Bleacher Report - Articles by Paul Augustin

Marcus Thornton / Darren Collison: Rookie Backcourt Of The Year

Paul Augustin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:11:49 -0500

Let's go back to the 2009 NBA Draft. The first backcourt player taken was shooting guard James Harden, drafted third overall by the Thunder.

The next pick was Memphis combo guard Tyreke Evans who went to the Kings. Immediately after Evans, the Timberwolves selected Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio.

And so on and so on.

Sixteen picks and eleven guards later, the New Orleans Hornets selected point guard Darren Collison out of UCLA. With all-world point guard Chris Paul on the roster, many fans and analysts alike scratched their heads at the pick.

Collison was too thin to hold up to the pounding of the NBA. He had an unorthodox outside shot. He was never going to amount to much more than a second or third-string point guard.

He was a wasted pick.

Twenty-one picks and six more guards later, the Miami Heat drafted shooting guard Marcus Thornton out of LSU. DraftExpress.com was hot and cold on Thornton.

In their last edition on shooting guards, DraftExpress Director of Operations Matt Kamalsky writes about Thornton "... a capable scorer who should benefit from playing a smaller role at the next level." Read this as, "Thornton can play, as long as he is only a role player."

Kamalsky goes on to write "Only a decent scorer on isolations, off of pull-ups, and on the pick and roll...". On the positive side, Kamalsky wrote "... his ability to play without the ball should make him a big asset from day one in the NBA..."

So how have the 14th and 20th guards taken in the 2009 draft performed? According to ESPN writer John Hollinger, Marcus Thornton is the No. 11 most efficient guard in the NBA with a player efficiency rating of 19.62. Collison comes in at No. 20 for guards with a PER of 18.35

To generate PER, Hollinger uses formulas that return a value for each of a player's accomplishments including positives such as field goals, free throws, three-pointers, assists, rebounds, blocks, and steals, and negatives like missed shots, turnovers, and personal fouls.

The PER, which is thoroughly documented in Hollinger's book "Pro Basketball Forecast", is adjusted to take into account minutes played per game and the overall pace of a team's play. To qualify for the PER, a player must average at least 6.9 minutes per game.

After watching him dominate SEC backcourts at LSU the past few years and being named 2009 SEC Player of the Year, I was shocked to have seen Thornton drop to the 43rd overall. I was excited to learn that he had joined the Hornets in the draft day trade.

I must admit that I was concerned that Thornton was not going to make it on coach Byron Scott's Hornets. Thornton was sometimes a slow starter at LSU, taking awhile to get in a groove and become effective.

Deservedly or not, Scott has a reputation for not being patient with young players who need time to develop. Two prime examples are Brandon Bass and JR Smith.

Thornton was inactive for most of the time Scott was head coach. One reason given was that Thornton could not pick up the intricacies of the Hornets defense.

Since Jeff Bower has taken over as coach, Thornton has been tremendous. He scored 24 in a one-point road loss to Miami last week and is averaging 17.6 points and 2.6 dimes over the last five games.

Thornton's play to date reminds me of former Detroit Piston Vinnie Johnson. Celtic guard Danny Ainge gave Johnson the nickname "The Microwave" for his ability to heat up quickly and score points in bunches.

Thornton has been a microwave with his power setting on high.

When Paul went down with an ankle injury, most Hornets faithful thought that the Hornets would not win another game. Collison has been more than a pleasant surprise.

He is averaging 10.6 points per game on 40 percent shooting from behind the arc and over 92 percent from the charity stripe. Over the past five games, Collison is averaging 14 points and 6.4 assists.

Even though Collison dominated the Pac-10, despite having to split court time with Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday, many were skeptical that he could make the leap from great collegian to an every day professional player.

So far, Collison looks like the steal of the draft, performing at least as well as high picks like James Harden and Stephen Curry. Coach Bower is going to have a good problem when Chris Paul returns to the lineup. He is going to have to figure out how to keep both Paul and Collison on the floor as much as possible.

Even at this early point in the season, I have read more than one article that lists Milwaukee guard Brandon Jennings as the hands down front-runner for NBA Rookie of the Year honors. In the Hornets recent contest against the Bucks, both Collison and Thornton outplayed Jennings.

It is too bad that there is not a Rookie Backcourt of the Year award. The combo of Thornton and Collison would be runaway favorites.

Tic Tac Toe: The Improbable New Orleans Hornets Have Won Three in a Row

Paul Augustin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:12:37 -0500

In an unlikely turn of events, the New Orleans Hornets have won their third game in a row by defeating the Atlanta Hawks, 96-86, Saturday night in the Hive. Coming into this game, the Southwest Division leading Hawks had the best record in the NBA.

This is the second division leader in a row that the Hornets have defeated. In their previous contest against the Phoenix Suns, the Hornets avenged an earlier blowout by beating the Suns, 110-103.

The Hornets were a team in an obvious rapid decline. Just 10 months ago, most analysts had the Hornets ranked third in the NBA power rankings. Many had the Hornets ordained as the team who would dethrone the Lakers dynasty.

New Orleans then began what many would call a death spiral at the end of last season. In January, they were strong challengers for at least the two spot in the Western Conference playoffs.

By season end, they barely made the playoffs. This was culminated in a humiliating first-round playoff defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets.

In the offseason, General Manager Jeff Bower began to remake the roster. Through the draft, trades, and free agent acquisitions Bower significantly improved the quality of the bench players.

He also bettered the starting lineup by trading oft-injured Tyson Chandler for Emeka Okafor. His trades and acquisitions also shaved nearly $5 million off the Hornets current season salary cap number.

Despite the roster improvement, the Hornets started this season in much the same fashion as they finished last season. They played with little if any energy and enthusiasm and were getting beat regularly.

Something had to change. With only three wins in their first 10 games, something did. Hornets owner George Shinn pulled the trigger and fired Coach Byron Scott.

Most of the sports world was stunned when Bower announced himself as the new head coach. A man with absolutely no head coaching experience at any level was now head coach and general manager of an NBA team.

In a curious first move, Bower announced the hiring of one-time Hornets head coach Tim Floyd as his lead assistant coach. Most Hornet fans figured by not hiring a big-name head coach, Mr. Shinn was trying to save money.

Bower's tenure as head coach got off to a shaky start. His Hornets lost a close game to Portland, then was blown out in Atlanta by the Hawks. These two games were before the Bower-Floyd regime had their first full practice with the team.

Since Bower and Floyd implemented their new system, the Hornets have not lost a game. All of this without Chris Paul. What has changed?

Let's start with rebounding. The Hornets had been getting killed on the boards under Coach Byron Scott. In their first victory under Bower, the Hornets out-rebounded the Suns 66-38 and the L.A. Clippers 51-36. In last night's victory against the Hawks, Atlanta had a slight edge in rebounding, 52-48.

Next, let's look at the play of rookie guards Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison. Coach Scott had Thornton inactive for most of the season. The reason given by Coach Scott in an interview for the New Orleans Times-Picayune was that Thornton had not yet been able to pick up the Hornets defensive schemes.

The way most teams were scoring against New Orleans, it seems like all of the Hornets had not picked up the defensive schemes. Since Coach Bower inserted Thornton in the lineup, he has averaged 17 points on 51 percent shooting, three rebounds, and just under two assists. Not bad for a draft day second round acquisition.

Darren Collison is a different story. No one in their right mind would have expected Coach Scott to play Collison over CP3. This includes, I am sure, Darren Collison. Collison is playing out of necessity and has responded beyond anyone's wildest imagination.

In the last three games, Collison has played just under 30 minutes per contest. In those 30 minutes, he has averaged 16.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists against only 2.7 turnovers.

Collison looks as calm and collected as any seasoned professional that I have ever seen on the court. Nothing seems to rattle him at all. Against the Suns, even though he was at one point shooting 1-11, he had the confidence to take some clutch shots as the game was winding down to help seal the victory.

The turnaround in the play of Peja Stojakovic has also been a key factor. Scott used Peja as strictly a spot-up three point shooter. Under Scott, Peja would usually catch the ball high on the wing, give the ball up, slide down to the baseline, then shoot a three.

Peja has played well in every game under Bower. I am not sure if Scott had Stojakovic convinced that he was too old to anything but spot up and shoot threes or if something else was going on behind the scenes.

Under Bower, Peja is cutting and moving all over the place. He is rebounding, setting screens, and yes sports fans, Peja Stojakovic is even playing defense. Against the Suns, he had is best game ever as a Hornet and one of his best ever as a professional.

In that contest, Peja had 25 points shooting 7-11 from beyond the arc. He also pulled down 13 rebounds, for his first double-double as a Hornet. He also played solid defense.

Game management has been significantly improved. Bower appears to be more judicious in his use of timeouts. Because Bower is playing a lot more players in the rotation, he no longer has to call time outs to allow his starters to catch their breath.

Instead, he uses them to interrupt any scoring streaks by the opposition, makes adjustments, and keeps games from getting out of hand.

Most people do not watch the bench during a game. I do. As a coach, I can assure you that bench demeanor can tell you a lot about a team.

Under Coach Scott, the bench looked like they were sitting around in a funeral parlor trying to avoid speaking with the family of the deceased. On the Bower bench, players are enthusiastic. They are high-fiving each other, and high-fiving teammates coming off the court during time outs.

Paul is the head cheerleader. Sitting on the sidelines in a suit and an ankle boot, CP3 is yelling, screaming, and clapping every time Colison makes one of his smooth passes, Thornton knocks down a three, Okafor blocks a shot, and David West posts up for a basket.

The Hornets are obviously improved over the last five games under Bower. Ike Diogu may suit up for the first time next week. CP3 will be back in the next two or three weeks. Could the best be yet to come?

Five Things the Hornets' Win Over the LA Clippers Reveals

Paul Augustin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:33:06 -0500

Although ESPN predicted a New Orleans victory over the LA Clippers last night, I must admit that I was not extremely confident. The first two games of the Jeff Bower era did not look much different then the last few games of the Byron Scott era.

Poor defense against Portland and Atlanta led to little offense. Players were standing around as if they were lost in a London fog.

In last night's victory over the Clippers, the Hornets looked like a completely different team. They played with energy, effort, and actually looked like a professional basketball team.

This, in spite the fact that they are playing without all-star point guard Chris Paul. Last night's game made clear quite a few interesting things. In this article I discuss the top five things illuminated from the play this game

1. The LA Clippers are not a very good team .

To make things crystal clear, the Hornets beat a poor team last night. There is just no doubt about it. This should be intuitively obvious to the most casual basketball observer.

I was going to write that the Clippers looked like a high school team last night. However, that would be an insult to high school players.

At least high-schoolers work the ball around and attempt to play individual and team defense. These Clippers looked like some ballers who got together on the playground for a pickup game.

Baron Davis passed up open teammates to force shots. His play made me grateful that Mr. Davis no longer wears a Hornets uniform.

2. The Hornets rookie players have real potential.

The Hornets would not have won this game without the play of Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison.

In 23 minutes of playing time, Collison scored 12 points and had six assists versus only two turnovers. He looked very cool under pressure. If Collison keeps developing, at the least he will be a long-term reliable backup guard.

Marcus Thornton managed 12 points and no turnovers in less than half a game. He looked very strong on the inside and may provide the slashing ability that the Hornets have long needed.

As he showed during his brief career at LSU, Thornton has the ability to light it up from the outside once he gets started. Thornton could be another JR Smith-type player, with a more complete game and without the baggage.

3. The Hornets can play defense .

Granted, you have to refer back to item one in this list—this was the Clippers. However, the Hornets did exert some real energy on defense and actually were covering outside shooters.

I also noticed good defensive rotation. It was claimed that the Byron Scott defense was overly complicated. I am not sure if Bower has simplified things or if the Hornets are just trying more. Maybe it is a little of both.

4. The Hornets can have good ball movement.

Something that I noticed last night was some good crisp passing by someone in a Hornets uniform with a number other than "3" on his back.

There were a number of skip passes to the open man and some inside-outside movement. On one three-point attempt, I counted six passes before the Hornets found the open man. Devin Brown knocked down the shot.

Have the Hornets been relying on Chris Paul too much?

5. The Hornets can play with energy.

Since the performance slump late last season, the Hornets have been playing with neither energy nor effort. Against the Clippers, the increase in overall effort and energy was noticeable.

