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?

Not much news for the Hornets these last few weeks. A quick rundown of the latest proceedings, or lack thereof:

We'll start with Mr. Paul. First, check out this short interview with Olympians Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony, and CP. Paul mentions that he shares a sports agency with Michael Phelps among other things. But the funniest part is Boozer's and Paul's grasp of the English language compared to Carmelo Anthony's. Take, for example, this gem from 'Melo:

People that I would never thought.. a lot of people don't understand the preparation that they prepare

The Ryan Bowen news is a bit old, but it was only made official yesterday. My favorite part is how ESPN and Yahoo reported it as "Hornets sign veteran forward Bowen" and how it was the number one headline on both sites. If only they also included "Bowen was one of the premier defenders of the Southwest Division and was last seen by the Hornets in Game 7 of their series with the Spurs."

"We’re very pleased to re-sign Ryan due to his ability to provide a spark off the bench and how well he fits in with our team," said Hornets General Manager Jeff Bower. "Ryan is a great asset to our team both on and off the court. When he is on the court, he has a nose for the ball and is always giving his all to help our team in anyway possible."

ShamSports also offers his take on the Bowen signing and the Hornets' bench in general. A snipper:

The New Orleans Hornets re-signed Ryan Bowen. Yeehaw. The Hornets' bench now reads thusly: Mike James, Rasual Butler, James Posey, Bowen, Hilton Armstrong, Julian Wright, and Melvin Ely. Who out of that lot do they expect to be a sixth man, exactly? They appear to have moved on from Pargo and Bonzi Wells, two players always willing to fashion a shot, even if they're not always a good idea. So who's going to provide the bench offense here? I'm aware that Chris Paul is basically Jesus, who could get even me an easy basket, but the real Jesus had a few days off, too.

Interesting take. I hadn't thought of our bench in the context of a sixth man before. I suppose Posey's the first guy off the bench, right? Wasn't he Boston's 6th man this year? They kind of just won a championship.

Let's move on to the Jannero Pargo saga. Last week, the Times-Pic reported that the Hornets no longer had their sights on JP. The San Antonio Express then reported that the Spurs had offered him a 2 year, estimated 4 million deal. It's been a week, and that deal is still apparently on the table. Why hasn't Pargo taken it then? The Phoenix Suns might be the reason, according to recent speculation.

A guy who the Spurs drafted and then sent to the Phoenix Suns on draft night may have a lot to do with why free agent Jannero Pargo has not yet signed with San Antonio.

[A]ccording to two Phoenix area newspapers, the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Republic, if [Goran] Dragic stays in Europe, Phoenix might be making a play for free agent Jannero Pargo—the same player the Spurs have been after since finding out that he wouldn't be returning to the Hornets.

Hmm. I'm not really sure why Phoenix would want Pargo. He's basically a terrible shooting version of Leandro Barbosa. Why not sign a 3rd string point guard at the minimum, instead of throwing 2 million dollars at Pargo? Either way, I'm dying to post my Pargo write-up. I've had it finished for a week just waiting for a deal to go down.

The preseason is fast approaching, and the Hornets will be traveling to Europe for a couple game. From the Associated Press:

The Hornets take on the Washington Wizards on October 14 at the O2 World in Berlin, Germany. The game will be one of the first major sporting events held at the arena, which opened last fall. The team will close out NBA Europe Live on October 17 at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain.

Cool stuff to be sure. Also of note: many of the Celtics players credited their pre-season experience in Italy as an integral part of their success this year. Can Berlin/Barcelona do for the Hornets what Rome did for the Celtics?

And now, time to end with a flurry of Chris Paul stories. First, for those of you into fantasy basketball, CP warrants some serious consideration at the second overall spot:

Where does that leave us now with the #2 pick? Happily calling on the name of the point guard who can shove Superman to the curb, that’s where... If you are lucky enough to draft Paul for your team this year, smile early and often and build a great team around him.

I remember drafting Chris Paul his rookie year in the 6th round or something. Nobody knew who he was, and he promptly proceeded to dominate every point guard not named Steve Nash. That was also the year nobody drafted T-Mac, and I picked him up off waivers... now that I think about it, maybe I need to start playing in some harder leagues...

An ESPN reporter documents his Beijing experiences. It's highly amusing and a great read. We get this CP-related nugget:

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. There are not a lot of black folks running around Beijing. A Chinese man stopped me and asked to take my picture. Within moments, I was posing for pictures with a steady stream of men, women and children. I wondered whether they had never seen a black guy or whether they thought I was an athlete. Hey, I can flatter myself. I'm trying to figure out which athlete I could be. How about Chris Paul? Sure, I'm a good 20 pounds heavier. OK, 25. But we're about the same height, and we have brown eyes and nice smiles. Chris Paul. Hmmm. Sorry, Chris.

Haha, that would be awesome if Chris Paul ran into this guy signing autographs as "Chris Paul."

Lebron, Kobe, and D-Wade have all chimed in about possibly playing abroad. Finally, we get Chris Paul's take on moving overseas:

What would you do? Show me a person that’s not going [to sign for that much]... maybe Bill Gates. 

Sick of CP3 yet? No? Okay cool, I'm just getting started. Inside Hoops has a Q&A with Paul after the China game (but before today's Angola contest). A slice:

Question: Describe the atmosphere in the arena.

Chris Paul: It’s crazy. This is bigger than a playoff game. This is two countries playing against each other. The best of the best. All the anticipation leading up to the game … this is three years coming. It gets you ready to play. When the jump ball came there were a lot of emotions going through our heads. For the first couple minutes we were playing off emotions, but then we settled down and got going.

Doug Collins mentioned during the USA-Angola broadcast that one of the reasons Atlanta passed on Chris Paul (and Deron Williams) was Joe Johnson wanted to play the point. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Sekou Smith contends that's not the real reason:

The reason the Hawks didn’t take either of those point guards, and they worked both of them out, is that they were convinced that they needed a veteran point guard (huge mistake). They didn’t think Williams or Paul was ready to lead a team from the first day of training camp (another huge mistaken evaluation).

In fact, my notes from interviews with Knight, Woodson and other members of the front office staff at that time went something like this: "Paul’s just too little. He’s going to be a liability on defense and he’s not a great shooter. They liked Williams better, he’s bigger point guard, but his body type worried them. He didn’t look to be in great shape during the workout. Not sure he’s a good enough shooter for what we need, though."

What I can say with certainty is that neither Knight nor Woodson was sold on those point guards. That’s why they passed on them.

Thanks, Atlanta Front Office. You guys rock.

A Bleacher Report writer gives his take on things that would make the NBA awesome next season. Number one on his list:

Chris Paul shows us we haven't seen nothing yet.

That'd be awesome. I'm going to do a post in the next few weeks analyzing if CP's last season was an anomaly or not. But if he continues to improve at his current rate, he could definitely make a run at the G.O.A.T.

I'm in favor of the last item on that list as well:

Ray Allen legally changes his name to Jesus Shuttlesworth.

And last but not least, check out HornetsHype's Chris Paul-specific recap of USA-Angola.

The announcers spend most of the rest of the quarter talking about how CP sparked the team tonight, and then to prove their point, The One picks up a loose ball and throws in his trademark tear-drop over four outstretched Angolans, to lead the team to a 81-53 lead after three. Memo to Coach K and Cavs fans: Team USA looked 100% better after Lebron sat down and CP was able to get guys to play together.

The LBJ ball dominance was something I noticed during the pre-Olympic games. I didn't see the Angolan game, but it sounds like that happened again. I guess "global icon" comes before "not playing the point when the best PG on the planet is on your team"?