By Wesley O.

Do you hear that sound? Do you hear that buzzing noise? That’s the sound of the Hornets making their way into the NBA Playoffs. It’s been all but four years since the Bees were last on this national stage, but that was a whole different team with a whole different attitude. The Hornets are no longer the oldest team in the NBA with nowhere to go but down, it’s now the exact opposite. The Big Easy is now represented by young studs who continue to “wow” the fans night after night, home or on the road.

So how did this happen? How does a team go from 18-64 to leading the Western Conference with a 49-21 record? It’s not luck, but patience. In today’s NBA, team’s use the term “quick-fix” to the fullest, trading for star players who can instantly turn around an entire organization and take them to the promise land, but at a high cost. The Hornets avoided this strategy and went with a more subtle approach. They didn’t try and trade for big-name superstars, they didn’t go out and throw cash around at high-price free agents, they simply waited for the right opportunity. That opportunity came the day general manager Jeff Bower selected former Wake Forest point guard Chris Paul with the fourth overall selection in the 2005 NBA Draft. From that point on, it was smooth sailing.

The next task was finding a complement to Paul’s superstar abilities. Once again, they didn’t try to make any big trades, they wanted someone in-house to step up. That man turned out to be David West, who was relatively unknown by many fans and scouts even after being drafted 18th overall back in ‘03. West showed swagger, the type of swagger that says, “I’m out to prove all you guys wrong. You guys should have never let me slip past your fingertips.”

No one even considered the Hornets to win more than 20 games at the start of the ‘05-06 season, but Paul’s leadership and West’s clutch shooting brought the Hornets up from the cellar and into playoff contention. What else could this team possibly do to get better without spending a bunch of cash. It was an inevitability, and the Hornets did have to dig deep in their pockets to acquire and sign forward Peja Stojakovic in the ‘06 offseason. And then another opportunity came along, and the Hornets didn’t hesitate to take it. A late-June trade sent J.R. Smith and veteran P.J. Brown to Chicago in return for unproven and unpopular center Tyson Chandler, it ended up being the steal of the offseason for New Orleans. Although ‘06-07 was filled with numerous injuries and disappointments, expectations became even higher.

And so here we are, exactly four years after Dwyane Wade made the game-winning shot against the Hornets in Game 1 of the ‘04 East Quarterfinals series that began the downfall of this unlucky, yet lucky team. Notice there was not one mention of Hurricane Katrina, it just adds to the fact that nothing was going right for this team at one point.

No matter who they face in the playoffs, the Hornets have already proven that success in the NBA does not come easily nor quickly, you have to be patient. And so the miracle season continues for the Buzzin’ Bees, what amazing performances and miraculous comebacks will we see next? With 12 games remaining in the regular season, anything is possible.