A Trio of Hornets Profiles

With the Hornets featuring a ton of interesting storylines and players of late, we're starting to see some profiles and features written up about the team. In the last two days, there have been three quite excellent ones.

First up, the Baton Rouge Advocate on Brian Roberts:

Roberts has been known as an aggressive, scoring point guard ever since his elementary and middle school days going against older players at Sleeping Hollow Park in Toledo, Ohio, known as "The Pond." At St. John's High School, he was the 2004 Ohio Division I co-Player of the Year after leading it to the state championship game. Then, at Dayton, he led the Flyers in scoring his final three seasons.

However, even though the NBA has coveted scoring point guards ever since Isiah Thomas was drafted in 1981, Roberts was not selected in the 2008 draft.

"I felt like I played well at the draft camp, but my year was a pretty deep class," he said, "Eric Gordon, Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo . . ."

Meanwhile, SLAM's got a great piece on Eric Gordon's rise to the pros:

As the youngster moved to other coaches beyond his father, he switched over to the wing, where he developed a steady jumpshot that'd soon become his forte. To this day, he uses the same exact shooting form he established for himself as a grade schooler.

Gordon played high school ball at North Central High, making a name for himself as a Naptown-area standout while hooping on famed AAU squads over the summers with the likes of Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr, Derrick Rose and Josh McRoberts. During the school year, though, some of those guys provided the competition. In '06 McRoberts' Carmel High was beating up on EJ's team as the game was headed into the final period. "I looked at him and said, You're supposed to be the best player in the state of Indiana. Start playing like it," says Doug Mitchell, EJ's high school coach. "He looked at me and kinda smiled, and had 21 points in the fourth quarter. I thought, This guy's got it."

And finally, a quick New York Times blog profile of Monty Williams:

"How many of you guys watched the debate last night?" Williams asked right off the bat, speaking of the presidential debate.

Not exactly your standard-issue training camp salvo.

Silence.

"I don't want to get off on a political tangent, but try to be aware of what's happening around you," Williams said. "The climate is changing. It's not like it was when I was coming up - and I didn't know it then - but things are changing, and it affects this group for sure."