Even With Emeka Okafor, Hornets Are Still A First Round Team
Despite having the baddest point guard in the game, it seems as if not many people are mentioning New Orleans as contenders in the West for this upcoming season. It was just two seasons ago when the Hornets were just one game away from playing in the Western Conference Finals. But instead on building on that momentum, the Hornets took a huge step back the following season. They were still a playoff team, but they definitely failed to meet expectations.
Coming into last year, the prognosis looked good. They pushed the Spurs to seven games and in the offseason, they inked up sharp-shooting veteran James Posey – who was fresh off winning a title with the Celtics. But for whatever reason, the 2008-’09 team failed to rekindle the same chemistry as the previous year. Whether it was chemistry or injury issues, their record dropped seven games from 56-26 in 2007-’08 seasons to 49-33 last year. They went into the playoffs as the seventh seed where they were embarrassed by the Nuggets, who in one game routed them by 58 points.
Over the summer, management made a bold and expensive decision when they traded Tyson Chandler to the Bobcats for Emeka Okafor. The former number two pick in the ’04 Draft, Okafor puts up better numbers in almost every statistic category than Chandler and I believe he still has potential to get even better. But he comes at a high price tag. The Hornets are committed to paying Okafor’s $60-plus million contract for the next five seasons.
While Okafor puts up solid stats (13.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 1.7 bpg), coach Bryon Scott will need him to step up and do more. Emeka has been in the league five seasons and hasn’t been able to improve his numbers. In fact, his rookie year stats were better than they were last season. With no disrespect to Raymond Felton, Okafor could really benefit by playing alongside a great point guard in Chris Paul. Like Chandler, CP3 will be able to get Okafor a lot of easy buckets through dribble penetration.
On paper, the Hornets are definitely a playoff team. Whether Okafor and other guys step up will determine whether they will get out of the first round or not. Last season, Peja Stojakovic had one of his worst seasons as a pro averaging just 13.3 points. In fairness, he battled injuries, so this season is a clean slate for the former all-star. The Hornets will also need more from leadership from Posey. Posey is a proven winner and along with CP and David West, they will have to do a much better job motivating their young team. New Orleans has a lot of young potential in Julian Wright, Hilton Armstrong and rookie Darren Collison.
If things click with the Hornets, they will move up the power rankings in the West? After L.A., San Antonio and Portland, the rest of the conference is basically wide open. New Orleans has the opportunity to even get past Denver – who haven’t done much to beef up their roster in the summer. If I were a betting man, I would say the Hornets will be the fifth seed come playoff time. Now that Okafor’s now on the squad, I see them having the potential of maybe getting to the second round. But nothing past that.
How much do you think the addition of Emeka Okafor helps the Hornets? How far can they go in 2009-’10?
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September 17th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Mellmeister says:
get rid of peja, wrap him up with david west, get amare… atleast they’ll have one year to try him out…
i feel bad for paul…
September 17th, 2009 at 11:43 am
srb says:
God help any team that tries to bring weak stuff into the paint. Cold soup. Send it back.
September 17th, 2009 at 11:45 am
nobs6669 says:
yes i agree this team is to thin in every position. plus if they thought okafor is an upgrade to chandler that is false coz chandler compliment cp3 game. too bad he didnt play a great season last year.
September 17th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Sweet English says:
Cue ticktock6 and her amazing statistical knowledge of all things hornets.
Shes like a walking 82games.com with boobs.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
sh!tfaced says:
get rid of peja. hornets aint gonna win shit with peja mismatched almost every night on d at small forward.
maybe they should be the ones who should be trading for capt jack…
September 17th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Jake says:
Okafor will give them some more offense which is good, and he is a solid defender. Last year that team was devestated by injuries and I believe that certainly played into their failure in the season and failing to meet expectations. Posey didnt contribute the way he is capable of either. The main issue I see with this team is a lack of depth. They really dont have much of a bench and operate off of a 7 or 8 man rotation at best. This team needs to seriously add some depth or the first round exits will continue. If they can stay healthy and add a few role players they could be a contender.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
BiG ShoT BoB says:
Ha if they meet the Nuggets in the playoffs again you can forget about it. Chauncey will eat CP3 like last year and the Nuggets as a whole have Chris Pauls number. They’re strategy to knock him on his ass the whole game worked. Not to mention Chauncey’s going to bully his ass in the post which will tire him out. Done Dealy
September 17th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Mellmeister says:
Capt. Jack should be a hornet, and trade peja and another, and have some draft picks to go with it…
September 17th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Mark says:
Until coach Scott allows our players to play, we’ll only go where CP-DX take us. Which isn’t too far considering 5 people play on court at a time.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
BRUCE says:
When Kobe retires, the Hornets will be a 2nd Round team!