The Hornets came up with the loose balls and killed the Clippers on the boards, out rebounding their opponent 51-36. As this writer has written in past article, rebounding is all about energy and effort, along with some good technique.

The came with the Clippers revealed some things that the Hornets under Jeff Bower and lead assistant Tim Floyd can be. The next four days with games against Phoenix, Atlanta, and Miami may give a glimpse at what they will be.

New Orleans Hornets Fire Coach Byron Scott: Jeff Bower To Take Over

Paul Augustin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:16:37 -0500

In a not very surprising move, the New Orleans Hornets have fired sixth-year Head Coach Byron Scott.

Oh how the mighty have fallen! As recent as January 2009, the Hornets were ranked as high as third in NBA power rankings.

The Hornets have looked liked tired old men in winning only three out of their first nine games. While the current Hornets roster is significantly improved from the roster that began the 2008-09 season, the play does not reflect it.

In a very terse statement, Hornets owner George Shinn, who just announced he is battling prostate cancer, said that the firing of Scott gives the team the best chance “to reach our goals this season.”

Shinn also announced that general manager Jeff Bower will take over as head coach. Bower immediately announced the addition of former Hornets Head Coach Tim Floyd as his chief assistant. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that Bower will neither have an interim prefix on his job title, nor are they beginning any sort of search for a new head coach.

As the Hornets have fallen from fame to shame since March of this year, so has the popularity of this one-time NBA coach of the year. The Internet has been buzzing with calls to remove Scott.

One fan had resorted to putting up a web site dedicated to Scott's termination, http://firebyronscott.com/ .

The use of the carefully crafted phrase “to reach our goals this season” is quite interesting. Just what are those goals?

Are those goals to bring the Hornets back to prominence as one of the up and coming teams in the league? Win the division? Make a deep run in the playoffs? Make a higher net profit?

If we assume for the moment that Shinn wants the Hornets to be a team in the top-tier in the league, then he is saying that the lion's share of the blame for the Hornets slide over the last nine months is coaching.

Mr. Shinn cannot believe it is the caliber of the players that surround All-Star Chris Paul, as he has handed the coaching reigns over to the man responsible for putting together the current roster.

Let's look for a moment at the qualifications of Bower to be an NBA head coach. He has been with the Hornets for the last 14 years. Bower has held positions as director of scouting, director of player personnel, as a scout, general manager, and assistant to former coaches Paul Silas and Tim Floyd.

Before joining the Hornets, Bower served as an associate coach at Marist College and an assistant coach at Penn State University.

It is glaringly obvious that Bower has not head coaching experience at any level on his resume. So what goal is Mr. Shinn trying to reach by firing Scott and turning the team over to Bower?

Is he possibly looking to position the Hornets to be contenders for a lottery pick?

If I were Hornets owner for a day, I would seek out a known winner such as New Orleans native and former Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson. If a coach such as Johnson were not available or could not fit within the budget, I would opt for an up-and-coming young coach that has experienced what it takes to bring a team to the mountaintop, such as Lakers assistant Brian Shaw.

But Jeff Bower? It just does not figure.

New Orleans Hornets' Lack of Defense is Key to Poor Start

Paul Augustin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:40:39 -0500

In my last article, I expressed my hope for a Hornets season turnaround with a win over the Toronto Raptors. My son Daniel and I had prime seats. For his sake, I was hoping that the Hornets would have a dominating performance.

To my disappointment, that was a wish that did not come true. The Hornets played even for the first half. It was a close and entertaining game. After half-time, the Raptors came out and hit the Hornets with a blitzkrieg of three-pointers.

Toronto dominated the third period. Three-pointers rained from the sky for the Raptors, who hit eight from downtown in that period alone. It was over before the Hornets knew what hit them.

The Raptors finished the game 14-29 from behind the arc. Hedi Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani led the barrage of threes with four out of eight and three out of six shooting respectively.

During the first half, as Hedo was missing outside shots against loose Hornets defense, a fan sitting behind us remarked "I sure hope they intend to cover him tighter than that. He is not going to miss all night." The man was a prophet.

In the Raptors game, the main reason that the score was close for the first half was that Toronto just did not shoot well. Except for a couple of nice blocks by center Emeka Okafor, the Hornets did not do much on defense.

The picture that accompanies this article is one that I took in the third quarter. Marco Belinelli is receiving a pass from Raptor point guard Jose Calderon.

Bellinelli drained a long, uncontested three on that play.

Notice that not a single Toronto player is closely guarded. Hornets players do not even appear to be reacting to the ball.

Regardless of the defensive schemes and rotations that are used, basketball defense can be distilled down to Player A guarding Player B.

At any level, defensive position is crucial. Defense is played with quick feet and ready hands. Teams that I have coached and played on spent at least as much time practicing defense as they do offense.

Defenders have to be aware of and react to the ball.

Good defense creates offense.

Good defense limits the opponent's second chance baskets. It creates turnovers. Good defense creates fast-break opportunities.

The Hornets have not played good individual defense this season. The frustrating aspect of this is that, with the exception of Peja Stojakovic who has never shown that he is either willing or able to play defense, the rest of the Hornets roster can play defense.

The question is—will they? Playing defense requires effort, intensity and desire.

Up to this point in the season, the Hornets as a team have not shown that they are willing to do what it takes to play defense.

Following the loss to the Raptors, Coach Byron Scott started a new dance—the Lineup Shuffle. Scott benched starter Morris Peterson, who had been ineffective on offense in favor of his golfing buddy, Devin Brown.

Not only did Scott bench Peterson, but made him inactive for the contest against the Lakers. The good news for Brown was that he was getting his first start of the season. The bad news was that he would have to guard Kobe Bryant.

Brown did a mediocre job on offense, scoring ten points. This was the first double digit performance from the two guard spot in this young season.

Defensively, the performance by Brown was also mediocre. Bryant scored 28 points, just above his 26.8 points per game average, shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.

In their next game against the hapless Los Angeles Clippers, Coach Scott continued dancing the Lineup Shuffle. Newly named starter Julian Wright was benched in favor of Peja Stojakovic.

The Hornets responded with a big win over the Clippers. In his second start, shooting-guard Devin Brown, with a career 7.1 points per game average, scored 25. Peja responded with 12 points.

Scott also managed to up the minutes for rookies Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison. Each played nearly 18 minutes. Each showed both promise and need for additional maturity on the floor.

Hornets fans should not get too excited. Those were the Clippers without Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon. Tonight's game in Phoenix against the Suns who lead the Pacific Division should be a real test.

Whatever the Hornets do on the offensive side of the ball, in order to turn this season around, they have to tighten the defense.

Hornets-Raptors: The Biggest Game of the Season?

Paul Augustin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:54:05 -0500

In this young season to date, the most fitting way to describe the Hornets is inconsistent. In their opener against division rival San Antonio, New Orleans was crushed 113-96. After the middle of the second quarter, the game was never close.

The Hornets looked tired and confused in that game. It seemed as if they were picking up right where they left off in their abysmal playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.

Two nights later, in their home opener against the much-improved Sacramento Kings, the Hornets looked significantly more energetic and much crisper.

Granted, the Kings are not to the level of the Spurs, but they are substantially improved from last season. The Hornets came out on top, 97-92.

Next came the east coast All-Saints Day, All-Souls day trip. On November 1, the Hornets played the championship-contending Boston Celtics in a tight game.

The Hornets lost that game 97-87. In this writer's opinion, the Hornets could have and should have won. Although the margin was ten points, the they were in the game until the final two minutes.

Unlike Drew Brees and the undefeated New Orleans Saints, that play across the street from the Hive, the Hornets had not yet learned how to finish.

The next night, against the then-winless New York Knicks, it was a lack of defensive fundamentals that killed the Hornets. In their 117-111 victory, the Knicks outscored the Hornets 20-9 on second-chance points.

Losing the battle on second-chance points means one of two things has happened. You lost because the opponent was overwhelmingly, physically superior to you. The Knicks are not more physically talented than the Hornets.

It can also mean that on defense you failed to do the basics—like get in position, block out, and rebound—and on offense you failed to fight for position. This was the case in the Hornets-Knicks contest.

In their second home game last night against division rival Dallas, the Hornets seemed to learn how to finish, winning 114-107 in overtime. However, getting to that overtime period took the proper alignment of the stars.

Jason Terry missed a technical free throw and Jose Barea missed two foul shots, setting up a dramatic three-pointer by Peja Stojakovic, who had been 0-for-5 from downtown before that.

Now, the Hornets have a 2-3 record. It is vitally important that they play well in Friday's home game against Andrea Bargnani, Chris Bosh, and the Toronto Raptors.

A win tomorrow would bring them back to a .500 record. It would be the first winning streak of the season. It would establish the Hive as a road venue to be feared around the league.

But these are not the reasons that this game is critical. You see, I am attending the game with my youngest son, Daniel, who just turned thirteen. We have great seats.

With the cost of tickets combined with our hectic schedules, it is rare that we can attend a game in person.

Daniel has been playing competitive basketball since he was five years old. He thinks Chris Paul is the best.

There is a life-size Fathead of CP3 sitting in a shipping tube ready to go up as soon as the remodel of Daniel's bedroom is complete. His remodeled room is painted Hornets teal.

My son is quite a three-point shooter, having had to learn to shoot over me and his six-foot tall older brother. When Peja gets in "the zone" and starts draining them from all over the court, I can see Daniel's eyes light up.

For the sake of Daniel and the hundreds of other father-son outings that happen Friday night, I hope Chris Paul has the game of his life. I hope Peja comes off the bench and hits seven three-pointers in the second quarter.

I hope Emeka Okafor rejects five shots into the bleachers. I hope the Hornets win by twenty.

The Saints season to date has boosted the overall psyche of New Orleans. You can hear it in talk radio and see it in the black and gold banners and flags hanging all around town.

The excitement about the Saints in and around the City is so thick you can nearly feel it. I pray that the Hornets can even come close to generating this sort of buzz.

You see, it is important. Not just for the Hornets, but for fathers, sons, and the people of New Orleans. It can all start on Friday night.

Hornets 2009: New Orleans' Week One Starting Five Evaluation

Paul Augustin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:32:56 -0500

One week into the 2009 season, the Hornets have won one and lost two. In their opening night loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Hornets looked like they were going to pick up where they ended last season—miserably.

In their home opener, the Hornets looked like a substantially improved work in progress by beating a much improved Sacramento Kings squad. In their most recent game, New Orleans looked solid until the final two minutes in an away loss to the Boston Celtics.

In a recent article looking at the 2009 version of the Hornets compared to last year's team (Okafor, Diogu, Collison, and the Roster Re-Do: Are the Hornets Improved? ) this writer came to the conclusion that the Hornets are indeed improved. The next question is—why?

In this article you will find a player-position by player-position evaluation of the starting five through the first week of the season. The first player listed is the 2009 starter at that position. The second player is the player who was listed as the starter at the end of last season.

In the cases of Chris Paul and David West, the player is being compared to himself, as the player at that position has not changed.

Point Guard Chris Paul versus Chris Paul

Based on an eyeball examination, Paul hit the weight room this off-season. He looks bigger and stronger. He also appears to have been working on his outside jumper, as it appears to be improved.

It may me hard to believe, but I project Paul to have a better season this year than last.

Evaluation: Improved

Shooting Guard Morris Peterson versus Rasual Butler

Butler was a small forward doing his best to play shooting guard. To his credit, he was cool under pressure, sinking buzzer-beating game winners on more than one occasion last season.

Peterson is a true guard, a better ball handler, but has not shown much yet this season as a shooter. So far, Butler is the better player.

Evaluation: A Step Backward

Center Emeka Okafor versus Tyson Chandler

Chandler was a fan favorite. He ran the floor well. His sky high rejections and spectacular alley-oop dunks brought the crowd in the Hive to its feet with resounding cheers.

That was about all the positive that can be said about Chandler. He did not show that he could play outside the paint, he was prone to foul trouble, he rarely created his own shot, and he was often injured.

In just three games, Okafor has shown that he can do as well inside on defense as Chandler. He can create his own shot and can play all over the court. He played a huge part in the Hornets win over the Kings by running out to block a long three-pointer as the clock was winding down.

Okafor missed the entire preseason with an injured toe. Expect to see improvement as he gets time in with the starting five.

