They don’t have any cap room, but that doesn’t mean the Dallas Mavericks can’t make some big moves this summer.

He has one year and $13 million left after this season … but it’s not guaranteed. Meaning a team can trade for him, and drop him. That’s a $13 million savings. Not too shabby.

One team that would like to drop that much and get under the luxury tax? The Hornets.

No one is suggesting the Hornets would trade Chris Paul to Dallas, but David West is a possibility. The Mavs also have Caron Butler and young guard Rodrigue Beaubois, who has played pretty well in his rookie season.

It’s going to be an interesting summer indeed.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Wait…what?

In his Rookie Watch: Midseason Awards (Insider subscription required), Thorpe says that Thornton is the next best rookie scorer after Tyreke Evans.

There are a few obvious choices here, but I think Thornton is the most deserving simply because of what he’s done in difficult circumstances. Despite being pulled into and out of the rotation, playing for two coaches already and often getting paired with another rookie in the backcourt, he has been able to put up points and help drive the Hornets back into playoff contention.

Ultimately, I think Thornton will be an excellent scorer off the bench for a contending team. He has supreme confidence in his ability to get a bucket from anywhere.

Difficult circumstances? Thornton has played with Chris Paul and Darren Collison at point guard, maybe the best 1-2 punch at the position in the entire league in terms of setting up teammates for shots. Meanwhile, Brandon Jennings has been asked to run the Bucks offense, deal with the absence, arrival and disappearance of Michael Redd, and has helped Andrew Bogut develop into an All-Star caliber player, all while leading the Bucks in scoring.

Thornton’s has a higher points per shot (PPS), averaging 1.15 to Jennings’ 1.05, but Jennings is averaging almost seven more points per game while being the focus of the opponent’s defensive game plan. Jennings is just as good from long range and gets to the line twice as often. Sure, he’s struggled of late as teams have started to figure out how to stop him, but that’s just it — teams are trying to stop him. Is anyone game planning for Marcus Thornton?

This is a head-scratcher.

Hornets’ star Chris Paul needs arthroscopic surgery for a cartilage tear in his left knee reports Yahoo! Sports. He’ll be out 1-2 months, although the injury isn’t expected to end his season.

Paul injured the knee in the final moments of regulation in a loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday. Paul was injured after he fell into a photographer on the baseline after trying to catch an errant inbounds pass from Hornets forward David West. Paul came up limping after the play, which led to the Bulls tying the game with .2 seconds left.

Paul also told reporters he had initially twisted the same knee in a win over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.
Test results revealed a partial tear to Paul’s meniscus. There is still some doubt as to the extent of the injury, one source said, but it is not believed to be season-ending.

The Hornets will now rely on rookie point guard Darren Collison in Paul’s absence. Collison has already made nine starts in place of Paul (who also missed time with an ankle injury earlier this year) this season, averaging 15.1 points per game, 7.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/02/01/chris-paul-out-1-2-months/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/01/21/to-trade-david-west-or-not-to-trade-david-west/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/01/21/to-trade-david-west-or-not-to-trade-david-west/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:45:23 +0000 John Paulsen http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=33305

That is the question. Hornets blogger (writing for ESPN’s Daily Dime) Niall Doherty thinks the team should move David West before it’s too late.

So what is New Orleans to do? Do they stand pat and suffer mediocrity for now, bumbling along until they can unload some crippling contracts (e.g. Morris Peterson and Peja Stojakovic) this summer or next? Or would they be better served blowing up the core (e.g. David West and Emeka Okafor) and hoping they can rebuild fast enough to keep Chris Paul in town beyond 2012?

My best guess is that GM/coach Jeff Bower will opt for the former, since he’s known to carefully weigh his options and refrain from doing anything drastic. But in the long run, I think that’s the wrong move. The Hornets aren’t going anywhere with West as Paul’s primary sidekick. Sad but true. D-West’s All-Star days are behind him, and the Hornets would be wise to move him before everyone else realizes it. Swap him out for some young, athletic talent, go after a legit second banana when Peja comes off the books, and Paul will be more likely to call New Orleans home beyond 2012.

