New Orleans Hornets Team Preview 2010-2011

By Eric Yearian

This season could be a make or break year for the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets will have a new coach in Monty Williams that will look to rebound from a very disappointing year. A lot of their struggles have to do with the fact that Chris Paul, the team’s all-world point guard, only suited up for 45 games last season. The troubles for the Hornets run much, much deeper than just Paul’s absence though, as the team was only 1 game over .500 even when Paul was playing (23-22 record).David West
   
The truth is, this is a very flawed roster that team management is going to have to rebuild on the fly if they want to be competitive. Everybody is looking at them as if the team is just one giant dead duck after they went 37-45 last season in a conference in which 8 teams won at least 50 games. The Hornets could be a dark horse this season to end up being a quality team, however. Will they compete for a championship? Probably not, but they are much closer to returning to relevance than most think. First, they have Paul to build around, but they also have one of the most under-rated players in the entire league in power forward David West. West has averaged in the neighborhood of 20 points and 8 rebounds over the past three seasons and is a solid player that the team can count on to produce. Last season, the Hornets tried to force feed the role of star player to West when Paul went down, but he is at his best as the secondary or even tertiary option on offense, letting others create scoring opportunities for him.
   
They also have a couple of young guards that they will look to produce and lessen the load on Paul. While they traded away Darren Collison, who looked terrific filling in for Paul last season, they still have young guys Marcus Thornton and Marco Belinelli and newly acquired Jerryd Bayless who are capable of putting the ball in the basket. New Orleans probably did the right thing by trading Collison, as he was somewhat redundant with Paul and Thornton already on the team, and Collison having a lot of value after such a good season. There is also no way of knowing if he would be able to duplicate that kind of season again now that teams know to game plan for him. If the Hornets are smart, and serious about becoming a good team again, the Collison for Trevor Ariza trade won’t be the last one New Orleans completes this season.
   
Chris Paul’s managers floated the idea earlier this offseason that their client would like to be traded to another team, and Paul himself even made the comment at Carmelo Anthony’s wedding that he would like to team up with Melo and Amare Stoudemire in New York. Many viewed this as Paul trying to get out, but it may just be posturing on his part. Paul is very involved in the community and, by all accounts, is very happy with where he is at right now. Remember how Paul’s good friend LeBron James kept pressure on the Cavaliers to improve by holding an impending free agency over the team’s head? Well, Paul maybe attempting to put that same type of pressure on the Hornets by threatening to demand a trade if the team doesn’t look to get back into title contention. Luckily for the team, they have some pieces that could land them an impact player. Will Paul go to greener pastures as his pal LeBron did
   
The most attractive piece they have is Peja Stojakovic, who has an expiring contract worth over 15 million dollars. Stojakovic is the 19th highest paid player, and the top “earner” on the roster. If another team decides to blow their roster up in exchange for financial relief (a very real possibility with a new CBA (hopefully) right around the corner. If they can add a quality player to the core of Paul, West, and Emeka Okafor, then the team will be in good position to build towards a championship run. If they fail to turn Stojakovic into something of value, things could get ugly for the Hornets, as they will be competing just to slip into the playoffs, get knocked out very quickly, and be stuck with an all-star point guard that can’t wait to skip town.
   
There is simply too much work to be done for the Hornets to be in the conversation for the championship this season, especially with an extremely thin bench, but don’t be surprised if they end up being contenders in the near future.

Predicted Record: 41-41 (Last Year’s record: 37-45)   

Expected Team Roster
Name                     Height     Weight     School
PG: Chris Paul           6-0        175        Wake Forest
SG: Marco Belinelli     6-5        200        Italy
SF: Trevor Ariza         6-8        210        UCLA
PF: David West          6-9        240        Xavier
C: Emeka Okafor        6-10       255        UCONN
6: Marcus Thornton     6-4        205        LSU
7: Willie Green           6-3        201        Detroit
8: Peja Stojakovic       6-10       229        Serbia
9: Jerryd Bayless        6-3        195           Arizona
10: Quincy Pondexter  6-6        225        Washington
11: Jason Smith          7-0        240        Colorado St.
12: Aaron Gray           7-0        270        Pittsburgh
13: D.J. Mbenga         7-0        255        Congo
14: Joe Alexander       6-8        235        West Virginia
15: Curtis Jerrels        6-1        195        Baylor
16: Pops Mensah-Bonsu  6-9        235        George Washington