Miami 89 (3-3)  |  New Orleans 100 (4-2)

Welcome back, Hornets. The disoriented, sloppy crew who gave us two painful losses (one of which was inexcusable) did not show up to play Miami. Rather, something much closer in kin to last year's 56 win team arrived to take down D-wyane Wade and company.

CP was his normal, stellar self putting up 21 points, 13 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals in 37 minutes of play. The Chef's dishing skills put 6 other Hornets in double-digit points (ok, Rasual only had 8 points) and none of those players was named James Posey. Basically, the Bees played some of the best team basketball I've seen in a while, with everyone contributing. We looked good.

Chris' performance made him the first player in NBA history to start a season with 6 consecutive 20-10 games, passing Oscar Robertson's 5.

What's better is that we saw the return of the Chaos Effect (first postured by mW of Hornets Hype). We had Chris dashing in and out of the lane, confusing the defense, drawing fouls, and finding insane looks all over God's creation it was a pretty thing. I mentioned in the last post, that CP shakes me on half of his fakes, and this game was no exception. In fact, at one point he was juking a player and half tripped over his own feet before recovering and driving to the hoop. This prompted my buddy Frank (one of the Super Bees) to remark that "sometimes Chris' head freaks his legs out". 

The Heat, on the other hand, looked decent, if not a little out of sync. Posey and Peterson played D. Wade pretty well, though the stat line doesn't show it (because he's Dwayne Wade, dammit). He finished with 30 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal. You know, I like this team in 2 years. The core of Wade, Haslem, Beasely (who will become a beast and sometime soon), and Chalmers is quite promising. But not for this season.

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Argh. I was an unabashed Mike James supporter in the summer. Inexplicably, I thought he could return close to 2006 levels of play if he was just given the opportunity. Alas. Things have not gone well so far. What exactly happened yesterday? A play by play.

Is this the new Hilton for Tyson?

6:19- Mike James enters game for Chris Paul

5:30- Does a really nice job on Joe Johnson, forcing him to pass. Hawks get a 3, but it's not on Mike.

5:15- Passes to Mo-Pete for a wide open jumper. Misses.

4:50- Marvin Williams gets wide open for three, opposite side of the floor from MJ.

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With the acquisition of Sean Marks, the Hornets are unofficially officially set for the season opener. They've carried only 14 guys into the last few openers, a practice they're sure to continue. For one, it allows roster flexibility in-season, and second, virtually every player that signs on as a 15th man will be available later. So, a revised version of the depth chart I posted a couple weeks ago:

Obviously, things can and will shift around. I expect Devin Brown to get some minutes at the point, Posey at the 4, Ely at the 5, etc. How does this depth chart stack up against last year's playoffs depth chart?

According to the CBA, a team can have only 12 active players. Andersen and Butler were the odd men out last spring. My best guess is that Sean Marks joins Butler on the inactive roster to start the year. With that in mind, let's do a quick head-to-head.

Backup Point Guard (Advantage: New Hornets)

I discussed this in more depth (pun alert!) earlier this week. Short story short, I think James is significantly better than Pargo. While last year's Hornets had more depth at the 1 (Paul-Pargo-James), this year's version has the correct guy in the 2nd string role. And Devin Brown should be able to fulfill third point guard duties.

Backup Shooting Guard (Advantage: New Hornets)

Last year, the Hornets' biggest holes were at backup shooting guard and backup center. The reason for the lack of production from the spot is obvious with a glance at the depth chart- the players who manned the spot (Pargo, Wright, and even Wells) were by no means shooting guards. You have a 6'1", 175 dude and a rookie drafted as a SF/PF masquerading as off guards, and you've got problems. Those issues were compounded when Mo-Pete played far and away the fewest minutes among the starters (the other 4 averaged at least 35.2 mpg; Mo played 23).

I think the Devin Brown acquisition will help much more than people anticipate. Because Byron Scott liked to play Pargo and CP at the same time, Chris Paul was often left to guard talented off guards (Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, and even Manu Ginobili were all checked by Paul last year). Devin Brown's size alone will help Paul out tremendously, defensively. Brown may bring little to the table offensively, but the defensive upgrade at the back-up 2 can't be emphasized enough.

Backup Small Forward (Advantage: New Hornets)

Julian Wright is a year older and James Posey replaces Bonzi Wells. Enough said.

Backup Power Forward (Advantage: Tie)

I'm pretty sure Ryan Bowen beats out Sean Marks on the active roster; Byron Scott can't get enough of his hustle. Honestly, I'd rather have the 6'10", 250 lb. Marks on the bench instead of Bowen, but it's a tough decision. But either way, nothing really changes from last year. David West will probably still have to play the entire first quarter and first few minutes of the second quarter.

