When it was announced in September that the New Orleans Hornets would be playing most of their home games in Oklahoma City, expectations for the season dropped even further than what they already were. Even fans knew that improving greatly on last season’s 18-win performance would be a huge task.

Well, the players accepted that task and turned 18 wins into 38 wins in an unbelievable season.

Now there may be this feud starting between New Orleans fans and Oklahoma City fans, but that’s a story for another column.

But I think it’s time to look at the 2005-06 Hornets edition of the “Andy” Awards. Now you may be asking yourself, what is an Andy? Well my friend, an Andy is some clever name I came up with to describe my own personal favorite awards. Without further ado … heeeeere we go.

Best Dunk – Kirk Snyder On Feb. 4, Snyder put down possibly the best dunk in Hornets history. After stealing the ball from L.A. Lakers guard Smush Parker, Speedy Claxton pushed the ball up the right side of the court. Snyder trailed him on the left and got the ball from Claxton at the free throw line. He was going hard to the hole and noticed Lakers guard Von Wafer. As Snyder went up, Wafer decided he was going to block the shot. He failed, miserably. Snyder jumped and went over Wafer’s head and threw the dunk down hard. Too bad that was Snyder’s only real highlight.

Best Block – Linton Johnson III or LJ III, a Tulane graduate, was acquired in a trade deadline deal from the New Jersey Nets. In his first game as a Hornet he scored a career high 17 points. His most significant contribution was against the Toronto Raptors on April 2nd. Pape Sow, a 6-foot-10 center, went up for a two-handed dunk. Johnson went up and, before Sow could make it to the rim, got one hand firmly on the ball. He drove Sow to the ground, took the ball and completely embarrassed Sow in front of the Raptor faithful.

Worst Comment by a Coach – Byron Scott After the one and only Hornets game in Baton Rouge, a game in which the Hornets blew a double-digit lead against the Suns, coach Scott basically condemned the fans in Baton Rouge and said they didn’t support the team enough and if the game was played in OKC, the outcome may have been different. The Suns won that game 102-88. By the way, the Suns also played the Hornets in OKC. The Hornets blew a double-digit lead that game as well and lost 102-88, again.

Best Game Winner – David West Down by one with 0.5 seconds on the clock, things looked bleak for the Hornets’ chances of winning. The Washington Wizards thought they were going to walk in to OKC and walk out with a 96-95 victory. David West had other plans. West took the inbounds pass and fired up a quick shot right before the buzzer went off. Swish. Game Over. Hornets win 97-96. It was one of three game-winning shots with under two seconds left that West hit during the season.

Best Player – Chris Paul Seriously, did you think it would be anyone else? Not like J.R. Smith played this year anyway.