Also, recall that Chandler was a journeyman center who had not done much in five seasons with the Bulls. Paul's play at the point guard made Chandler look good. I anticipate that Paul will help make Okafor look even better.

Evaluation: Big Step Forward

Small Forward Julian Wright versus Peja Stojakovic

Coach Byron Scott has decided to commit to Julian "Ju-Ju" Wright this season by giving him a chance to start. Peja is now the seventh man.

When Peja is hot, there is no better three-point shooter in the NBA. He still has the quickest release in the league.

However, there is serious concern about the long-term prognosis of his oft-injured back. He missed twenty-one games last season and has not played a full slate of games since the 2003-2004 season.

Even in the games that Stojakovic played last season, I noticed him wincing as if in pain quite a number of times. Defense has never been his strong point, and Coach Scott is looking for players who excel at both ends of the court.

Wright is an enigma. He has phenomenal athletic ability and plays with tremendous energy. His shooting and decision making has been erratic in the past.

In the first week of this season, Wright has played well and Peja is doing an excellent job coming off the bench. Although it is very early, it looks like Coach Scott may have made a good decision with the swap at the three spot.

Evaluation: A Very Small Step Forward

Power Forward David West versus David West

West seems to have reached his potential. He is an excellent power forward. Unless he all of a sudden develops a consistent three-pointer, I think what you see is what you get with West.

On the plus side, Okafor is going to attract more attention as a scoring threat, giving West more opportunities. Additionally, expect the front court bench to be substantially improved this year.

This should provide Scott an opportunity to give West the rest he is going to need to have fresh legs at the end of the season.

Evaluation: No Change

Keep in mind that these opinions are based on three games. The NBA plays a long season. Things can and will change, including the roster.

In a future article, I am going to take a player-by-player look at the Hornets new front court bench.

Energy Crisis in New Orleans: Hornets Out of Gas in San Antonio

Paul Augustin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:02:50 -0400

I had a meeting with my general contractor tonight at 6:30. We are planning some major home renovations in the near future. Grateful for my Dish Network DVR, I set the satellite to record the Hornets opener.

By the time I was able to turn the game on in the middle of the second quarter, New Orleans was already hopelessly behind. What happened!?

I watched the rest of the first half in real time then rewound to watch the first quarter. Hornets jumped out to an early lead. Looks good so far. They actually had a lead.

Down 19-13 at the end of the first period. This is close. Six points are two trips down the floor for the Hornets.

Thank goodness for the thirty second skip ahead button on my DVR. A couple of flicks with my right thumb and I am at the opening of the second quarter. Chris Paul is on the bench. Oh-oh.

And it was all downhill from there. By the time Paul re-entered the game midway through the second period, the Hornets were hopelessly behind. By the end of the second period, New Orleans trailed 57-39. It was never close.

Although the final score was 113-96, the game was not as close as the score might indicate. The Spurs seem to be able to score at will on the Hornets and come up with defensive stops whenever it was needed.

There was a lot of bad news to write about this game from the Hornets perspective, and little to write that was good. I have summed it up in three broad statements.

The Hornets Lacked the Two "E's" in "Defensive": Energy and Effort

A great defender can take away the outside shot and a drive to the basket. A good defender can take away one and do a respectable job on the other. A mediocre defender can take a away one or the other. The Hornets could achieve neither.

At one point in the third quarter, Coach Byron Scott called out and desperately asked his team "How can you let them have both the outside shot and the layup?! We need some stops."

The Starting Lineup Has Not Come Together through Preseason and Offseason Work

The Hornets started Paul, David West, Omeka Okafor, Julian Wright, and Morris Peterson. Rather than a well-oiled, cohesive machine, New Orleans looked like five kids who just met on the playground for the first time. They were completely out of rhythm with each other.

Paul looked like his usual self. West looked okay. Okafor looked surprisingly good, especially considering the fact that he dd not play in the preseason.

Julian Wright—what a frustration he must be for Scott. He displayed spectacular athletic ability and erratic basketball skills. Morris Peterson added little on either end of the court.

The Bench Play Was Ineffective

Peja took two shots in 20 minutes of play. One was an air ball, and the other was a three from way downtown that hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

Hilton Armstrong showed no improvement. He was 1-4 from the floor, 0-2 from the charity stripe, and did nothing to stop the Spurs in the middle.

James Posey did nothing in 19 minutes of play.

At one point early in the second half, the Spurs bench had outscored the Hornets bench 30-0. The scoring speaks for itself.

It's only one game out of a long season. After all, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 0-2. It just looked disturbingly a lot like the Hornets-Nuggets playoff series at the end of last season.

Okafor, Diogu, Collison, and the Roster Re-Do: Are the Hornets Improved?

Paul Augustin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:43:44 -0400

The photo to the right shows Chris Paul in a position that the 2008-09 edition of the Hornets could ill-afford him to be in—sitting on the bench.

Last season, when Paul or All-Star teammate David West were either on the bench or having an off-night, the odds were better than even that the Hornets were going to have a rough night.

Coach Byron Scott, being no fool, understood this quite well. As a consequence, Paul averaged 38.5 minutes per game. West averaged about 15 seconds per game fewer than Paul.

Early last season, the Hornets reaped the benefits of the play of Paul and West, but also paid the price. With less than a month to go in the season, New Orleans appeared to be a strong contender for the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference.

However, starting with a loss to the Golden State Warriors on April 3, the Hornets dropped six of their last eight regular-season games, finishing in fourth place in their division. The Hornets looked too old and too tired to finish games in the home stretch.

Following the season-end collapse, was an embarrassing playoff series against the Denver Nuggets. Winning in five games, the Nuggets average point differential was plus-20, including a humiliating 121-63 loss in Game Four.

Coach Scott and general manager Jeff Bower performed some major roster surgery in the offseason. The roster at the end of last season was:

Hilton Armstrong	F-C
Ryan Bowen	F
Devin Brown	G
Rasual Butler	G-F
Tyson Chandler	C
Antonio Daniels	G
Melvin Ely	C
Mike James	G
Sean Marks	F-C
Chris Paul	G
Morris Peterson	F
James Posey	F-G
Peja Stojakovic	F-G
David West	F
Julian Wright	F

Gone now are Bowen, Butler, Chandler, Daniels, Ely, and James. When healthy, Chandler added some defense and dunks. Butler was a well-liked player but was a small forward trying to play shooting guard. Other than that, the rest of these players were non-contributors.

In place of the old Hornets, new players in the backcourt are Bobby Brown, Marcus Thornton, and Darren Collison. In the frontcourt, the Hornets have added Emeka Okafor, Darius Songaila, and Ike Diogu.

On this eve of the Hornets' season opener, all Hornets fans want to know: Are the 2009 Hornets better than the 2008 Hornets?

Without a doubt. There is no question that, as a group, the additions to the roster are better than the subtractions.

The Hornets have what appears to be a legitimate backup point guard in Collison. This should allow Paul to shave a few minutes of playing time each game. Thornton, who right now is a defensive liability, is a fearless slasher that the Hornets have not had since relocating to the Big Easy.

Okafor, Songaila, and Diogu will certainly be more productive than Bowen, Chandler, and Ely. This will provide West with some needed time to catch his breath.

New Orleans is carrying two rookies on its season-opening roster.

This is significant, as no rookie has made the Hornets in the past two seasons. The personnel changes have moved the average age of the Hornets from 29 years, 10 months down to 28 years.

Scott has been accused in the past of not having the patience to develop young, raw talent. Hence the early exit of the likes of players such as Brandon Bass and JR Smith. Hornets fans should keep an eye out for the development of rookies Collison and Thornton.

The Hornets are improved. Will the new team gel and play like a team? That is up to Scott.

Will they have an improved record and go deep into the playoffs? Probably not.

The competition in the Western Conference has not been sitting still watching the Hornets remake its roster. Assuming that he behaves himself, Ron Artest should be a boost for the Lakers.

With the addition of Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, and DeJuan Blair, the San Antonio Spurs could challenge the Lakers for first seed in the conference.

Portland is an enigma but is probably solid as the third-place team in the West.

As shown in the playoffs, the Nuggets are better than the Hornets.

This leaves the Mavericks, Jazz, Hornets, and Suns to battle out for the remaining playoff spots. Before the Blake Griffin injury, I would have included the Clippers in this mix.

The hairline fracture in his kneecap suffered in the last preseason game is supposed to keep him out six weeks. Don't bet on seeing much from Griffin until January, at the earliest.

In my next column, I will take a detailed player-by-player look at the Hornets' new roster and make some evaluations and projections. Stay tuned.

Hornets Happenings | New Orleans Gives Away Rasual Butler

Paul Augustin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:32:27 -0400

As first reported on Fox Sports late yesterday the Clippers have acquired shooting guard Rasual Butler and cash from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for a conditional second-round draft pick and cash.

This conditional draft pick is in the year 2016. That is right 2-0-1-6. Another way to read this is that the Hornets have paid the Clippers to take Butler's contract.

Butler was scheduled to make $3.945 million this coming season and then become a free agent. This move, combined with the Okafor-Chandler deal brings the Hornets under or close to the luxury cap level, pending the value of the contract of newly acquired Ike Diogu.

The Clippers had cap room to be able to take Butler's contract because of the $7.3 million trade exception created by sending Zach Randolph to Memphis last month.

After following a vigorous training routine last summer, Butler earned the starting shooting guard position for the Hornets. This resulted in his best season of his career, averaging 11.2 points and 3.3 rebounds.

Butler played in all 82 regular season games for the Hornets as well as in the five games of the playoff series against the Nuggets.

Although a solid player, Butler is netiher a natural shooting guard nor a natural starter. He contributes best when coming off the bench as the small forward.

I do not believe general manager Jeff Bower is finished dealing. The Hornets still need to shed $4 million more in net payroll before February 2010 to get below what is projected to be a lower cap-level for the 2010-11 season.

Butler's departure leaves Julian Wright and rookie Marcus Thornton to battle for time a the two guard spot. My money is on Thornton.

Hornets Happenings| Do I Like Ike?

Paul Augustin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:08:49 -0400

So much has been written about the Emeka Okafor acquisition and very little about the signing of Ike Diogu.

Who is that mystery man, Ike Diogu? Where is he from? Was he a worthwhile acquisition of the bench-weak Hornets?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Like the newly acquired center, Emeka Okafor, Ikechukwa "Ike" Somotochukwa Diogu's parents are natives of Nigeria. The Diogu family relocated to the United States in 1980 to pursue further education.

Diogu is six feet nine inches tall. This may be considered slightly undersized for an NBA power forward. You may have heard the expression "Oh, but he plays taller" and wonder "is this just nonsensical talk?"

In Diogu's case, this is not just talk. What he might lack in height—if only I were 6'9"—he makes up for with his wingspan. The distance between Diogu's fingertips is seven feet four inches. He is also muscular and looks like a smaller version of the slimmed-down Shaquille O'Neal.

Diogu attended Arizona State University where he won the PAC-10 Freshman of the Year award. In his junior year—after which he entered the NBA draft—Diogu won the PAC-10 Player of the Year Award.

NBA Journeyman

Diogu has been the epitome of an NBA journeyman. He was selected ninth overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors.

On January 17, 2007, Diogu was dealt to the Indiana Pacers along with teammates Mike Dunleavy Jr., Troy Murphy, and Keith McLeod for Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasikevicius, and Josh Powell.

Six months later, on draft night, Diogu was traded by Indiana to the Portland Trail Blazers along with the draft rights to Jerryd Bayless in exchange for Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts and the draft rights to Brandon Rush to the Indiana Pacers.

A year later, Diogu was traded to the Sacramento Kings for the Chicago Bulls' Michael Ruffin.

Diogu has been primarily a backup, starting only 18 games in his entire career. He has averaged 6.1 points, and 3.1 rebounds per game while playing on average 12 minutes per game. Unlike some of the other Hornet's big men, he is a decent free-throw shooter, hitting over 80 percent over his NBA career.

Evaluation

Diogu's career seems to be a story of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don Nelson put him in the doghouse with the Warriors. He suffered a calf injury before he could make an impact in Indiana. Then he went to the Blazers, who needed another big man like him just as much as the Hornets need another starting point guard.

