MVN - Most Valuable Network

Hornets unveil brand new uniforms and logos

It’s back to the pinstripes for the New Orleans Hornets, a design the players and coaches are calling classy and stylish. 

The new look features a slight deviation from the traditional teal and white they’ve sported for so long.  The Hornets uniforms now incorporate a mixture of the colors Creole blue and white.I like the new uniforms, personally.   

They seem well put together for the most part.  There is still a hint of the old teal, which I was never a fan of, but the new Creole blue is more muted and I like it.        

The NOLA logo etched into the back of the pants is a nice touch.  NOLA is a truly great nickname for the city and it’s good that the Hornets are promoting it.      

Here is a link to photos of Julian Wright and Mo Pete modeling the new threads.  Take a look here.    

Posey a perfect fit for New Orleans

They got their guy.  The Hornets took an important step towards improving their roster yesterday with the addition of veteran swing man James Posey. 

It took a little longer than I expected, but the Hornets finally landed the player they’ve been targeting all offseason.  Posey signed a 4-year deal worth 26 million bucks.

I like this move a lot.  Posey brings defense and clutch shooting to the Hornets which you can never have enough of in the NBA.  He’s a proven winner who can contribute to the team’s burgeoning win-at-all-costs mentality and he will help strengthen a somewhat feckless Hornets bench.

Posey himself won’t be coming off the bench in New Orleans.  He’ll be a starter as soon as his plane touches down at Louis Armstrong. 

What will happen is Mo Peterson, the Hornets’ starting shooting guard last season, will forfeit his starting position to Posey and shift into a reserve role.  Posey will assume the starting small forward position and Peja Stojakovic will slide over to the shooting guard spot, a position he’s probably better suited to play anyway.     

So the Hornets’ bench immediately improves now that Byron Scott can bring Peterson in as the sixth or seventh man.  They’ve got Jannero Pargo, Julian Wright and Mo Pete who can all contribute big minutes.  It sets up nicely for a talented 8-9 man rotation.

That, of course, is assuming Wright continues to be the sixth or seventh man.  That may not be the case though if he continues to improve at the rate he did last year.  Wright seemed to get better with every game he played last season and if he maintains that, Scott might not be able to keep him out of the starting lineup. 

What I like most about the Posey acquisition, though, is that the Hornets now seem to have all the right pieces in place to make a run at the title. They’ve got the best point guard in the league, a lights out shooter in Peja, a defensive-minded glue-guy in Posey, and Tyson Chandler and David West to bang bodies in the paint. 

Posey is not a guy who’s going to fill up the score sheet every night, but he’s the type of player every team needs when trying to make a run at the title. 

The Celtics wouldn’t have won it all last month without Posey.  Same goes for the Heat two years ago.  Winning in the NBA is about putting the right pieces together to form a group of players who cater to each other’s strengths.  Posey’s defensive prowess and play-past-the-whistle intensity should fit in perfectly with the type of mentality Byron Scott has fostered in New Orleans.  

The Hornets made a serious run in the postseason last year as playoff neophytes.  The addition of Posey makes them a deeper and more experienced team on all fronts.      

Could Maggette or Posey land in the Big Easy?

The dice start rolling tonight at midnight when NBA free agents become eligible to sign new contracts.  So where do the Hornets stand in terms of available free agents? 

This year’s crop of available players is pretty balanced.  Elton Brand and Baron Davis are reportedly tucked into the Clipper fold, leaving a dearth of star players still on the market.  But just because there aren’t any star players left doesn’t mean there aren’t any good players left.

The Hornets are pining for a shooting guard to replace Mo Pete in the starting lineup.  Peterson did a serviceable job last season but eight points a game from your shooting guard is simply not enough.  A two-guard is supposed to score points, that’s why he’s called a shooting guard.  Eight points a night won’t cut it anymore for Byron Scott.

So who is floating around on the free agent market that could join the Hornets as Peterson’s replacement?  Well, here are three names you can look for along with the chances New Orleans has to land each guy.

Corey Maggette: 15% chance
 
Maggette is a hot commodity right now, maybe the hottest on the market.  That’s what 22 point a game last season will earn you.  You would think L.A. would be falling over themselves trying to resign him, after all, it’s not every day that a player voluntarily spends eight seasons with the Clippers. 

That type of loyalty, especially to a franchise like the Clippers, should be rewarded with ten bricks of gold and a lap dance from Kim Kardashian at least.  Instead, it looks like Donald Sterling is giving all his money to Baron Davis and Elton Brand; leaving Maggette homeless—temporarily, of course.

Though he’s drawing interest from at least a dozen teams, the former Dukie has made it known he’s interested in the Spurs and Celtics.  That’s why I’m giving him an outside 15% chance to land in New Orleans.

The Hornets could give him the maximum mid-level exemption meaning he would get as much money with the Hornets as with anyone else.  But when a player makes public what team he wants to go to, he usually ends up with that team. 

