| 29 September 2010
A few times now the Hornets have seemed "on the verge". On the cusp of getting to that final stage... of becoming 'elite'. Yet every time, they're missing a piece, or just can't quite get over the final hump. Hard being a mid-market team, the ownership simply hasn't had the cash resources that a lot of the bigger, more financially able teams have. And the front office hasn't performed with the elite mid-level markets - like San Antonio's has. Still... a pretty good history, despite the relative youth of the franchise.
Here they are: the top 5 Hornets of all time!
5. Wardell Stephen Curry - The All Time points leader for the Hornets gets this spot. 701 games at Charlotte, Curry established himself as one of the best 6th men in his era. Have a look at many of the historic statistical categories for the Hornets, and odds are that Curry's name's there. Somewhere around the top.
4. Glen Anthony Rice - Glenn Rice was an All Star in each of his three seasons at Charlotte, a flat-out dead-eye shooter. Scoring 23.5 per (highest scoring average for someone in the Hornets franchise), hitting 3s at clip of over 44%, Rice had his best ever season in '96/97 - only behind Jordan and Karl Malone in the scoring title. One of the NBA's finest ever shooters.
3. Larry Demetric Johnson - Larry Johnson gets the nod here - in his first few seasons he was a ferociously dominant player. A physical nightmare to match-up on. He was the first true superstar at the Hornets - 19+ points, over 9 boards and more than 4 assists per game whilst he was a Hornet. And an appearance on Space Jam!
2. Alonzo Harding Mourning Jr. - Anyone doubting his presence at #2 needs to look at the numbers. Yes, the guy only played his first 3 seasons at the then Charlotte Hornets, but what seasons they were! 'Zo was a fiend - a board-grabbin', block-smashin', point-scorin' throw-down fiend. 21.3ppg (at over 50%); 10.1rpg; and a massive 3.2 blocks per - the guy was a flat-out beast.
1. Chris Emmanuel Paul - CP3 is a special player, one for the ages. A pass-first point man who can seemingly score at will. And whilst phrases like those get thrown around almost at whim nowadays about an entire slew of point guards, for the most part it's not true. With Chris Paul tho'? Well, suffice to say that over the last thirty years there have been but a mere handful of point guards that can be mentioned in the same sentence as Nawleans' #3.
Next up, those wooly, wild and whacky New York Knickerbockers!!!