He has shown that he can play when given the chance. In games that he has received significant game time, he has scored over twenty points and grabbed double digit rebounds.

The knocks on Diogu is that he is known as a mediocore defender and tends to get overweight.

Diogu signed a one-year contract with the Hornets. While the terms have not been disclosed, based on his last contract, assume it is in the two million dollar range. Diogu was probably the "best value" power forward available in this year's free agent pool.

There were a number of teams interested in Diogu, but he selected the Hornets based on a promise of an opportunity and playing time. This is a low-cost, low-risk, high-potential payoff acquisition. Diogu will give All-Star David West the opportunity to play fewer minutes this season.

Diogu will likely fill Ryan Bowen's roster spot. This is most certainly a significant improvement in this position.

I definitely like Ike.

Hornets Happenings | Good Move, Mr. Bower: The Bees Are Better with Okafor

Paul Augustin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:14:23 -0400

The print and electronic media are buzzing about the Chandler-for-Okafor deal. Most sportswriters and analysts think the trade is a wash. Most fans think the Hornets have come out on top.

Since I reside in that dark gray area between sportswriter and fan, maybe this analysis will shed some light.

Tyson Chandler's Background

Chandler was drafted second overall by by the LA Clippers in the 2001 draft and the sent immediately along with Brian Skinner to Chicago for Elton Brand. Chandler did not attend college, electing to go directly from high school to the NBA.

Despite being a stalwart defensive specialist, with his lack of ability to score and after the acquisition of Ben Wallace, the Bulls decided Chandler was expendable.

The Hornets acquired Chandler from Chicago in exchange for forward PJ Brown ( now retired) and guard J.R. Smith (now a backup with Denver) on July 14, 2006.

Chandler greatly improved his game after coming to New Orleans. It can be argued that some of this was the Hornets' coaching and some of this was the team situation.

The "team situation" is that he was playing alongside all-star David West and being fed by all-world Chris Paul.

Chandler is considered very athletic and runs the floor well. He is also prone to foul trouble and has been hampered by injuries for a while.

Chandler has not developed an offensive arsenal outside of the pick and roll, the alley-oop dunk, and the put-back dunk. His range is withing a few feet of the basket.

There are some intangibles in Chandler's favor, including the fact the he is well-liked as a player and person, and he plays with intensity and passion when he is not injured.

Emeka Okafor's Background

Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi Okafor the son of Nigerian immigrants, is known for not only for his basketball skills, but also for being a brilliant scholar. He was a Finance major at the University of Connecticut and graduated in three years in May 2004 with a 3.8 GPA.

Like Chandler, Okafor was a second overall pick. He was selected second overall in the 2004 draft by the Charlotte Bobcats. Okafor beat out his friend and former college teammate Ben Gordon, to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award that year.

In his second season, Okafor missed more than half of the games with an injured ankle. He had bulked up in the off-season, going from 260 to 280 pounds.

Many people believe that the bulking up greatly hampered his rehab. He has since dropped the extra weight and has been healthy since then. He has proven his durability by playing in 175 consecutive games.

Regardless of what you read from his detractors—his former coach Larry Brown included—Okafor has improved each year in the league. He now possesses a mid-range jump shot that he did not have his rookie season.

Additionally, Okafor has increased his field-goal percentage almost every season. He shot 44.7 percent his rookie season and finished last year at 56.1 percent.

Although not spectacular, he has been steady and consistent, averaging a double- double in scoring and rebounding each season.

He is considered a good defender, but slightly weaker than Chandler in the inside.

Coach Brown has accused Okafor of not being a hustler and not having a passion for the game. I will have to admit that I have not followed him much in the NBA, but from what I recall when he played for UConn, that was not the case.

The Salaries

Chandler will make $11,850,000 this year as opposed to $10,538,937 for Okafor. As the Hornets are way over the luxury tax level, the savings of $1.3 million in salaries is actually a savings of $2.6 million for Hornets owner George Shinn. This is not exactly chump change.

Next season, Chandler has a player option salary of $12,750,000. There is zero chance that he is going to opt out of that salary. Next season, Okafor is scheduled to make $11,540,375.

After next season, Chandler becomes a free agent while Okafor is under contract through the 2013 season with raises of roughly eight percent each year.

Some analysts are very disturbed at the long term commitment to a high salaried player by the Hornets. They assert that the Hornets are trading a short-term salary problem for a long term one.

The reality of the situation is that the center position has the highest average salary in the league.

While Okafor may not be in the top tier of centers (yet), to acquire a center in that tier is going to cost significantly more than the Hornets are paying for him. For example, the following lists reflects some of the centers who are widely considered better overall players than Okafor with current contracts:

Dwight Howard—Superman signed a five-year contract at the end of his rookie contract with an annual average of $17 million.
Tim Duncan—Duncan is currently in a three-year, $62 million contract.
Yao Ming—Yao is into a five-year, $75 million dollar deal.

I am sure that you get the point. With a few exceptions, to get a center who is considered "elite," a team is going to need to offer a contract in the $15 to $20 million-per-year range. Considering this, Okafor's contract is right in line with the rest of the NBA centers.

Overall, the Hornets have come up better financially with the acquisition of Okafor.

The Verdict

According to ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine, this trade will add six wins to the Hornets record next season and subtract five from the Bobcats. That would put the Hornets into the playoffs, but does not guarantee a playoff run.

Okafor is a better overall player with some significant upside potential being teamed with Paul and West.

The salary exchange puts over $5 million back into George Shinn's pockets over the next two seasons when the luxury tax is taken into account.

The verdict is that, from any angle, this deal was a win for the Hornets. Thank you, Jeff Bower.

Hornets Happenings | Chandler for Okafor a Done Deal?

Paul Augustin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:11:06 -0400

ESPN is reporting a late-breaking rumor that a straight up trade between the Charlotte Bobcats and the New Orleans Hornets is in the "advanced stages." This deal would send often-injured Tyson Chandler to the Bobcats for Emeka Okafor.

In my book, Okafor is a better overall player than Chandler. He has a double-double career average and is younger than Chandler.

He is also more durable.

Even though Bobcat fans see Okafor as often injured, other than his second season, he has missed less than eight games each season.

The Hornets have been trying to deal Chandler, who has had ankle and toe surgeries over the past year, for most of the last calendar year.

Both centers have large contracts with big salary cap implications. Okafor has $63 million remaining on his current contract, which runs through the 2014 season, while Chandler has a $12.25 million cap figure for this year and a $13.2 million figure for the 2010 season.

So, from a contract standpoint, this deal does not make much sense for either team.

If this deal gets consummated, look for other players or other teams to be involved before all is said and done.

Hornets Happenings | The Sex Lives of NBA Players in the Big Easy

Paul Augustin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:54:20 -0400

I am fairly certain that every player that has played for any of the New Orleans professional basketball franchises has had a sex life. This includes the NBA Jazz and Hornets, as well as the Buccaneers of the long defunct ABA.

I am also fairly certain that the sex lives of professional basketball players is none of my business and it is none of your business. But we seem be very interested in this topic.

One thing that I have noticed on BleacherReport.com is that articles and slide shows that have anything to do with "Hotties", tight fitting uniforms, cheerleaders, dating relationships of athletes or anything similar to this seem to get a tremendous amount of readership following.

We seem to be more interested in a peep show than we are in insightful sports journalism, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

This is not my opinion, it is borne out by the facts. For example, at the time I drafted this article, some of the most read articles on B/R were:

"Erin Andrew's Great Hits" with over 65,000 reads in two weeks. B/R newcomer Mike McD wrote this article.
Mike McD figured out the formula for success, as a subsequent article, "The Ten Sexiest Uniforms In Sports" had over 60,000 reads in nine days. Over 120,000 reads for McD in two weeks is pretty impressive.
"Say Tease: Sexy Photos of Female Athletes in the Act" by Duncan Scott has received over 20,000 reads and growing in just five days.

Contrast this with the readership of some of the top writers on this site. For example:

Top NFL Writer Angel Navedo is a Senior Writer who has written 231 articles in the past year. His best read article, "Three NFL Trades That Should Happen Before the Deadline" had just over 43,000 reads in nine months. His next most read article had less than 10,000 hits.
Top NCAA College Football writer and B/R icon Baby Tate had 42,600 reads in his article entitled "The 10 Most Disliked Programs of the Past 25 Years." Besides being an excellent journalist, Tate is the No. 1 one user on the entire site.
Senior Writer Salaar Shamsi, the prolific No. 1 writer in FIFA / World Football has had barely over a 1000 reads of his article "Manchester United-Arsenal: Welcome to the Big Boys' League." He has no other article with as many as 1000 readers.

This despite the fact that the sport that we call soccer in the United States is the most popular sport in the world. (Note: Subsequent to publishing this article, Mr Shamsi pointed out that he has had several articles with more than 1,000 reads and has in fact had one with over 10,000)
The most read article written by Mary Jo Buchanan, Justin Allgaier in First Nationwide Start at Lowe's: Third Time Not a Charmm received just over 7,000 reads in nine months. Although NASCAR is not my thing, it is arguably the most popular sport in the United States.

What does this say about the readership of this site? Does it imply that sports enthusiasts in general or B/R readers in particular are especially perverted?

No, I believe that it simply documents that the readership in our site is just a microcosm of what our society as a whole has become.

When I was growing up, the most sexually stimulating thing that you could come across in mainstream media were women's lingerie advertisements in the Sears. Montgomery Ward, and JC Penney catalogs. There did exist a time when talking about sex was taboo.

I remember 1950s television programs that were not allowed to show married couples in bed together. TV shows like I Love Lucy had to show couples sleeping in twin beds.

Fast forward to the current day when everyone is talking about sex and everything is about sex. Sex sells cars, cell phones, beer, magazines, and toothpaste.

And sports. Sex definitely sell sports. Franchise owners and CEOs know this. There was a time when the prime role of cheerleaders actually was what the name implies—lead cheers.

How did this change? Tex Schramm, former Dallas Cowboys general manager had an extensive background in television and recognized that professional football had become more entertainment than sports.

He knew that the public liked pretty girls and decided to expand the established football tradition of sideline cheerleaders into a glamorous, choreographed squad of accomplished dancers that would serve as a counterpoint to the game itself.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Most of the readership on B/R are decades younger than I am. Do any of you remember when the prime role of the cheerleaders were to actually lead cheers?

Now, in order to drag in already oversexed American males to the games, cheerleaders have redefined the term scantily clad. Instead of leading cheers, they do as good of a bump and grind routine as you would see in any club on Bourbon Street.

Does anyone recall when beer advertisements on sports shows promoted the great taste of the products?

Now, these advertisements show how drinking a certain brand makes you "The Most Interesting Man In The World" and allows you to be surrounded by large breasted beauties.

How have we come this? Many of you on Bleacher Report are less than 30 years old. You view our hypersexual culture, including the hypersexual sports culture, as "normal."

After all, this is what you have grown up with.

What used to be considered the sacred intimacy shared between a married man and a woman is paraded unabashedly with no one even stopping to think, "What's wrong with this obsession with and abuse of sex?"

Our culture has become increasingly impersonal over the last generation. "Talking" does not necessarily mean ever hearing someone's voice. We do not eat meals together.

We are finding our lives more and more empty. We try to fill this emptiness with something else. Sex is one of the solutions people try.

Advertisers and promoters know this. We have allowed ourselves to get sucked into this vacuum.

Are we willing to police ourselves and focus the reading and writing of B/R to topics actually dealing with real sport? I doubt it. I am going to follow the most read articles over the next month and see what the facts point out.

Understanding the NBA Salary Cap: It Is Rocket Science

Paul Augustin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:08:55 -0400

Rocket science is a term often used for the astronautics branch of aerospace engineering. It is the science and technology of space flight.

Rocket scientists are considered geniuses because of the varied and complex engineering knowledge required including fluid mechanics, structural mechanics, orbital mechanics, physics, mathematics, control engineering, materials science, and avionics among others.

Rocket science is also informally used as a term to describe a task requiring great intelligence and technical ability.

Having worked on several different projects related to the Space Shuttle program, I have a fairly good grasp on what is and what is not rocket science.

Understanding the NBA salary cap is rocket science.

In this article, I am going to attempt to simplify the complicated science of the NBA cap so that the average Bleacher Report reader can understand how the cap helps or handicaps his or her favorite team.

