This Isn't New, But It's News

I assumed the Hornets would move Thornton into the 6th man role. Ariza alongside Peja makes plenty of sense. First, size at the SG won’t be an issue against other starters. Two, Peja as an older player with a balky back would likely be better at the start of the game than coming into it after sitting on the bench “cold.” Three, most good teams have a great spark off the bench. Lastly, if we don’t find a good backup PG, perhaps Thornton/Belinelli on the floor together could handle initiating the offense.

We’re all desperate for information on the team honestly. A couple of responses from the press releases.

First of all, I’ve never been a big fan on the importance of a sixth man role because I find it a bit overrated. I understand that it’s to give the second unit a boost, but I found who finishes the game more important than who starts it. I don’t think the team needs to move Thornton to the bench in favor of Belinelli and if they do, it’s only to play Belinelli 15-20 minutes and Thornton will still dominate the second half. So what’s the significance? I’m old school, but I say just give your best players the best minutes and go from there. Although, Thornton proved that he can create his shot on his own which is something that may be needed among the back ups, unless they plan on playing Chris Paul 48 minutes a game.

Secondly, I expect the team to go into the season with the current lineup. I don’t want them to move Peja for another big contract even if it does mean an immediate upgrade. You need to think long term because the Hornets have a lot of young talent and they can really do themselves well by making great use of the expirings. If you don’t get a reasonable offer, you don’t have to move them just to make a move.

I’ve been talking trash to all of my friends here in San Antonio about the division championship and I’m pumped for the season to start.

PG: Paul/Shakur/Belinelli (in spot minutes)
SG: Belinelli/Thornton (Marcus as a 6th Man, yeah yeah, but like Rohan said in the post introducing our new personnel, Marco and Trevor have the potential to compliment each other quite well, allowing MT5 to be our “Jason Terry”)
SF: Ariza/Pondexter/Stojakovic (Much as we love him, Peja is not a part of this team’s future, and Q needs to be getting PT right away)
PF: West/Brackins/Songaila (Ditto for Darius & Craig)
C: Okafor/____/Gray (Barron?)

Closing Unit: Paul/Thornton/Ariza/West/Okafor

I see our starting 5 as follows:

PG – CP
SG – Bellinelli
SF – Peja
PF: West
C: Okafur

After the first 8 or 9 minutes, we make substitutions:

Thornton for Bellinelli at shooting guard. Ariza for Peja at SF, his natural position. I like Thornton off the bench because he makes few mistakes/turnovers, which is good for a bench player (assuming of course he continues to develop). Bellinelli doesn’t turn the ball over, but his offense is a bit inconsistent. I like going with Ariza later in the game because I like to finish with stronger defense. I don’t think Ariza would mind so much playing off the bench if he is given good minutes overall.

Bellinelli to play about 15-20 mins during the game. Peja to play about 20 minutes. Peja’s efficiency is a question mark when given moer limited minutes, but I still believe Pja has some left in the tank.

Thornton to play 28-33 mins. Ariza to play 28-33 mins. Both players would come off the bench.

CP to play around 38 minutes. Remainig 10 minutes will go to Mustafa dude, if he can handle them, or new guy if he comes by trade (in which case we’d likely be minus one of our rotation players). Don’t believe that giving either Bellinelli and/or Thornton minutes at backup point guard is a good idea, though they could occasionally bring the ball up for a possession or two or in the pinch. Neither have shown that they are backup point guards, though their dribbling and passing abilities are fair enough. Giving them backup point responsibilities would likely eat into their efficiency.

Songalia backups up West and Okafur, playing around 20 minutes.

Gray to backup Okafur, depending on situations. Playing around 10 minutes (if he earns them).

We play the rooks mainly if and when injuries deplete the roster, which they will at some point inevitably do, or in special situations (like if we need a long bomb at the end of a quarter, we can sub in Brackins). I think Poindexter may be ready to contribute, but our 3 spot, probably his natural position, is pretty crowded. He may be able to backup West, some at PF. I’m not holding out a lot of hope for Brackins being a contributor early on. We’ll just have to see how and if he develops.

The above assumes that CP stays, whcih I think is a big question mark for various reasons.

Point taken about the start of game defense. But I think it’s more important how we finish the game, rather than how we start, and I’d like to have our best defenders on the court at the end of the half/end fo the game.

Regarding Ariza, I think he’s a mediocre player on offense (though certainly a solid/good player overall). It would certainly help him to play with CP as much as possible, his efficiency would improve. But I’d prefer to maximize our best offensive players’ time with CP, rather than our mediocre ones. When CP kicks it out to the wing for jumper, I want the receiver of that to be Peja or Bellinelli, rather than Ariza.

Thornton has already shown he plays just fine without CP and can even take on a heavier scoring role in CP’s absence, so he’s fine to play as a sub off the bench—if he continues to develop, he could even be a candidate for 6th man of the year. I think pairing him off the bench with Ariza would be a good mix of offense/defense, with Ariza likely being the 3rd or 4th option after MT, West, perhaps Okafur.

If we now have F/C Lou Amundson, he would likely be first guy off the bench to sub in for Okafur. That would give us the luxury of subbing in Gray in special situations and if he earns his minutes. It would also avoid having to use Songalia as the backup center.

Our lineup/rotiation will unfortunately be geared towards small ball again—in many games, Okafur may be the biggest player we put on the court. Not a thrilling prospect. But hopefully Ariza and Amundson will give us a tougher look on defense than last year.

By the way, nobody has said anything about him, but is Ike Diogu still under contract for this season? He was a washout due to injury last year, but it’s still too early to give up on the young man’s career just yet.