So the 2015 Charlotte Hornets Media Day is in the books. This makes the 4th appearance Trade Street Post has made to one in it’s almost 5 year existence. It’s definitely one of the biggest events that our site can attend because it gives us a chance to actually sit and talk with the players and just get to know them on somewhat of a personal level. Being a fan of the team, it allows me to sit with the players, as a fan, ask them questions fans would want to know answers to, and to convey back to the fans just how down to earth the guys really are and, hopefully, bring them closer to the players as individuals.
The first Media Day I attended, I was extremely star-struck. I mostly floated around and took pictures. I didn’t know my boundaries or what I would be allowed to do. It wasn’t laid out very clearly as to what you could and couldn’t do while there. At the second Media Day, I basically was a cameraman for Tru School Sports and I shot footage of Brendan Taylor interviewing the players. Between shoots, I was able to interact with the players and just talk to them. That helped to loosen me up. Bear in mind, this is a hobby, and I am a little shy. I will say that after this 2nd Media Day, I was loose and I knew what to expect. I also came to the realization that these guys are just guys like me, and that made it so much easier to talk to them. Media Day number 3 put us on the main court. I got to see the new Hornets floor for the first time, the PR department recognized me whenever I was at the arena, and the players, though they didn’t recognize who I was, were willing to interact with the blog sites, and chatting with them like they were just good friends they hadn’t seen in a year.
Let’s flash forward to this year. The blog sites had a new PR person to interact with. I asked about details in mid-August, and was told to ask again around the 1st of September. I was told that Media Day would most likely be September 25th. I contacted my usual contacts on September 1st. I also reached out on the 8th, and 15th. The Friday before Media Day, the 18th, the blog sites received their invite from the new guy. We were to RSVP, which I did, and we received our “logistics” information a couple days before the day was to take place. I had been sweating bullets, but I was put at ease once that last email arrived.
You guys are probably tired of hearing about the “Journey of Trade Street Post and Media Day”, right? I’ll just move on to what actually went on. I was there an hour early, so I took a seat on the court and just watched everything that was going on in terms of setup. The first familiar face I saw was Matt Rochinski, who always recognizes me when I’m at the arena. I don’t have a tons of “organization contacts”, but he was my first one, and he still remembers me. That means a lot to me. I was able to get some candid shots of Dell Curry and Matt Carroll before some of the other blog sites arrived.
I honestly prefer to call sites like ours “Fan Perspective News Sites” instead of blog sites. When Michael Kidd-Gilchrist sat with us, I had asked him if he read any of our sites. He said that he doesn’t read anything about the team, himself, or anything like that. He said that everyone has their own opinion, and he doesn’t care to know what people think. He said he would work hard and do his job and continue to improve himself.
Of course, that was extremely interesting, and unfortunately the only player I got to ask, but my point in asking him the question was to make a point about the Charlotte Hornets and the national media. The national media, and honestly any media that isn’t in Charlotte, has no idea about the team. They don’t constantly watch and study the team. They haven’t made the personal connections that we have made to the players, the team and the organization. For that reason, I fully believe that the “Fan Perspective News Sites” have so much more insight into players and the team that we are the best places to get information about the team. Who knows the team better than its fans?
The first person to arrive at our table was PJ Hairston. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that the clock had started on Media Day, so we didn’t actually get to ask him many questions. More than anything, it was just small talk. We found out that over the course of a season he goes through 15-20 pairs of shoes per season. Evan Kent from “Bring Back The Buzz” got a good picture of them if you’d want to check them out. Just head to Twitter and check out @BringBackTheBuz
We talked with Marvin Williams about being with the team for another season. He was excited to be there and ready to go. We asked about the need for him to play more at the small forward position, and he said that it was a position that he was comfortable with. He had played a good portion of his career at that spot, and had no probem doing it now. He stated that in playing that spot, the adjusment from PF to SF were simple adjustments. Playing at SF, he will have to play guys that could be quicker than him, so you just have to learn how to best guard in those situations.
We also learned that Marv grew up playing ball with Spencer Hawes. It’s interesting what a small world it is. He also said he was excited to play with Tyler Hansbrough. Being a UNC guy, he had always wanted to play with him, but he didn’t get to at UNC, and had yet to in the NBA, so this season, he’s especially excited about it. Tyler didn’t reach our table for any discussion, but I did get a picture of him. Hate we missed you big guy. I was never a UNC fan, but when he was there, his hard work and play style drew my attention and had me rooting for them, or at least for him.