The Hornets are 22-19, but have won eight of their last 11 games. They’re currently sitting in the #10 spot in the crowded Western Conference, but seem like a team destined to sneak into the playoffs and exit early. Doherty suggests that now is the time to move West, since his All-Star days are behind him and argues that he’s just not good enough to be Chris Paul’s primary sidekick.

However, West is playing very well of late (19-8 with 52% shooting in December and January), and while he’s not likely to make the All-Star Game this season, if the team were a little better, he has the statistical resume to get his third consecutive nod. Moreover, his contract is reasonable ($8.3 million next season, $7.5 million an an option to terminate in 2011), so it’s not like his salary is killing the Hornets financially.

So should New Orleans trade him? Well, it depends on who they could get. West is 29 and his pop-and-shoot game should age well (think Karl Malone). Without making any big moves, the Hornets won’t have any significant cap space until the 2012 season, which is the summer that Chris Paul can opt out. Depending on what kind of contract West will be looking for next summer (2011), it would make sense to hold onto him. Really, he’s the perfect complement for Paul’s drive-and-dish game, and I have a feeling that if they do move him, they’ll soon be wishing they had a power forward who could knock down an open jumper. Trading West now isn’t going to do much for Paul’s morale, so unless the Hornets can get a good young piece (that looks very capable of being Paul’s sidekick), it’s probably just better to keep the Paul-West core intact.

The funny thing is that if the Hornets hadn’t made the Tyson Chandler-for-Emeka Okafor swap, they would have had plenty of cap space in 2011 (~$25 million or more) to both re-sign West and add a big-time free agent. If Okafor is still on the roster that summer, the Hornets will have to decide whether to bring back West or use the cap space on another player.

The NBA rumor mill is in full effect and one of the more interesting tidbits I saw this fine Monday morning was that, via Hoopsworld, “league sources” are saying that the Spurs offered up Tony Parker in a bid to get Chris Paul.

The offer was immediately turned away by the Hornets.

However it is interesting to hear San Antonio would consider parting with Parker, but if it returned Chris Paul the move is easy to justify. Parker has one more season remaining on his deal worth $13.6 million and could be one of the top free agent guards in the summer of 2011.

First of all, any rumors that come from “league sources” need to be taken with a grain of salt. If true, it is interesting that the Spurs would be willing to part ways with Parker, but I think even he would understand the upside of the Spurs landing Chris Paul.

The deal wouldn’t make any sense for the Hornets as the two players’ salaries are about the same. Paul is signed through the 2011-12 season, one year longer than Parker. The downgrade wouldn’t be worth it for New Orleans.

The Hornets need to weather the storm and try to hold onto Paul. If they were ever to trade him, it should be during (or just before) the 2011-12 season. The Hornets are in a tough financial situation, but it’s of their own doing. The moves for Peja Stojakovic, Morris Peterson and James Posey simply haven’t resulted in the kind of winning the franchise was expecting. Then they traded away Tyson Chandler (whose deal expires in 2011) for Emeka Okafor (whose deal runs through 2014). This is a curious move for a team that is supposedly cash-strapped. I don’t mind the trade from a pure basketball standpoint, but fiscally it doesn’t make a lot of long term sense.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Yet the Hornets are currently $3.3 million over the tax line and remain prepared to send away Brown in a deal that brings back no guaranteed money, as seen over the summer when New Orleans felt it had to essentially donate Rasual Butler to the Los Angeles Clippers because of the tax benefits.

There is a belief among some rival executives — or perhaps it’s more accurate to call it a hope — that the Hornets will not be able to resist moving All-Star forward David West before the Feb. 18 trading deadline to ensure that they get comfortably under the tax threshold.

New Orleans’ preference would obviously be moving out player(s) from its list of veterans with contracts that stretch beyond this season. That list presumably includes Emeka Okafor, Peja Stojakovic, James Posey, Mo Peterson, Darius Songaila and Julian Wright.