Hard vs. Soft Cap

The NBA has what is known as a soft cap. A hard salary cap doesn't allow the total payroll for the team to be exceeded for any reason. The NBA's cap contains so many exceptions that very few teams are ever under the cap for a season.

How Much Is The Cap?

That is a good question. Each year in July the NBA projects Basketball Related Income (BRI) and benefits for the upcoming season. The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) defines a percentage of projected BRI that goes into the cap computation. Adjustments are made to the cap based on the accuracy of the previous season's projections.

What is Basketball Related Income?

Basketball Related Income (BRI) includes any income received by the NBA, NBA Properties or NBA Media Ventures. This includes:

Game gate receipts
Broadcast rights
Novelty, program and concession sales
Game day parking receipts
Proceeds from team sponsorships
Proceeds from summer camps
Proceeds from mascot and dance team appearances
Proceeds from beverage sale rights
40% of proceeds from arena signage
40% of proceeds from luxury suites
45% - 50% of proceeds from arena naming rights
Proceeds from premium seat licenses
Proceeds received by NBA Properties for any NBA licensed product

Minimum and Maximum Salaries

The CBA defines minimum and maximum salaries based on years of league experience. For the upcoming season, the minimum salary ranges from a low of $457,588 for rookies to a high of $1,306,455 for veterans with ten or more years of experience.

Maximum salaries range have a fixed dollar amount or 25 percent of the cap, whichever is greatest.

The maximum salaries for the upcoming season ranges from a low of $13,520,500 for someone with no NBA experience to a high of $18,928,700 for a veteran of ten or more year's experience.

A player's maximum salary is never less than 105 percent of his previous salary. So even if the cap level decreases drastically, a player who previously had a maximum player contract can still receive a 5 percent increase over his previous contract.

Another wrinkle to the maximum salary restriction is that it applies only to the first year of multi-year contract. There are, however, annual salary increase restrictions in these maximum player contracts.

The salaries for first round draft picks are calculated by a completely different formula. Contracts are slotted based on the draft position.

For the 2009-10 season, the No. 1 overall draft pick will be paid $4,152,900 the first year, $4,464,400 the second, with a third-year option of $4,775,900, a fourth year player option of a 26.1% raise over the third-year salary.

A player may sign for between 80 percent and 120 percent of the first round draft pick scale.

Exceptions To The Cap

There are a dizzying number of complicated exceptions to the cap. The best known is the Larry Bird Exception.

Players who qualify for this Larry Bird Exception are called "Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA.

This exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, to the player's maximum salary. To earn "Bird rights," a player must play for the same team for at least three consecutive years.

If a player is traded, his Bird rights are traded with him, and his new team may use the Bird exception to re-sign him.

There is a weaker form of the Larry Bird exception known as the Early Bird Exception. . A player qualifies for the Early Bird Exception after playing two seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent.

Using this exception, a team is allowed to re-sign its own free agent for 175 percent of his salary the previous season or the average player salary, whichever is greater. Early Bird contracts must have a duration of between two and five seasons.

A player can receive raises up to 10.5% of the salary in the first season of the contract using this exception.

If the player is a restricted free agent with two years of service and receives an offer sheet from a new team, the player's current team may use the Early Bird exception to match the offer.

This is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception known as the Non-Bird Exception. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Non-Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA.

The Non-Bird Exception allows a team to re-sign its own free agent to a salary starting at 120 percent of the player's previous salary, 120 percent of the minimum salary based on the player's experience, or if the player is a restricted free agent, the amount needed to tender a qualifying offer

The Mid-Level Exception allows a team to sign a free agent to a contract equal to the average salary. This exception may be split and given to multiple players and may be used for contracts of up to five years in length.

The Rookie Exception allows teams to sign their first-round draft picks to a rookie scale contract even if they are above the cap.

A Simultaneous Traded Player Exception allows a team to acquire up to 125 percent plus $100,000 of the salaries they are trading.

For example, a team trading a $10 million player in a simultaneous trade can receive one or more players whose salary is no more than 125% of $10 million, plus $100,000, or $12,600,000 in return.

A Non-Simultaneous Trade Exception allows a team to only acquire up to 100% plus $100,000 of the salary it gives up.

Non-simultaneous trades are only allowed for single player deals, although teams can sometimes find ways to pull off multi-player trades as multiple single-player trades.

Teams cannot use a Traded Player Exception to sign a free agent. The exception can only be used only to acquire existing contracts. These exception cannot be combined with other exceptions.

The Disabled Player Exception, which is rarely granted, allows a team to acquire a replacement for a disabled player for a maximum salary of 50% of the injured player's salary, or the average salary, whichever is less. This exception can also be used to replace a player who dies during a season.

The Reinstatement Exception allows a team to re-sign a player who was banned from the league for a drug-related offense and later reinstated for up to his previous salary. To qualify for this exception, they player must sign with his previous team.

The Bi-Annual Exception may be used to sign any free agent to a contract with a specified amount. For the upcoming season, the amount is $1,990,000.

This exception may be allocated to more than one player, and can be used to sign players for up to two years, with raises limited to 8%.

In Minimum Salary Player Exceptions, teams can offer players minimum salary contracts for up to two years in length. These contract may not contain a signing bonus.

This exception also allows minimum salary players to be acquired via trade. There is no limit to the number of players that can be signed or acquired using this exception.

Restricted Versus Unrestricted Free Agents

There are two types of free agents, unrestricted and restricted. An unrestricted free agent is free to sign with any other team. The player's current team has no recourse.

Restricted free agency allows the player's current team the right to keep the player by matching an offer sheet the player signs with another team.

Restricted free agency is allowed only a a few narrow circumstances. For former first round draft picks who signed rookie scale contracts, it is allowed following the fourth season.

A first-round draft pick becomes an unrestricted free agent following his second or third season if his team does not exercise its option to extend the player's rookie scale contract for the next season.

Restricted free agency is also allowed for all veteran free agents who have been in the league less than four seasons. All other free agency is considered unrestricted.

In order to make their free agent a restricted free agent, teams are required to submit a qualifying offer to the player by June 30.

The qualifying offer for all other players must be for 125% of the player's previous salary, or the player's minimum salary plus $175,000, whichever is greater. The qualifying offer must be for one season.

A restricted free agent has four options:

He can accept his team's qualifying offer, play for one season, and become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
He can accept his current team's maximum qualifying offer and play under a new contract at the maximum salary.
He can sign an offer sheet with another team, which his current team is given the opportunity to match. If the team matches an offer sheet, they cannot trade the player in a sign-and-trade arrangement
He can negotiate a new contract with his current team

Known as the Gilbert Arenas provision, teams are limited in the salary they can offer in to a restricted free agent with one or two years in the league.

The first-year salary in the offer sheet cannot be greater than the average salary, thereby guaranteeing that the current team will be able to match the offer sheet by using the Early Bird exception or Mid-Level exception.

How Are Exceptions Applied?

For teams with a total salary below the cap, their Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and/or Traded Player exceptions are added to their team salary, and the league treats the team as though they are over the cap.

This is done to prevent a team from acting like they're under the cap and sign free agents using cap room, and then use their Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level or Traded Player exceptions.

Factoring this in, being under the cap does not necessarily mean a team has room to sign free agents.

For example, let us look at a scenario with this year's salary cap of $57.7 million. Suppose a team has $50 million committed to salaries. They also have a Mid-Level exception for $6 million and a Traded Player exception for $5.5 million.

Even though their salaries put them $7.7 million below the cap, with these exceptions added, they are at $61.5 million. So they actually have no cap room to sign free agents, and instead must use their exceptions.

Teams have the option of renouncing their exceptions in order to claim the cap room.

The Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and Traded Player exceptions may be lost entirely, or the team may never receive them to begin with.

This happens when their team salary is so low that when the exceptions are added to the team salary, the sum is still below the salary cap.

The effect is that a team may have either exceptions or cap room, but not both.

The Dreaded "Luxury Tax"

The luxury tax is a tool that supposedly helps control spending in the league. For teams with payrolls that exceed a predetermined level, for every dollar they exceed the predetermined amount, they pay a dollar tax to the league.

The tax level is calculated by taking 61% of projected BRI, subtracting projected benefits then factoring in some adjustments. For the upcoming season, the defined luxury tax amount is $69,920,000 per team.

Any tax money collected by the league is distributed as follows:

Teams below the tax level receive 1/30 of the tax money
A portion of any remaining money may be reserved by the league for "league purposes."
Any remaining tax money that is distributed to teams must go to all teams in equal shares. It is feasible that a team that pays tax may get some of the money back through this distribution.

New Definition of Genius

This is a very abbreviated explanation of the current NBA salary cap and related issues. There are a number of other detailed requirements, exceptions, clauses and contingencies which time and space does not allow me to examine.

Understanding this all requires a varied and detailed ability in math, law, and accounting. Perhaps the phrases of "This is not rocket science" or "He is no rocket scientist" are obsolete.

After all, this is not mere rocket science, it is NBA Salary Cap Science.

Hornets Happenings | Hornets Score Low on Offseason Team Improvements

Paul Augustin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:43:13 -0400

Anyone who is reasonably knowledgeable about NBA basketball knows that there are some strong positives for the New Orleans Hornets.

They have one of the best players in the league. Chris Paul will arguably go down as one of the best point guards of all-time.

Matched up with Paul is power forward David West. West can be a very good and sometimes great player.

The Hornets also have some glaring weaknesses including:

The Hornets' bench is among the worst in the league.
Small forward Peja Stojakovic's best days are behind him. Stojakovic's contract is killing the Hornets.
Starting shooting guard Rasual Butler is better when he comes off of the bench.
Center Tyson Chandler has no offensive game other than the dunk and put back. Chandler's contract is also hurting the Hornets.
Paul plays too many minutes per game.
West plays too many minutes per game.

The Hornets slid from being contenders for the Conference title to barely squeaking into the playoffs. It's reasonable to assume that the Hornets' owners and management notice this also and are taking steps to help the Hornets transition back to being contenders as they were in 2007-2008.

Let's look at each weaknesses and evaluate to what extent the Hornets offseason moves to date have eliminated it.

For simplicity sake, I will evaluate the weakness as addressed on a scale of zero through five, where zero means the weakness was not addressed at all, while five means that the weakness has been turned into a strength.

With this scale, a perfect score would be 30. This means that the Hornets would have turned each weakness into a team strength.

1. Bench—I rate the Hornets' bench as a two. The addition of Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton should slightly improve the bench play from the guard position.

2. Small Forward—This is a big zero. The small forward position has yet to be addressed in the offseason.

3. Starting Shooting Guard—This also gets a zero. It's not likely that Thornton is going to break into the starting lineup.

4. Center—Another zero.

5. Chris Paul's minutes—So far from limited looks at his rookie league play, Collison looks like he will be a legitimate NBA player one day. This receives a rating of two.

6. David West's minutes—Once again, zero.

The Hornets score a four-of-30. One could possibly argue that items one and five could each be scored a point higher.

Maybe the Hornets receive a six-of-30, instead. Either way, it's less than a passing score.

This should prove to be a long, long season.

Hornets Happenings | Bees Out of the Running for Two Targeted Free Agents

Paul Augustin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:28:28 -0400

Jannero Pargo had been hanging around New Orleans. He had reportedly been playing one-on-one with Byron Scott.

Surely, the Hornets would sign him.

But in an attempt to partially ease the pain of losing Ben Gordon to the rival Pistons, the Bulls signed Pargo to a one-year deal worth roughly $2 million.

So much for a proven backup guard who can swing between the one and two spots.

The assumption is that although neither of them have one minute of NBA experience, the Hornets' management is comfortable enough with draft picks Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton coming off the bench.

According to Pargo's Chicago-based agent Mark Bartelstein, "It's a great fit. A lot of teams wanted him, but he loved it here. He's an explosive scorer who can take up some slack for Gordon."

Tony Dutt, the agent for Dallas free agent Brandon Bass, has identified Orlando, Detroit, and Portland as the finalists among teams vying for the four-year pro's services, according to news reports on WWL 870 radio in New Orleans.

With Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess headed to Boston and San Antonio, respectively, Bass has become an in-demand player and will likely receive a deal for less than the mid-level exception.

