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. 
 

Shan Foster, a home-grown Bonnable High alum, put his 2007 SEC Player of the Year talents on display for Byron Scott and Co. on Tuesday.

Scott had nothing but good things to say about Foster, according to The Times-Picayune, which is encouraging.  Several mock drafts have Foster as a late first–early second round pick.  I think he’s being undervalued.

Foster is a rangy type of player with long arms and boatloads of athleticism.  He has nice touch on his jump shot and fairly good range.  In his senior season he became Vanderbilt’s all-time leading scorer, so the man knows how to put the ball in the hoop. 

When I was in high school we played Bonnable my junior and senior year.  Foster was a year under me and was clearly the best player in the gym both times we played them.  He had the size advantage, (I played on a team made up entirely of 6”1 white guys) the athletic advantage, (he threw down monster dunks at least two times each game) and the better team (Bonnable made a deep run in the playoffs both years).

But what impressed me most about Foster, even as a 17 and 18 year old, was his ability to let the game come to him.  See most young talents these days feel the need to make themselves stand out in the crowd, even more than they do already. When a big-time college prospect walks into the gym, you can usually tell he’s a player, even before he laces up his sneakers.  Despite that, today’s blue-chippers feel the need to shoot 26 foot jumpers and slam home thunderous dunks every time down the court—just so they can make sure you know they’re good.

Foster was never like that.  He played the game within the limits of his offense and let his points and rebounds accumulate naturally.  At the end of the day he’d have 24 points, 10 boards and three blocks and you’d scratch your head wondering how he dominated the game so thoroughly without you noticing. He was the same way at Vanderbilt, too.

I like the fact that the Hornets are looking at a guy like Foster.  With shooting guard being their most pressing need, New Orleans could use a guy with Foster’s scoring ability.  He’s NBA ready after spending four years in college and would fit nicely into Scott offense as an athletic scorer.  He would also run the floor tirelessly with Chris Paul.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that Chris Douglas-Roberts would be a great pick up for the Hornets with the 27th overall pick.  If he’s there, I still think CDR would be a valuable addition to the roster.  But after having thought about it for a while, I’ve talked myself into Foster as the better selection.  He’s a better shooter and defender than CDR, plus he’s a hometown product.  If the Hornets snagged him with the 27th pick, it would mean a lot more seats sold in the Arena.

Both guys are talented swingmen who would improve the Hornets two-guard position immediately.  But ultimately I think Foster has a higher ceiling in terms of potential.  And you can’t discount the impact he could have on the local fan base.                

Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich rode that formula to four championships in the past nine years.  Before them, Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson (with a little help from Kobe) imposed their will on the league for three straight seasons.  And back before them, Phil and MJ teamed up for a couple of three peats.  It’s a pretty easy pattern to decipher if you think about it.   

Now with that being said, let me tell you why Los Angeles—the team with the best player and best coach—will buck the trend and not win the NBA title this season. 

Reason No. 1: Ray Allen
Throughout the playoffs, no one has been battered by outside criticism more than Ray Allen—and rightfully so.  He’s been unreliable as a scorer, impotent as a defender and uncharacteristically unclutch during crunch time when Boston has needed a big hoop.  Despite all of that, he still is Ray Allen and not “the artist formally known as Ray Allen” just yet.

After sleepwalking through the first two and a half series, Allen seemed to come alive in the last two games against Detroit.  His jumper started splashing instead of clanging and he drilled a super clutch 22-footer at the end of Game 5 to help secure a much needed Celtics home win.  He seems to have found his rhythm and it couldn’t have come a better time.  Why, because it’s the finals and if you don’t play for real now you don’t play for real ever? 

Well, yes and no. 

See Kobe Bryant and Allen hate each other.  For some reason that no one can exactly put a finger on, the two men are mortal enemies who have despised one another for years.  This subplot is something people should pay a lot of attention to because it just might tilt the series in favor of Boston. 

Look at it this way: Both guys are highly competitive people who are fueled by their detractors.  They’ll each be killing themselves trying to show the other up on the biggest stage of the year.  For Kobe, that means he’s going to make it his mission to put up at least 35-40 every night, with about 12-16 coming from eff-you jumpers in Allen’s face.  In Ray’s case, you can expect him to shoot early and often and step up his defensive effort.  If he’s hot like he has been in his last two games, that’ll translate into 25 a night from the former Jesus Shuttlesworth. 

