Season Preview Hornets

[KG-MVP21]

Whatever uncertainty surrounds this team and their home city for the seasons to come, that uncertainty does not spill over onto this freshly built roster. This summer the Hornets made a splash with their roster, and it all amounts to one decisive directional shift: This team belongs to Chris Paul.

Of course, to anyone who watched Chris Paul lead the Hornets last season, or to those who saw him run Team USA this summer, this news would come as little surprise. Paul came out last season blazing, demonstrating leadership abilities and on-court awareness that usually don't develop until a player is in his thirties. He played such a mature, disciplined game that he is fast catching up to the Jason Kidd's and Steve Nash's of the league to become one of the best point guards in the NBA. Trust me, if you haven't seen him play, he's that good.

Paul was the only major addition to last year's Hornets squad, which had just come off of an eighteen-win season, and he was the catalyst that propelled them to twenty more wins and a near-miss of the playoffs. It was the single biggest improvement in the league last year, and that includes the standout season from the Clippers. Simply put, Chris Paul is the future of the point guard position in the NBA.

So, when a team has all of that information on its plate, what does it do? Apparently it tosses its spendthrift identity aside and sets out to plug all the perceptible holes in the ship to try and sneak into the playoffs sooner rather than later. Those moves included nabbing a three-point shooter to open up the floor for Paul (and Most Improved candidate David West) in Peja Stojakovic. It included shoring up backups for Paul in Bobby Jackson and Jannero Pargo, and snatching up a defensive presence to anchor the paint with a shot blocker and rebounder in Tyson Chandler.

This all comes in addition to drafting two solid power forwards in the draft in Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons and re-signing backup small forward Rasual Butler. For a team that looked pretty solid last year, they did a lot of tweaking to get ready for this one.

Of course, like any makeover, big or small, this one comes with its caveats. First up is the most popular point of contention with regards to this team, and that's the signing of Peja Stojakovic. Peja's star has dimmed significantly since his heyday with the Kings, and even his late-season burst with the Pacers has done little for most to justify his $64 million contract. I am not one of those non-believers, however. Yes, Peja defines anti-clutch, and yes you can't ask him to be the centerpiece of an offense - this has all been proven time and time again - but he is still a deadly three-point shooter who can rebound well (5.8 per game last year) at his position.

He won't be the number one option for the Hornets this year, but he will feature prominently in their attack the way he did during his prime in Sacramento. West will still see the bulk of the ball on this team, and it will be up to players like Stojakovic to make sure that opposing teams don't collapse in on him. Is Stojakovic overpaid for this role? Probably, but the bottom line is it was a need that his team had and they filled it, and it didn't prevent them from plugging the other holes they had on this roster, so I have trouble accepting it as a poor decision, at least without seeing it in action first.

The other major question mark is how healthy Bobby Jackson can stay this season. There is no mystery that he, along with Peja, was such a desirable free agent because of his relationship with coach Byron Scott, who was an assistant in Sacramento when they were there. But since that time Jackson has been riddled with half-played seasons due to injury, which have made him increasingly unreliable as a backup to anyone.

Jannero Pargo is a solid third-string point guard, and I don't mean that as an insult, but if he has to become the primary sub for Paul for the bulk of the season because Jackson has another bout with injuries then all of the positive relationships in the world won't save Paul from the heavy minutes he'll be expected to play.

All that said, however, I really like what the Hornets did this summer. I personally will always take an active team who acknowledges their weaknesses and addresses them quickly and decisively to a team who sits back and tries to let a feeble squad develop internally. Teams like the Pistons or the Spurs may look like teams who just developed as units naturally, but it was savvy acquisitions like Rasheed Wallace and Nazr Mohammed that put these teams where they are today. The Hornets will continue to groom Paul and West as the cornerstones of this team, but they're going to do it by giving them all the help they can to succeed. It may not all pan out, but at least they can't be faulted for not trying.

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP

PG - Chris Paul

I know I've said it before, but with Steve Nash returning the glory to the point guard position, Chris Paul couldn't have come along at a better time to take the baton from Nash when he's ready to hang them up and keep the position popular when it's played the right way. Paul is part of the new NBA Rat Pack along with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade. The four solidified their bond this summer in Japan and the league couldn't be happier since they represent the future of the NBA and all that is going right with the Association these days. Unlike the other three, though, Paul shed the image of being a young player about week into his rookie year. While people fawned over the 'Big Three' for their abilities to perform at such a young age, Paul has simply become a veteran going into his sophomore season. If he is where the point guard position is in fact headed, the position looks to be in excellent hands for years to come.

