That Will Sting: New Orleans Hornets Dump the Wrong Point Guard

The New Orleans Hornets are apparently trying to follow the wildly successful "Cleveland Model" for how a small-market NBA team retains its pouty superstar. We all know how well that worked.

The four-team trade that sent Darren Collison and James Posey to the Pacers in exchange for Houston's Trevor Ariza, while absolutely wonderful if you're a Pacers fan, is just terrible if you support the Hornets.

Dumping the Posey contract is, of course, a plus for the cash-strapped Hornets and their tight-wad owner.

Giving up a potential star point guard in just the second year of his team-friendly rookie contract is not smart. Giving up that rising star for Trevor Ariza? Stupid.

Apparently trying to convince petulant franchise cornerstone Chris Paul that "they mean business" and are making moves that will eventually build a strong team around him, the Hornets picked up a kid who is a marginal talent at best.

A great athlete, solid defender, and decent shooter, Ariza had his best year for the L.A. Lakers during their 2009 championship season. While he averaged just under nine points for that team, his defense and ability to knock down open shots created by the triangle offense (and the attention everyone pays to Kobe Bryant) convinced some people that he was a star in the making. Some of those people worked for the Houston Rockets who pried him away from the Lakers with the promise of a larger role.

Well, as a more "featured" player, Ariza's shooting percentage dropped from 46 percent to 39 percent. Even more troubling is that, for a player who is supposed to now make his hay as a cutting recipient of Chris Paul's passes, Ariza shot just 65 percent from the free-throw line.

This is a bad deal for the Hornets—no two ways about it.

As you probably inferred from the title, I think the Hornets would have been better off keeping Collison (already at least 75 percent the player Paul is), and waiting for a deal for Chris Paul that could have returned them a proper wing player and a high draft pick.

I can already hear the shouts of "you can't trade Chris Paul," but you have to realize that Paul is now unlikely to stay in New Orleans no matter what the Hornets put around him. He has "put them on the clock," much as LeBron James did with Cleveland when he signed his three-year contract in 2007. The Hornets have just two years to "prove" to Chris Paul that he should stay where he is, and not seek out glory in New York or someplace else.

It won't work.

If the "Cleveland Model" has shown us anything, it is that small market teams that are unable to lock up their superstars for maximum contract length had better think hard about dumping that player. It's better to get 75 or 80 cents on the dollar than no cents at all.

The Hornets have just traded away the best leverage they had against a Chris Paul pout-fest, departure, or injury and all they received was a modest upgrade at the wing.

Looks like the new regime in New Orleans is as bad as their predecessors.