The Hornets are in arguably the worst position an NBA team can be in. They are stuck in that 5th to 9th range in the conference where there is little chance of reaching a conference final and even less chance of getting a top lottery pick. They have very little in terms of tradable assets and even less in terms of future nucleus. The team quit on its coach and then brought him back for another go at it. What hope can there be for a Hornets fan like myself? Well, I aim to find some. Here goes nothing:
Free Agents
Ryan Bowen, Devin Brown, Melvin Ely, Sean Marks
My Advice: Resign none of them and be thrilled to see them leave.
Remaining Cap Situation
With 10 players under contract, the Hornets will be at least $6 mil over the luxury tax threshold for next season. This is not a good sign. I expect the team to pull the same maneuver as last year and sell their first round pick for cash. They will then need to get some team to take Mo Pete for a second round pick (like what the Nuggets did with Camby last season) and to take Armstrong for nothing (like the Suns have been famous for pulling off on or before the draft). This will leave them the option of filling out their roster with 4 to 6 players willing to take the veteran minimum to get under the luxury tax. That’s an ugly scenario if I’ve ever seen one.
Tradable Assets
Since it looks as if the draft won’t yield any results at all, who can the Hornets even feasibly trade?
Tyson Chandler is movable but injury prone. They would be lucky to get 50 cents on the dollar with him. Perhaps a team who will be under the cap like Memphis would want to part with one of their young big men like Darko Milicic or Darrell Arthur and a guy like Conley who will be out of place after they take Rubio at 2. Maybe Atlanta would be willing to take him for 2 first round picks. That way the Hornets could save their pick this year and just take 2 first round guys. If Tyson could pass a physical in OKC, Nick Collison and/or Nenad Krstic might be a decent fit. This only makes sense for the Thunder if Rubio falls to them at 3. That sure sounds like the bottom of the barrel, but the Hornets need cap relief and an infusion of youth so bad that they might just have to so something as unpopular as this.
Julian Wright is movable, but why would they trade one of their two true young assets (along with CP3 of course)?
The only other real player they have with value unfortunately is David West. I think his value couldn’t be much higher coming off his second straight all-star season. Right now the media at large has convinced the world that he’s an all-NBA caliber talent. The time to unload him is definitely right now. We know Josh Smith has had troubles with Mike Woodson in Atlanta. A package including him and maybe Acie Law to potentially become CP3’s back-up after Daniels is gone next season. The Warriors (who don’t care about defense… which means West would fit right in) might be looking to unload a couple of players not really in their core who would start for the Hornets immediately like Maggette and Brandan Wright. The Bucks would also likely be willing to part with a package of Luke Ridnour and a signed-and-traded Villanueva… especially if they manage to secure a PF in the draft. Also, I think it goes without saying that I would love either Boozer or Millsap from the Jazz if either doesn’t fit into their long term plans.
My Advice: Make the deal with Memphis and save $5 mil in the process. Then, make the deal with Golden State, and gain some youth. This would also give them just enough found cap room to upgrade from the Brian Skinner, Stromile Swift, Sean Marks, Mikki Moore, Chris Wilcox level of free agent big man to the Antonio McDyess, Leon Powe, Brandon Bass level. That would actually make a pretty significant difference for this team.
Best Case Scenario
If my two favorite of those proposed deals were to go down, if the Hornets manage to dump Mo Pete to a team for a second round pick and if the Hornets are able to lock up a mid-range free agent big, this is what the team might look like next season without having to pay the luxury tax:
PG Chris Paul
SG Rasual Butler
SF Peja Stojakovic
PF Leon Powe
C Brandan Wright
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G Mike Conley
G Corey Maggette
G Antonio Daniels
F James Posey
F Darrell Arthur
F Julian Wright
C Hilton Armstrong
The Future
The team would have just upgraded its core group of under 28-year-old players for the future from CP3, Chandler, Juju, and Hilton to CP3, Wright, Conley, Powe, Arthur, Juju, and Hilton. As an added bonus to these deals, the Hornets would very likely be able to actually make a first round pick rather than selling it again this year. They would have turned 3 young assets into potentially 6 or 7. That’s the type of decision-making that helps franchised thrive in this league.
