The Charlotte Hornets Media Day 2014 is officially in the books. Typically, I make a fairly big production of it via articles to discuss what the results of 1-on-1 interviews were. Don’t get me wrong, this year was the best Media Day I have attended with the Charlotte organization. Getting to see the arena, donned in purple and teal, players sporting their new uniforms, and hearing Coach Clifford speaking about expectations for the 2014-2015 season; it was as invigorating as ever. This year was a different format. Instead of being “free-floating” on the practice court, mingling with the news and radio media, the Blog Sites were assigned to a table on the main court in the arena, and all of the players in attendance were scheduled to visit us for a 10 minute block. We could ask as many questions as we could think of within those 10 minutes. An organized format for a change made the day run much smoother.
One quick thought about being called a “Blog Site”:
I don’t necessarily think of Trade Street Post as a blog site, per se. At Trade Street Post, games are watched and recaps are written. Statistics are reviewed and articles are written to discuss players, the team, and even the coaches, GMs, and owner. I think of the site as one where actual news about the team is reported. I guess the primary difference is that I am a fan. I didn’t go to Journalism school, and I don’t work for a radio station, newspaper, or television station. I’m a forever fan of Charlotte basketball, I’m pretty decent at creative writing, and I might possibly show some favoritism to the home team. I will say that I am honest fan, and I do not candy coat what I report. I tell it like it is, I defend the team like they are my family, and I am proud of that. Basically I see Trade Street Post as an independent news site that reports any and all things involving the Charlotte Hornets. Hopefully, our readers visit the site, read the articles, and then THEY blog about what has been written via the comment section. OK, I’m done.
Media Day usually has me cranking out several articles. You’re going to get that again this year, but the content is going to be in regards to comments I’ve heard during the offseason & things I witnessed and heard yesterday. Some may be lengthy, but I want to drive the points home to our fans. I’m sure my perspective will be different than what the news media shares.
Forgive me for not participating in any sort of proper introduction with all of the other web sites that were in attendance. I was busy talking to a Bring Back the Buzz founder, Evan Kent. That I know of, “Trade Street Post”, “At the Hive”, and “Tru School Sports” were all there. Beyond that, there might have been one or two other sites there. “Queen City Hoops” is the only other site that quickly comes to mind, so perhaps they were represented as well. I want to mention them all because we have all covered Charlotte basketball since the darkest of days as the Bobcats. For that fact alone, all fans should know who we are and should visit all of those sites to stay up to speed with all things Hornets. We’re kinda like fan-experts. I didn’t ask many questions yesterday because in 10 minutes, with 5 blog sites, if you get good answers, not many questions can be answered.
I will share that the majority of the players like the white jersey the best. There were a few players that were fans of teal, and only a couple that were fans of the purple. That was the 1 question for all of the players. I can tell you who liked what, but more than anything, that was the lighthearted question that made each player smile.
While there were tons of questions that were asked yesterday, I’m only going to touch on the few comments that I’ve wondered all summer about in this article.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
After the season ended, there continued to be so much discussion about how ugly MKG’s jump-shot was. Now, there’s no denying that it was, without a doubt, one of the most awkward shooting motions I’ve ever seen in my 38 years of my existence.
I would, however like to pause for a second and point you to the previous article in chronological order. It is known that MKG is not the best at interviews and he has some speech issues that make it difficult to talk to him in a “group interview” setting. I believe part of that is he comes across as being overly shy in the interviews. Perhaps he has low self-confidence in an interview setting, and the speech problem comes out a little more. We all witnessed it first-hand yesterday, and I truly felt bad for him. I had on a white Jordan Brand MKG bracelet with MKG and the Jumpman printed in orange, and I noticed MKG had on one that was dark blue with white print. I was going to joke with him and see if he would want to swap, but he seemed so nervous, I didn’t say a word.
I make mention of his issues in order to say to folks who call themselves fans of his to just BACK OFF. Pat the kid on the back and don’t criticize him so harshly. The Hornets are a better team with him on the floor because of his ceaseless motor, hustle, and never-ending work ethic. (I told you I defend these players like family).