So 35-40 a night from Kobe vs. 25 a night from Ray would mean the Lakers have the advantage, right?  Wrong.  See, the Lakers offense is built around Kobe’s scoring.  In order for the Lakers to win, he’s got to get 30-40 points.  That’s not the case with the Celtics. 

Boston has proven throughout the playoffs that they can win without Allen’s offense.  In Game 1 against the Cavaliers, Allen had zero points; that’s right zero: O-fer, the big goose egg, nada, zip, zilch, nil, nothing. Boston won by four.  In Game 7 against the Cavaliers, Allen had four points; the C’s won by four.

When he’s not hitting, they don’t panic.  They rely on their defense and the scoring of Pierce and Garnett to carry them.  But when Allen is raining them in from three point land, it adds another scoring option the Celtics can turn too.  They are all of a sudden “the Boston three-party” again instead of the Big Two featuring Ray Allen.  And when Pierce, Garnett and Allen are on their games, the Celtics are virtually unbeatable. 

Reason No. 2: Karma
If you’re a worried Celtics fan, wondering how your C’s are going to stop Kobe; and still unconvinced that title will end up in Beantown after my previous argument, then read on and tell me how you feel after I flesh this one out. 

The Lakers will fall to the Celtics because they are fighting battles on two fronts.  Not only are the Lakers taking on a talented and disciplined Boston squad with home court advantage, they’re also challenging the almighty Karma.  When Mitch Kupchak snagged Pau Gasol in February for a ham sandwich and a 32 oz. Lakers souvenir drink cup, he openly spit in Karma’s face.

There’s an age-old saying that goes, “If something is too good to be true, it usually is.”  Well, Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown and a couple of lousy draft picks is too good to be true. 

I’ve been waiting patiently all playoffs-long for something bad to happen to the Lakers; some sort of fluky circumstance to befall them and derail their quest for a title.  Like Kobe blowing an ankle, or Lamar Odom’s spleen suddenly exploding Chris Simms style, or Gasol being forcibly deported back to Spain to train for the Olympics.  So far it hasn’t happened.  But that doesn’t mean it won’t.  Karma is lurking in the shadows and I’m confident that it will rear its fair and balanced head in the finals. 

If I was a Lakers fan, I’d be on pins and needles.  It’s like if you find a wallet with 500 dollars in it lying on the sidewalk and instead of tracking down the owner, you pocket the money and go about your business.  Wouldn’t you be terrified that something awful was about to happen to you?  Wouldn’t you be looking over your shoulder constantly just waiting for that bus to run over you or that piano to fall on your head?  Of course you would.  That’s Karma.  Everyone knows about it, but some people choose to disregard it.  One of those people was Mitch Kupchak. 

So if the Lakers steal one of the two opening games in Boston, or have a 3-2 lead after five games, don’t worry Boston fans.  The Lakers have it coming to them.  It’s just a matter of time.

In the end, Kobe and Phil are both the best in the league at what they do.  But this year, it won’t be good enough for a title.  So relax Bostonians, and look forward to raising No. 17 to the rafters. 

ESPN.com’s Chad Ford released his latest mock draft today and pegged Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts as the guy New Orleans will target.  Douglas-Roberts made a name for himself this season as the go-to-guy on a Tigers squad that lost in the national championship game to Kansas.  He was a Conference USA player of the year and a first team All-American. 

As I considered the plausibility of CDR being the Hornets first round draft choice, I began to recognize the logic of the pick.  If the Hornets were to select him with the 27th overall pick, Douglas-Robert would undoubtedly be the best player from last year’s college season still on the board.  Of the four 2008 first-team All-Americans eligible for the draft (Hansbrough, the fifth, is returning to UNC), CDR will likely be the only one available when the Hornets select.  But he’s a very talented ball player so New Orleans would be getting great value for him at 27.

Also, he fills a need for the Hornets.  Taking a look at the projected roster for next season, I see holes in two places—backup power forward and backup shooting guard.  Assuming Julian Wright replaces Mo Peterson in the starting lineup and the roster remains relatively unchanged, the Hornets will have quality depth behind Wright(Mo Pete, Bonzi), Paul(Pargo), and Chandler(Armstrong, Birdman), but not behind West or Peja.  If CDR were added to the roster, he would provide immediate depth at the shooting guard position behind Peja. 

CDR played in an up-tempo system at Memphis under John Calapari so he knows how to run and keep the floor well-spaced.  He would fit well into the “organized play-ground” style Chris Paul conducts.