James Posey: 30% chance

Never underestimate the value of a proven winner.  As a role player for the Heat two years ago and the Celtics this past season, Posey did all the little things to help his team stretch itself to a championship level.  He plays ferocious defense, hustles down every loose ball within his reach and knocks down pressure-packed open jumpers with regularity.  Plus he wears knee high socks! 

The Hornets would be wise to make a serious run at Posey.  He’s well worth the 5-6 million a year they would have to pay him.  His championship pedigree would go a long way in helping Chris Paul and Co. reach the next level.   

Alas, it seems that the rest of the league has caught the Posey fever as well, which means the Hornets won’t be the only team rolling out the red carpet.  But the opportunity to play with Chris Paul has got to be worth something, right? 

Obviously, Byron Scott and Jeff Bower think their franchise is attractive enough to free agents that they can afford to pass on the draft.  They’ve got to know something we don’t, right?  Some ace up their sleeve, perhaps?  I certainly hope so. 

Ben Gordon: 75% chance

In the log-jam of guards that is the Chicago Bulls, Ben Gordon hasn’t been a full-time starter since he entered the league four years ago.  Despite that, he’s never averaged less than 15 points a game. 

Gordon can flat-out score the basketball.  He has a dead-on three point jump shot and if that’s not falling, he’s got a knack for getting to the rim.  He would immediately improve the Hornets offensive attack and would give Chris Paul another young, athletic body to run with. 

There’s a problem with Gordon, though.  He’s not a free agent.  The Hornets would have to make a move to get him.  The reason he’s even being discussed as an option is because Derrick Rose was drafted last month by the Bulls, creating even more of a backup at the guard position.  The logical assumption would be that the Bulls move Kirk Hinrich, the current point guard, to make way for Rose, the future point guard and keep Gordon as a scorer off the bench.

But apparently Hinrich is a favorite of Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and he wants to stay in the Windy City.  That means Gordon would have to be shopped.  If he is, the Hornets should be right there in the mix of teams clamoring for his services.

In the end, the Hornets need to make a bit of a splash in the next few days in terms of adding a free agent.  Byron Scott said the team is built to win now.  I tend to agree with him, but I still think the team is one player away. 
        

Trade leaves Hornets without draft-pick, but with plenty of cash to work with

As of now, Jeff Bower’s draft day is done.  Yesterday’s trade of the 27th overall pick to Portland for cash considerations left the New Orleans without a pick in either round of tonight’s NBA draft, so don’t be surprised if you see the Hornets GM on the golf course today.

The logic behind dealing away their only pick in this year’s draft is simple: They need more cap space.  The Hornets came painfully close to making a run at the Western Conference championship last season with a core group of guys who, for the most part, are staying put in New Orleans for the foreseeable future. 

But there are two important players on the roster that need new contracts—and because of that, the Hornets need more cap space. 

Jannero Pargo is an unrestricted free agent and will want compensation for his increased production last season.  Though Pargo tended to look more for his shot than the pass when he subbed in for Chris Paul, he still did a serviceable job as the back up point guard.  Sometimes his offensive-minded game served the Hornets well when he was hitting and the rest of the team was teeth-chattering cold (see fourth quarter of Game 7: Western Conference semis).

The point is the Hornets would be wise to make room on their pay sheet for Pargo.  He was a valuable asset last year and deserves some loyalty from the club.

Chris Paul is the other player in need of a new deal.  He won’t be hitting the open market this season as a free agent, but next year he will if the Hornets don’t lock him into an extension.  For reasons obvious to anyone with half a brain, New Orleans needs to make Paul’s deal a high priority this summer.

But they need cap space to make it work.  He’ll be getting the maximum deal possible under current league cap agreements so money needs to be available. 

I don’t find anything wrong with the Hornets’ decision to choose money instead of the 27th overall pick.  When I first heard the news I was a little perplexed.  Why not try to land a sleeper in the late first round?  Isn’t there anyone out there worth a damn outside the top-20?  But then as I thought about it, I started to understand the logic of the move.

The Hornets are built to win now.  Even though they are currently a very young team, they showed last year that the pieces are in place to make a serious move in the West.  A power shift is occurring in the Western Conference and the Hornets are cementing themselves as a top-three team right now. 

Adding a 27th-overall rookie and waiting for him to develop isn’t in the cards.  The Hornets need to secure what they’ve already got and then take a hard look at adding a veteran free agent.

So they take the cash from Portland, who by the way is stockpiling assets like the world’s about to end, and roll out the red carpet for potential impact guys on the free agent circuit.  It makes pretty good sense when you think about it. 

A few names being tossed around are Corey Maggette, Elton Brand and Antwan Jamison.  All are expected to be shopping their services this summer. 

I think the Hornets made a good move with the trade.  They are conducting their offseason agenda with a win-now mindset, and this move fits that plan of action. 

Unfortunately for Hornets fans, tonight’s draft no longer matters.  But hey, look on the bright side; now you have time for that twilight round of golf.  And if you see Jeff Bower, tell him I said hi.