NBA Draft 2012: New Orleans Hornets' Best Option is Trading 1 of 2 Lottery Picks

The New Orleans Hornets are one of two teams with multiple lottery picks in next Thursday's NBA draft, with Portland being the other. By now, we know that one of those picks will be Kentucky power forward Anthony Davis with the first overall pick.

However, New Orleans has made overtures that they are willing to trade away their other selection, No. 10 overall, for the right price.  While the Hornets are a young team that would benefit from building through the draft, the decision to move their second first-round pick is the right move for a couple of reasons.

For starters, since 1997, at least one team has left the draft with two lottery picks on the roster every year—except for 2008 and 2010. In fact, this has happened 20 times in that 15-year span, including three times in last year's draft.

Of those 20 times, a team has managed to hit on both picks only twice.

The Chicago Bulls got lucky in 2004 by selecting Ben Gordon with the third pick and then following up with Luol Deng at No. 7. Gordon had a productive career in Chicago—winning Sixth Man of the Year in 2005—before leaving the Windy City for a big contract with the Pistons in 2009. Deng, meanwhile, has emerged as one of Chicago's best players and earned his first All-Star appearance this past season.

Two years later, the Portland Trail Blazers found potential franchise cornerstones in forward LaMarcus Aldridge and guard Brandon Roy. Aldridge, originally drafted by Chicago, was shipped to Portland on draft night for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa and has become one of the league's most underrated stars.

Roy was a three-time All-Star and Rookie of the Year and helped lead Portland's resurgence before knee woes forced him to retire prematurely. Roy recently announced via Twitter that he's planning to make a comeback next season.

In the 18 other instances, the team has either whiffed on both picks or only hit on one of the picks. In some cases, the players ended up rebounding from a rocky start to have prosperous careers with another team.

For example, the Boston Celtics used the third overall pick on Colorado point guard Chauncey Billups in 1997. Billups was a bust in Boston and bounced around the league for a while before resurrecting his career with the Detroit Pistons and being a large part of their championship run in 2006. The Celtics' other first rounder that year, No. 6 pick Ron Mercer, never amounted to much and ended up playing for seven teams in eight seasons.

Some examples of teams striking gold with one pick and getting coal with the other include the Atlanta Hawks and the then-Seattle SuperSonics in 2007. Atlanta found a solid big man in forward Al Horford but missed the mark with sharpshooter Acie Law. The Sonics got mixed results out of Jeff Green but really hit a home run with their earlier selection, No. 2 pick Kevin Durant.

Both of those teams fared better than the Orlando Magic in 1998, who missed with center Michael Doleac and forward Keon Clark with their two lottery picks. The Los Angeles Clippers swung and missed in 2000, drafting high school phenom Darius Miles with the third overall pick and then trading for guard Keyon Dooling at No. 10.

This year's draft is one of the deepest in years, so it's not impossible that the Hornets get another potential star with the No. 10 pick. However, the Hornets should use the depth in this draft to not only acquire a safer veteran but also shed one of their bad contracts.

The Hornets got the short end of the stick in trading Tyson Chandler for Emeka Okafor a couple of years ago. Okafor has failed to average a double-double in two seasons with New Orleans, which makes the fact that the team owes the big man $28 million for the next two seasons a tough pill to swallow.

Small forward Trevor Ariza has been equally unproductive. Acquired in a four-team trade in 2010 that cost the team point guard Darren Collison, Ariza has averaged just under eleven points per game since coming over from Houston.

That lack of offensive output isn't going to cut it for a guy on the hook for close to $15 million for the next two seasons.

By using the No. 10 pick as trade bait, the team could convince a team to take back Okafor or Ariza in exchange for either an expiring contract or a proven veteran that can help the team in the long run. According to Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald, the Bulls are looking to avoid the luxury tax by offering All-Star forward Luol Deng in exchange for a draft pick. Deng is set to make $13.3 million next season.

If the Hornets could talk the Bulls into giving them Deng for Ariza and the No. 10 pick, both teams will benefit. The Bulls would get back a decent pick as well as a cheaper replacement for Deng, while the Hornets could build around a nucleus of Deng, Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon.

With Anthony Davis in the fold, the Hornets are a young team on the rise.The temptation to continue building through the draft is understandable, but other teams have struggled for years by trying to build a contender via stockpiling draft picks.

The Charlotte Bobcats were a team filled with young lottery picks last year, and they finished with the worst winning percentage in league history. Teams like the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors have been trying to use lottery picks to turn things around for years, much to their chagrin. Even the Bulls struggled for a while before they landed Derrick Rose in 2008.

Every team doesn't get to be as fortunate as the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs in the draft. The Hornets are in the rare position of having the luxury of a deep draft and an extra lottery pick. The team can't continue to wait for draft picks to turn into superstars every year. The team must strike now and make a deal.

Otherwise, they'll join their fellow basement dwellers in the lottery every year, hoping that this is the year they find someone that can turn their fortunes around.