Fixing The New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets revamping plan

The Hornets are team in disarray.

You remember AOL?  You know…America Online, so easy to use no wonder it's number one?

Someday we will be talking to our children how we paid roughly $20 a month for dial-up internet service. How we used to hear these strange noises upon signing into our computer.  Sounds that even Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels could not imitate in Dumb and Dumber.

Do you remember those free AOL CDs they used to hand out at COMPUSA? Ones that said “Free 1600 Hours for a Month” even though a month only consisted of 720 hours (seriously, I had never seen a CD say less than 1000 free hours for a month…they might as well have gone with one billion, but I guess that’s why I don’t work in marketing).

Not to go off too tangent, but let’s take a deeper look into AOL’s stock prices this past decade. 

In the end of November, 1998, roughly twelve years ago, AOL was selling stock for roughly $12 per share.  People were still late on the internet trail and were suspectible to pay a substantial amount for online service.

One year later, the internet train takes a significant boost and now the AOL stock is selling at roughly $60 per share, yes five times the previous year’s amount

(Tangent Alert: Do you remember Yahoo Finance’s Internet Challenge?  As a youth I played this game and one month decided to put all of the “fantasy dollars” I was given into AOL stock…needless to say I was a fantasy millionaire…wow, what a nerd.)

Finally, a year after that, one decade ago, the unthinkable occurred. 

The internet grew faster than imaginable and AOL profited immensely.  Boy, did they! 

Their stock was now worth a whopping $160 per share!  That’s a 1300 percent increase from just a few years prior!  Exclamation Point!

AOL assumed they would continue to excel. 

They started merging with other high profile companies and started splitting their stock more than a bad date in hopes of people acquiring more overall shares.

AOL was clearly riding a mirage train and they were celebrating the last stop.

Needless to say, AOL would slowly diminish as the years went on. 

Now their stock price is actually non-existent, but their primary take over, Time Warner, is selling at a modest $31 per share. 

Sure, it’s a better price from where they first started, but definitely a disappointment considering the last decade of the company.

My friends, America Online is the New Orleans Hornets.

They were essentially an expansion team after Baron Davis was traded for expiring contracts in 2003. 

Then, Chris Paul came into town and reignited that franchise. 

The win total then rose after Paul’s rookie season from a meagre 18 in 2005 to a whopping 56 in 2008, just three years later! 

The Hornets even had an impressive playoff run eventually losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western conference semi-finals.

Now their win total is looking to take a steady decline. 

Last season they had 49 wins and a first round exit, this season…they are on pace to not even make the playoffs.

The team just fired Byron Scott, but in reality Coach Scott was not the main concern (or a concern at all) to the Hornets’ recent decline.

Regardless, the objective here is to fix the Hornets!  Let’s return New Orleans to prominence once more.  

Many reasons of their concerns fall on the lack of production they are getting out of many other roles (i.e. bench, and starting wings).

The idea here would be to add depth to a team that severely needs it, while not handicapping owner George Shinn in the luxury tax territory and maybe even saving him a few million this season.

Another notion is to add 2010 cap space, even if only a little bit.

The reason is not to go after the prime free agent targets, but rather bolster the bench and lineup with very productive 2010 free agents who may be passed up on by teams as they pursue the Wade's and LeBron's.

(GSW) Trade One: Peja Stojakovic For Stephen Jackson and Speedy Claxton

Why for Golden State?

If the Warriors are really desperate to unload Jacko then perhaps the Hornets are a prime destination.

Peja's skills have clearly diminished, but it doesn't seem too likely (unless Cleveland comes into the picture) that Golden State will be able to fetch 2010 expiring contracts to get out of Jackson's contract (35 million over the next four seasons).

This being the case, here the Hornets can at least offer a large 2011 expiring contract to allow the Warriors to get out of Jackson's current deal.

Peja can also fit in quite nicely playing a more adequate Power Forward slot than some of the other attempts Nelson has made at that slot—ahem Corey Maggette .

Nellie loves for his Power Forwards to be able to shoot the three ball, and in a Nellie system, that's exactly what Peja can do.

(CHA) Trade Two: Morris Peterson, Darius Songaila, and Hilton Armstrong For Raja Bell and DeSagana Diop

Why for Charlotte?

This is a pure financial move.

With Owner, Bob Johnson, looking to sell the team he unloads a nasty contract (Diop) for ones that either end in 2010 or 2011.

The idea here for Charlotte is to not have any substantial salary past 2011 (see Tyson Chandler trade).

Obviously, moving Raja Bell could hurt and Larry Brown may not be too pleased with such a departure. Still, if Bob Johnson needs to unload the contract to sell the team, it is surely a notion he'll have a hard look at.

Why all for New Orleans?

The Hornets main concerns are their lack of depth and overall wing play.

Stephen Jackson and Raja Bell can immensely improve the latter.

Jacko has become (pun intended) a Jack-of-all-trades and can be an extreme help to Chris Paul and David West on the offensive end.

He is also very capable of playing a large amount of minutes as he did so well in his career with Golden State.

Raja Bell meanwhile is a nice veteran who is an experienced wing defender. He can help the Hornets down the stretch with the ability to perturb many of the west's elite two-guards (Kobe, Roy, Manu, J-Rich), one of whom the Hornets would be likely to see in the Playoffs (assuming they make it).

The deals still do not improve the depth of the team at the current state.

Still, the best resolution concerning depth cannot be and should not be solved via trades.

It should be solved with the accumulated cap space.

By acquiring Raja Bell and Speedy Claxton, and getting slightly less 2010 salaries incoming than outgoing, the Hornets have their doors open in the summer of 2010 to upgrade their bench.

The possible bench assistance New Orleans Hornets management can look at are Ty Thomas, Kyle Korver, Marquis Daniels, Ray Felton, Jannero Pargo, Brad Miller, Drew Gooden, Will Bynum, Anthony Morrow, Kyle Lowry, Marcus Camby, Craig Smith, Mardy Collins, Udonis Haslem, Randy Foye, Ronnie Brewer, and Mike Miller. 

Or they can compile their resources and make a run for Rudy Gay and/or take a risk on Tracy McGrady.

The point is, it could be wiser for the Hornets to accumulate cap now in hopes of strengthening their bench in the offseason.

In the meantime these deals immediately strengthen the Hornets' starting wing slots and make them far more competitive for a playoff slot and further playoff success.

PF D. West/ J. Posey
SF S. Jackson/ J. Wright
C   E. Okafor/ D. Diop
SG R. Bell/ D. Brown/ M. Thornton
PG C. Paul/ D. Collison/ S. Claxton

You see that General Manager, Jeff Bower, and Owner, George Shinn, I just fixed your franchise.

I believe a simple welcome and/or job offer should be in order.

Can’t get enough of Eitan Rosenberg? (I know more than zero American now have that problem)  Then listen to his podcast at http://futurenbagms.mypodcast.com/