(a sorta) League Preview: New Orleans Hornets

Our preview has addressed the sorriest teams, the lottery likelies, and the might be somethings. This next grouping are all playoff solids. All will win 48-54 games. Proven and poised to deliver, but not ready to contend. The Jazz led off. We continue with the 3^rd best in the Southwest.

New Orleans Hornets

PG Chris Paul Darren Collison

SG Morris Peterson Devin Brown

SF Julian Wright James Posey Peja Stojakovic

PF David West Darius Songaila Ike Diogu

C Emeka Okafor Hilton Armstrong

Chris Paul has it tough. Unquestionably the League’s most dazzling point guard, his team does not have the talent necessary to compete for a title. With Paul at the helm, the Hornets are too good to get a high draft pick. With George Shinn as the owner, New Orleans is too cheap to attract top free agents. New Orleans heads into the 2009-10 season starting wingmen Mo Pete and Julian “More Wrong Than” Wright. Not fair. David West and the newly acquired Emeka Okafor are great running mates for Paul. There are some ballers on the bench; just not enough to play in June.

At 24 years old, Paul has established himself as one of the four or five best players in the League. He has great skills in all aspects of the game. Last season, he scored 21 points per game shooting over 50% from the floor. He led the League is assists and steals per game, and pulled down 5.5 rebounds a game. Six foot and silly. Like most elite players, what separates Paul is unrelenting competitive drive. So, how many seasons can Paul handle playing for a team that is good and not great?

The Tyson Chandler-Emeka Okafor swap does improve New Orleans marginally. The oft injured Chandler seemed never to recovery psychologically from the near trade that would have sent him to Oklahoma City. Okafor, not the paradigm of health himself, should bring new energy and potential improvement to a fairly credible front line. Though not a long as Chandler, Emeka is an equally fierce defender. He also has a far more developed offensive game that will create new options for floor leader Paul.

Okafor joins the efficient and under-rated David West starting up front. West is a crafty scorer with a deft touch from 20 feet in. He and Paul have a very nice chemistry in the pick and roll and in the open court. West is not a noted defender, but he is a competitor with top shelf hands. He uses some slap away moves defending the post that recall the Mailman. He also has the swagger and disposition to help Paul bring better times to the Crescent City.

Where the Hornets are inexcusably weak is at the shooting guard and small forward. In a League stocked with hyper athletic wing players, New Orleans has spent the past several seasons trying to make due with skilled but aging role players while waiting for Julian Wright, the 13^th pick in the 2007 draft, to emerge. Wright is one of those guys with a wide range of talents, but no areas of consistent production. His offense is more developed than his defense, and that is not saying much. Behind him are Peterson, Posey, Peja and Devin Brown. Trotting out low grade perimeter players in the same Conference as Kobe, Roy, Carmelo, Ginobili, Durant, Josh Howard and Jason Richardson does not spell playoff success. New Orleans has the bench depth to experiment with small ball or going with three ‘bigs.’ Problem is that gimmicks that work for 7-10 minute stretches in the regular season are usually exposed in a 7 game series.

Look for the Hornets to clock in at around 50 wins, and clock out by the second round.