One stat that seems too glaring to overlook. Minutes played. Right now, when Daniels can’t even get on the court in the 2nd half, his contribution is shrinking. Pargo deserved his minutes, and while the 2nd unit O relied on Pargo shooting more than passing, with AD the 2nd unit has devolved into a turnover prone group that seldom scores, which in turn provokes the other team to go at the jugular of the unit’s D resulting in blown leads.

Sure AD can massage his limited minutes into some statistical opportunities, mainly because he’s on such a short leash that he gets far fewer possessions than Pargo got. Chris Paul plays heavier minutes now, and he and AD very seldom play together.

If we were to tally Pargo’s 4th quarter minutes after the All-Star break, with his +/- during the same playoff push, and compare that to AD’s exact same contributions, the drop off in performance would be clear. Whether this lack of bench production damages the team in the playoffs is yet to be determined, but it feels that this year’s bench is less resourceful on offense, and that overall bench minutes are shrinking after the All-Star break at a worrisome clip.

I have always liked AD, and I do think he has just enough gas in his career to help us. I believe the key to whether the Hornets develop a good bench happens when we decide what to do with Peja. I am worried that this fiasco with the 2nd unit is making AD press to succeed, and my pitch is that he gets more firepower to help him get his confidence back soon.

Habits would tell us Peja should return to the starting lineup. Our floor spacing has dropped for the starters, and from downtown, we’ve been dreadful lately. Yet most of the games during this ugly winning surge by the Hornets, the team has started games well. It’s the Achilles’ Heel of the 2nd unit coming out for the 2nd quarter that puts us, literally, on our heels the rest of the game.

Mo Pete can help the 2nd unit. He’s not as tough a defender as Devin Brown, but he has more polish offensively. Mo Pete is a reliable 3 pt shooter, and not quite the wrecking ball as is Brown when he drives. Mo Pete with Poz gives us options, and if we were to add Peja to the 2nd unit, we’d suddenly have a decent to above average bench.

The key then is does Peja send Juju back down to the 2nd unit? I think Julian benefits more from playing alongside CP than any other player besides Tyson. His athleticism helps us sustain/start the fast break, and Wright is a capable defender. I worry, since I live with someone who has a chronic bad back, that too much toll on Peja will neutralize his effectiveness. Maybe Coach limits him to a well-spaced floor with the 2nd unit, overlapping some time late in the games with CP, and Peja can play big and/or free the other guys (Mo, AD, Poz, Hilton or Marks) to get better looks. Put Juju with those guys and it tends to muddle things; however, that 2nd unit described with Peja is virtually an “Over the Hill Gang.”

Our whole team has played at such a bewildering slow pace, but the second unit struggles to get shots. Putting Peja with them will create opportunities; meanwhile, CP can keep his running partner in Juju to give us athleticism in the starting lineup.

I doubt it will happen that way, but I think we have to be careful for Peja and maximize his contributions with fewer minutes to have him around for the playoffs.

One last thing, I’ll add about Pargo. Some guys are volume shooters who are statistically less efficient, but they drive opponents nuts as often as they drive their own coaches crazy. Pargo filled his role, and we don’t have anybody else on the bench capable of getting their own shot now that he’s gone. So while Pargo’s D Bees might’ve given up more pts, his time on the floor also brought additional scoring. Now the bench problem is they bog down, so when they give up 8 pts it is suddenly a big deal because they’ve scored 2 or zero. Pargo’s Bees might give up 10, but get you from 8-12 and the game still has flow, not the basketball train wreck that we fear from the 2nd unit lately.

Mo Pete can help a lot, but maybe Peja added to the mix would be even better.

The key to what Pargo brought was scoring. Opponents didn’t fear him because, as you point out he was not efficient; however, he could burst into a groove and almost single-handedly expand a lead. Streaky shooters run hot & cold, and it was a surprise that Pargo was given such latitude as probably the weakest volume shooter in the NBA, but his energy shaved minutes for CP and balanced out Paul’s increased efforts on the defensive side when playing with JP.

You’ll recall our big problem last year were stagnant 3rd quarters, but now we live in fear and trembling (sorry Kierkkergard!) of awful 2nd quarters. Pargo had little to do with our 3rd quarter blues last year.

Now the AD led 2nd unit gives up 9 pt leads to the Grizzlies. Their turnover margin is high, and their poor play energizes the other team. CP plays tremendous minutes and he has no other ballhandler to play off, so his offensive load has skyrocketed.

Ultimately, I think the real tradeoff is between Pargo or Poz, as to the character of the team. With Posey, we bring a slower pace, more D moxie, some versatility with Poz guarding and playing 2, 3, or 4 as needed. With Pargo, the team was a more explosive offensively, and played at a higher rate — of course, last year’s team had far fewer injuries, especially to Tyson. Right now ugly, slower games are the best internal defense to Paul & West playing so many minutes, and (except for Rasual) our other scoring options are always questionable. In fact, if Hornets brass knew Butler would be playing so well, esp. on D, would they have gone another direction than Poz. We’ll never know….

I think the Hornets hoped Mike James would give the team some 2nd unit scoring and playmaking, a la Pargo, going into the year. When James imploded, the Daniels deal made sense. It’s probably still a better deal than having James make bad decisions to prove he should be starting in the league, but unless we can give the 2nd unit more horses (better scorers and willing rebounders) it’s hard not to wish we had a viable “get my own shot at anytime” scoring threat off the bench, whether Pargo or somebody else. I’d rather watch a streaky guy than watch the 2nd unit reenact falling into the LaBrea Tar Pit and looking hopelessly overmatched simply because a team can score 8 pts on them, which just shouldn’t be that big a deal.

So I think a ball hogging shooting guard who keeps the 2nd unit scoring is better than the quicksand we find the team in now, but as long as Chris Paul continues to dominate we can survive this year. But to win it all, we need more scoring options loaded up on the bench. There’s a reason guys like Odom, Ginobbli, Jason Terry, Maggette, and other legit scorers come off the bench nowadays, and I would like to see how Peja would do in that role for the Hornets.