Hornets Waive DJ Strawberry

I find it almost laughable that people are implying either directly or indirectly in a lot of their comments that Smith > Okafor.... how on earth did you come to that conclusion? Because Smith had better stats in games that Okafor had less minutes than him? How did you even come close to thinking that Smith = Starting Center in the NBA?

Totally off-topic. Complete non sequitur. And now for something completely different. This isn't really new or news, but I hadn't seen it before . . . http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/bob_licht__the_lane__dell_2010_10_11.html Dell-Monty. I can't help it, I love puns.

I'm just awaiting the time I log on to this site to read this blog title: Hornets trade [Insert Thonrton, Okafor, and other players here] for [Insert a bunch of players here] from the [Insert Team names here] I think it's coming :/ & I don't want to see Mek leave!!

One enormous difference between the risk of Alexander and the risk of Marcus is that you have Marcus on the books and you don't have Alexander on the books. You don't have to accept that risk, whatever the risk of Marcus not being good is, big, small, goldilocks, whatever, he's in the mix until the end of the year or we deal him. If we want to assess the value of Marcus, let's wait a month and see how he's playing. Again, this dude has dealt with more change in a shorter amount of time than anyone on the team. Even if he is this preseason forever, we won't know that until we give him some time. And he's better than that. A little more of mama's cornbread and he'll be just fine. I do love that little dude.

To address some things said in the thread, Okafor is a back up center, if your center is a top five performer in the league. If your just looking for a center with above average production then Okafor will workfor you. (Contracts aside though for big-men he hasnt been grossly overpaid.) As far as Bosh destroying Okafor last season...hmm I remember a game http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/boxscores/toronto-raptors-vs-new-orleans-hornets/2009-12-20/10/28 where Bosh had a +3 eff over West but Okafor had a +1 over Bargnani. Okafor had a double double that game (with an assist but only 2-5 from the line.) Bosh did not have a great game by his standards. I remember a game where Bosh was held to roughly his season average game, while Okafor's Eff was roughly 20% high than his season average. November had a different result http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/boxscores/toronto-raptors-vs-new-orleans-hornets/2009-11-06/10/28 but with a starting line up including Jullian wright and Morris Peterson Bosh scored his season average but didnt hit his average in rebounds (odd considering the Hornets rebounding woes.) Smith will do well backing up West but the knock against his play against bosh was how the points occured. When someone not noted for being a physical banger type 4 (Bosh) out muscles him in the low post we can infer that playing him at the 5 spot (even in a back-up role) should be limited to special situations even if his height is listed at 7ft. Thats not a knock against him as a player just that he does not seem to match up well against large physical low post players in a way that would want you to go to him first when spelling Okafor. Still to the topic, Strawberry looked ok at points (the few we saw) but he needs playing time to continue to develop and thats something he wouldnt get as the 15th man on the bench here anyway. I wish him luck.

Are you seriously comparing Thornton to Alexander L Reazy? Thornton had an incredible rookie year, and has had a down PRESEASON. Alexander has never produced in this league. There's a huge freaking difference there.

I was really pulling for DJ Strawberry ... I like players who play 'D', are fast, and athletic. Why is Joe Alexander still with the team? Wooooow .... he hasn't earned anything. ...but, I guess if Marcus Thornton can play terrible and stay on the roster ... why can't Alexander? According to some 'posters', -like Marcus Thornton- maybe Joe Alexander is another key to keeping Chris Paul happy / a Hornet ... lol! L_Reazy

From a different post regarding trading Marcus Thornton: ‘winze’, that’s just it … I never stated that Prince was the answer … it was more about brainstorming and figuring out what Marcus Thornton’s value is considered to be, being that I keep reading that he is the key to keeping Chris Paul. If anyone thinks that is true then the Hornets are in more trouble than we thought. “Marcus Thornton is the key to keeping Chris Paul happy?” No, I think keeping Marcus Thornton is the key to keeping ‘HiMyNameisSteven’ happy, apparently. Tayshaun Prince isn’t washed up, but he isn’t the answer either, I agree. However, he is better than Marcus Thornton and Emeka Okafor! Nevertheless, every transaction is just a stepping stone to getting better. So, one trade wouldn’t put the Hornets in the Finals anyway. In regards to Emeka Okafor … anyone remember the game at Toronto last season when Chris Bosh destroyed Okafor the same way ‘HiMyNameisSteven ‘ mentions how Jason Smith got destroyed by him? What’s the difference? Point is, Emeka Okafor leaves a lot to be desired, and in my opinion he isn’t that much better than a back-up BIG-Man. Jason Smith is comparable to Okafor, and if Okafor was traded the Hornets wouldn’t lose anything at that position. Like I stated before, ‘HiMyNameisSteven’ you started the insults with me, because you got sensitive about my harmless trade question about MT5. Why are you so enamored by Marcus Thornton? I’m glad your not the GM, because MT5 would be untouchable, huh? For other ‘posters’ … what would be a good trade for Marcus Thornton? … and Emeka for that matter? L_Reazy

¡Ay, caramba Joe Gerrity! Of all the players we could of cut, traded, or sent to the D-League, Strawberry was not on my pick. Demps must have some master plan going on that we don't know about. I just hope it works.

So is it Jerrels or Jarrells or Jaryls or Jerrals? I can't cheer for him if I don't know him.

They will cut Alexander before the season starts, it's a no-brainer! Maybe they even cut Mensah-B., too, and go on with 13 guys. There is no need for him, unless two guys get injured.

just an idea, but do you guys think that move to get rid of strawberry makes a similar statement to thorton that we are commited to him as it did to paul when we got rid of collison?

i agree about getting the bodies into camp. Kudos, Demps. Based on the depth chart laid out here, Thornton will be seeing some time. There could be a rotation where Green and Jerralls split the time with Belinelli on the bench, but makes more sense for Marcus to get some minutes. Alexander is just dangling out there. I don't see how he sticks around with the other 14, everyone getting guaranteed deals. So, assuming that's right . . . who's leaving? Pondexter to D-League? That'd justify his existence. Peja? If so, what do we get back and how do we make room? If we send out Peja at $15, plus another piece, we'd need to get back two guys that are pretty pricey. It'd seem like we'd be better off getting more people back than we sent out, which requires empty roster spots. Going into the regular season with 14 instead of 15, to me, says alot about what is to come.

At least we brought in some younger talent to test out this pre-season and it effectively cost us nothing. Better than just signing a vet and being stuck with them for the whole season even if you know they are going to suck early on. Plus it created competition for roster spots and players got a chance to prove themselves. IMO D.J and Mustafa were gone the minute Jerrells was signed. Green is looking good so far from a defensive point of view and as long as he can do a serviceable job as a backup guard then this team is starting to look ok in terms of the backcourt. Alexander must be showing something on the practice court that isn't being seen by the public to be on the list still, unless Monty's love of project SFs is keeping him around. At this stage there is still enough pieces there to have a solid roster for this season or for a trade to be done to bring in some good talent to put around CP3. The way i see the roster atm, only CP3 and maybe Ariza are safe, everyone else on that roster could be traded.