The recent word is that Byron Scott has removed Julian Wright from his rotation due to the 2nd year forward's erratic play. I'm not shocked by this - Julian has been up and down, sometimes out of control, sometimes aggressive, and sometimes indecisive. Byron also has the luxury of several swingmen, Peja, Posey, Peterson, and Butler, all of whom are known quantities. All coaches, and Byron in particular, like known quantities, and Julian Wright is chaos.
I should preface this by saying I like Byron Scott. This team is definitely his team. He's forced his stamp on the team by showing no tolerance for knuckleheads, and Jeff Bower has accomodated him by bringing in guys that meet Scott's mold. This team is a winning team, and much of that is due to the culture of the team - a culture created by Scott.
However, Scott's problem as a coach so far has been his unwillingness to develop a player when he has other "known quantities" available. Brandon Bass got no time in Oklahoma because Scott could play David West, Jackson Vroman, and Marc Jackson. Two of those three guys weren't better than Bass, but Scott knew they would go out there, do what he told them, and he knew exactly what he would get from them. Kirk Snyder and JR Smith(to an extreme) were in similar situations with Brandon Bass.
In some cases, I'm fine with Scott's choice to bench players. JR deserved it. Bass's rookie year, he needed to sit. Julian, however, has shown some amazing flashes, and I feel he deserves to see if he can turn his brand of chaos and unpreditability into a dangerous scalpel. I don't see that happening unless we move not one swingmen, but two, since we'll probably target a point guard, which means Devin Brown would join the ranks of swingmen ahead of Julian on the depth chart. I'm not sure we'll see two swingmen get moved, which worries me. It may just be Julian who is dangled as the bait for that veteran point or big man.
That would be a mistake.
On to other things:
I've been a bit amiss in posting two sets of rankings we here at Hornets247 support: The Bloggers Power Rankings and the Bloggers MVP and Rookie of the Year rankings.
The latest version of the Blogger's Power Ranking can be found over at the always good 3 Shades of Blue, where the Hornets can be found climbing back up the rankings, reaching 7th this time around. People are still clearly not sold on them.
The latest version of the MVP/ROY Rankings can be found over at Upside and Motor. Paul is clearly suffering from the Hornets not living up to their expectations, and is sitting at 4th on the list. Last year, he won the thing.
Go take a look and enjoy.


7 inspiring comments post your own
Kamo
12/09/08 03:09 PM
Hmm i think we should really target a point and a big man (what about mo pete or rasual butler for warrick and crittenton? the grizz are desperate for a 3 point shooter, and this'd be good even if it'd put other people before juju in the rotations) but this problem of scott with young players, well, he was always enthusiastic of juju, so when he gets a bit better or a bit more under control i hope he will be let on the court for more minutes, he really deserves it and he's still a super athletic swingman and he's worked hard during last summer..give him a chance
#1
Andrea
12/09/08 03:47 PM
If we did trade a swingman, I think it'd have to be Peja...out of all the "tradeable" guys on the team, he'd have the most value..if not him, then we trade Mo Pete
#2
Mikey
12/09/08 04:33 PM
Well, I'm not at practice, so I don't get to see the things that Ju Ju is or isn't doing. I'm inclined to trust Byron Scott. I don't know though, because we've all seen this before, and I hate to say I know how this story ends. I can guarantee you all this, other teams will not talk any kind of trade unless Julian Wright is in the discussion. He just has too much upside.
Hey Ryan, can we get a Hornet Roster / contract breakdown post? You know... what current cap impact they have, when guys' contracts expire, what kind of potential trade value they have, etc. I can't seem to find a place to get this information.
#3
Niall Doherty
12/09/08 06:43 PM
I'd imagine we could get some offers for Rasual and/or Mo Pete. Everyone will inquire about Ju Ju but it would be madness to trade him.
@ louisianagyrl: Nobody will really want Peja until 2010/11, when his contract is expiring. I doubt we can get anything decent for him until then.
www.ndoherty.com #4
mW
12/09/08 07:39 PM
I've been wondering for a while if Byron's stubbornness is getting the better of him. There are a lot of coaches out there who have had to swallow a little pride and make a change they had always resisted to make that leap from great coach to championship coach. I've maintained that Ju-Ju's "Chaos Effect" is what made the second unit offense work, but apparently, this is also precisely what scares Byron. Maybe it's time for Byron to embrace the Chaos.
Does Byron really think he knows what CP is going to do when he's on the floor? CP is most devastating when he just wheels through the lane at full speed, wreaking havoc on defensive schemes. Why not let Julian do the same thing? To take another League example, look at Pop; he finally gave up trying to control Manu and look what happened. I'm not saying Julian's Manu. He's Julian. But let him play his game, do his thing, and just learn to be assertive, rather then hesitative. That's the key.
And it might just be the key for the Hornets to get them some rings, too.
www.hornetshype.com #5
Diane
12/09/08 08:51 PM
I'm not too surprised about Julian. It seems like someone has to keep the dog house warm every year. I guess Hilton must be doing better now. I always thought Brandon and JR were great but just couldn't fit into Coach Scott team. Glad to see Brandon works for Dallas although I haven't seen him play this year. JR already has been in the dog house but that's just him and Denver responds appropriately. For some reason this team seems out of wack this year - I guess its just times a changing.
#6
Ryan Schwan
12/09/08 09:38 PM
I've been toying with a post like that for a few days, Mikey. Essentially an evaluation of our swingmen and what value they might hold on the market due to contracts.
I'll probably get to it after the Celtics game.
www.hornets247.com #7