The first thing that Coach Clifford mentioned in his address to the media when MKG and “the shot” came up was that in his 31 years of coaching, he’s never seen someone be able to completely redesign their shot as MKG has done. Now, we all saw what looked to be MKG shooting completely different on a clip of Noah Vonleh shooting before the Summer League trip. Even with that, everyone continued to roast MKG and that terrible shot. Coach Cliff confirmed that the shot was indeed redesigned. He said that MKG wouldn’t be a Dell Curry shooter, but he would definitely be hitting those 18-20 footers. So to the naysayers, MKG has a jumper now. It’s enough of one to pull a defender close on a head fake, and Mike can slash to the basket for a finish. Coach Clifford credited Mark Price for helping Mike with the shot, but said that the bulk of the credit goes to MKG for his amazing work effort this offseason on getting the shot right. Big Al even praised MKG’s shot, asking if we had seen it, and how amazing it was what he’s been able to do. Even as I write this, I’m sitting here smiling, like a proud big brother, so happy to see and hear that Mike’s game is going to be on another level this year. Way to go Mike!
Bismack Biyombo
Biz has got to be one of the most well-spoken interviewees on the team. I love to hear and see him talk in the interviews. He’s so relaxed in his speaking to us and his thoughts are well put together. He’s very honest in his answers, as are all of the other players. I just enjoy hearing Biz more than the others because I have been his number 1 supporter and defender since he was drafted. We have seen Biz develop slowly over his tenure in Charlotte, and that slow development was based largely on him not even playing basketball until he was 16. He was an athletic freak, but had a low basketball IQ. Over his seasons here, he’s finally got a solid coaching staff that has worked on every aspect of his game. He even said that he never focuses on one part of his game. He always works hard on every aspect of his game. Having Big Al and Patrick Ewing as mentors, only helps his game more.
Again I shift into big brother mode with Biz. Biyombo is another player that came into the league as a raw talent that was going to need lots of work in order to get him acclimated to the NBA game. Personally, I’ve seen growth in him. It has been a slow process, but he’s learned to be patient on defense. He’s improved his footwork. He’s gotten better at defending without fouling, grabbing rebounds, and even scoring the ball. Why am I in “Big Brother” mode? I’ve read way too many times on Twitter and in other social networking sites where “so-called” fans say that they need to get rid of him, or that he’ll be out of the NBA after this year. I read “fans” say that he was a bust and that we should cut our losses. Not me. I’m team Biz 100%.
In talking with Biz, many questions were asked. We learned about his work in basketball camps overseas, and how the best 4-5 players in those camps are brought here to the US to be able to try and make something of themselves. He told us that many of the players at these camps can’t even find shoes that fit, and these camps get them in the right shoes. He said that he never had new shoes growing up and that these camps are just something he feels he should always do in order to give back. We asked about the number change from 0 to 8 as well. He said he had zero to remind himself that he came from nothing. He said that he’s shifted to 8 because if you turn 8 to the side, it’s the infinity sign. That means that his chances in life went from nothing to infinity and he’ll always remember that. When we interviewed Big Al, my question to Al was to see if he has seen growth in Biz since he joined the team and has had the chance to work with himself and Ewing. Al said that Biz works incredibly hard every day. He said that there has been tremendous growth in Biz and the biggest thing Biz needs is more self-confidence.
Are you seeing the pattern here? Young players need “rearing”. You have to support them and be patient with them. I’ve always been patient with Biz, and I 100% believe that THIS will be his breakout year.
I’m closing on this note…
I took my mom with me to Media Day this year. She has written an article or 2 for the site and our discussions about the team has often been motivation for other articles. Hopefully I can coax her into writing even more articles this season. She went with me to this media day for many reasons. First and foremost, are the childhood memories I have of the 2 of us standing in line at the mall to buy Hornets tickets. With the return of the Buzz to Charlotte, the person who took me to games was the logical choice for me to take to something as special as media day. She was quite nervous about going and kept asking me if I got nervous at these things. More than anything, I told her that she would see. Once inside the arena, we passed assistant coaches, players, and sat in the media room. We heard Coach Clifford address us, and then we made our way to the “Blog” table. It worked out that every single player that sat and talked with us, sat in the chair beside her. The result? She got to see what I’ve seen over the past 2 years. These guys, our Hornets players…they’re just guys. They’re all very personable, fun to talk to, and just down-to-earth. She had in her head that they would be unapproachable, arrogant, and unwilling to talk to us. What she witnessed was the exact opposite. The Blog table was treated just the same as WBTV, WSOC, WCNC, and every other media outlet that was there. The players treated us the exact same way. This was the closest she’s ever been to NBA players, so, hopefully it was an experience she’ll never forget. I mean, the only way she would have been closer would have been to sit on their laps. They were literally sitting in the chair beside her. Every single player was right there beside her. Super cool…and now she wants even more to be at the first game of the season.
That’s it for now.
Stay tuned for more media day coverage…
And as always:
Let’s Go Hornets!
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