MVN - Most Valuable Network

Trade leaves Hornets without draft-pick, but with plenty of cash to work with

As of now, Jeff Bower’s draft day is done.  Yesterday’s trade of the 27th overall pick to Portland for cash considerations left the New Orleans without a pick in either round of tonight’s NBA draft, so don’t be surprised if you see the Hornets GM on the golf course today.

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. 
 

Vanderbilt’s Foster would fill big need for Hornets

The Hornets worked out a local talent this week as they continue preparations for the upcoming NBA Draft on June 26.

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.                

Despite having the leagues best player and coach, the Lakers will fall in the NBA Finals

The NBA, broken down to its simplest form, is a pretty easy league to predict.  Generally, you can count on the team with the best player and best coach to advance the furthest in the playoffs, and more often than not win the NBA title. 

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. 

Latest mock draft has CDR going to New Orleans

With the NBA draft only a month away, it’s time to start putting some serious thought into who the Hornets will take with the 27th overall pick. 

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.