September 17th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
TJ says:
They have the most disgusting crew of two guards in the league.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
flavur says:
They need to trade peja another player and a couple of draft picks to the warriors for capt. Jack that way posey can just be a 6th man instead of people relying on him to be or play like a starter and plus Jax has a ring and can add more leadership and experience to this team.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Mo says:
I’d prefer there be no huge expectations of the Hornets. Let them go unnoticed.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Boombaby says:
This is not north bothering with. write something else
September 17th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
ticktock6 says:
“A walking 82 games with boobs.” Hahahahaha I love it.
I prefer to think Okafor/Chandler is a wash. I’m most looking forward to seeing how Okafor works with West. Yeah, CP to a certain extent, but I’m not worried about that. Chris Paul made Sean Marks look good with alley oops last year. As I said, I’m not worried. Way more interesting is how David West and Emeka Okafor can play off each other. A lot of people don’t realize how one dimensional Tyson Chandler really was. He literally has *no* shot. He used to try for this little hook shot for about a month into the season, when clearly one of the coaches would be like, “Just stop. It hurts to watch” and then we’d never see it again. Anything Okafor has offensively will be an upgrade. Ideally I am looking to see him open up space for David West and his jumper.
And people who say “but Emeka won’t run the floor like Chandler and the Hornets are a running team!” is just flat wrong. The Hornets had the second slowest pace in the NBA last year. Part of this was due to the age and talent level of the second unit… which was abysmal. This season you clearly saw the team look to replace 32-yr-old journeymen with youth.
Collison/Thornton/Songaila/Posey/Wright/Diogu/Armstrong and suddenly you’ve got a lot more guys to play around with on the bench. Not supertalented guys like other teams’ but some unknown commodities with upside. Last year we saw Sean Marks, Melvin Ely, Devin Brown and Ryan Bowen get serious minutes and the team still won 49. The depth is better. The chemistry remains to be seen.
It’s a tossup. But I just don’t see them as worse unless something really awful happens injurywise.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
p-dizzle says:
Byron leaves alot to be desired in the way of coaching. He’s quick to say his team isn’t putting forth the effort but they seem ill prepared at times. Plus everything we do is so damn predictable and his game adjustments are non-existent. I understand our bench is thin but that’s cuz he doesn’t want to develop any young players. Tell me we couldn’t use Brandon Bass right now. J.R. Smith was a knucklehead so I’m ok with him being gone. Besides he turned into Chandler which turned into Okafor who I think will do well with CP….
September 17th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
doc says:
Okafor is a upgrade from Chandler.But like you said,he hasnt improved his game yet.The Hornets are in that second tier of West teams that can either be contenders or fall apart like what they did last season.I think they behind the Kobe Lakers and San Antonio Duncans,but can give anybody else a run when they talent is healthy.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
hansosword says:
At least the fu**ing spurs didn’t get him.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
ticktock6 says:
I came back to this thread just to say p-dizzle is right.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
nobs6669 says:
who wins the okafor chandler trade?
September 18th, 2009 at 3:19 am
arisloco says:
It’s not like the Hornets are team to beat. I’d rather watch the Bobcats play than this Hornets watching CP always do the dirty work of pushing defenders and flopping. This kid turned into an airhead. Julian Wright thinks that he’s a high flier and great dunker. And this fuckin’ David West acts like he’s to be considered an elite NBA player. His jumpshot is terrible to watch as one of his foot extends to the defender’s direction to create space.
Fuck Hornets! Go Nuggets!
September 18th, 2009 at 9:20 am
doc says:
How can you bitch about CP3 pushing people and like Denver.When they fuck people up like its going out of style.Hypocrites.
September 18th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
J DUBB says:
I AM EXCITED ABOUT THIS SEASON. I AM A NEW ORLEANS NATIVE AND A BIG TIME HORNETS FAN. ALOT OF YOU ON HERE MAKE VALID POINTS. BUT I THINK WE’LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE. BUT I DO THINK WE HAVE QUITE A FEW BALLERS ON OUR TEAM BUT I THINK COACH SCOTT WON’T LET THESE DUDES STRAIGHT BALL… WOULDN’T IT BE NICE TO HAVE STEVEN JACKSON STARTING AT THE 2??? MAN I THINK THATS THE TYPE PLAYER WE NEED!! AND TO ARISLOCO MAN SHUT UP FUCK DA NUGGETS GO HORNETS!!! WE GON SERVE DA NUGGETTS DIS YEAR!!!
September 18th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
mr wilson says:
Hornets don’t have enough talent around CP3. We’ll take him in Memphis. And we’ll give you Iverson, Conley, and a second round pick. Please!