Speaking of great point guards, it’s not hard to connect the dots on why CDR had such a fabulous year in 2008.  Could a certain someone named Derrick Rose have had anything to do with it?  Mr. Rose shows up on campus and all of a sudden CDR goes from honorable mention All-American in 2007 to almost unanimous first-team All-American in 2008.  Coincidence? Hardly.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of CDR coming to New Orleans next season.  He’d be great value at 27 and would give the Hornets a scoring option off the bench at the two guard.  Well played Mr. Ford and I just hope Jeff Bower has the same thoughts you do.    

Okay, that’s to be expected—logically speaking at least.  It was in San Antonio, against the defending champs whose backs were pressed firmly against the wall.  It’s only natural that the Spurs find a way to defend home court and force a Game 7, right?

Right, that would make sense.  It’s a logical assumption.  It’s what’s supposed to happen in a seven-game series between two Western Conference powerhouses. 

So why was I so confident that the Hornets would close out Thursday night?  Why was I throwing any semblance of logic out the window and picking New Orleans to win and advance to their first Conference finals ever? 

Because it felt right.  Because it was going to be the next impossible task that the upstart Hornets proved possible. 

A win in Game 6 to eliminate the defending champs was going to represent another notch in a Hornets belt that has been steadily receiving marks all season.

And it looked like they would fulfill that prophecy early in the third quarter Thursday night.  Despite an egregious turnover on the inbounds pass to start the quarter, the Hornets settled down a bit and started to put together what looked like one of their patented third-quarter rallies.  They had cut the lead to six and it finally seemed like the Spurs were cooling down after burning up the nets in the first half.

Then the wheels fell off. 

In the span of about a minute Chris Paul and David West accumulated five fouls—four of them offensive.  Paul picked up his fouls with push offs on two fast breaks—plays that should have cut the lead and energized the team.  West was called for a bogus positioning foul on the insufferable Manu Ginobili which frustrated him into committing two legitimate fouls on Tim Duncan—one defensive, one offensive. 

At that point, the Hornets were done.  Though down only 10 with a quarter and a half to play, I knew they were toast.  They had lost their composure and forfeited their chance to make a run and get back in the game.  That type of breakdown kills a team’s momentum and breaths fresh life into the lungs of the opponents.  And no team in the league feeds on that type of momentum swing better than San Antonio.   In only a minute’s time, New Orleans had blown its chance to close out the defending champs in six games.  It happened that fast.

Luckily, the Hornets get a chance to redeem themselves.  Game 7 is Monday night in the Big Easy.  Chris Paul and Co. are now on the biggest stage of their career.  A win earns them universal respect and a trip to the conference finals.  A loss would signal the final chapter of a fairytale season. 

Either way, the season was a success. 

But if this series continues to follow the path of logic and reason, I have a feeling (wink, wink) that Monday night won’t be the last time this season the hive comes alive.    

The Spurs, on the other hand, are fighting for their lives. 

It’s Game Three, in San Antonio, and their down 2-0.  You can bet there’s something on the line for the defending champs.  If they don’t win this game, their season is over.  No one has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven game series in the NBA.

But for the Hornets, this game is not of great consequence.  As the series shifts locations from New Orleans to San Antonio, New Orleans has only one goal in mind.  Get a split.  It doesn’t have to be Game Three, and it doesn’t have to be Game Four.  But if it’s not Game Three it better be Game Four and vice a versa. 

Point being this: If the Hornets can leave San Antonio Sunday night with a 3-1 lead in the series, life will be good.  That would mean the Spurs would have to win three out of the next three games, two being in New Orleans—a task even too great for a defending champ. 

But in terms of tonight’s game, the Hornets should be relaxed.  Odds are San Antonio is going to come out with guns blazing.  They know it’s do or die for them and they will use that motivation, along with a highly energized crowd, to try and get a footing in this series. 

So New Orleans shouldn’t have too lofty of expectations for tonight’s game.  While they are a better team than the Spurs, they shouldn’t anticipate that mattering tonight.  San Antonio is good enough to win a homecoming game when they’re backs are against the wall, but their not good enough to beat the Hornets twice in a row. 

So if you’re a Hornets fan looking for a split in San Antonio, be fare warned.  Tonight likely won’t be the night.  Come back on Sunday though, and you can rest assured.   That night the better team will prevail, and I’ll be rooting as hard as ever to see it happen.