I made a small mention of Spencer Hawes while talking about Marvin. When Spencer visited our table, well, there’s just something about him. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I instantly liked the guy. I had written an article about him back in July. If you want to look back on it, it was called “Who is Spencer Hawes?”. When I wrote it, it was written by a person digging through the internet, looking for information on a guy that I honestly did NOT know anything about. After sitting with him for our alotted 10 minutes, while I still don’t know a ton about him, I know more than I did, and I know a bit about his character. I really enjoyed the time he spent with us. Spencer let us know that he felt like his time with the Clippers was a bad fit. He hated to say it, but it was what it was. He said that once the trade happened, it was a great feeling to get to move to a new situation and what he sees as a better fit. The key to it all was to just keep himself in check ad to move on. In terms of what he can bring to the Hornets, He said that he enjoys being a playmaking big. He said that when he was growing up and playing ball with his dad, he always wanted to be the point guard. He loved making plays. He said he can shoot the 3, but he can also make the closer shots. He doesn’t want to be known as a big that shoots 3s. There’s more to his game than that, and I’m looking forward to seeing it.
As Big Al walked up to our table, Evan Kent and I hit him with a 1-2 punch. I said, “New guy?”. Without missing a beat, Evan said, “And you are?” I think it got Al tickled because he even glanced around and asked if he looked that different. I told him he looked great and you could certainly tell he had put in the work and lost the weight. He said it was very necessary to take the pressure off of his knees. Al said he has lots of basketball still to play, and to extend his career, it was just something that he had to do. He said that the “chicken” comment that he made really got blown a bit out of proportion. He said that in that interview, he was asked what foods he was really missing. He said fried chicken. He added that it wasn’t fair either because every time you turn your head, there’s a Popeye’s commercial on, which makes it harder to avoid or get out of your head. Al definitely looked ready for the season. He said that he knew that the ball was going to have to move a lot more than it had been in the past. He also stated that he was looking forward to Nic Batum passing the ball to him on the post. He said that most people just don’t get that it isn’t that easy to make a pass in to the block. There’s a bit of an art form to it. Nic has been passing in to LaMarcus Aldridge for quite a few years now, so he’s looking forward to it.
I’d love to talk at length about Nic Batum, but this would be the portion of the day where our table was hijacked by “real media”. I say that “tongue in cheek” because I have to look back on it and shake my head. We didn’t crash any of the tv or radio media tables, so it was a shock to have our table crashed. Needless to say, we really did not get to ask Nic any questions. There were tidbits that I took away from his time at our table. Growing up, his favorite players to watch were Scottie Pippen and Boris Diaw. If he has modeled his game after those 2 guys, I”ll take it all day. He discussed playing overseas at a young age with the grown men. He said at 15/16, he was going against grown men and learning what you could and couldn’t do the hard way. It was truly a learning experience for him. Thanks for stopping By Nic. You looked as thrilled as we were at the situation.
Our time with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was the best I’ve had in all 3 media days. It is well documented about his speech impediment and most of the media days, he has always seemed uncomfortable and not wanting to talk to us that much. This year was wonderful. He talked to us. He shared with us. Words cannot express how great he did. MKG basically told us that he is working hard nonstop. He watched tape with the team and alone in preparing for a game. He looks for weaknesses in a player’s game and looks for ways to exploit it. We asked what his goals were for this season, and his answer was a simple one. It’s to play hard and win more games. I suggested NBA Defensive 1st team. He said that it would be great and MJ would love it, but he will play hard and play his game and if something like that happens, that would be great.
Jeremy Lin was next to the last guy that we got to talk to. You could tell that by the end of media day, the guys are tired of answering the same questions over and over. If you look to my posting yesterday, you can see how the time spent at our table went. Lin’s a really cool guy that I’d love to be able to talk to more. 10-12 minutes barely scratches the surface on a player.
The last guy to hit our table was Cody Zeller. Cody told us that he really had no idea just how bad his shoulder was until he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. He said that once they got in there, the laundry list of issues in that shoulder were a lot more than just the torn cuff. There was stuff that had been there since his high school days. He said that he has been 100% cleared for every activity for about a month now. He said that during his rehab, while he couldn’t do upper body workouts, he had been doing legs. Every day was legs day. He said his core and legs are the strongest they have ever been and he’s back working hard on his upper body again. He said that he had added back the weight he lost during the off time plus more. He feels extremely strong and he’s ready for the season.
Unfortunately, we did not get to talk to Kemba Walker, Frank Kaminsky, or Tyler Hansbrough. We had a schedule of players and the times that they would be out there, but I don’t think that the schedule could be followed. There is just so much going on at media day. So many TV stations, newspapers, radio stations, magazines, and fan perspective news sites (FPNS) are there getting the scoop and pictures, I just don’t think it’s feasible for 18 players to see everyone, and that’s OK. It was a very fun day. The team looks to be more game ready than I’ve ever seen them at a media day. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for Training Camp, but media is only allowed to talk to everyone after the Training Camp day is over. I live an hour away, so we will just have to count on the media in Charlotte and hornets.com to share how things went, and I can’t wait for this season to get under way. I believe this team has the most depth it has ever had, and I think that the Charlotte Hornets are going to really make some noise this season and turn a lot of heads.
Let’s hurry up and wait. Stay tuned Hornets fans, and as always:
Let’s Go Hornets!
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