Bass, a second-round selection by the Hornets after leaving college as a sophomore, was cut after his second year with the club. He had shown interest in rejoining New Orleans, and this writer believed that there was mutual interest from the Hornets.

The options for boosting their front court are getting slimmer for the Hornets. Some of the players about whom the Hornets have inquired about are Mikki Moore, Maceo Baston and Jake Voskuhl.

Wow! These guys are really going to strike some fear into the opposition.

The Hornets have reportedly expressed interest in Celtics' restricted free agent Glenn "Big Baby" Davis. Davis is going to be overpriced whereever he signs, and with their salary cap problems, I cannot see the Bees swinging a deal for the former LSU star.

With all of the significant free agents headed anywhere but the Crescent city, let's hope the Hornets have a blockbuster trade in mind to shore up the roster.

Otherwise, it is going to be a long and painful season.

Hornets Happenings | The Five Worst Hornets Draft Picks Of All Time

Paul Augustin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:23:34 -0400

This is the second in a series of articles in which I analyze the best and worst of the Hornets since the team's inception. Today, I look at the five worst draft picks of all time.

Like the first article in this series which looked at the five best draft picks of all time, the ground rules are simple:

1. The Hornets had to have drafted the player

2. The quality of the draft pick is evaluated on a) how poorly the player performed over his NBA career, not necessarily his performance just for the Hornet , and b) how brief of a career the player had.

3. The draft pick is considered for the relative position of the draft pick and who was drafted above and below the pick.

1. Kirk Haston

Kirk Haston was selected 16th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2001 draft. In two years he spent more time on the injured reserve list than the active roster. Haston averaged 1.2 points per game, playing in 27 games. He also averaged one rebound per game while recording no steals.

The Hornets passed on Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas and Mehmet Okur to select Haston.

2. Jiří (George) Zídek, Jr.

In 1995, the Hornets slected Jiří (George) Zídek, Jr., with the 22nd overall pick of the draft . Zidek played in three NBA seasons for the Hornets, Denver Nuggets and Seattle SuperSonics, averaging 3.4 points per game in his NBA career.

He averaged less than ten minutes of playing time per game. Zidek played collegiately at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and was a member of their 1995 NCAA championship team.

3. Cedric Simmons

Three picks after Hilton Armstrong in the 2006 draft, the Hornets selected power forward Cedric Simmons. After appearing in 43 games for the Hornets, Simmons was traded to the Cavaliers for guard David Wesley. Simmons has averaged just over two points per game and just under two rebounds per game in his three season career.

4. Hilton Armstrong

With the 12th overall pick in the 2006 draft, the Hornets selected UConn center Hilton Armstrong. He had a rather unremarkable college career, averaging less than 4 points in each of first 3 seasons at UConn. He did improve his senior year averaging 9.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocks.

Although the jury is still out on Armstrong, many people, including this writer were rather surprised with this pick. Some other players that the Hornets passed over to select Armstrong are Rajon Rondo, Jordan Farmar, Leon Powe, and Ronnie Brewer.

5. Tony Delk

In the 1996 draft, the Hornets selected Kobe Bryant with the thirteenth overall selection, and immediately traded him to the L.A. Lakers for Vlade Divac.

In the Hornets defense, no one really knew much about Kobe. Coming straight out of Lower Merrion High, Kobe worked out for only one team - the L.A. Lakers.

Some infamous players that were drafted before Kobe include Samaki Ijuma Walker, taken by the Dallas Mavericks with the 9th overall pick—acquired from the Celtics and Vitaly Nikolaevich Potapenko taken by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 12th overall pick that was acquired from Washington.

The Hornets had another pick in the first round of that draft. With the 16th overall pick, acquired from Miami, the Hornets selected shooting guard Tony Delk from the University of Kentucky.

Delk was not a horrible player. He had a solid career as a backup guard, playing for nine teams over his ten year career. What induced me to include Delk on this list were the players that the Hornets passed on to pick him.

Among the future solid players that the Hornets turned their noses up to in order to select Delk are Jermaine O'Neal, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, Dontae Jones, and Derek Fisher. Ben Wallace signed as an undrafted free agent by Washington.

Hornets Happenings: The Five Best Hornets Draft Picks of All Time

Paul Augustin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:51:01 -0400

As we sit hear in anticipation of July 8th, waiting to see if the Hornets will improve the themselves with some solid free agent acquisitions, I thought it a good opportunity to reflect back on the Hornets historical draft and rate who were the best players ever drafted by the Bees. The ground rules are simple: 1) The Hornets had to have drafted the player 2) The quality of the draft pick is evaluated on how the player performed over his NBA career (or career to date), not necessarily his performance for the Hornets 3) The Kobe Bryant draft and trade deal does not count. My reasoning for this is simple - this is my article and I say so!

Begin Slideshow

Hornets Happenings | Darren Collison Pick Brings a Great Yawn

Paul Augustin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:20:07 -0400

The Hornets used their first-round draft pick to select point guard Darren Collison from UCLA. This pick is likely not to excite Hornets fans very much. To be honest, it does not excite me either.

The pre-draft scouting reports on Collison say that he has great quickness and long arms make him ideal on ball defensive specialist. However, he is very small.

Although standing in a photo with David Stearn makes him look huge, Collison is around 6'0" and 160 pounds, which is going to make it hard for him to guard some of the bigger, stronger guards in the league.

He plays hard both ends of floor the entire game which is something many of the Hornets do not. This would be a breath of fresh air in New Orleans.

He can create his own shot. Most of his scoring comes from quick moves off of the dribble, but he has tendency to try and do too much and turn the ball over. He has also improved his shooting each year with the Bruins, ending as nearly a 90 percent free throw shooter, almost 40 percent from three-point land and 50 percent from the floor overall.

Being a four-year college player at a major college program, he has maturity (unlike prior No. 1s such as JR Smith), great experience, leadership and above average intelligence.

Both of his parents were former Olympic track athletes. Collison is projected as an NBA backup PG and defensive specialist.

This leads to the question that will be on most fans' minds: Why use your first-round pick on a player who is going to be a career NBA backup player at best?

The 2009 draft was not very deep. I believe that the Hornets had in mind point guard
Eric Maynor from Virginia Commonwealth.

Jerry Sloan and the Jazz scooped up Maynor leaving the Hornets scrambling for options. Some would have liked to have seen the Bees select monster center BJ Mullins from Ohio State to give the Hornets some needed help on the front-line.

Mullins, however, is a project. Unlike the four-year player Collison, Mullins is a barely 20 year old, one-and-out athlete. He is going to be a project, and we all know that the Hornets have not been very successful bringing along young projects.

I am a bit more excited about the second pick, Marcus Thornton from LSU. Many Hornets fans saw the toughness and grit the Thornton showed in the Tigers NCAA tournament run.

Thornton can do it all—almost. He can shoot form the outside, post up, play defense, and rebound. He has a winning attitude.

However, if Thornton is going to be an everyday player, he must improve on his ball-handling. Chris Paul can probably teach him a thing or two in that area.

Collison and Thornton are probably upgrades overs Antonio Daniel and Mo Peterson. Was Collison worthy of the 21st pick? Probably. Is Thornton worth two future second-round picks? Only time will tell.

Now it is time for the Hornets to address the front court play in free agency. July 1 is coming soon. Let's hope the Bees have a plan.

Hornets Happenings: Rebuilding of the Roster Pt. 3, New Bees

Paul Augustin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:06:52 -0400

This is part three in the series Rebuilding the Hornets. I thought a slide show would be a great way to show some of the players that the Hornets could or should be looking at to 1) bulk up their roster and give Chris Paul a supporting starting cast and 2) provide a bench that can give productive minutes and provide some needed rest to the starters. It is easy to say that the Bees should go out and sign the top free agents available. Not so fast - the contract structure must fit within the cap and not bankrupt the owner This show assumes that the Hornets find some creative ways to shed some of the fat contracts (e.g. Peja Stojakovic) that are pushing them way over the 2009-2010 salary cap. Also, the Hornets need to look to the future by adding some younger players as starters and as role players off of the bench.

Begin Slideshow

Hornets Happenings: Rebuilding of the Roster Part Two: Who Should Go?

Paul Augustin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:04:03 -0400

In the last Hornets Happenings, I wrote about guaranteed NBA contracts and the difficulty of trying to rid a team of expensive contracts of marginally productive players.

The Hornets need to be able to rid themselves of some of their higher price contracts so that they will have a chance to sign one or two free agents that can help them turn the corner.

Given the contract difficulties, who should the Hornets try to get off the roster?

It is probably universally agreed that Chris Paul is untouchable.

He is the face of the franchise.

Few will argue that with his tendency to back injuries, Peja Stojakovic is the No. 1 target to go.

Peja is one of the best shooters the game has to offer, when he is healthy. He has one of the quickest and purest releases ever in basketball, and is impossible to contest due to his size and the quickness in which he gets his shot off.

It can be argued that Peja is the best catch and shoot player ever to play in the NBA. He runs the floor well and finds his way to his hot spots in transition, and is also deadly accurate from the foul line.

However, due to his frequent injuries, Peja was paid $20,000 per point last season. From watching him play, one could see him wince even on some routine shots.

The extent of his injury may be worse than ever revealed. Unless he has a dramatic turn for the better this offseason, the best that the Hornets can hope for is that Peja takes an injury settlement or retires.

Assuming Peja does not retire or take a settlement, it is going to be difficult to entice another team to pick up Stojakovic and his contract. There will have to be some sort of package deal.

Although the Hornets officially deny it, another trade target is center Tyson Chandler. Had he passed the physical this season, Chandler would be part of the Oklahoma Thunder right now.

Chandler has been decent, and sometimes even spectacular for the Hornets. He is solid on defense, but it is my belief that Paul made Chandler the player that he is.

Before coming to the Hornets and teaming with CP3, Chandler was a part-time starter. He has no offensive game other than put-backs and alley oops, and is only slightly better than Shaq from the charity stripe.

The Hornets need a center who can stand on his own offensively and at least create his own shot some of the time. They also need someone who can stand up to the pounding of Western Conference big men.

If Chandler gets a clean bill of health, he would be tradeable straight up. Otherwise, like Peja, he will have to be part of a package deal.

The best possibility would be to package Peja or Chandler with all-star forward David West or the Hornet's No. 1 draft choice.

Who would be able to absorb these players and their salaries?

Current projections have five teams—the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Miami Heat, and the Indiana Pacers—with significant money to spend in 2009.

Look for the possibility of a multi-team deal.

What other players could be considered for straight-up trades?

Last season, the Jannero Pargo-Chris Paul combination and rotation was much more effective than the Antonio Daniels-Chris Paul combo.

Pargo has been reported in and around New Orleans, even getting into shooting contests with Hornets' coach Byron Scott.

Look for Daniels to get dealt and Pargo to re-sign with the Bees.

Look also for the Hornets to deal shooting guard Morris Peterson. Mo Pete has been in the doghouse and rides the pine too much for a player who will make $5.8 and $6.2 million next season.

The rest of the Hornets under contract—Rasual Butler, Hilton Armstrong, Julian Wright, James Posey, and Devin Brown—due to various circumstances, should not be traded or are not likely trade potential

Do not be surprised if, other than backup center Sean Marks who made up for his lack of skill with effort and hustle, the Hornets opt not to re-sign any of their players not under contract.

Who will the Hornets go after to add to their roster?

Will they be able to put a decent supporting cast around Chris Paul?

Watch out for my next column, Rebuilding of the Roster Part Three: New Bees.

Hornets Happenings | Rebuilding of the Roster Part One: The Dilema

Paul Augustin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:19:41 -0400

Although the New Orleans Hornets management has implied that the roster will remain intact next season, average fans might see this as more management doublespeak.

It is obvious to even the casual observer of the Hornets that unless a younger, better supporting cast is put around Chris Paul, the team will continue to be a one and out playoff team at best.

Improvement for the Hornets is not going to be as simple as going out and buying some free agents. The NBA has a salary cap and a luxury tax for those that exceed the cap.

If you are interested in a good summary explanation of the NBA salary cap and luxury tax calculations, I recommend a brief read of the article on Wikipedia.

New Orleans' projected payroll for next season is nearly $76 million. Teams with a payroll exceeding $71.15 million this coming season will have to pay the league a luxury tax dollar for every dollar they are above this amount.