West has two years left on his contract, but he’ll almost certainly terminate the final year since it’s only worth $7.5 million and he’s likely to make more than that in a new deal. If the Hornets trade West, expect Chris Paul to become very unhappy. If the team was so concerned about the luxury tax, it should have thought about that before trading for Peja Stojakovic, signing Morris Peterson and James Posey, and trading for Emeka Okafor. West’s affordable deal is obviously not the problem, but it’s movable and that might appeal to the Hornets.

I still think the team will do what it can to hold on to its nucleus and weather the financial storm. The Okafor trade was a signal that owner George Shinn is willing to spend.

Common sense says “no.” But Bill Simmons, the self-proclaimed VP of Common Sense, says it’s not such a crazy idea after all. He has one caveat: It has to be a “Godfather”-type offer (one the Hornets couldn’t refuse).

Fake Trade 8A: Houston trades Aaron Brooks (expires in 2011) with T-Mac, Scola and Brian Cook (all expire in 2010) for Chris Paul and the Peja-Songaila-Posey cap-killing trio. Considering Houston’s deep pockets, it would have to do it — how else could the Rockets acquire a top-10 player? And New Orleans would fall under the tax (saving them about $16-17 million this year, plus another $25-30 million next year) and replace a decent chunk of Paul’s production with a Brooks/Darren Collison combo.

Fake Trade 8B: Same trade as above, only with Miami giving up three ECs (Jermaine O’Neal, Mario Chalmers and Dorell Wright) plus Michael Beasley. Not as good a deal as the Houston one. Although the thought of a Wade-Paul backcourt just made me pee on myself.

Fake Trade 8C: Cleveland deals the Shaq/Ilgauskas ECs with Jamario Moon (expiring 2011), J.J. Hickson (ditto) and Jawad Williams/Darnell Jackson (EC throw-ins) for CP3, Emeka Okafor, Peja, Peterson and Songaila. That knocks the Hornets well under this year’s tax, gets them out of $26.6 million of Peja-Songaila-Peterson in 2011 AND dumps Okafor’s monster deal ($70 million through 2014). Sure, it’s the biggest salary dump trade of all time. But shouldn’t New Orleans do the Grizzlies routine for a year or two (super-low payroll, rebuild through the draft) rather than losing $25-30 million a year to be a fringe contender these next three years? And if you’re Cleveland, don’t you have to take a risk like this to keep LeBron?

Looking at the Hornets’ cap situation, they’re not going to have any real cap flexibility until the summer of 2012, which is the same summer that Paul can opt out of the final year of his contract. The Hornets could create about $12-$13 million of cap space in 2011 if they are able to move James Posey.

The Hornets’ current dilemma is largely due to the decision to trade for Peja Stojakovic in 2006. GM Jeff Bower took a risk, thinking he’d get the Sacramento-era sharpshooting Stojakovic, one capable of spacing the court for Paul to do his work. Unfortunately, Stojakovic isn’t the scorer that he once was, and he’s such a defensive liability that it’s tough to give him big minutes. Moreover, he has a monster contract that will pay him another $14 million next season.

So do the Hornets continue to play the luxury tax for a team that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere? Unless someone wants to take on one of these big contracts, no major changes can be made until the summer of 2011, and by then West will be unsigned and about to turn 31.

The Okafor/Chandler trade was a sign that owner George Shinn isn’t afraid to spend, so I don’t see him blowing up the franchise (i.e. trading Chris Paul) to save money. He’s more likely to ride out these bad contracts, tinker around the edges, and try to create a situation to re-build around Paul in 2011 or 2012. Paul can’t opt out until 2012, and I don’t think he’ll want to leave — he has an owner who is willing to spend, but the gambles — Stojakovic, Posey, Peterson — simply haven’t worked out.

There is enough talent in New Orleans for the Hornets to be a perennial playoff team until they can ride the Stojakovic/Peterson/Posey storm out. Unless you’re in dire fiscal shape (and like I said, the Okafor trade is a sign that that’s not the case), you don’t trade away a superstar who is in the middle of his prime.