Starting out 4-8 for some teams can just be considered early season jitters, or a somewhat disappointing start. But when your claimed to be an elite team like the New Orleans Hornets, and you have the best point guard in the league with Chris Paul, expectations are too high to only win 4 of your first 12 games.
First to go was Coach Byron Scott. Last year’s coach of the year, Scott came to New Orleans in 2004 and built a playoff team from scratch. Drafting Paul with the fourth pick in the 2005 NBA Draft turned this franchise around. With Paul controlling the reigns, Byron Scott led the Hornets to the playoffs in back to back seasons the past two years, but his team was dropped early due to inexperience and poor play.
With Scott gone and GM Jeff Bower taking over, the Hornets are in disarray. And to make matters worse, Paul just went down with an ankle injury the other day - out 3-4 weeks.
This prompts the question - why aren’t the Hornets any good this year? With a healthy Paul, versatile big man David West, and newly acquired center Emeka Okafor (more on that later), the Hornets should definitely not be 4-8. However, the small forward and shooting guard positions are huge holes on this squad. There is no suitable swingman to be found on the roster that can truly compliment Paul in the backcourt both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
The trade for Emeka Okafor this offseason, that sent Tyson Chandler to Charlotte, really screwed things up for New Orleans. First off, the contract situation. Chandler, whose contract expires after this season, is owed nearly $12 million this year, then is off the books. But for some strange reason, instead of swapping Chandler for a fellow expiring contract (or not trade at all), the Hornets nabbed Okafor, who has over $40 million left on a contract with 3 years remaining. How stupid can one GM be? The Hornets needed to save money, not take on more commitments. Secondly, the Paul-Chandler relationship on the court was practically seamless. Despite an injury-riddled season last year, Chandler and Paul have been a dynamic duo, hooking up on spectacular dunks set up by precise screens, and great movement off the ball. With the slower, smaller Okafor on the floor now, that exciting tandem is long gone.
To turn this season around, the Hornets need to do the following: get Chris Paul back healthy, acquire a versatile guard/small forward (for example, the Warriors’ Kelenna Azubuike, the Wolves’ Corey Brewer, or the Heat’s Daequan Cook), insert James Posey into the starting lineup and have Peja Stojakavic come off the bench, and get back to that fastbreak, exciting offense of 2007.
New Orleans, by the looks of it you have a good team, but it’s too bad though, because idiotic decisions will hold you back this season, and for years to come - make sure to have fun in the offseason when Chris Paul demands a trade, and the fans abandon the team.
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