Why Carl Landry for Marcus Thornton Helps the New Orleans Hornets

It may be the quietest, least-discussed deal of last week’s tidal wave of trades, for a several reasons, the New Orleans Hornets’ acquisition of power forward Carl Landry from the Sacramento Kings deserves some attention.

Let’s start with the fact that only three games separate the Hornets (35-26) from five other teams in contention.

With Carmelo Anthony out of Denver and Deron Williams out of Utah, New Orleans is the best defensive team in that bunch and the only one with a legitimate superstar. But they have lost 10 of 13 and are rapidly becoming just another card in a deck of Western playoff hopefuls. 

In other words, the timing of this deal that brought in Landry, in exchange for shooting guard Marcus Thornton and some cash, was very opportune. The race is getting tight in the West and any move, no matter how salacious, automatically has more potential impact at this point. 

From the Hornets standpoint, it was a textbook case of pinpointing and rectifying the most glaring need, a testament to good management. Landry, a 6'9", 250-pound bruiser gives New Orleans the interior offensive presence it has lacked every time Emeka Okafor steps off the floor. 

Though Okafor is back, he may not be full strength and thus subject to fewer minutes, so there was really no way New Orleans could pass the February 24th trade deadline without pulling the trigger on a big man. 

In his debut, a 91-89 loss to the Houston Rockets, Landry contributed 13 points in 20 minutes on 6-11 shooting. Nothing spectacular, but undoubtedly a sign of better bench production.  

At the season’s start, Jason Smith appeared to be New Orleans’s offensive big man off the bench, but his scoring has dropped to just four points per game. He showed flashes of Dirk-Nowitzki-like ball handling and mid-range shooting abilities, but the Hornets don’t need that from a seven-footer; they need force underneath—which is probably why he only saw four minutes in Landry’s debut.

A fan favorite by virtue of his local upbringing, Thornton’s second year has been the prototypical sophomore slump. He began the season with sixth man ambitions and has since become a sporadic contributor at best, one especially prone to bad shot selection and lackluster defense. 

His contract is expiring and the Hornets have plenty of wing shooters who play better defense and put up ten plus points per game consistently.

There’s no doubt that Thornton has big potential and can have a successful NBA career.  And it’s true that he didn’t get tremendous playing time this year to develop that potential, but that’s Monty Williams in a nutshell: No defense, no playing time and Williams clearly sees Willie Green and Marco Belinelli as superior defenders (and better three point shooters) at the shooting guard position. 

Sacramento hasn’t been competitive for nearly a decade, but in a perpetually rebuilding franchise, Thornton could certainly see more time and justify a bigger contract from the Kings or another team at year’s end.

But all this pertains strictly to reserves on a team that no one considers championship quality, so how important can it be?

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban seems to think it’s pretty important, especially since it’s costing him money. The terms of the deal call for the league-subsidized Hornets to take on roughly two million dollars in additional salary, one-thirtieth of which comes from the owner of New Orleans’s archrival. 

That’s an understandable qualm, but coming from a guy who has probably shelled out ten times that amount for slandering officials, it can’t be all about the money. Theatrics aside, he knows his stuff and undoubtedly realizes that this trade makes New Orleans a more complete offensive team.

The problem lies in the fact that New Orleans is just downright streaky.

They flip momentum off and on like a kid playing with light switches, and the switch is currently resting heavy in the off position. Playing with leads and finishing close games is becoming the bane of this team’s existence, which isn’t surprising since the rotation is constantly changing. 

With Okafor out the last three weeks, Chris Paul and David West have had to pick up too much offensive slack. With him back and Landry contributing consistently off the bench, the low-post threat will open the floor for the shooters and take some pressure off the Bees’ star point guard and power forward.

Because let’s face it, if the Hornets don’t put together a good run this year, those two may not be around much longer. 

Of course, the team itself may not be around New Orleans much longer either, but a playoff run coupled with fan support and ratings would certainly help. Paul and West have anchored this team for four years; management has finally given them a diverse set of role players to run a complete offense, they just have to start executing.