Oh Where Hast Thou Gone, Tyson Chandler?

Chandler's life changed this season as he and his wife, Kimberly, welcomed Tyson Chandler II into their household. While on the surface, this would seem like something would would only bring joy and better play to Tyson, but here is why it hasn't.

While his wife was pregnant, she was staying with family back in California, not in the Chandler family's New Orleans home.

It is very possible that Chandler, being the emotional guy he is, has had trouble adjusting to day-to-day life by himself in New Orleans, and not getting to see his wife, daughter, and now newborn son.

This in turn has led to an unfocused Chandler fouling at a much higher rate than either of his two previous seasons in New Orleans, resulting in increased foul trouble, and decreased minutes.

Chandler is only playing 31.3 mpg this season down from 35.2mpg he played last year. The drop off in minutes isn't the only problem though. Chandler just isn't as aggressive as he once was. Some of that comes from him spending time on the court while in foul trouble, trying to avoid picking up another foul while battling for an rebound.

I do believe that the root of the problem is all in his head though. Missing his family causes him to play unfocused, playing unfocused leads to foul trouble and not being in proper rebounding position. These lead to a decrease in overall production.

Tyson's emotional state isn't the only reason his numbers are down though. Teams are starting to game plan him more. In years past, defenders would leave Chandler to help out on Chris Paul, which in turn would lead to alley-oop dunks, or allow for him to get good position for an offensive rebound.

More often these days, opposing bigs are staying home, essentially taking Chandler out of the play. 

This reduced number of offensive touches, seems to carry over to the other end of the court as well. Simply put, the more Chandler is involved on the offensive end, the better he plays on the defensive side of the game.

So now we've diagnosed the problem, it's time to offer a solution. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution.

Chandler's wife and kids are still in California, however, now that she has had the baby, it may not be long before she is back in their home in New Orleans.

I think just having her back around will provide a big boost to Tyson's confidence, and lead to increased results on the court.

The other thing that needs to happen is that the Hornets need to evolve a bit on the offensive end to get Chandler more easy looks. In years past most of the alley-oops came off the pick and roll.

Since teams are defending this play better, the Hornets should look for other ways to free up Chandler near the hoop, increased off the ball motion, along with backdoor cuts, or baseline screens designed to open up the paint could do the trick.

As Chandler's point total rises, so will his rebounding, and his fouls should decrease.

It's not too late for Tyson and the Hornets. They are still winning games, and there is a lot of season left to be played.

With the Western Conference being so competitive again this season, and so many teams bunched into the 2-9 slots in the standings, New Orleans is going to need Chandler at his absolute best if they want to secure a top 3 seed out West again this season.

If Chandler cannot find a way to break out of his season-long slump, it may very well spell disaster for these young Hornets come playoff time.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?