New Orleans Season Preview

Key Additions:Emeka Okafur
Key Losses:Tyson Chandler,Rasual Butler

Okay this will be an interesting team indeed. 2 years ago this was the number 2 seed team who was projected to be a possible WCC after acquiring Posey. However they ended up getting the 7th seed....and getting wiped out and embarrased in the playoffs. During this offseason they made a bold move and traded away the athletic Chandler for one of the current centers with alot of potential aka Emeka Okafur. Still this team has one of the weakest benches in the league and really is a team that relies on Chris....too much. West is garbage by himself and imo Peja is geetting worse....
To me the key to this team will end up being Chris and Emeka. Chris is obviously going to have to carry this team on his back this year and is going to make Emeka an all star. Emeka on the other hand will provide a real presence downlow on offense and defense if everything works out. The main XFactor would be Peja who....in my mind should be traded cause he isnt as good as people make him out to be in the hornets style of play. Byron Scott has his work cut out for him this year no doubt and there need to be trades.

Projected Record:51 wins. The health should be much better come this year and Emeka provides someone who doesnt spoon feed of Chris 24/7. And Chris himself is just too good to let his team slip bad.

deshawn stevenson says,this preview is an EPIC FAIL

I pretty much agree with everything that has been said here.

If the Hornets do not make significant changes to their bench before the post-season, I won't be shocked to see the Hornets get embarassed once again in the first round.

did i give u the permission to make a damn preview?

ha ha j/k

anyways..join the crew

Senior Analyzer: Me
Second in Command- Raza
Apprentice- CBI,CO

51 wins for this group of shit......lmao

Hornets wont win 51 games, they'll be a 46-44 win team. They have a depleted bench and their starters cant come out of the game. LMAO do you not remember 58 points? Hornets see a first round exit if they dont continue to make changes....... especially that weak bench of theirs.

even 44 wins like you said is being generous, Realistically speaking this is only a 40 win team

LOL!! Paul+Okafor+west............yea 44 wins is getting foggy now

Deshawn Stevenson sucks ... penis....
lol

anywho.

Champions?

The Hornets are probably gonna surprise a few ppl(COUGHvisaCOUGH) and still get close to the 50 win mark. Like you said, they DO have CP3.. not to mention Emeka and West are nothing to laugh at.
The main problem? Bench depth. Absolutley none of it.
This is definately gonna drop them a few wins.

I got them getting 7th seed.
Maybe 47 wins?

Good predection CO

I think that they will get 50 wins and maybe Paul getting an MVP award

I'm undecided [as far as record goes] on this team for some reasons that you mentioned.

They went from the 2nd seed to 7th seed last season. Then they lose terribly in the playoffs.. I don't know what to make of them. Another thing you said that I agree with is their dependence on CP3. You mentioned Peja and West, but I think Chandler was dependent on him too. He's a lot older than what ppl remember as well and it took him a good while to get noticed for his improvements that weren't actually improvements at all.. because Paul was the one who made him look good.

I like the trade they made, imo it was a good move. They may still need some pieces here and there but they will make it to the playoffs... 6-8th seed I suppose.

CBI wrote:

Deshawn Stevenson sucks ... penis....
lol

anywho.

Champions?

The Hornets are probably gonna surprise a few ppl(COUGHvisaCOUGH) and still get close to the 50 win mark. Like you said, they DO have CP3.. not to mention Emeka and West are nothing to laugh at.
The main problem? Bench depth. Absolutley none of it.
This is definately gonna drop them a few wins.

I got them getting 7th seed.
Maybe 47 wins?

I think they had like 47-49 wins last year so looking at that (with injury problems might i add) its kinda hard to give them a low rank....especially when ur team has paul

Massive, gaping hole at the 2-guard spot. I can't believe no one has mentioned this. It's one of the main weaknesses. The starting lineup is pretty much set...Paul, who's the best point guard in the league, Peja the sharpshooter, David West, who is solid and a nice acquisition in Okafor. Rasual Butler was showing glimpses of brilliance last season but they traded him away for basically nothing. Should this team have a solid shooting guard, they'd be up there.

As already mentioned, lack of depth is going to bite them in the ass. I mean, Hilton Armstrong? Sean Marks? I hate to rip on a fellow Kiwi (Marks) but these guys aren't good enough to be second-stringers in an already crappy bench. James Posey is obviously the best reserve player. Wright, who was annoyingly inconsistent last season, will be starting this season. It puzzles me to no end why the hornets decided to draft Darren Collison, a guard, when what they lacked was a big man off the bench.

Chris Paul is good enough to carry this team to 50 wins. That's when he's healthy. If he goes down and/or the problems are not addressed, it's gonna be a long season in New Orleans.

They will need Peja Stojakovic healthy because he gives them 15 PPG and solid defense with strong shooting.Emeka,Paul will need to step out big time and others as well

Peja isn't even gonna give them 10 ppg...
He's done....and he never ever had solid defense in his career...

YS wrote:

Peja isn't even gonna give them 10 ppg...
He's done....and he never ever had solid defense in his career...

Yes,he is

He's going to give them good contribution.Dude don't underrate him.He's was good shooter and defender since he came in the NBA.Europeans bring all around players,a lot of them know to shot and play defense.Not everything is in stats

He's old.... he gets a lot of little injuries. He's gonna be a 8 PPG guy thsi season.

and he's NEVER had ANY defense. Any.

He had good defense.

dude...he averaged around 13 ppg last year...
So there is no way he is gonna give them 15 this year...

And I know Peja very well during his time with the Kings...
He was never a good defensive player....

And not to generalize...but Europeans usually have the worst defense if anything...
Especially with their soft play...

YS wrote:

dude...he averaged around 13 ppg last year...
So there is no way he is gonna give them 15 this year...

And I know Peja very well during his time with the Kings...
He was never a good defensive player....

And not to generalize...but Europeans usually have the worst defense if anything...
Especially with their soft play...

LOL

Europeans bring good defenders,all around players and shooters.That's a fact

Europeans bring soft defenders

Spot up shooters

and that's it.

That's 70% of Euro's that come to the NBA
The rest have many differant roles

European players are all great at fundamentals and can do all the staff you need on the court.Plus the Euro League has so much better centers then the NBA now

Darko...give me some good European defenders.....

Dude,that's an offense to all Europeans.That isn't so much true.Europeans play more defense then the NBA.The scores of the games rearly goes over 70 because they apreacete more defense then scoring

How is that offensive?

That's how Euro game works for hte most part, can I change that?