Tax revenues are normally redistributed evenly among non-tax-paying teams, so there is often a several-million-dollar incentive to owners not to pay the luxury tax.

While most NBA teams hold contracts valued in excess of the salary cap, few teams have payrolls at luxury tax levels. Some owners seemingly have money to burn and do not care about the luxury tax at all.

For example, in 2005-06, the New York Knicks payroll was $124 million, putting them $74.5 million above the salary cap, and $62.3 million above the tax line, which Knicks owner James Dolan paid to the league.

Every NBA owner wants to win. The draw of the glory of an NBA championship is just too strong to resist. Hornets owner George Shinn is no exception.

To win next season, he has the option of keeping the core of his roster, adding a couple of experienced free agents and looking for a gem in the upcoming draft. However, it is not probable that Shinn is interested in paying even more luxury tax.

His move to unload center Tyson Chandler and his salary to the Oklahoma Thunder was an indication that Shinn wants to avoid the tax if possible. The following contract amounts represent that Hornets salary cap number for next season:

Peja Stojakovic     $13,392,000              Tyson Chandler     $12,300,000
David West        $9,075,000            Antonio Daniels $6,600,000
James Posey        $6,031,800    Morris Peterson       $5,800,000
Chris Paul          $13,722,567                   Rasual Butler    $3,945,000
Hilton Armstrong    $2,801,198                Julian Wright           $2,000,040

In addition to these players, the following Hornets either become free agents or have non-guaranteed contracts that do not count against the 2009-2010 contracts: Sean Marks, Melvin Ely, Devin Brown, and Ryan Bowen.

So what are the Hornets to do? The obvious answer is to get rid of some of the under- performing expensive players and add some new ones who are better and less expensive. Not so fast!

It is not as easy to drop some of the contracts as you might think. Most NBA player contracts are guaranteed.

Even if the Hornets were to waive expensive but not so productive players, the Hornets are still obligated to pay the contracts and the salaries would still count against the cap.

Released/waived players with guaranteed contracts are included in their former team's payroll. Players whose contracts are not guaranteed are included in team salary in the amount they made while they were with the team.

Players on non-guaranteed are not included in team salary unless they make the regular season roster.

If another team signs a waived player who had a guaranteed contract, the player's original team is allowed to reduce the amount of money they still owe the player by the by what is called the right of set-off. This is the case if the player signs with any professional team—it does not even have to be an NBA team.

The amount the original team gets to set off is limited to one-half the difference between the player's new salary and a pro-rated share of the minimum salary for a one-year veteran.

The dilemma for the Hornets this offseason is: find a way to jettison enough of the players and their contracts to free up salary space to sign one or two key players while maintaining enough of the team chemistry that has helped the Hornets be fairly successful over the last few season.

In part two of this series, I will look at each player on the roster individually and make an evaluation of should he be replaced and more importantly, can he be replaced.

Hornets Happenings| Decoding General Manager Double-Speak

Paul Augustin — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:04:08 -0400

On May 23, Jimmy Smith interviewed New Orleans Hornets GM Jeff Bower concerning his analysis of the past season and his blueprint for becoming a championship caliber team. Bower provided typically evasive answers filled with GM double-speak to some pointed questions by Smith.

Smith, being a respected member of the mainstream press corps, was not able to tell Bower that he was speaking out of both sides of his mouth or that he was being unnecessarily evasive. However, I can, as I'm neither a member of the mainstream press corps nor very well respected!

In this article, I will provide some of the text of the original conversation between Bower and Smith, and then attempt to decode the double-speak into direct English.

On what he liked and did not like about the season, Bower said:

"There's a lot of things we liked and a lot of things obviously we'd like to change. Everything we do is geared toward putting ourselves in position to play at a championship level and to bring a championship to New Orleans. How we get there is what we're looking at the deepest.

What he really meant:

It's hard to believe that as poorly as we played, we won as many games as we did. If not for Chris Paul and David West, we would look like the LA Clippers.

On how the regular season ended, Bower said:

"When you look at the last week and a half of the season and how it unfolded, and saw how close the second through seventh seeds really were, you saw the balance of those teams in the Western Conference. We were right there in that group competing for the Southwest Division and competing for home-court advantage as we entered the final stretch of the season.

What he really meant:

We are slipping and slipping fast in our conference. We limped into the playoffs. Teams like Denver have sailed through the playoffs and we sunk like a rock.

On if his mind changed about whether the team is good enough to contend for a title with the core group in place, Bower said:

"I think the levels of play of each position determine all that. I don't think over the course of the season we had enough there to put us in that position, due to various factors, whether it was injury or the combination of talents not creating a greater result."

What he really meant:

What do you think Jimmy? Were you watching the same games as I was? Other than point guard, we are consistently outplayed at every position.

On prioritizing current needs, Bower said:

"I think we need to upgrade, and obviously the thing we're going to try to do is get better and improve this summer. We'll look at each position across the board and see if there's a way to upgrade what we have to make it more productive. That would go from one through five. We're going to look at everything, not rule out improving at any area -- whether it's point guard, off guard, power forward, small forward, center. We're looking at everything.

What he really meant:

Upgrade. Every time I hear Beyonce sing "Lemme Upgrade You," I say to myself—she would be an improvement! If we had a center and a power forward that could be a presence inside, a shooting guard, a backup point guard, and a bench that could hold on to a 15 point lead, we could have a decent team.

On any roster untouchables, Bower said:

"I'm not going to go into that type of discussion as far as particular players with trades. That's not something I'm going to distinguish at this point."

What he really meant:

If I tried to trade Chris Paul, the people of New Orleans would tie me up by my thumbs and drag me behind a Mardi Gras float. If I tried to trade Paul, I would go down in history as the biggest loser in all of professional sports. Now Peja and Tyson Chandler, they're another story. They're not untouchable, however no one is going to want either of them with their inflated contracts.

On Jannero Pargo, the one and two guard who the Hornets opted not to re-sign at the end of last season. Instead, the Hornets signed Antonio Daniels as backup for Chris Paul. Bower said:

"Well, I'm not going to comment on talks with any specific players. I've talked with Mark about a number of players; he's got a number of players in the draft. Hypothetically, because he's a European player and free agent, we could. I'm not going to go into interest level on any players."

What he really meant:

Anyone who's not blind can clearly see the decision to let Pargo go and sign Daniels was idiotic. That was probably the biggest screw-up made by the Hornets since trading Kobe Bryant for Vlade Divac. I don't want to look too interested or the price to get Pargo back is going to break the bank over our already inflated payroll.

On whether Scott's one-year contract status might have an adverse affect on him or the team, Bower said:

"I can't speak for Byron, but I know how productive our discussions (have been) about what we want to do and the levels of enthusiasm for what he has and preparing for next year and this team being successful. And I would expect, and I'm so encouraged with what we're getting accomplished right now, that I don't see any problems. There haven't been problems in the past when this situation has been present and there's certainly nothing to suggest there would be any type of distraction right now."

What he really meant:

If Scott takes us on a deep playoff run, we'll be glad to sign him to a fat, long-term contract. The tough part is that if we let Scott go, there is probably no other coach available who is half as good, and Scott knows it.

On whether injuries to Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic could be career-threatening, Bower said:

"Career-threatening, no. Like every team, we've got to factor injuries into the season and be prepared to deal with them. That's something we need to do as we move forward. They're going to come. They're going to come to any player on every team. If they don't, you're probably going to have a very successful year. Our challenge is to be prepared for them and ready to handle whatever that may be."

What he really meant:

Peja is hurt more than he is healthy. How can that not be career threatening? I would not be surprised if Peja needs major back surgery. Nobody has ever had that and made a successful NBA comeback. As far as Chandler is concerned, he flunked the physical at Oklahoma City. Doesn't that tell you something?

On to what he attributed the lack of competitiveness against Denver in playoffs, Bower said:

"I think the overall level of play of the Nuggets, their effectiveness offensively and defensively in the series against us. And it's something we saw them repeat in their next series against Dallas. They were a team that was outstanding at the right time."

What he really meant:

Don't talk to me about the Nuggets. They kicked our butts! That 50 point loss was humiliating. The worst part was they did it with two of our cast-offs, J.R. Smith and Birdman Andersen. If that doesn't show you how bad of a job we are doing with the selection and retention of players, nothing will.

On whether Hornets will make a pick this year as opposed to selling the choice as last year, Bower said:

"We are planning and preparing for this draft. We feel we like the positioning, to be quite honest, and we're eager to get the draft process rolling."

What he really meant:

We must have been on crack last year to sell our pick. What a bonehead move! Think of how much better we would have been had we selected Chris Douglas-Roberts or Mario Chalmers instead of selling the pick. There is no way we are doing this again.

Wouldn't it be nice if people told the truth in interviews?

Hornets Happenings | Byron Scott: Should He Stay or Should He Go?

Paul Augustin — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:09:25 -0400

Hornets fans have likely not yet gotten over the Hornets' ugly 58-point loss at home in Game 4 in the playoffs.

After being dominated by the Denver Nuggets in round one of the NBA playoffs, the question of the day is: Where do the Hornets go from here?

The Hornets have recently committed to honor the final year of coach Byron Scott's contract. He will definitely be back next year. Is that a bad idea? In this writer's opinion the answer is a resounding NO.

Granted, the Hornets performance this year, especially in the home stretch, was at times stomach turning.

I spent many an evening screaming at my Panasonic Viera and pounding my head as I watched the Hornets slide from division champion contenders to barely squeaking into the playoffs.

Let's take an objective look at the situation with the Hornets and coach Scott.

At the end of last season, Scott was named 2008 NBA Coach of the Year. He led the Hornets to a franchise-record 56 victories and to within one win of the Western Conference finals. A coach does not go from being "that good" to "that bad" in one season.
Hampered by injuries, they finished 49-33 this season and were the No. 7 seed in the West. This record was still better than 20 other teams in the league.
The Hornets were forced to do without the services of Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic for large chunks of the season. Chandler never really recovered.
I suspect that the injury to Peja is worse than was every publicized. Even after he returned, you could see him often wince in pain after he let go one of his patented long-range bombs. Take it from someone who has played a substantial amount of basketball and has back problems...it is hard to be an effective player when your back is in pain. It is not one of those injuries that you can just shake off.
Even though they played in 76 and 78 games respectively, forward David West and point guard Chris Paul played this season with some significant nicks, bumps, and bruises.

Another important consideration is a look at the alternatives. What coach is available that would be at least as good, and hopefully better than Byron Scott? Does a name come to mind right away? Likely not.

So, if the problem is not coaching, what is it? I assert that is player selection, retention, and development.

In the next Hornets Happenings, I will examine how the selection and retention of players over the last several years has gotten the Hornets to where they are and what needs to happen to make a deep playoff run in the future.

Hornets Happenings | New Orleans Buried by Denver

Paul Augustin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:43:42 -0400

You may wonder how I wrote this article before the game was over. As I write article, there is two seconds left in the third quarter. The Nuggets are up by thirty-nine points.

The Hornets were beaten in every phase of the game.

Lay your flowers on their graves.

The Hornets are done.

I can't stand it any more.

New Orleans Hornets, Reqiescat in Pace.

Hornets Happenings | D-D-D-D-Denver D-D-D-D-fense D-D-D-Dooms D-Dreary Hornets

Paul Augustin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:00:02 -0400

Did I get enough "Ds" in the headline? In case anyone in the Hornets organization happens to stumble across this article, I am dropping a hint that defense wins games.

Contrary to popular myth, although the Nuggets bench is far superior to the Hornets, the game was not lost by the bench. The benches for both teams played fairly evenly in offense an defense.

A Hornets bench that usually makes all sorts of mistakes, had zero, count them, zero turnovers. The starters, on the other hand, had 15. Attribute some of that to great defense by the Nuggets, other to flat-out sloppy play by a tired group of players.

That fact that the bench did so well is especially amazing considering that George Karl allowed three of his bench players (Andersen, Smith, and Carter) to log over 20 minutes each, while the only sub that Coach Byron Scott gave significant playing time to was James Posey.

The game, won by the Nuggets 108-93, was a close contest for most of the first half. The Nuggets led by 2, 27-25 at the end of the first quarter. The Nuggets pulled away as the game went on.

The Hornets starters appear to be leg-weary. If you have ever played competitive basketball, you know that when the legs get tired, shooting percentages drop. The Nuggets out-shot the Hornets 50 to 45 percent.

