Elden Campbell is off to one of the best starts of his 12-year NBA career.

The averages are solid - 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks a game in the Charlotte Hornets' 11-12 start - and the way he has gone about getting his numbers may be even more significant.

There's a spring in Campbell's step most nights this season, a passion in his game that has often been missing in the past.

But don't ask why.

Don't even bother trying to figure what is suddenly motivating Campbell to play at or near All-Star levels this season.

Coach Paul Silas has racked his brain trying to figure out what makes the enigmatic Campbell tick ever since Campbell arrived in a 1999 trade with the Los Angeles Lakers - and all he's ever done is drive himself crazy in the process.

It would be nice to report that Silas finally found the right motivational buttons to push recently, but that's just not the case.

"You go nuts trying to figure Elden out," Silas said recently. "So I don't even try to do it anymore. At some point, you have to learn to accept him for what he is. Sometimes he's going to give it to you, sometimes he's not. I'm just happy that he's doing what he's doing and I hope it continues. You try to get any deeper than that, and you realize you just can't do it."

Silas apparently gave up trying to figure Campbell out last summer, after spending last season prodding him with every trick in his motivational book.