A Hornet and a Bobcat Walk into a Bar

Okay so I made the beginning of that joke up and there is no punch-line. But there was a pretty big trade. And I guess when I say big, I am referring almost exclusively to the expectations.

The former Charlotte Hornets and the current Charlotte Bobcats swapped starting centers yesterday. Emeka Okafor will now be running in New Orleans while Tyson Chandler will play the five for an all of a sudden, super-athletic Charlotte team. But no matter how hard I try to justify it as a great trade for New Orleans, or Charlotte, or both; I keep finding myself at the same conclusion.

It’s going to be an experiment.

While both of these men have shown tons of promise and potential, neither of them has truly turned the proverbial corner in their careers. Now they are both in their mid 20’s and at a point in their career where if it doesn’t happen, a team is going to give up on them.

Especially with Chris Paul running the ship, the Hornets have relied on swift shooting, and incredible speed and athleticism near the bucket; which is why I shook my head repeatedly after hearing that Emeka Okafor was the apparent center of choice.

Okafor is certainly a better defender than Chandler, but the Hornets relied on Chandler’s athleticism near the basket to produce 10+ points per game. Chandler and Paul were arguably the best lob and dunk tandem in the game (which is one of the reasons why I was stunned to see the Hornets try to trade Chandler last season as well).

The other angle to the Hornets’ side of this is that you don’t even need to think about contract talk. Okafor is locked down for five years (and a potential team option), so New Orleans is obviously planning to utilize him for the long run. I guess the question is: how?

The Hornets were absolutely maimed on the defensive end during their first round postseason matchup. So Okafor is certainly an indication of where they want to go with this team (the free agent signing of another high-potential big man in Ike Diagou would also point to this).

But more than anything, this really frees up more ball for Chris Paul and David West to run even more of an inside out game when the team is not in transition. And when you think about that, I urge you to keep this in mind...

Byron Scott’s three most successful seasons as a coach came with an all-league point guard, a great scoring power forward, and a center that never scored but could play defense on anyone. This roster looks like a faster and more athletic 2002 New Jersey Nets team.

On the subject of being faster and more athletic, we now segue into the Bobcats’ side of this deal...

In drafting Augustin last year and Gerald Henderson this year, Charlotte has made it clear that they want to play up-tempo basketball. They kept Gerald Wallace, who can attack the basket, and traded for Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, who will be responsible for the perimeter shooting and post facilitating respectively.

But what this team has never had is a vicious, power scoring threat in the post. Chandler may not be the most consistent offensive player in the league but he has proven this much…If you put the ball in the air near the cylinder, he will catch it and then dunk it unmercifully. And in a potential system where two point guards with great vision can be on the floor at any time, this new wrinkle could prove to be a ton of fun to watch in Charlotte.

The even better news is that if this doesn’t work itself out, the Bobcats have the ability to waive Chandler after the 2011 season, making their side of the deal far less binding than the Hornets.

So what basically ended up happening is that two teams, with two totally opposite philosophies decided to see how a different player would fit in their system.

The only question now is, will it work?