10-06-2007, 11:39 PM
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#21 (permalink)
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,382
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Re: '07 Training camp/Pre-season thread...
West has sights set on upcoming season
David West sat in a front-row seat after practice Friday at the New Orleans Arena and could not remember much about his last game played at the facility.
He paused, then had to be reminded that it was March 23 when Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant scored 50 points against the Hornets.
"Oh, that Lakers' game, that was a stretch when I really wasn't playing well," West said. "I got that game out of my mind a long time ago."
That night West made four of 16 shots and scored eight points before a sellout crowd of 18,535. He entered the game with a 16.7 scoring average and had scored in double figures in 34 of 39 games. Besides his shooting problems, West grabbed one offensive rebound in 29 minutes and committed five fouls.
West has returned to New Orleans determined not to have a repeat performance in any of the upcoming 41 games scheduled at the Arena, starting with the Oct. 31 season opener against the Sacramento Kings.
Despite a team-leading 18.3 scoring average, West prefers not to remember much about the 2006-07 season. He missed 30 games after requiring surgery in December to remove inflammation in his elbow.
In March, West was critical of how the Hornets moved the ball in some of their offensive sets, going too often on the same side of the court. Part of the problem was having the five starters combine to miss 133 games.
The Hornets finished 39-43 and were not eliminated from playoff contention until the final week of the season.
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Vinicius' offensive game getting better
Second-year forward needs to improve his defense, Scott says
The Hornets have a couple of the NBA's premier rebounders. Bobby Jackson is not one of them. He's short, 6 feet 1, and while he's asked to do a lot as the gritty sixth man, pounding the glass isn't one of them.
But at a practice earlier this week, his defender, the 6-foot-8 Marcus Vinicius, failed to box out Jackson. Jackson slipped around and snatched a rebound.
Jackson became angered with Vinicius' lackadaisical effort, telling his taller teammate that he must focus.
Hornets Coach Byron Scott was stunned: "I'm like -- come on, now. You've got a 6-1 guy telling you to box him out."
Vinicius, in his second season with the Hornets, has done well in many offensive facets in training camp this week, but his defense has his coach worried. Scott said Vinicius needs to play smarter and adjust to different types of opposing players.
As for the rebounding? "He's just watching the birds. Guys start sneaking in behind him. He has to get better at that area and concentrate a little more."
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