An NBA HORSE tournament on ESPN? Cool! Which Hornets would be the best at it?
I really like this HORSE tournament the NBA and ESPN are assembling.
Maybe weeks of no live games have conditioned me, but this doesn’t sound contrived. As kids, we all played HORSE: You dream up crazy basketball shots. When you make one, your opponent must replicate it. Miss the shot and you get a letter. Whoever reaches “E” in HORSE loses.
You can play this remotely without being on the same court, so it immediately works in coronavirus-induced social-distancing times. It’s entertaining without being just a gimmick. I bet it would be popular enough that the off-shore sports books would take bets on it.
ESPN announced it will televise this tournament Sunday and April 16 as nighttime programming. The 8-player field will include current NBA players (among them, Chris Paul), WNBA players (including Tamika Catchings) and recent NBA alumni (Paul Pierce in the field).
I’m not surprised there’s no Charlotte Hornet in the field, but when I heard about this, it got me thinking: Which three players on the current roster would fit? My nominees:
Most promote-able
P.J. Washington: He started from the first game of his rookie season. Washington shocked even the guy who drafted him, general manager Mitch Kupchak, with his 3-point shooting. Washington is the Hornets’ best post-up scorer while simultaneously being a solid long-range shooter. Part of being good at HORSE is a wide enough skill set to make shots that are an opponent’s creation. Washington would be good at matching other’s shots and doing things opponents couldn’t.
Most entertaining
Malik Monk: He wouldn’t be available, while serving a suspension under the NBA’s anti-drug policy. However, I’ve seen Monk draw every teammate’s attention at the end of shootarounds with trick shots and high-flying dunks. Kupchak has frequently called Monk the Hornets’ most athletic player. That body control and leaping ability would make for spectacular shot attempts. He’d put on a show.
Best chance to advance
Terry Rozier: Taking and making shots at awkward angles comes naturally to Rozier. His off-hand is so good he’d make a couple of preposterously difficult baskets to close out a game. Rozier might be the most competitive guy on this roster; I could see him getting into the “anything you can do, I can do better” element of HORSE.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 9:27 AM.