Backup Center (Advantage: Tie)

With Marks relegated to IR duty, we're left with the fantastic duo of Batman and Robin, Tyson and Hilton. Just as with the comic books, you bow down to the greatness of Batman and groan every time you see Robin.

Overall

The Hornets went into the off-season looking to bolster the front-court, first and foremost. Did it happen? No. Yeah, I know Posey can slide over to the 4 and all that. But the bottom line is we went into the summer hoping to find a replacement for Ely or Armstrong, and it didn't happen. While I think the Devin Brown signing is underrated, while I think letting Pargo walk was an awesome move, and while I love that we snatched James Posey from the defending champions, the lack of upgrade at F/C just doesn't seem right.

I guess the title of this post- "Did we get better?"- isn't asking the right question. Rather: Did we get better at the right spots?  Is it smarter to carry 3 point guards or 3 centers? Is a good backup power forward more valuable than a good backup point guard? How about a good backup center? Wouldn't it change from year to year, based on the opponents you face? And what exactly is "good" anyway, considering we can't even measure an entire half of the game- defense- very effectively?

I don't know. On paper, this team did get better. But until next June, we won't know the answer to the biggest question of all: can an NBA champion have Hilton Armstrong and Melvin Ely in its frontcourt?

I wasn't going to comment much on Pargo's departure since Dave Berri covered it quite well statistically and Ryan Schwann covered the personal aspect of it excellently. But a few of you have e-mailed in the last week asking for my take things. So I shall oblige.

I definitely hate to see Jannero Pargo, the person, go. He was a terrific guy on the court and off of it, and I don't think you can find a single Hornet fan that didn't enjoy his wild gunning. I'm sure the rest of the Hornets are sad to see him go, and I'm sure the front office seriously considered re-signing him.

But player and personnel decisions are never made in a vacuum. Like Mike at HornetsHype and I have mentioned numerous times, Pargo's departure makes a ton more sense if you consider the current roster and payroll. Re-sign Pargo and we're paying a 3rd string point guard 6.25 million dollars. Any way you slice it, that makes no sense. I'm coming closer and closer to deeming the Houston trade failure, if only because the Rockets dumped James' contract on us.

And this isn't just about the dollars. Matt of Pounding the Rock mentioned that any player can walk up the court and chuck the ball up at a 35% rate. While I think that's a little unfair to Pargo (because of his defensive efforts), I agree with the general sentiment.

On top of all that, we have a pretty biased view of Mike James as Hornet fans. We saw him play a paltry 183 minutes, in irregular intervals, with various injury issues. Anyone who claims to accurately judge a player in 183 minutes is not to be believed. 183 minutes? That's barely 5 or so full games. You really want to write off his first 11,000 minutes because of his last 183? Be my guest, just don't aspire to be a GM.

James has outperformed Pargo in his career at basically... everything.

• 37.8% to 36.5% 3P shooting
• 25.3% to 22.3% assist rate
• 13.3% to 14.7% turnover rate
• 213 to 13 Games Started at point guard
• 3.0 to 3.2 personal fouls/36 minutes
• 53% to 47.8% True Shooting Percentage
• 73% to 84% of shots coming on jumpers
• 13% to 19% of inside shots blocked
• 15.1 to 11.7 PER

Sure, Pargo is 4 years younger than James. MJ hasn't played much defense since his Detroit days. But in his Piston tenure, he was a defensive sparkplug so I wouldn't be surprised if Byron could whip him into shape.

I'm happy that Pargo could help us out these last two years. I'm happier that it will be Mike James out there for the next two.

Well folks, I'm finally back home! I hope you enjoyed my presence-less posts. Typing on a computer for the first time in weeks feels real weird. And all this crazy free agent movement I'm hearing about for the first time is pretty weird too. Seriously, T.J. Ford for J. O'Neal? B-Diddy to the Clippers? Like 8000 rookies to the Blazers? E. Brand to the Sixers? Maggette to the Dubs? But I'm gonna ignore all that for now and write about an idea that's been burning a hole in my mind for almost a month.

The Hornets should not bring back Jannero Pargo. Not because he's a bad guy. Not because he's a bad player. But because there's a dude named Mike James receiving a cool 6 million dollars for doing nothing. On draft night, the Hornets decided that they'd rather have 3 million dollars over J.R. Giddens, C.D. Roberts, or Richard Hendrix- all players that could step in immediately and help, no matter what Byron Scott says. How does it make any sense whatsoever to avoid paying a rookie scale contract to save money, then turn around and toss 12+ million dollars at your third string point guard?

The most ironic part is that Mike James is arguably better than Pargo. James' last full year saw him shoot 48 eFG%. Compare that with Pargo's atrocious 43.9% this year, and career 45%. Pargo's career turnover percentage is nearly 2 percentage points worse than James'. James has long been considered a ball-hog, but his AST% numbers make him look like John Stockton next to Pargo. The rebound figures are virtually identical. Pargo is definitely the better defender. At worst, James is at least as good as Pargo. At best, he's the far superior player.

