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Dear Mr. Thibodeau,

I write to you today not as a member of the media, but as a hopeful New Orleans Hornets fan who wants ever so much to see his favorite team bring home an NBA championship.

In an off season in which no less than six head coaching jobs will change hands, it's no surprise that a man with your credentials and personal recommendations is being sought after, especially given the Celtics stifling defensive performances throughout the playoffs. Bravo, might I add.

Now, I'm not here to tell you how great you are, since I really have only come to know the details of your supposed genius rather recently. We can leave that to the writers who have had the privilege of covering your previous and current employers, since they are obviously more qualified than I. What needs to be said is something more relating to the city of New Orleans and the team that the Hornets can be(e).

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Salary Cap Stuff

Don't get too excited, but it appears that the that the NBA salary cap and luxury tax lines are dropping less than expected. It's now being projected that the cap will fall from 57.7 million to 56.1 million. The 1.6 million dollar decrease is millions less than most front offices had anticipated.

The expected luxury tax hasn't been revealed, and likely won't be until the official salary cap is set. That said, I project it to be just over 68 million, given the historical correlation between the two. This years luxury tax line was set at 69.92 million.

As it stands right now the Hornets have ten players under contract for approximately 72.2 million dollars.

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Home sweet Dome. Or next door at least. Hornets back in the Big Easy tonight to take on a Devin Brown's new ball club. Game tips at 7 Central.

The Bulls are 22-22 on the season, 8-15 on the road. They've been looking good recently with a 4-game winning streak, all of those wins coming outside of Chi-town (Suns, Rockets, Spurs and Thunder). Wednesday's game in OKC saw new All-Star Derrick Rose continue his stellar play by dropping 26 points and 7 assists.

Devin Brown has been with the Bulls for two games now and racked up two DNP-CD's. Another former Hornets, Jannero Pargo, has been racking those up all season.

The Hornets and Bulls last met on December 23 in Chicago. Devin Brown led the Hornets in that losing effort with 22 points, while Tyrus Thomas (21 points, 9 rebounds) and Joakim Noah (17 points, 18 rebounds) came through with big games for the Bulls. Chicago was +17 on the boards.

Numbers:

Pace: Bulls 95.5 (12th), Hornets 94.3 (20th)
Offensive Efficiency: Bulls 99.0 (28th), Hornets 104.8 (15th)
Defensive Efficiency: Bulls 101.3 (7th), Hornets 105.6 (19th)

The Hornets are 25-20 on the season, 16-4 at home, coming off a 3-1 road trip. James Posey will miss tonight's game with that strained Achilles he suffered against Golden State on Wednesday.

Linkage:

• Earlier on the blog: The Price of Fiscal Sanity
• TrueHoop: Rose leading charge for Bulls
• Lagniappe: Midseason report card and a Hornets-Pacers spin on the Super Bowl
  
• Rival bloggers: Blog a Bull | By The Horns (THN)

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today's banner featuring Jannero Pargo. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)

Hornets back on the road today (uh-oh), battling the Bulls in Chicago. Game tips at 7 Central.

The Bulls have started out with a disappointing 10-17 record, and followed up last week's OT win over the Hawks with losses to Sacramento and New York. The loss to the Kings saw them blow a 35-point third-quarter lead. Whoops.

The Bulls should be fully healthy with Tyrus Thomas expected to return from a forearm injury today. Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald reports that Chicago's starting lineup will be shaken up a little, with Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson getting the nod instead of John Salmons and Brad Miller.

The Hornets are coming off that 108-102 win against the Warriors on Wednesday, and have won three of four overall. Their 2-11 road record hardly inspires confidence though. There's a good write up on the team's road woes in today's Times-Picayune.

Linkage:

• Earlier on the blog: Should the Hornets blow it up and trade Chris Paul?
  
• Journals: Why the Hornets would trade Chris Paul
  
• Lagniappe: More CP and D-West trade speculation, plus a must-read from At The Hive
  
• Rival bloggers: Blog a Bull | By The Horns (THN)

(Many thanks to Dariusz for the banner, today featuring Jamaal Magloire. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)

As the Hornets continue to prove that the team this year is a fairly average crew, more and more writers(like the always entertaining Bill Simmons) - and "fans" - are arguing that blowing up the team and starting over is the best course.  The first thing we need to address - and let's make no bones about it - is that it's a stretch to call the Hornets results this year "average", despite their record.  They are below average in every measure of shooting, rebounding, defensive efficiency and offensive efficiency.  Of the primary categories, only their turnover and assist rates are better than average overall.  So yes, this team needs change.  However, should they blow up the team - and trade Chris Paul?

The premise is that the Hornets should package Chris Paul with all the horrible Hornets contracts on the books and start over from scratch.  So let's run through that scenario:

Blowing up the Hornets

The bad contracts the Hornets have are Peja Stojakovic, Morris Peterson, and James Posey.  That trio ties up $27.5 million in salary this year, and $29.5 million next year.  So lets posit that the Hornets bundle all three contracts with Chris Paul and trade them right now.  They lose a 24-year old top 3 talent in the league.  They get back a bunch of expiring contracts, a player or two that will never be 60% of Chris Paul, and draft picks.  (Of course, most of the teams that could deal for Paul are at least average already, and will clearly get better, so those picks will be worth a miniscule amount.)

The result: 

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