2011-12 Off-season moves. (pt. 1) “Save us Superman”

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Published: July 26, 2011

Hey Hornets fans. In honor of the NFL starting what will be a wild (and brief) offseason. I thought for the rest of the week I would purpose offseason moves I would like the Hornets to make once the NBA 2011-12 offseason starts(if there is one). I will examine each trade from all the franchise perspectives and grade each move for each individual team and likelihood of said trade. Then I will suggest additional moves for the Hornets to improve after any purposed trades.

These trades will be conducted with the assumption that we have a new CBA. This hypothetical CBA will have a salary cap of 63mil, and cap floor of 53 (the minimal a team can spend each year) and a cap ceiling of 73mil (the maximum a team can spend), with a 3 to 1 luxury cap for every dollar over 63mil up to 73mil and no Bird rule or MLE’s.

If we’re going to talk trades you have to discuss Dwight Howard. He clearly is not happy with Orlando. Currently they have two contracts that will make it difficult to win a Larry O’Brien trophy any time soon. For the sake of the argument let’s assume Howard and Paul decided they want to play together (because this is probably the only way this works). New Orleans would be the prime place for them to play. Let’s face it we don’t have nearly enough assets to offer the Magic for Howard alone. This is why I purpose a four team trade. The additional two teams would be the Minnesota T’Wolves and the Houston Rockets.

Here goes!

T’Wolves

Acquire G. Arenas, Hornets 2nd rd pick, ORL 2nd rd pick 2013

Rockets

Acquire H. Turkoglu, D. Milicic, NOH 1st rd pick, ORL 2nd rd pick and NOH 1st rd pick 2013

Hornets

Acquire D. Howard, M. Webster, J. Flynn, J. Hill

Magic

Acquires E. Okafor, T. Ariza, M. Beasley, J. Jack, T. Williams

Minnesota  would be at 51mil leaving them 12mil under the cap.

Pro’s- They move three guys (Beasley, Milicic, and Webster) who aren’t working for them. With Beasley gone Love can continue to grow. Also Beasley off the court issues plus drafting Derrick Williams makes him expandable. Arenas may not be “Agent 0” anymore, but he is healthy physically (getting healthier mentally) and can still fill it up. His ballhandling will help take some pressure off Rubio and/or Ridnour. Lastly they will get NOH and ORL second round picks in a very talented draft. This move puts them closer to the cap floor while taking on only one questionable contract (which may end up working for them).

Con’s- They’re left with Arenas horrible contract and still aren’t a playoff teams.

Starting line up Rubio or Ridnour/Arenas/D.Williams or Wesley/Love/Miller or Pekovic

 

Houston would be at 54.5mil leaving them 8.5mil under the cap

Pro’s- They get first and second round picks in next year draft and a first round pick in 2013 draft. If Hedo still has something in the tank he can really help Houston. With Yao retiring Darko gives the Rockets another talented center that’s reasonably priced. Between him and Thabeet they have to hope one of them pan out. If both player hit this is a playoff contending team. Moving Hill and Williams clear up mins at forward for there draft picks. They move J. Flynn who I don’t think their high on.

Con’s-  Turkoglu and Darko fit needs, but at this point both are gambles. Houston isn’t left with a lot of cap space and the post-season isn’t guaranteed. Still left with question marks at center.

Starting line up Lowry/Martin/Turkoglu/Scola/Milicic

Hornets would be at 51mil putting us 12mil under the cap.

Pro’s- Obviously we get to pair Dwight with Chris. This essentially saves basketball in New Orleans. Getting a local ownership group (which I think will happen anyways) will most certainly happen. We’re left with 15mil to bring in a championship level team around the two.

Con’s-  We blow up the whole team. We lose all draft picks next year maybe even the following year if necessary. We’re left with a bunch of holes and 15mil to feel them.

Starting line up  Paul/Belinelli/Webster/Hill/Howard

Magic would be at 58mil putting them 5mil under the cap.

Pro’s- You would think there’s nothing positive about losing your franchise player and best big man in the game (but under this scenario he’s leaving anyways), but this would be the very next best thing. ORL gets a roster that’s just as good if not better than they were last year, and they cut almost 20mil in player salaries in the process. This gives Otis Smith a reset button for all the bad deals that’s been done in the past 5-7 years. Beasley will have a team around him that will allow him to be a star. If he can keep himself out of trouble.

Con’s- Losing Howard clearly will hurt, but looking at the depth of the roster I would be surprise if they don’t win more games over the next few years. They get Okafor bad contract.

Starting line up  Nelson/Redick/Ariza/Beasley/Okafor

ORL back ups Jack/Richardson/Williams/Bass/Anderson or Orton

Minnesota – B- This move would set them up nice for the future.

Houston – C+ This move is hard to grade. Big gamble on court, but the draft picks alone makes it worth it for the Rockets

New Orleans – A+ From a personnel standpoint this is more of a B+, but the hype alone makes it an A+ for us. This will ensure hoops stay in the Big Easy so my grade is inflated.

Magic – B+ Any trade that allow you to get a reset set button on all the bad moves as the GM is good.  A trade that gives you a reset button and a playoff team is one you can’t pass up on. Of course this is if you know your franchise player is leaving.

While IMO this trade make sense to all parties involved, 4 team trades are so difficult and this is all based around D12 wanting to play with CP3. On a scale from 1-10 of probabilty I would say this is a 3. 🙁  Still fun to think about, and I hope once a CBA is done Mr. Demps is on the phone trying to make this happen.

The Hornets will have holes that would need to be addressed via FA. The good thing is the salary cap would reduce the market value. There will be enough FA vets looking for a ring who would sign for a discount. This deal would even make it possible to bring back West if the price is right (which I think it would) and maybe a SG like J.R. Smith or Nick Young. Then we would need to sign a veteran back- up PF and C and we would have a team ready to bring home a Larry O’Brien trophy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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