I’ll admit I had it wrong.  Two days before the Hornets lost consecutive road games to the Lakers and Kings in the final week of the season; I said Paul had won the MVP.  I was convinced of it.  He was the top dog on a team that had climbed its way to the top Mount Everest (the Western Conference standings) when no one even expected them to get out of base camp. 

Paul was putting the finishing touches on one of the great seasons for a point guard in NBA history and I just couldn’t see how Kobe Bryant could win the award after having the same season he’s had for the past five years, during which he never came within third of the MVP.  Nevertheless, the voters felt compelled to honor Kobe with a lifetime achievement award instead of recognizing just how special Paul’s season was. 

And some special it was. 

Before this season, 17 assists in a game was unusual to me.  Every now and then I would see Steve Nash dishing out 17 assists in a game and wonder how there was enough time in a game to rack up that many helpers.  See, I started watching the NBA right after John Stockton retired, so I grew up with watching garbage dump point guards like Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis play.  When I watched the Sixers battle the Lakers for the title in 2001, Eric Snow and Derek Fisher were the primary ball handlers.  Not exactly primetime point guards. 

So when Chris Paul started throwing up 15 dimes every third or fourth game he played, I perked up in my chair.  This kid is really doing something, I said to myself. 

I knew he could score from watching him in college, but now he was passing the ball, and passing it better than anyone in the league.  I mean 19 points and 21 assists against the Lakers on the road in only the fourth game of the season?  Are you kidding?  Is that even a real stat line, I wondered?

After a while it became commonplace.  20 points and 12 assists was average for him.  It got to the point that when he blew up for 28 and 15 I barely batted an eye.  Tell me the last time a guy on your favorite team went for 28 and 15 and you didn’t talk about it the next day with someone.

Soon he was outdueling Nash and making Jason Kidd look every bit as old as 35.  Paul was on cruise control and gaining more confidence with each game. 

Alas, in the last week of the season the Hornets fell to the Lakers and Kings, knocking the Hornets out of first place and ending Paul’s chance at an MVP.

I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it though Hornets fans.  Just think what Paul’s going to do next season now that he’s got some more doubters to prove wrong. 

I can’t even begin to imagine…     

In the Phoenix series, San Antonio seemed to get every break in crunch time. Every desperation shot fell, the Suns made crucial turnovers like it was their job and Shaq missed almost all of his hack-a-shaq free throws.  I began to wonder whether it was the Suns imploding or the Spurs getting lucky. 

So when San Antonio uncharacteristically started draining threes like crazy in the first half last night, I wondered if the Hornets were going to be the next victim of a fluky-type Spurs win.  Then when halftime finally arrived at 10:45 (thanks, fire extinguisher guy.  By the way, what are the chances the fire extinguisher guy gets fired?  Hundred percent chance? Ninety percent?)  and the Hornets were only down four, I felt okay.  They had weathered Ginobili and Bowen’s barrage of threes and were set to make their patented third quarter surge.

And that’s exactly what they did.

Another thing I was a little curious about last night was why the fans booed the Spurs so insistently at the very start of the game.  From the opening tip on, the Spurs were booed whenever they touched the ball.  Was there a flagrant foul in warm ups or something?  Now don’t get me wrong, I hate the Spurs passionately.  I think they are one of the most insufferable teams in the NBA and I get nauseous when they start flopping around like fish on a boat deck, but still.  Booing them in the first quarter of Game One before they’ve even had a chance to show us how dislikeable they really are? I don’t know. 

I love the Hive and it’s great that the city has feverously jumped behind the Hornets with its support.  But I almost feel like we as a fan base are a little unsure of how to behave in a playoff series.  Do we get super hyped up for Game One or bide our time for a long series?  If we lose Game One, do we treat it like the end of the world or do we blow it off and think about Game Two?  What about cheering?  There are no third-downs to get loud for like in Saints games, so when is the best time to get really raucous?  In the words of Ricky Bobby, Hornets fans don’t really know what to do with their hands.

It’ll come though.  Time will pass and the Hornets’ fans will gradually learn how to make themselves as good of Hornets fans as they are Saints fans.

One thought about Game Two.  The Hornets need to be prepared for a Tim Duncan offensive explosion.  No two-time MVP is going to get embarrassed in Game One and not come out firing in Game Two.  It’s going to happen. 

The good news is New Orleans can still win if Timmy goes off.  If they stick to their guns and play Hornets style basketball (or according to Greg Popovich, “organized streetball”) they will be fine.  The Hornets are the better team, even if their fans are currently a little disoriented.        

