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When Monty Williams took over as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets to start the 2010-11 NBA season, he knew he was getting a special player in point guard Chris Paul. The thing about special players, though, is they always have the ability to surprise you, and Paul is no exception.

"You know, there have been moments where he has shown the ability to not only carry the team offensively, but also defensively," Williams tells HOOPSWORLD. "He’s won some games for us this year where he’s stolen a ball or he’s just taken the other point guard’s heart and we’ve won the game because of that. I didn’t see that coming. The guys who are high on the steals list are usually guys who gamble a lot. He gets his steals within the framework of what we do. I played with Allen Iverson and Allen used to gamble a ton. He was a high steals guy, but it always hurt the backside of his defense because the other guys didn’t know what he was doing. Chris gets his steals . . .sometimes he’ll just run up to the guy and just rip his coat off and take the ball, and we’re in awe. I’m getting credit or our defense is getting credit for that, but that was just him. I didn’t realize that he was that kind of a defender, where he personally took it to heart when other point guards scored on him and how much of a defender he is."

Another surprising impact player for the Hornets has been power forward Carl Landry. He was acquired to back up David West, but when West was lost for the season due to an injury Landry moved into the starting lineup . . .and the Hornets hardly missed a beat.

"He’s filled a scoring void that we needed, and I’d almost bank on us not being in this position if we didn’t have Carl. We needed a post presence, someone who could demand a double-team, and right when David went out he stepped in and the very next game teams were double-teaming him and guys were knocking down open shots. That’s a byproduct of his ability to score the ball, but also his ability to step in and not be afraid. Kudos to him for not backing down. I’ve put a lot on Carl over the last month and a half. You look at his eyes sometimes and he’s pretty fried. We’ve had to put him through a bit of a training camp to get him ready for moving forward, which is right about now."

Right about now teams across the NBA will start to size each other up, preparing for their first round match-ups. Some of the dominant teams in the West have looked less than dominant in the run-up the second season, and that’s something Williams completely understands.

"Nobody does what we do. In baseball they play 162 games, but you’re not totally exhausted when you’re out there doing it. When you’re dealing with that kind of exhaustion you question yourself at times. There have been times when I was playing, the years where I was playing heavy minutes, there were times when I just didn’t have it. But then you have four games in five nights and you have to just get through. I think the problem happens when you have four or five guys going through that. You can have one or two guys going through that and get away with it, but when you have four or five guys doing that it’s a challenge. I think that’s what’s happening around the league. You have a lot of guys who are that point where they’re just tired. I’ve always said you have to prepare yourself mentally to get through 118 game, and that’s a tough, tough thing to do when you’re running and getting hit the way you do in the NBA."

In the past we’ve seen teams intentionally lose games down the stretch in order to create a more favorable match-up in the playoffs, but Williams isn’t of that mindset. He knows anything can happen in the postseason, and every team represents a unique challenge.

"I think the way you go about doing it is you play the game the way it should be played. Who you run from is who you usually will get, so I’m not in the business of running from anybody. I know we don’t match up well with certain teams, but to say that we are going to go into the playoffs and beat teams because we beat them during the regular season makes no sense at all. The teams we’re going to face in the playoffs all have experience, so we’re the only team that doesn’t. Going in with a rookie coach you have to have everything firing on all cylinders as a unit, and that’s why I’m always about trying to play the game the right way."

All in all, it’s been a successful first season for Monty Williams in New Orleans, regardless of how their playoff run ends. He’s overcome injuries, enjoyed winning streaks, pulled through losing streaks, and put his team back in the postseason.

"There have been times when it’s gone by fast, especially when we’ve had winning streaks like we’ve had them," says Williams. "They go by pretty quickly. The rough patches of the year, January and February right before the All-Star break, seemed to grind slowly. It’s been a gratifying year from a number of respects, just the fact that I’ve been privileged to coach this team, being around the guys, helping them get better, being able to clinch a playoff spot, things that I wasn’t quite sure of when I took the job, especially after the preseason we had. After the season we’ll be able to reflect on all of those things, hopefully in June. As for now, we have a good group of guys and we’re looking forward to finishing the season strong."

The Hornets will open their postseason schedule in Los Angeles as they take on the defending champion Lakers beginning at 3:30PM Eastern on ABC.

Chris Kaman Wants Out?

In many ways the Los Angeles Clippers are caught between past and present, especially at the center position. The arrival of Blake Griffin and the emergence of Eric Gordon have the Clippers thinking playoffs next season, but the fact is they’re going to have to address their center position, as well. DeAndre Jordon appears to be the long-term starter, and Chris Kaman tells HOOPSWORLD he doesn’t want to split time in this exclusive interview:

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The First Coaching Casualty?

The Minnesota Timberwolves saw their season end in unimpressive, yet very representative fashion last night. They got brilliant performances from formerly cast-off players – 23 points from Anthony Randolph and 34 from Michael Beasley – yet they were handed a resounding defeat at the hands of the Houston Rockets, 102-121. Sure, you can point out that Kevin Love and Darko Milicic were both out due to injuries, but considering Houston was missing not only Yao Ming, but also Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola, the argument won’t get you very far. The Timberwolves finished the 2010-11 campaign with the worst record in the NBA, and that’s despite some impressive roster upgrades made by GM David Kahn.

{AUTHOR_BOX}First and foremost, there’s Beasley, arguably the league’s most-improved player. The Timberwolves got him from the Miami HEAT for two second round draft picks and cash, and Beasley was the team’s second-leading scorer with 19.2 points per game this season. Second, there’s the trade deadline move that landed Randolph in town and sent out Kosta Koufos and Corey Brewer. Randolph shined over the final weeks of the season, averaging 11.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while shooting 50% from the field. These two pieces alone represent significant upgrades for the Timberwolves, who already had a solid young core developing around Kevin Love.

The Timberwolves were not expected to be a playoff team by any stretch of the imagination, but they were expected to improve by more than two wins.

Kahn addressed the media in a press conference on Wednesday morning, and while he didn’t say the obligatory head coach sacrifice was being made, it does seem to be on the horizon.

"This isn’t the right time to make decisions," he said. "We’ve been in the midst of a season. … We need time to talk over the next several weeks, months, who knows? This isn’t the right time. It’s a very emotional time when you’re playing. There’s no timetable or pressure for us to do something right now."

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has committed to Kahn for at least the final year of his three-year contract, but rest assured, another season where the team’s win total is somewhere in the teens or even low twenties will not be tolerated.

"This won’t happen again," said Kahn. "We cannot let this happen again. The status quo is not acceptable. It’s just not."

We’ve all seen this NBA script play out before, like the movie that gets remade over and over with slight variation in theme, a new title, and younger actors. The head coach gets fired, sending a statement to the team that they had better get it together. If that doesn’t work, the GM is next.

Lights . . .camera . . .action!

Prepare for the first coaching casualty of 2011.

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