New Orleans Hornets: 30 Team Previews in 30 Days

2009-10 Statistics

Finished 37-45, fifth in Southwest Division, 11th in Western Conference

Postseason

Missed Postseason

Additions and Re-Signings

Trevor Ariza via trade, Marco Belinelli via trade, Craig Brackins via trade, Aaron Gray via re-signing, Luther Head via free agency, and Quincy Pondexter via trade.

Losses

Darren Collison via trade, Julian Wright via trade, Morris Peterson via trade, and James Posey via trade.

Without their All-Star point guard in Chris Paul leading the way for half of the 2009-10 season due to a torn meniscus, the New Orleans Hornets saw their first sub-.500 season in three years and their worst record since they began playing in New Orleans.

Even though CP3 is back in the starting lineup, the Hornets still have many problems in the present and more importantly, in the future. The team has been at the center of attention many times during the offseason due to the possibility of Paul, their superstar and anchor, jetting for a new team when his contract is up.

Chris has obviously been the main reason why this team has had the success they've had as a franchise. Paul led the Hornets to their first division championship three seasons ago and led them to another postseason the following year after another solid season in which they won 49 games.

He has averaged 19 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, and two steals over his five-year career and has been the team leader since joining the Hornets and turning them into a Western Conference contender along the way. If the Hornets were to lose Paul when his contract expires, there is little doubt that they would remain as a cellar dweller until another point guard arrives to lead the team. Paul's teammates strongly relied on his playmaking abilities while commanding attention as a scorer as well.

Nevertheless, the Hornets need to worry about the present and think about the future later. Trading for Trevor Ariza was a good start, but losing out on Darren Collison and reliable swing men in Morris Peterson and Julian Wright wasn't. Collison filled in for Paul last season as a rookie and proved that he had the capability to become a starter on another team in need of a point guard.

Collison and his 12 points and six assists will be missed, but adding Trevor Ariza adds versatility to a team that needs it. Ariza is coming off of his first season playing significant minutes and showed that he could score, as well as defend, but needs to improve in a number of categories. He averaged 15 points on 39 percent shooting to go along with six rebounds and four assists as a starter on the Houston Rockets.

The Hornets suffered last season defensively, giving up nearly 103 points per game, while allowing the third best field goal percentage in the NBA at 48 percent. Ariza has established himself as a quality defender and will come very useful to a Hornets team that could use a defensive stopper.

Collison was able to establish himself as a quality point guard in his rookie year and his counterpart in Marcus Thornton, who remains a Hornet, proved himself as a legitimate scoring threat. Taken out of LSU in the second round, Marcus adjusted to the role of being a scorer by averaging 15 points on 45 percent shooting for the season. He also showed off his impressive range by hitting nearly two three-pointers per game on 38 percent from deep.

It's a shame for the Hornets that they'll lose an up and comer in Collison, but Thornton brings the most upside if Paul decides to re-sign with the Hornets. There will be more of a need for a scorer alongside Paul and West to contribute and with Thornton on the team rather than Collison, they get another offensive threat with impressive range to go along with it.

Aside from Peja Stojakovic, Thornton will be the only legitimate three-point threat on this team. Their other three-point leaders in James Posey and Peterson have each departed over the offseason, leaving New Orleans with only two three-point shooters and one of them being 33 years old and injury prone.

While Chris Paul has established himself as the leader for this team, David West, the second in command, picked up the pieces very nicely when Paul went down. West had two games in which he scored 40 or more and averaged 19 points and and eight rebounds last season. His scoring production dropped two points due to the lack of a strong point guard, but he proved to many that he can lead a team when they are in dire need of a leader.

The Hornets didn't use the draft to their advantage as far as a three-point specialist goes, but they did trade for Washington small forward Quincy Pondexter. The former college standout is 22 years old and is coming off of a senior season in which he averaged 19 points and seven rebounds. He was known as one of the NCAA's top scorers in his time, but will need to add range if he wants to thrive as a Hornet.

New Orleans has all the tools necessary to make another postseason push, but a division championship and being labeled as a contender is far from what this team can envision. They'll need to do all they can this upcoming season to woo Paul back to New Orleans and it's going to take a deep push into the summer if they want him to believe that this team has the capability of winning.

Projected Starting Lineup

• PG-Chris Paul
• SG-Marcus Thornton
• SF-Trevor Ariza
• PF-David West
• C-Emeka Okafor

Prediction

42-40

This is part 19 in a 30-day series of previews for each NBA team for the upcoming 2010-2011 season. My profile contains the other teams that I have already previewed.