I’ve been so hard on this front office that I was sabatoging my ability to be a Hornets fan and season ticket holder. I stopped going to games after the botched Tyson trade. I turned on my fellow Hornet fans who kept bashing Tyson and sided with management.

Bower and Scott teamed to ruin a promising young roster. The only reason I renewed my season tickets is because of Chris Paul and the fact that I have 2 of the best season tickets (price/location factored in) in the entire NBA.

Anyhow, the past couple of weeks have gone a LONG way to aleving many of my concerns. It wasn’t just the solid, rational draft. It was the fact that the Hornets did not dump Tyson Chandler for 5 cents on the dollar. I pray they will continue to refrain from doing this.

Even if Tyson never comes back close to healthy, you aren’t risking anything by keeping him at this point. The CHANCE that he plays well enough to increase his value or to regain his old form is too valuable to pass on. He’s our 2nd most important player behind Chris Paul, and it isn’t even a debate.

So the Hornets are back on the right track. Unless a great deal for Peja or Chandler comes along, we’ll have a similar core. Maybe we’ll move Daniels or Butler to clear up some luxury tax issues. We probably don’t need to waste money on a panic signing of the “Headless Chicken”.

I’m very happy.

Liked it more the more I read about Collison, and liked it even more once we were able to trade for Thorton. Collison + Thorton is a solid draft.

Now… I do take a little issue with this: “I trust in that collective wisdom.” Collective wisdom regarding the draft has so often been wrong…. that’s my only issue. The collective wisdom regarded Rashard Lewis, Manu Ginobli and Michael Redd as second rounders. The collective wisdom valued Darko over Bosh, Wade and Carmelo and Deron Williams over Chris Paul and Marvin Williams over both of those guys, etc, etc. Still.. I get your point, and obviously Blair was a riskier pick… so I’m fine with it. If he starts beasting it with San Antonio I may groan loudly… but hey, that’s how things go sometimes. Excellent analysis as always AtH.

John “Overrated” Hollinger bashed our draft on ESPN. You’ll probably read about it somewhere soon. Here’s my response:

On the surface he makes a good case. When you dig deeper, not so much.

A.) The odds of getting a productive big with the 21st pick in the worst draft in recent NBA history are about 2%. If you want to play the Blair card you’re being disingenuous. FIFTEEN TEAMS passed on him after the Hornets. The entire NBA could have traded to get him in the 2nd and nobody did until he landed with the Spurs. He would have been a HUGE reach at #21. Arguably the biggest reach in the past 3 NBA drafts. So that’s a shit argument. The last thing the cash-strapped Hornets need to do is give a 3-year guaranteed deal to a kid who eats fast food 4 meals a day and has no ACL’s to join fellow guaranteed injury risks Tyson Chandler (foot/ankle), Peja Stojakovic (back/knees), David West (back), and James Posey (old age).

B.) The 2nds we traded for Thornton are no big deal. 2nd in the NBA are easily attainable. We can get one back as a throw-in to any future deal we make. It’s a non-issue. Thornton’s local appeal and ability to help “mine” the Baton Rouge market is worth the nominal fee we paid to get him.

C.) The draft picks essentially saved the Hornets another $10MM as we can now trade Daniels and Butler/MoPete with relatively no worries.

Dig a little deeper. The Hornets had a solid draft. 4 days ago we were freaking out because Hornets insider Gerry V. was dropping strong hints that the Hornets would again sell their pick. They didn’t. They stepped up and made the team better and more financially nimble.

I still would have like them to take a shot at Blair, but maybe this is the best move.

I think the hornets needs are: to play behind
1. Big man to play behind Tyson and West.
2. Two guard that can score
3. Back up point guard.

I hope Thornton pans out.
I think Collison will excel.

We can only hope that Rasual, Mo Pete and Peja contribute.

Collison is a hard, hard worker. He was also a defensive sieve in college. Think going up against arguably the best point guard in the league isn’t going to vastly improve him and challenge him? Not only that, he gives Paul a gritty competitor to battle during practice as well. Nobody on the Hornets expects Collison to one day be a star. They want him to be Paul’s backup. He is absolutely perfect to fill that role. When he comes in, the second unit will be in very capable hands. I really wanted this pick before the draft, and am ecstatic now that the Bugs have gone out and made it.