In Julian Wright’s rookie season, you could tell it took him a little while to gain the confidence required to feel like he belonged on the court with the best basketball players in the world. Once he got that confidence, he learned something pretty quick. He learned that he could jump out of the gym, and out-athlete most of the players on opposing squads. Ju Ju also saw he had some weaknesses, like shooting and how to play the pro-game. Wright knew he wanted to grow in his ability, but didn’t really have anyone, like a well-respected peer, to help him realize his true power. Then came the ’08 offseason (albeit at least one playoff series too soon, but oh well) where it changed.
In Mid-July ’08 the Hornets signed James “Obi Wan J-Posey” Posey. Now, if you don’t get to see him play, and just read the box score the next morning, you’d say that Posey is a nice player, and looks like an adequate pickup for the Bees. If you do get the pleasure to see this man play basketball…. you realize his true skill and value. He’s like a freakin’ Jedi master out there. I swear against Cleveland, he knew where shooters were supposed to be before THEY did. Consequently, he would just intercept passes, knock them out of bounds, or slap them to another Hornet. He can see things before they happen, thats why he appears to move so fast.
Now, Master Posey isn’t going to do anything that will jump off the boxscore on any given night. He is the master of the simple. He will do things and make sacrifices in order to make the team better. The Hornet Council of Bower, Scott, Gattison, Pressey, and Parker have noticed this quality in Posey. They also realize that they have a young player with much the same potential in Ju Ju. It is only right for Obi Wan J-Posey to take young Ju Ju as his apprentice, showing him the true ways of defense, rebounding in traffic, and hitting clutch 3’s in the 4th quarter.
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