That team would play hard every night. Many of those guys would be working their butts off to improve their game. The fans would see defensive intensity far beyond what they’ve seen these last few seasons. They’d still have the veteran influence of Peja, Posey, and Daniels. They’d have a renewed youthful exuberance. They would be a lot more fun to watch, and they probably wouldn’t see a drop-off in the win column. I could see myself actually investing in my season tickets again this season instead of canceling them like I currently plan on doing.
The Problems
The organization does not appear to be forward-thinking or committed to winning in the future. Byron Scott likes veterans and refuses to play young guys.
The team wouldn't be great, but it would certainly have some potential. I like the plan. I'm not too sure how likely it is that you're able to dump MoPete on someone - I just can't think of a team under the cap that would want him for two years at that price.
I love the trade with Golden State and I think they'd jump right on it.
I also like the Memphis trade, but I think Memphis would be looking for more in a trade with Conley. There might be too much uncertainty surrounding Chandler for them to take him. The Chandler of two years ago would be worth it. The Chandler of last year would not.
You clearly put a lot of thought into this. It looks like it would be a fairly feasible and sensible plan for NOH.
__________________ Chick Hearn: This game is in the refrigerator. The door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are gettin' cool, the butter's gettin' hard, and the jellooooooo's jigglin'!
The 2009-2010 Los Angeles Lakers
PG: Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar
SG: Kobe Bryant, Shannon Brown, Sasha Vujacic
SF: Ron Artest, Luke Walton, Adam Morrison
PF: Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Josh Powell
C: Andrew Bynum, D.J. Mbenga
My thought process on a perfect offseason is different, and much less feasible, but here it is. OKC was interested in Chandler once, maybe post surgery he will be trade able once again. The player I want in return more than anything is jeff green, hes everything that I wanted Wright to be. I would love to see a julian wright/chandler/2010 first rounder for jeff green trade, and since they are under the cap salaries wouldn't matter if they were willing to take him on. Then, we draft someone like b.j. mullens, who once was a pretty prized prospect but has shown some serious weaknesses in his college year. This would allow us to relegate Peja to a bench position, and he would just have to deal with it. Resign pargo for some more offense off the bench and we would be in decent shape.
Obviously this is a pipe dream, but it gives us 2 young players infused into the starting lineup, and frees up capspace for this year.
OKC has more leeway with their roster, but if they do take james harden in the draft like they are discussing...
Westbrook
Harden
Durant
Collison-Krstic-wright-White-whoever
Chandler
The only thing I don't agree with on their part is that Durant played crazy ball when put back to shooting guard last year, so maybe they would keep durant at sg and put wright or sefolosha in the starting lineup.
__________________
TOOEASY'S FAVE FIVE
1. Chris Paul
2. Monta Ellis
3. Rudy Gay
4. Kevin Durant
5. Lebron James
My thought process on a perfect offseason is different, and much less feasible, but here it is. OKC was interested in Chandler once, maybe post surgery he will be trade able once again. The player I want in return more than anything is jeff green, hes everything that I wanted Wright to be. I would love to see a julian wright/chandler/2010 first rounder for jeff green trade, and since they are under the cap salaries wouldn't matter if they were willing to take him on. Then, we draft someone like b.j. mullens, who once was a pretty prized prospect but has shown some serious weaknesses in his college year. This would allow us to relegate Peja to a bench position, and he would just have to deal with it. Resign pargo for some more offense off the bench and we would be in decent shape.
Obviously this is a pipe dream, but it gives us 2 young players infused into the starting lineup, and frees up capspace for this year.
OKC has more leeway with their roster, but if they do take james harden in the draft like they are discussing...
Westbrook
Harden
Durant
Collison-Krstic-wright-White-whoever
Chandler
The only thing I don't agree with on their part is that Durant played crazy ball when put back to shooting guard last year, so maybe they would keep durant at sg and put wright or sefolosha in the starting lineup.
I would NOT do that trade...giving up too much. I don't want to give up our 2010 1st rounder unless its for something really good. I don't think trading for Jeff Green is good enough considering we are giving up JuJu, Tyson, and the 1st rounder.
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Chris Duhon and Brandon Bass will both be good NBA players and will stay in the League for a long time!
My Proposed Solution
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