The New Orleans Hornets need to rebuild...

[ThurZ Omega]

but they won't. Chris Paul needs help, but -- as ironic as this sounds -- he's the very reason they won't get any substantial help.

 

Is it because he's a bad teammate, and other stars don't want to play with him? No.

 

Is it because his salary's so huge that all they can afford to sign are D-league players? Maybe, but there are plenty other undeserved contracts on the roster.

 

The reason is that he makes his teammates play at a level they couldn't otherwise perform at, so management won't make any moves because they're expecting him to bring them to the promised land with starters who'd have difficulty playing more than 8 minutes on deeper teams.

 

Mo Peterson? Past his prime, and was never that spectacular to begin with.

 

Peja? Past his prime, and isn't going to wake up the player he was in Sacramento.

 

Julian Wright? He's actually pretty good, but is only one player.

 

All of these players have moments that they wouldn't have anywhere else because of CP3's excellence. He scores 20+ a game, and still has the responsibility of spoon-feeding an entire team while getting more than one steal a game. Don't forget that he's the best rebounding guard since Jason Kidd (Maybe Rajon Rondo's tied for that title, but he's not doing what Paul does overall). That's a MORE than arduous task for a point guard that's barely 6 feet tall in sneakers, but he does it. EVERY night, he performs a near-Herculean job that makes the incompetence of his teammates look less pathetic than it is. He even developed his 3-point shot over the off-season to offset Peja's everlasting cold-streak. Management may see the role players as less-than-satisfactory, but while CP3's winning them 45+ games a season..they're happy. Nobody wants to see Chris Paul unhappy in New Orleans, as he's the face of the franchise and DESERVES to win..but it may be exactly what the team needs. If this current Hornets team has a horrible season, it may convince the brass that Chris Paul needs help out there. More than David West, and the offensive dwarfs on the roster now. Maybe the best thing for this franchise is to lose..

[fish7718]

The Hornets can't afford to rebuild IMO. I don't think CP3 is going to put up with them putting a 5 year plan down on the table. He sees himself competing for MVP's in 2012 when it comes time for CP3 to decline that player option there are going to be a lot of great teams with cap room for him. This team has 2 years to put great talent on the floor with him, unless he's truly loyal, we'll see.

[AtTheDriveIn]

Julian Wright? He's actually pretty good

 

No he's not. Honest to God, I don't know where people pull this crap out from. In 6 starting games this season, he's averaged 5 points, 5 rebounds on average shooting. How is that 'pretty good'? What are you so impressed by there? He's average at everything he's done so far, and his potential and will to be better isn't all that impressive either. I'm sorry, but he's starting of Peja to which he has not warranted yet, and probably never will.

 

 

As for the contract situation, Kobe's contract is much higher, and the Lakers management has been able to surround him with excellent talent. Ditto for the Celtics with having the contracts of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett which must equate to over 40 million by themselves, yet they've still been able to bring in players like Marquis Daniels, Rasheed Wallace, Eddie House who are all good back-ups and role players. The same situation in Orlando with the contracts of Rashard, Dwight and Vince and even Jameer Nelson. The contract situation of Chris Paul has very, very little do with how good the Hornets are, in fact, I don't think it has anything to do with it. I think it has more to do with the poor decisions, the Hornets managements persistence to sticking to their decisions and the poor signings that made them such a mess.

 

First off, when they got Stojakovic, he was a good player. Coming off a few good years in Indiana and in Sacramento, of course, he was a perfect scorer for Paul and West to be able to pass to. But 3 years down the line, they still haven't done anything to bring in some fresh blood in the same mould of Stojakovic. Rather, they seemed content with playing a visibly older and slower Stojakovic and expecting him to do the same thing he did when he was 24 and winning scoring titles. They drafted Julian Wright, but that did very little as he was a project who was only good for his athleticism and nothing else. Morris Peterson wasn't traded when his value was highest during that approach to his second season in New Orleans and that hurt them because they were then stuck with an injury prone who had lost his shooting touch. His third season in New Orleans now and he's averaging 6 points on 34% shooting. If his contract weren't so big, that would spell W-A-I-V-E-D on just about every other team in the league. I don't understand James Posey's problem, but 1.5 points in 18 minutes at the moment is beyond horrendous.

 

And that's just one position. They never made any moves or deals to re-furbish their forward lineup and are now stuck with Hilton Armstrong and Darius Songalia, both less than glorious players as their back-ups. These guys both aren't back-up players for winning teams and yet here the Hornets are, expecting to win with these guys headlining their second unit. They've also made absolutely no attempt at brining in a true shooting guard. In seasons past, they were content with Devin Brown and Rasual Butler, but when Butler left, they made no attempt at getting anyone else. Their shooting guard slot now consists of the undrafted and undersized duo Devin Brown and Bobby Brown as well as the late Draft selection of Marcus Thornton. And they expect to be winners with this?

 

Bad management decisions have absolutely killed the Hornets. Their one lone good move these past few seasons, I believe was the acquisition of Okafor, and even that didn't help them a single bit. Chris Paul can't be expected to carry a team of journeymen anywhere. It has never worked in previous teams and systems, so I don't understand why the Hornets thought it would now. Although Paul is a great, great player, he's only one player. the NBA rules state that teams needed at least twelve. See the problem? The Hornets assumed that 8% of their roster (Chris Paul) could carry the weight of the extra 92% (and they're heavy) and succeed to some degree. It was never realistically going to actually happen, though.

Edited November 8, 2009 by AtTheDriveIn

[Multi-Billionaire]

I agree with CP3 when he said the team needs to find identity. They need to work out what works and what not, what is effective and what not. Is it involving Emeka more on pick and roll, is it getting him involved early or late, how they should attack, etc.

 

I got a feeling players are not buying CP3's leadership, the way Cavs, Heat, Lakers buying LeBron, Wade, and Kobe's.