The blog entry by Ryan some days ago stated, that it’s obviously tough to
transform an expiring-contract-asset into an impact player, without giving up
additional talent, too. That’s probably true, but only when it comes to
sure-fire impact players, that are hunted by a lot of teams (of course one
can imagine a guy like Melo here). That’s simple market mechanism, as a
constant supply in combination with a rising demand pushes the prize up (if
only my economy professor could read that…..she would be proud that I at
least attended the first week of that semester).
I will bring another approach into play, and that’s the gamble-approach: Get
yourself the impact player the other teams just don’t cherish! Yes, that’s a
gamble and the difficulty is finding the right guy. Basically they exist and
history shows some interesting evidence.

The Pistons built up a team around players, nobody seemed to appreciate in
the first place. Troublesome Dennis Rodman strengthened Jordans’ Bulls and
was crucial in three championchip runs. A very recent example is last years
All-Star PF Zach Randolph, who is a seldom 20-10 guy, but I guess many didn’t
understand the grizzlies when they traded for him, mainly because of well
documented attitude issues with former teams. But things turn out to be
different and you have to figure out how you could make it happen. There are
many possible reasons why some guys are not able to get their job done with a
certain team and why their market value is on a free fall. The question for
your team is, are you able to create a comfort zone for that guy and get him
back to his high-level performances? Main aspect: respect and appreciate his
game and don’t try to change it or try to fit it in an inappropriate system.
Surely, doing some fine analysis is needed here.

Currently one obvious target and my inspiration for this journal entry is
Gilbert Arenas (also a target for hornets247 as a blogger?). Right now it’s
probably a realistic scenario to get him in exchange for Peja plus nothing
significant. I will wait for some comments to proof me right, because there
will be many people who think such a deal will be foolish from the Hornets’
point of view, that’s because he is indeed a gamble. The Gilbert Arenas some
years ago was a flat out scorer and in my mind could easily play shooting
guard. But not next to John Wall in Washington, because Wall has been his
successor from the point he was drafted back in june (maybe even earlier).
Arenas is probably not the right gamble for the Hornets, but right now his
example shows best the possibility I intended to present.  

Often, this tactic works out well, when a team is not desperate for help. When
the team has already established a strong character and had some success
lately, a player could feel comfortable by just being an addition and out of
the spotlight of the critics. Unfortunately the Hornets are no such team at
the moment, but they don’t have to and probably won’t pull the peja-trigger
right now anyways. When the deadline approaches, we wil see what the FO has
planned. I’m pretty sure Peja will end up being traded before the deadline. I
always liked him as a player and it’s sad to see him leave and being treated
like a commodity. His contract was just too big and too long, there was no
way for him to meet all those expectations that his contract brought to the
team.