I get the people who want Paul to remain out for the rest of the season to make sure he’s 100% healthy. I understand wanting the Hornets to keep Paul out, lose games and jockey for lottery position now that they have no hope for the post-season. In fact, without the playoffs, it’s perfectly logical to look towards greener pastures and hope for next year. I even find myself up late some nights constructing trades that would land Paul a star running mate of the same age. I get it.

That said, Paul hitting the basketball court this week(maybe tonight!) is some of the best news I’ve heard in a while. It simply makes me excited to watch the Hornets play again.

You see, I don’t watch basketball clinically. I may focus on numbers on this blog in order to illustrate what’s transpiring on the court, but I watch the games because of the wild comebacks, the 12-0 scoring bursts, and the amazing finishes by any of the guys in Creole Blue. (Really, who doesn’t laugh out loud when Aaron Gray dunks?)

Of course, there’s the flipside. I also grumble about that frickin’ swiss-cheese defense, experience overwhelming frustration when the team falls behind by 18, and rail against the play by an opposing player that should have been a god-damn offensive foul. A foul, you hear me?!

In short, I want to watch my team win over the final month of games this season. I want to watch the team I root for play good basketball, and those other considerations are merely sideshows to me. I’m simply not going to get a charge on lottery night knowing my team has 8 combinations of lottery balls instead of 7 – out of 1000 possible.(yeah, that’s the difference between the 11th worst record and the 12th – one of which the Hornets are almost certain to own.) I’m also not about to get more excited during the draft knowing the team picks 11th instead of 12th. (Oh, and in case you cared: according to the ranking system I dust off every summer, historically there is no significant difference in the talent drafted between picks 11 and 18. Unless you pick 13th, which has been freakishly good.)

So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m happy that Paul is coming back. You can expect I’ll cheer again when Peja returns to the court again, because when this team is whole again, at least I’ll have a fighting chance of seeing my team compete and win. Which is, you know, kind of the point.