The shooting difference was even worse than the numbers indicate because two players, Rasual Butler and Peja Stojakovic , were each 4-5 from three-point land. This happened mostly in the first half.

If you subtract those numbers from the overall shooting, the rest of the Hornets shot a miserable 40% from the field. Leg-weary shooters.

The other thing that goes when your legs get tired is defense. Players stop moving their feet, get beat off the dribble, and get lazy going out on shooters.

The Hornets got beat off the dribble and the Nuggets had countless open looks. New Orleans had a total of (let me see, I have to get out my calculator for this) one whole steal in the game. The Nuggets, on the other hand, had eight. Leg-weary defenders.

To stay in this series, coach Scott has to find a way to give less minutes early in the game to the David West, Chris Paul, Butler, and Chandler. If nothing else, the Hornets bench needs to come out early, show some energy and start wearing on the Denver starters. Otherwise it is going to be a dreary time for weary Hornets fans.

Hornets Happenings | Past Performances Do Not Guarantee Future Results

Paul Augustin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:48:39 -0400

Many think that after that complete blowout in Game 1, that the Hornets are dead and buried. I must admit that I was extremely disappointed. My disappointment was not so much in the results as it was the effort displayed by New Orleans.

In many of their losses this season, a lack of effort coupled with poor performance by the bench have been the key factors. If the Hornets do not put out the effort in the remainder of the series, it is going to be short one indeed.

As they say in the securities business, past performance is not an indicator of future results. However, it is interesting to look back at the series between these two teams to see what the key factors were.

Game 1 Nov 27 at Denver. N.O 105, Den 101

Situation:Second game of a three game west coast road trip for the Hornets. Tyson Chandler did not play. Hornets had balanced scoring with five players in double figures, lead by Chris Paul with 22 and Peja Stojakovic with 17. For the Nuggets, J.R. Smith led all scorers with 32 points in 32 minutes followed by Carmelo Anthony with 24.

The differences in this game were:

1) Free throws - the Hornets slashed to the basket, drew fouls and shot an amazing 27-29 from the charity stripe against a solid 18-22 for the Nuggets

2) Three-point shooting - the Hornets shot 12-23 from behind the arc while the Nuggets were 7-17. Stojakovic was 4-7 while Rasual Butler was 4-5

Game 2 Jan 3 at Denver. Den 105, N.O 100

Situation:Second game of a four game road trip for the Hornets. Tyson Chandler did not play due to a one game suspension.

Paul led all scorers with 30, followed by David West with 21. Stojakovic added 19 and Hilton Armstrong added 17 points subbing for the suspended Chandler. There was very little scoring for the Hornets outside these four.

The Nuggets had balanced scoring with six players in double figures. Anthony led the Nuggets with 22 points on 10-17 shooting. The Nuggets led 77-51 midway through the third quarter before New Orleans rallied, outscoring the Nuggets 20-6 to end the third, and cut the lead to 3 early in the fourth quarter.

This game was also won at the free throw line. The Hornets were 19-24 while the Nuggets were 27-38

Game 3 Jan 28 at N.O. N.O. 94, Den 81

Situation:Neither West nor Chandler played due to injury. Anthony was out with a fractured hand

The Hornets' bench combined to outscored Denver's reserves 42-13. Peja Stojakovic scored a season high 26 points. Eleven players scored for the Hornets.

Kenyon Martin scored 22 points, and Smith had 20 for Denver. The Nuggets shot 7-20 from the field in the final quarter as a close game turned into a near blowout.

The difference in this game was effort (how about that!) Hornets got back on defense. At the time, Denver was averaging 18 fast-break points. The Hornets held the Nuggets to four points on the break.

The Hornets blocked Denver center Chris Andersen twice inside in the fourth quarter, with Sean Marks slapping away a short floater and Hilton Armstrong stuffing a dunk attempt.

Game 4 Jan 28 at N.O. Den 101, N.O 88

Situation: This was the last game of a five game home stand for the Hornets. Chandler was out on the injured list as was Stojakovic for the Hornets. For the Nuggets, Nene sat out with a suspension The Hornets were on a three game winning streak, the Nuggets on a three game losing streak.

Anthony scored 29 points and Chauncey Billups scored 26 points, hitting four of his five 3-pointers in the second half to help the Nuggets pull away after the game was tied with a little over seven minutes to go in the third quarter.

The differences were:

1) Nuggets scored 18 points on 19 Hornet turnovers

2) The Hornets did not get back in transition

3) Between the +3 in in offensive rebounds and the -7 in turnovers, the Nuggets won the battle of the field goal shooting 35-81 versus the Hornets 29-69

4) In a preview of playoff game 1, Hornets let Billups shoot wide open threes. He hit five for seven.

Conclusion

Home court does not seem to be an advantage for either team in this series. Center Tyson Chandler did not play in any of the four games between the two teams this year, so center play is not a predominant factor.

The elements that the Hornets lacked in playoff game one are the same elements that they lacked in the two losses against the Nuggets this season. The Nuggets will win if:

1) They have balanced scoring
2) Beat the Hornets in the transition game
3) Win the turnover battle
4) The bench significantly outplays the Hornets bench

The Hornets can still win this series. However, so do so the Hornets must:

1) Get back on defense and slow down the transition game
2) Have Stojakovic and or Butler get hot early to spread the Nuggets defense
3) Have a respectable game from the bench
4) Keep the turnovers to a minimum
5) Get a hand in the faces of the Nuggets outside shooters.

One notable thing is that the Nuggets are hot, the Hornets are not. It can always turn around. The Hornets do not necessarily have to win game 2, but a better effort is essential.

Past performances are not indicative of future results. I am not prepared to invest my money betting on the Hornets right now.

Hornets Happenings | Denver Destroys New Orleans: A Simple Analysis

Paul Augustin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:57:29 -0400

In an earlier article, I wrote that if the Hornets' outside shooters had respectable numbers from the outside, that New Orleans would be fine in this series. In fact, I predicted that the Hornets would win in seven games.

I was wrong.

People were thinking and writing that there was no way that the Hornets could contain Carmelo Anthony.

They would be wrong.

Anthony was pretty much a non-factor in this game. Nuggets reserve Linas Kleiza outplayed the Nuggets star.

If you saw any of the game, you could not help notice that Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups was in "the zone." Billups scored 36 points, including hitting eight of nine from behind the arc.

As a bonus to his three-point shooting, Billups was eight for eight from the free throw line and added eight assists. People are going to say that it was Billups who killed the Hornets.

They would be wrong also.

To balance off Billups' lights-out shooting, former Hornet J.R. Smith had a miserable night from the floor. He shot an embarrassing zero percent from three-point land, including one air ball and one near air ball.

As a team, the Nuggets were 11-21 from three-point land while the Hornets were 9-21. That was a two point difference. What accounted for the rest of the difference in the Denver's 113-84 slaughter of the Hornets?

Last night, the Hornets did not do the simple things that allow teams to win games. This includes teams from seven year-old biddy level, through high school, college, and the pros.

The Hornets again did not play defense. Surely, Billups was hot. However, on those rare occasions when a Hornets defender actually put a hand in his face, not allowing him to have a wide-open look, Billups looked quite mortal. Taking away the eight for nine shooting on wide open threes, Billups was two out of six on contested shots.

The Hornets did not get back on defense. There were are least four times that I counted where the Hornets would make a great offensive play, then watch the Nuggets go down the court and score. That is unacceptable on any level of basketball.

Even on times where the Hornets did get back, Denver consistently had a numerical advantage in the transition game. Generally, four offensive players can beat three defenders.

The Hornets did not block out. It seems silly to have to remind multi-millionaire professional players to block out, but maybe Byron Scott needs to have one of his assistants sit on the end of the bench and yell "block out" after every shot. The reason that Nuggets out rebounded the Hornets 49-35 was that they were in poor rebounding position on most shots.

The Hornets lacked energy and hustle. Unless one team is overwhelmingly better than the other, one cannot win without going full-speed the entire game. Maybe it was a problem getting acclimated to the thinner air, but the Nuggets out-hustled the Hornets last night. Although they held their own for most of the first half, with about three minutes left in the second quarter, the Hornets seem to run out of gas.

New Orleans were weak in attacking the basket. One way to neutralize the youth and energy of the Nuggets would have been to aggressively attack the basket. Denver's aggressive play can make them a mistake-prone team. They had 17 turnovers against the Hornets, most of them unforced.

Had the Hornets been able to aggressively attack the basket, they might have gotten the Nuggets in foul trouble early and controlled the game. Instead, David West had one of his worst games going inside, and Tyson Chandler looked tentative.

To top all of that off, former Hornet Chris "Birdman" Anderson had a NBA All-defensive team night, blocking four shots while playing half of the game. Birdman also grabbed six rebounds. Because of these factors, the Hornets were only able to shoot 23 free-throws, making 17.

In the next Hornets Hype, I will look at the possibilities of the Hornets turning this series around and examine the things that they need to do.

Professional Sports: Slavery Or A Three Ring Circus?

Paul Augustin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:20:20 -0400

I posted a comment that on a recent piece, "Ranking the Playoffs By What Really Counts: Cheerleaders," written by B/R scribe Sweet Mo. This article, admittedly a humor piece, brought to mind much of what is wrong with professional sports today.

If you have ever been to a circus, you will recall that, while there is some main event happening all of the time, there are side shows going on all around. It seems that today’s professional sporting events have turned into more of a circus act then a sporting event.

The “center ring” might be the game. However, amid the blaring music, employees of the arena throwing out T-shirts and trinkets, and scantily clad cheerleaders and dancers gyrating around like exotic dancers in a Bourbon Street nightclub, it is hard to tell exactly what the main act is sometimes.

Certain that I will seem like an old fogy or a stick in the mud, I still feel compelled to write this article. I admit that I am not the world’s utmost authority on sports and sporting venues. However, I am fairly qualified by my life experiences to write this story.

As a young boy, I went to professional sporting events across the country. My father was a Master Gunnery Sergeant in the US Marine Corps, and we traveled all over the country.

Every place we took vacation in the summer had some professional sports event happening. I can remember going to games at Wrigley Field and Comiskey Stadium in the same day.

During the regular parts of the year, when we were not traveling, my dad had a game on TV, and usually had one the radio at the same time. This was in the one television per household era, so whatever my dad watched, I watched.

When my dad retired and we settled back in New Orleans, we went to Saints games from the very beginning, the former Buccaneers from the old ABA, and the New Orleans Jazz and now Hornets games. Needless to say, as a youth, I watched my share of professional sports games.

I was also a participant, having played baseball, basketball, football, volleyball, track and field, and racquetball at some sort of competitive level. I have also been a coach of recreation and competitive baseball, soccer, and basketball teams and was, at one time, a FIFA accredited soccer referee.

My first memories of cheerleaders were people who actually lead cheers—hence the name cheerleader. Now, I am not sure of the purpose of having these women at the games.

There seems to be an attempt to be as scantily clad and vulgar as possible. If these women were to walk the streets of the French Quarter looking and acting as they do at games, surely they would draw attention—from vice squad police.

I would not want my daughter, sister, granddaughter, girlfriend, or wife to be shaking her mostly naked body the way NBA cheerleaders do in front of a bunch of lecherous, often drunken men. I do not want my youngest son growing up to believe that it is okay look at women as objects to be lusted after.

When did this become acceptable behavior? Why is it condoned to treat women as objects instead of people?

This same attitude and thinking is what made American slavery acceptable and prevalent for the first 100 years of our country’s history. After all, the black Africans were not really people, they were property, objects to be bought and sold like cattle at auction. Right?

A woman, be she a cheerleader, dancer, or a teacher should be respected for their unique gifts, their beauty, and their talents. They should most definitely not be look upon as objects for a man’s lustful gratification.

Between the cheerleaders dressed like hookers and the music that is so loud it makes my ears ring, I almost hate going to games now. I would almost rather pass up seeing a game in person in favor of recording it on my DVR so I can skip through all of the nonsense and stick to enjoying the sporting event.

I have actually passed on free suite and club seats because of this.

I wonder why teams believe they need to resort to this sort of thing to attract the fan to the stadium. Is it possible that the product that is on the court or the field is not attractive enough to bring in the fan on its own?