Sure, he's 4 years older. But age isn't really a consideration for bench and role players. Reserves come and go over the years. Teams don't lock up bench players or try to acquire younger bench players because that's not how the game works. Once in a while, you'll see something like the Spurs and Bruce Bowen. That's definitely the exception.

Pargo's one of my favorites. He has a very engaging personality, has great rapport with guys like CP and TC, and is instant, if inefficient, offense. He's got the amazing ability to avoid Byron Scott's doghouse despite frequent 1-13 nights. That's all great.

The Hornets just have a weird situation on their hands. Getting rid of James would be more ideal than getting rid of Pargo. The way things stand right now, it doesn't appear that MJ is on the move. Unless something seriously changes and a trade avenue for James magically opens up, I'm crossing my fingers that the Nets or some other suitor snap up the General.

A lot of people inside the sphere of blogs have advocated the packaging of our 27th pick in a trade. Personally, I like the idea of getting some fresh, young blood into the system (via the draft). But there are some big names out there that would be too good to pass on. My favorite among these: Corey Maggette.

Corey starting at the 2 with Mo-Pete and JuJu coming off the bench would make us instant favorites in the West, right up there with L.A. Add even a semi-competent backup big (ie, not Hilton), we roll to the CF's vs. the Lakeshow. Corey's lowest PER since 2002 is 18.6, and he hit 38% of his triples last year. He has the physicality of Bonzi, at least offensively, with Mo's ability to space the floor. He addresses one of our biggest problems of last year- the inability to get to the foul line. (He actually led the league in FTM/40). And he has experience guarding Kobe. The dude fits. Maggette would literally be the one piece that puts us over the top. /Wipes drool off face.

CM's contract complicates the situation, though. He has an ETO, or an "Early Termination Option". This means that until July 1st, he is a free agent. He's free to sign with any team. Remember, we are over the salary cap next season; the most money we could offer him is $5.5 Million, our full midlevel exception. That probably won't be enough, and the only legit thing we can promise him is the opportunity to play for a contender.

If nobody signs him before July 1st, he magically becomes a Clipper again. At that point, the only way to get CM is to pull off a sign and trade (where the LAC sign him and then immediately trade him).

Now, more enterprising readers must have picked up on a crucial fact. We can trade for Corey beginning July 1st. The draft, though, is a few days before that. So wouldn't that mean that we can't package this year's 27th pick in a trade? Thankfully no. We can draft whoever the Clips want with the 27th pick and then deal the rights to that pick on July 1st. In essence, the trade would be agreed to days before it actually takes place. The Rudy Gay for Shane Battier deal of 2006 was based on this "loophole."

Question marks aplenty. Thankfully, we've got some answers too. ClipperSteve of fellow SBNation blog Clips Nation was kind enough to do a little Q&A:

@tH: Based on what you've heard so far, are there any teams (with the necessary cap space) seeking to acquire Corey before July 1st and would CM actually consider these teams?

CN: As I'm sure you're aware, there are astoundingly few teams with significant cap space this summer (much to the relief of Clippers' fans, with both Brand and Maggette holding early termination options).  "The necessary cap space" for Corey would seem to be around $10M - maybe he won't get that, but he made $7M last season, he turned down a three year extension starting at around $8.5M last summer, so it's safe to assume he's looking for $10M - especially considering that he just came off a career year from a statistical standpoint. 

By my math, that leaves as few as two teams with enough cap space to make him the offer he wants:  Memphis and Philadelphia.  I have heard nothing about either of those teams having interest in Maggette, and certainly on the surface they look like bad fits, since each team has a young small forward leading them in scoring.  Would Corey consider either of these destinations?  I think so - right now, his plan is to get paid.  But I don't see anything in the offing from those teams.  I could be wrong - it's a remarkably bad market for free agents (at least for those of the unrestricted persuasion), and Corey could easily be the second best out there by quite a margin, after Antawn Jamison.  So if Memphis plans to spend any of that Kwame Brown money, they have to offer it to SOMEONE.  But I just don't see it.

There's a bunch of other possibilities when you consider all the ETOs this summer - the Kings, Heat, Warriors, Wizards and maybe others could have some cap space if their free agents opt out, but as of now, none of that looks likely. 

Will Corey consider playing for a contender for the mid level exception?  Take the most extreme case - San Antonio offers him the starting small forward position and a real chance at a ring.  I just don't see him opting out of his current contract to sign for less.  He can play another season in LA and then look at less money from contenders in 2009 if it comes to that.

