With the Suns and Hornets just hours away from tip off we caught up with the author of At the Hive the Hornets blog over at Sports Blog Nation to talk about the Hornets and what to expect tonight.

How big of an impact will the addition of James Posey have on this club?

ATH: He brings on court toughness and defense. What is “on court toughness”? Let’s just say Jason Kidd won’t be tossing any Hornets head first to the ground this year. Bruce Bowen won’t be shoving Chris Paul to the ground and allegedly punching him. That’s a type of player the Hornets lacked last year. Additionally, he’ll be on the floor in crunch time instead of Jannero Pargo, meaning he’ll probably draw the assignment on guys like Kobe, McGrady, et al. While Posey may not be the greatest man defender in the world (he excels at help D more than anything else), he’ll be a huge defensive upgrade over Peja Stojakovic in crunch time.

Who on the Hornets posses the biggest mismatch for the Suns?

ATH: Chris Paul. There’s probably only one team in the West that has a legitimate shot at containing Paul (Utah). I suppose Raja Bell will draw the CP assignment, but given how Paul has scorched such defenders as Bruce Bowen in the past, I think it will be a good matchup for New Orleans.

What were your impressions of the Hornets first game against the Warriors?

ATH: Very, very rusty. Defensive rotations were slow, and defenders in man-on-man coverage were often flat footed. Most worryingly, Byron Scott ran a ton of isolation plays offensively. This meant the Hornets ran their most efficient play- the high pick and roll with Paul and Chandler/West- only a handful of times all game. It might just be that Byron Scott overreacted to Don Nelson’s odd (as usual) defensive scheme of guarding Paul with Stephen Jackson. I certainly hope that’s the case.

However, I was impressed by the bench. Hilton Armstrong- who struggled last year- showed some aggressiveness, James Posey did a terrific job defensively and offensively off the bench, and even Rasual Butler got in on the action a little bit. If this bench can round into form early in the year, it could be a huge boon for guys that played heavy minutes last year.

The Hornets barely snuck out of ORACLE Arena with a win, against a team that lost its two best players (one to the Clippers, one to… a moped) over the summer. But hey, a win’s a win, right?

Steve Nash or Chris Paul who is the best point guard in the game?

ATH: Hah, Chris Paul. I don’t think it’s even close. For starters, Nash only plays one side of the game- offense. And second, not only does Chris Paul play some pretty good defense, he also dominates Nash on the offensive side of the ball. Nash is a great distributor, but his turnover rates are literally double those of Chris Paul’s. Nash is obviously the better shooter- I consider him the best pure shooter in the game today- but otherwise, the rest of his game pales in comparison to Paul’s.

Who should Suns fans watch for that they may not have heard of?

ATH: Heh, nobody really. The Hornets have no rookies this year, and the rotation remains almost identical to last year with the addition of James Posey and the subtraction of Jannero Pargo. I am hoping Rasual Butler can crack the regular rotation this year, so he’s one “new” guy I will have my eyes on. But I doubt he makes a significant impact on the game itself.

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