My friends, as you can tell by the blog title, I am a huge Hornets fan. Particularly Chris Paul. He could kill 1,000 in the French Quarter during Mardi Gras with the entire city of New Orleans as witnesses and I would not believe it. The man can do no wrong in New Orleans.
Unfortunately, New Orleans can wrong Chris Paul, like the Hornets have done this offseason. The Hornets have made no official moves this offseason. While many contenders (Lakers, Mavs, Spurs, Magic, Celtics, Cavs, etc.) all made significant moves to hopefully better the team, the Hornets have frozen like a teenager getting caught watching porn.
George Shinn swore, last year and before, that he would not put frugality above this team winning a championship. Evidence for this abounds: Peja's absurdly large contract, signing James Posey when Mo Pete played the same way, giving Tyson an extension when first trading for him. These moves showed the Hornets were ready to spend money to win. The team had a terrific 2008 campaign and were poised to make The Leap in 2009. The Hornets took a large step backwards, though, with Chandler injured and many players not playing up to their potential. The only reason the team was decent last year was Chris Paul and David West playing out of their minds. Seriously, I think Chris Paul blacked out last season like Will Ferrel during the debate in old school. He was that unconscious.
It is a disservice to both Paul and West to field the same team that failed horribly last year. No free agents have been signed and surprisingly, the Hornets drafted TWO players after selling the draft pick the year before. Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton may turn out to be tremendous players but I am not sure. All I know is that right now, if the team stays as it is and struggles like last year, Chris Paul may not come back when his contract ends. New Orleans is wasting a transcendent talent's prime. Sorry Chris, New Orleans owes you better.
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My friend,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Hornets need to do more for Chris Paul to entice him to stay in the future. But for now, I think there's no reason to panic when you consider that last year's team failed so miserably because Tyson Chandler, one of the most important lynchpins, was injured. If he can return to earlier form and stay healthy (and if they don't trade him), then I think it's worth a shot to keep the team intact and give it another year. In fact, if last year's team plus Collison and Thornton can stay healthy they will be an upgraded version of the 2008 Hornets.
So I think they should give this group one more shot, and if not, they will have a few years to build a new team around Paul and West before Paul's contract expires. They'll have big expiring contracts in Peja and Peterson, and hopefully they'll have blooming young talent coming in (Like Julian Wright, who I think will make The Leap himself if he starts next year, as well as Collison and Thornton, who by all accounts are special talents.).
And if Paul does leave when his contract is up, we still got a good six or seven years out of him, which is more than most people probably would have expected out of a huge star in a place like this.
ONE MORE THING, it annoys the crap out of me that everyone insists the Hornets will stink this year. These are the same revisionist-history media pundits who now act like they knew a year ago that the Nuggets and Magic would be good and the Suns and Pistons would stink. They didn't know, and I have the magazines to prove it.
ReplyDeleteGood first post, link this shit on your facebook so I can find it easier.
ReplyDeletegood stuff cb but shouldn't it be:
ReplyDeletethe hornets have frozen like caleb hogan getting caught watching porn by katie hogan
and dude,
daivid west sucks a big D, so stop giving him credit for playing with the best pt guard in the league when he's just an avg power foward.