SG - Desmond Mason

I don't love that they're planning on starting him here, but he probably is their most logical option. His shooting leaves a lot to be desired since leaving Milwaukee, but the addition of Peja to this team may allow Mason to play the game more like he did with the Bucks, acting more as a slasher and a finisher while Michael Redd handled the shooting. With J.R. Smith gone, the position is Mason's to play around with and to find his groove in, but to be effective long-term he is going to need to round out his game considerably. First of all, he needs to pull his shooting percentage back out of the thirties, and his three-point shooting out of the teens. While he will never be looked to as a pure shooter, those numbers are unacceptable for any professional basketball player. Secondly, he has to find other areas of the game to be effective in. His athleticism would make him a nice backcourt rebounder, and his quickness would definitely make him a good defender, but he has to commit to something besides dunking if he wants to hang on to this starting spot beyond this season. He was an effective piece to Milwaukee's attack two seasons ago, but even they jumped at the chance to replace him when Bobby Simmons came along. Mason knows what he has to do to prevent that from being his fate with the Hornets, now he just has to prove he can do it.

SF - Peja Stojakovic

I appreciate the fact that Peja knows who he is as a player. He is there to shoot the ball, to shoot it efficiently, and to shoot it in multiple situations and be effective. Peja came into the league as a spot-up three-point specialist, and rounded out his offensive attack to include pull-ups, pick-and-pops and pretty much any kind of play where he can get off an open jumper. In fact, his deceiving 6'10" frame often allows him to shoot right over the coverage since he's taller than some team's power forwards, including his own. It would be nice if Peja didn't have the reputation of continually letting his team down in the playoffs, but he does, and it's a serious hindrance to his effectiveness. But right now, the Hornets are all about making the Playoffs, and that's something Peja has never failed to do his entire career, and the Hornets are hoping to keep that streak alive this April.

PF - David West

Had the Suns not had such an outstanding season last year, this would have been the Most Improved Player right here. West came on last year and substantially improved every aspect of his game. The departure of Jamaal Magloire allowed him to log sixteen extra minutes per game and he took advantage of them and then some. The development West made last year went beyond just the stat book (where he was at his career best in nearly every category), it went all the way to the way he handled his new role on this team. He became a go-to offensive weapon out of nowhere for this Hornets club, and he responded like he'd been doing it his whole life. He shouldered the load for the Hornets, becoming their own Mr. Clutch after sinking several game winning shots and taking control of the offense late in the game. It's so rare that such an unheralded player can come in and have such an impact on a team simply because the coach put his faith in him that he could perform, but that is exactly what happened here. He has become an integral part of this starting unit, and while Paul may be getting all of the glory for turning this team around so quickly, he couldn't have done it without West converting on all of those assists. With Peja and Chandler flanking him in the starting five, look for West to have an even better season in 2007.

C - Tyson Chandler

Okay, let's not beat around the bush, last year he let the Bulls down. While the two sides spent all of last summer trying to flesh out a contract extension, Chandler decided to not stay in shape and reported to camp as a barely serviceable imitation of the guy who had finally appeared to have broken through the year before. There is no excuse for that kind of malaise, and if that is the player that the Hornets got, then at least all they gave up was an aging P.J. Brown to get him. However, if the Hornets are getting the Chandler that they think they are getting, here is what they expect: Chandler is an open-court kind of player who has been locked into a tightly controlled half-court game in Chicago. In Oklahoma City, the team plays a far more fluid, up-tempo game that should suit Chandler and his skill set like a glove. Chandler is at his best when he is roaming the paint picking up weak-side blocks and offensive rebounds. He picks up a lot of cheap put-backs in the paint that keep his percentages up and also keeps other teams from fast breaking on him. His light frame can run the court well and if he is ever going to demonstrate his worth to an NBA club, this will probably be his best chance. When used right (and when healthy, never a guarantee), Chandler could be among the best defensive centres in the game. If he reports to camp anything like last year, though, then the Hornets will have some shopping to do before the move back to New Orleans.