On the flip side though, I would like for someone to point out to me who on the Spurs roster even has a chance of holding down the mighty David West.  After dismantling the Dallas big men with a bevy of powerful yet refined offensive moves, West has got to be feeling pretty confident.  The guy is on fire.  It’s like when you’re talking to an attractive girl you just met and everything you say is coming out smooth and polished.  She’s laughing and enjoying herself and you’re nailing every line because you’re in the zone and confidence is just oozing out of you.  That’s the type of confidence West is playing with right now.  

It’s a tricky situation for San Antonio, if you think about it.  Who are they going to put on Mr. West?  Here’s how I see it shaping up:

Tim Duncan can’t stay with West one-on-one.  Timmy may be one of the top defenders in the league, but most of his success comes in team-defense.  He’s a great weakside and help defender and does a good job protecting the rim, but one-on-one, he’s fairly vulnerable.

West should be able to get into the paint relatively easily against Duncan, but only if his jumper is hitting.  If West is knocking down the 18 footer with regularity, Duncan will be forced to come out and guard him.  That’s when West will use his pump fake-step back, or his pump fake drive.  I don’t see Duncan having the quickness to stop either one of those moves.

So do they then switch Fabricio Uberto onto West?  Not a chance.  If Timmy can’t stay in front of him, you can bet your mortgage Fabricio the Faboulous won’t have a shot.  Who does that leave…Bruce Bowen?  Battering Bowen, one of the league’s most despised players, is too small to handle West.  He’s at his best defensively when guarding wing players and swingmen, not post guys. 

Anybody from the bench?  Robert Horry?  Waaaaaay to old to keep pace with West’s energy.  Matt Bonner?  I’m sorry, I didn’t realize gingers were allowed in the NBA. 

The only person on the Spurs’ bench that has a legitimate opportunity to slow West would be Kurt Thomas.  He’s a savvy defender who knows how to play effectively.  But like Bowen, Thomas is a specialty defender who plays best against much bigger guys like Shaq and Duncan.  He might be a step slow against West. 

So if you’re a Hornets fan worrying about how you’re team is going to manage Ginobili’s floundering, reckless, erratic 25 points a game (god, I hate his style of play), take solace in that fact that although they don’t have a good answer for the balding one, New Orleans will be okay; because the Spurs are thinking the same thing about West. 

I remember thinking, “There’s no way the Hornets can lose this game, not the way the series has been going, not with Chris Paul securing his first ever playoff triple-double, not with the hive buzzing as loud as it is.” 

So with the echo of the ‘stop that flop’ chant still ringing in the rafters, (which by the way, was one of the most delightfully devastating chants I’ve ever heard in a sports arena) Tyson Chandler rose through the air, tipped Paul’s missed jumper out past the three point line and gave New Orleans its first ever best-of-seven series win. 

I wasn’t surprised one bit. 

The Hornets are officially on the team-that-may-be-for-real map after disposing an unmotivated Mavericks squad in five games.  It came as no shock to me, as you may recall from my playoff preview, but apparently it stunned everyone else.

Before the series started, expert upon expert picked the Mavericks to triumph over the good, but rather inexperienced Hornets.  Two weeks and five games later, New Orleans is on its way to the second round without breaking a sweat—due in large part to the emergence of David West. 

I would liken West’s first full-blown playoff series to a brand new freshman in college experiencing his first real college party.  At first, the wide-eyed freshman is a little overwhelmed by the whole experience.  He looks around and sees all these seasoned partiers who know what it takes to hang with the big boys.  Then someone hands him a beer and he starts to loosen up.  Before you know it, he’s downed a six-pack of tall boys and is hitting bongs and doing keg stands like he did all throughout high school. 

That’s what happened to David West against the Mavs.  It’s like a light bulb came on and he said to himself, “Wait a minute, I know how to play basketball with these guys. This playoff thing isn’t as intimidating as I thought.  In fact, I’m better at basketball than these guys.  It’s time for me to take over.” 

You could literally see him become more and more comfortable with his own abilities as he made shot after shot.  He realized that he was the best power forward on the floor and there was nothing Dallas good do to stop him. 

West is a confident player right now and you can bet the house that San Antonio is already chewing their nails off worrying about who’s going to guard him.  He lit them up in the regular season, so you know he’s got a good idea of how to attack them. 

The Hornets host the Spurs in Game One on Saturday night.  I will preview the series in great detail in the next day or two.