New Orleans Hornets:
Hoping the loss column will be Baron despite the move to the West

The New Orleans Hornets started their trek through the National Basketball Association during the 1988-’89 season as the Charlotte Hornets. The team played in Charlotte all the way through the 2001-’02 season. The parting of the franchise and the city got rather ugly and during the ’02 playoffs the city refused to show up to the games. It was one of the most unusual sights that a team would have such a large amount of empty seats for a home playoff game. The team packed up their stuff and moved out to New Orleans before the 2002-’03 season and picked up where they left off in Charlotte. The team made it to the playoffs for the fourth straight season behind the strong play of small forward Jamal Mashburn. In the first round they matched up with Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Hornets took the series to six games but fell to the 76ers 4-2.

Last season the Hornets upper management wanted to shake things up and they did just that when they fired head coach Paul Silas and brought in former Bulls coach Tim Floyd. Many didn’t see the sense in that move. Floyd, who is known as the man that replaced Phil Jackson in Chicago after Jordan left, had a great deal of talent in Chicago and couldn’t do anything but be a doormat in the East. Silas, on the other hand, is one of the most respected coaches in the NBA. The result was pretty much the same as in years past for the Hornets, outside of the breakout season that point guard Baron Davis enjoyed with Mashburn injured for most of the season. The Hornets finished with a 41-41 record which fetched them the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference half of the playoff brackets. New Orleans met up with the upstart Miami Heat who had been on a tear during the second half of the season. The Hornets went down 2-0 in the first two games but battled back and won their next three games on their home court and evened the series at 3-3. The Hornets then went out to Miami where they fell in a tight game 85-77 and ended their season in the first round for the third time in five years.

New Orleans management saw what happened in the playoffs again and they felt they need to make yet another coaching change. The team fired Tim Floyd and brought in former New Jersey Nets coach Byron Scott. Scott led the Nets to two straight NBA Finals appearances and was then fired last season after he started the season 42-40. The Hornets are hoping that Scott can do with Baron Davis what he did with Jason Kidd and that’s reach the Finals and this time hopefully take some hardware home with him. In the free agent and trade market the Hornets were quiet for the most part. The team signed the versatile forward Rodney Rogers who played for Scott the past couple of seasons in New Jersey and forward Chris Anderson who was with Denver last season. The team did take a couple of hits when they lost forwards Stacey Augmon and Robert Traylor.

Going into the draft New Orleans knew exactly what they needed and that was a wing man or two that could handle the basketball in the open court. The Hornets got just that when they drafted the prep star shooting guard J.R. Smith. Smith is a tremendous athlete that has a 44 inch vertical leap and is a strong finisher in transition. If he develops well over the summer he could see big minutes this year under coach Scott. With their only second round pick the Hornets selected Florida State shooting guard Tim Pickett. Pickett fits the description of what the Hornets need perfectly he’s a physical guard that has a nose for the ball and can handle the ball on the perimeter. He will more than likely see more playing time than Smith because he is more NBA ready than Smith. Both of these players have huge upside and could really help out the Hornets next year and in the years to come.

The Hornets will have to step their game up to a whole other level this year since they are moving into the Western Conference and are joining the Southwest Division with San Antonio, Dallas, and Memphis. Their stating five should look like this: at point guard Baron Davis, at shooting guard David Wesley, at small forward, if healthy, Jamal Mashburn, at power forward P.J. Brown, and at center Jamaal Magliore. The team more than likely will have problems dealing with the big men in the Western Conference and playing in the toughest division in the NBA they might have some problems getting into the playoffs.

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