@tH:  A precursor to question 3: are the Clips looking at a rebuilding phase in the near future or trying to transition into contenders? I guess another way of putting it would be are the Clips more likely to seek expiring contracts or actually viable pieces in potential trades?

CN: It may turn out to be foolhardy, but it's pretty clear that the Clippers think of themselves as a playoff team, and are no where near the point where they want to start over.  Bear in mind that for teams interested in acquiring Maggette, this is good news.  They don't need to trade him for an expiring contract - he HAS an expiring contract.  At any rate, the Clippers truly believe that a healthy Elton Brand and an All Star level Chris Kaman, is a pairing that deserves a chance.  Throw a rehabbed Shawn Livingston into the mix, and it's certainly a team with a lot of potential.  Can they compete in the Marianas Trench deep Western Conference?  That's where the foolhardy thing may come in, but I tend to agree that they should give this group a chance to be on the floor together.

That means the Clippers will be wanting to get pieces that can contribute right away if they choose to move Maggette.  (You didn't ask, but it's worth mentioning at this point, it's entirely possible the Clippers will keep last season's leading scorer.  Given the situation with the free agent market, he could end up being something of a bargain, and if they can sign him around the $8.5M they offered last summer, they'll happily keep him in LA.)

@tH: Again based on what you've heard so far, could you give us a sense of what some of the better (obviously potential) trades could be?

CN: I've got a running Fan Post on Clips Nation tracking this.  The names that have been mentioned are Jose Calderon, T.J. Ford, Kirk Hinrich, Jason Terry and Hedo Turkoglu.  Then there are the 'Corey as a piece in a blockbuster trade' rumors that might bring a less than fully gruntled superstar to the Clippers - Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, Michael Redd, those kinds of guys.  The first list has some basis in reality, in that I've at least seen those rumors in print.  The second list is pretty much pure speculation, based simply on the situation with those All Star names, and the fact that the Clippers might be interested in making a move for a highly paid star.

@tH: Mike James, Rasual Butler, an '08 27th pick, and an '09 lottery protected first rounder. Could you perhaps put a number on the chance such a deal could happen? 0%? 5%?

CN: When this trade proposal gets posted on Clips Nation, many of the Citizens will howl that the possibility is less than zero.  But I'm going to go a little contrarian here (at the risk of getting your hopes up and my readers really angry) and say this could happen - call it a 12% chance.  On the surface, New Orleans dealing two guys who never got off the bench until garbage time in the playoffs for a 22 point a game scorer seems too good to be true.  And generally speaking, it's true that you can't succeed trading good players for mediocre players - you still can only put five on the court at a time, so two (or three or four or five) mediocre players really isn't a match for one good one.  But there are some extenuating circumstances here that make this trade a little less laughable than it seems at first glance.

The Clippers are incredibly top heavy in the front court right now, with their four best players playing forward or center, and a couple solid reserves beyond that as well.  Meanwhile, their point guards (with the exception of the question mark that is Livingston) are arguably not good enough to be full time backups in the NBA, and their shooting guard (that's singular, since Quinton Ross is a free agent and they literally don't have anyone else playing the position) is 32 and coming off the worst season of his career.  And beyond the positional math, James and Butler are both above average range shooters, which addresses a need the Clippers have had for years.  The idea of posting Brand and Kaman trip after trip is enticing, but it would work a lot better with three shooters on the floor around them.  So as sad as it is to say, I could see James and Butler at least competing to be the top backups in the backcourt for the Clippers.

And here's the kicker.  I said the Clippers want to win now and therefore weren't really looking for expiring contracts, but there's a big difference between a two year commitment and a five year commitment.  With James and Butler both signed for two more seasons, it's a compromise that might actually end up working.  If they end up playing well in 08-09, then great.  (And let's face it, Mike James was, like Corey Maggette, a 20-point-per-game scorer a few seasons ago.)  If not, then they join Cat Mobley and Tim Thomas as expiring contracts in 2010.  They become very attractive to other teams in trades next summer, or in the event the Clippers do decide to start over, they can just let all of that money disappear and make a run at one of the mega-super-duper-stars likely to be available in the summer of 2010.  Think Dwyane Wade might like to live in LA and play ball with Elton Brand and Chris Kaman?

So if I'm Elgin Baylor, I look at this offer VERY closely.  New Orleans is motivated, so they're willing to throw in two first rounders since they're not giving up anything else.  I have no choice but to sign a veteran point guard (some veteran point guard, ANY veteran point guard) this off-season, and seriously, is Mike James really that much worse than Beno Udrih?  Maybe it works out well, and if not, my 2010 strategy is still in order.  If I can hit a home run this summer (say for Calderon), then that's my first choice.  The odds are those 'too-good-to-be-true' scenarios are just that - too good to be true.  But I'd take this New Orleans offer before I took on Jason Terry for 4 years, that's for sure