In this edition of Hornets Beat we examine other teams free agents with a focus on who would be a good fit for New Orleans. If you’re hoping for talk about amnesty, you’re going to have to wait until next week. We won’t open that can of worms until we have a better idea of which players are actually going to be amnestied.
- At Qwest field in Seattle, small and large beers were priced differently despite actually being the same size. In New Orleans that’s enough to riot.
Joining Ryan and me are Will Hibert (LSUHornet17) from At The Hive, James Graysonfrom Swarm and Sting, and Alejandro de los Rios from Gambit and Blog of New Orleans. Alejandro had the pleasure/misfortune of sitting next to me at most Hornets games last year, and honestly the most important thing we ever learned together is that the New Orleans Arena large beers are actually bigger than the small ones. Crazy, right? We tested beers all night long to make that determination. Scientific research needs to be thorough, after all.
1.) What is the Hornets number one need, assuming West returns?
Ryan Schwan – A versatile wing player.  The problem with the Hornets is they are plugging one-trick ponies into both wing spots.  Ariza can defend and do nothing else well.  Belinelli can shoot but does nothing else well.  Willie can . . . well, he’s good at something, right?  Anyways, the best teams have players who can at least do a few things well.  The Hornets need to find wing players who can defend AND rebound or who can shoot AND pass.  It’s all about gaining multiple edges everywhere.  My suggestion?  Thaddeus Young.
Will Hibert - A creative wing scorer. Belinelli works decently next to Ariza, because he stretches the floor, but the Hornets need someone to take scoring responsibility away from Trevor, especially in light of the passiveness we saw from Chris Paul at times last year. Someone who can score semi-efficiently on isolations and still hit a decent percentage from three would be a huge upgrade to the Hornet offense.
James Grayson – Has to be a scoring/shooting SG, has to be. This does sound eerily familiar to the guy who we drafted from LSU and loved the city of New Orleans, but it’s true, we need creativity on the wing. The reason is simple, Chris Paul (or whoever) needs help or needs the offensive load to be taken off their shoulders. That 2008 season CP had shooters on the wings, a post man and a defensive center. The Hornets (if they resign West) will have a post man and a lesser defensive center but an extra defender at SF. They need a shooting guard who can create his own shot and knock down anything Paul throws towards him.
Alejandro de los Rios - A viable and consistent shooting guard (or two or three) is absolutely crucial for the Hornets right now and it wouldn’t hurt if they made some sort of splash in the free agent market (Jason Richardson? Jamal Crawford?) to show CP3 that the team is conscious that he can’t carry the offensive load by himself and that they’re committed to building a contender around their point guard. Otherwise, I can see CP3 demanding a trade mid-season and a Carmelo-type fiasco taking place.
Joe Gerrity- I might be the only one to go this way, but a third big man with some size to plug in against teams with bigger front lines. Landry is nice and all, but he, like the hornets, lacks the physical tools to bang with bigger, tougher big men
2.) Who is the dream free agent signing for the Hornets? Continue reading →
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