable, and LeBron James being dunked on by an anonymous Taiwanese player and subsequently taunted by a panda.

From the internet:

Southwest Division

Mavericks: Mavs Moneyball

Spurs: Project Spurs

Rockets: The Dream Shake

Hornets: At The Hive

Grizzlies: Straight Outta Vancouver

David Stern continues to stick to his guns that there is legitimate interest in the franchise. No names are mentioned, but there's perhaps the slightest semblance of growing momentum in the wake of the new Entergy sponsorship deal. [Times-Picayune]

The Times-Pic also has some more information on the Entergy deal itself, noting that it is likely in the $1 million range. And the march to 10,000 season tickets by mid September continues, with the team approaching 9000. [Times-Picayune]

James Grayson writes that Marco Belinelli isn't the answer as the team's knock down shooter, but that Trevor Ariza is probably the bigger problem. [Swarm and Sting]

"It’s been nearly seven years since Katrina, and there are some people who still seem to genuinely root against the city. If you haven’t noticed (I kid, you have obviously noticed), the Hornets get a disproportionate amount of negative coverage and commentary from other NBA fans and even the media to some extent."

A terrific read from Joe Gerrity about the tendency of many national commenters to write off the city of New Orleans without considering all the facts. Highly recommended. [Hornets247]

And finally, Marcus Banks will be participating in "the best summer league game ever." [Dime Mag]

For the blogger whose subject material has been confiscated indefinitely,  two avenues suggest themselves immediately - taking regular, unannounced vacations of up to five weeks at a time, thus killing off any semblance of a readership or making lists. SI's Zach Lowe and ESPN's network of writers have opted for the latter, creating rankings of the NBA's top players. While I'm not huge on the idea of cross-positional comparisons, Zach's whole list is worth reading (ESPN's is still underway) and gives us a chance to look at where individual Hornets rank.

Before the jump, an excerpt of Zach's explanation of his ranking system:

"[T]hese rankings are designed to... spotlight the 100 best NBA players, regardless of salary or current team context, based on where they stand at this very moment, approaching the (still theoretical) 2011-12 season.

There is no objective criteria for these rankings. The list is represents my opinion after watching far too many basketball games, scouring every statistic available, recalling conversations I've had while reporting on the league and poring over hours and hours of clips on Synergy Sports. And even with all that information, separating some of these guys amounts to making an impossible subjective call."

Sounds good to me. Jump on it.

Continue reading this post »

Good morning, adventurers. 

Some great linkage ahead of tonight's Game 2, so let's get to it.

- Let's lead with some great quotes from Arash Markazi's story for ESPN. Full article's worth your time as well.

- Carl Landry: "When you wake up in the morning, you open up the shades and there's Staples Center. Before you close the shades at night you see Staples Center again. It's pretty much all you think about all day."

- Trevor Ariza: "What do we got to lose? We're just out here playing care-free."

- Jarrett Jack: "Trevor has really helped us understand the nuances of the Triangle."

- Didier Mbenga: "I don't agree that 'We don't have anything to lose.' We have the game to lose. We have the series to lose. We're going to come in Wednesday to win. We didn't come in here to steal one game. We're a good team. We want to win this series and we think we're going to win this series."

- Sports Radio Interviews (now an SBNation property!) has a synopsis of Chris Paul's appearance on the Scott Van Pelt show yesterday.

- Bradley Handwerger reports that Aaron Gray is currently day-to-day. Gray has said that the decision will not be his and that he wants to play tonight.

- Monty Williams is not dwelling on the Hornets' Game 1 victory, according to the Los Angeles Times.

- Gerry V writes for the New Orleans Times-Pic that the war is just beginning.

- Alex Raskin asks on Hoopsworld whether, given the recent play of the Lakers, Game 1 was really as much of an upset as most insist it was.

- In terms of the actual game tonight, this link is probably most important- Los Angeles has spent the past two days scheming up ways to keep Paul under wraps in Game 2.

- Wednesday's Game 3 in New Orleans is sold out, and it's likely that by the team you read this, so is Game 4. Tickets for Game 6 go on sale at 2:00 p.m. central today.

- The most watched game of the opening weekend of the playoffs was Hornets-Lakers, with a 12% bump from Los Angeles' first playoff game of 2010.

Game 2 tips at 9:30 p.m. central tonight. 

In the wake of the Hornets' Game 1 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, let's take a trip around the internet to see what is being e-said at various e-watercoolers.

- Let's start with some recaps of last night's action. From the perspective of the good guys, we've got recaps from Ryan of Hornets247, Mason from here and Hoopdat, Jake at Swarm and Sting, Jim at the Official, and video from the Times-Pic.

- Covering the opposition are two of the best sites in the NBA blogging business - Silver Screen and Roll and Forum Blue and Gold. Make sure to check them out all series long.

- Monty Williams noted that Aaron Gray has a "mild ankle sprain." That's certainly encouraging, given how severe the injury seemed at the time of occurrence. There seems to be some optimism that Gray can play in Wednesday's Game 2.

- The fame generated by Chris Paul's passing wizardry in Game 1 has spread far and wide; SBNation Bay Area has video of his ridiculous assist to Aaron Gray.

- Some numbers from the ESPN stats department on Chris Paul's game. Of note is the fact that he scored 22 points in the game's final 24 minutes.

- ESPN's Daily Dime today is also rather Chris Paul heavy.

- Here's a little Chris Paul rhyme from Stacheketball.

- This story was written by current SBNation editor Andy Hutchins three years ago, during the Hornets' 2008 playoffs run. It's a really great read on how he was inspired to become a Hornets fan by the play of Chris Paul, despite living in Florida. 

Should be plenty more links coming in as the day goes on, so post 'em as you see fit.

Your Morning Afternoon Links.

• Recaps of last night's "action": Swarm and Sting, Hornets247, HoopDat.
• Jimmy Smith of the Times-Pic with an article about bad timing.
• Meanwhile, John DeShazier of the Times-Pic wrote an article praising.... George Shinn.
• And so it begins.... there's still more than a year before Paul becomes a free agent, but I expect this sort of "news" to become more and more common in the year to come.
• On a nicer note, the Hornets have helped raise $200,000 for those affected by the oil spill.

Your Morning Links. Happy the Hornets made the playoffs day!

• YES! The Hornets are officially IN. For more recaps of last night's game, check the usual spots - Hornets247,Swarm and Sting and HoopDat.
• Playoff tickets go on sale April 14th.
• Elsewhere in the Western conference, the Spurs locked up the #1 seed by beating the Kings and the OKC Thunder grabbed the Northwest Division crown by beating the Clippers.
• This is no time to relax say the Hornets. Players and coaches always say this, but that doesn't mean they don't mean it. They do.
  
• In the spirit of being aggressive, I present today's musical selection. [lyrics probably NSFW]