It’s no secret that the hornets will be looking to rebuild a new stronger line-up for the 2010-11 season. The names Andre Iguodala and Chris Bosh have been mentioned several times on this blog and nearly everyone would have to agree that it would be a dream come true to see them both in hornets jerseys. But is it possible to acquire these two players even with the cap situation? The answer is absolutely yes, and is it as far fetched as the lakers trading Kobe for Tracy McGrady, no.

Here is a table showing the hornets current roster taken from The HoopsHype Website showing our current salary situation. I have also written several small sections on stuff about individual parts of the roster including the trades,signings and etc. I’ll also submit another section on the new roles, minutes and etc later this week.

The Hornets Current Roster

Not much else to say but thats our current roster.    

The Building Of the New Hornets Team

Chris Bosh, To acquire PF Chris Bosh 2 players are needed. PG Darren Collison and SF Predraq Stojakocic with a combined salary of $16,697,040. This would easily fit with in the trade exception with MY Chris Bosh’s  projected salary of  $17,310,000 (maximum 09-10) for 10/11 with at least another 2 years on top to obtain Bird rights and should be done via a sign and trade deal.

This would be a hard sell and unless Chris Bosh wants to leave his team a first or some second round picks should be used also. In return New Orleans would receive a top 3 PF with strong offensive and defensive abilities. Toronto would receive a future top 10 PG for cheap future salary and an expensive but expiring Peja who can be well worth the money if on a Mid Level contract not to mention the cap room he would create after next season.

The reason why this may be possible is because Chris Bosh may leave Toronto and become a free agent hence being worthless to the Raptors. Chris Bosh may probably take the offer to go to New Orleans so he is instantly with another All-Star Chris Paul and has a better chance of being on a successful team (something he says he wants) then if he were to go to another team on the free agency.

This trade will obviously become almost impossible if Chris Bosh decides to stay in Toronto. But otherwise this deal is a win win win, Hornets get Bosh, Raptors get something and Bosh gets better team as well as more money. At this stage a sign and trade for the raptors is sounding more and more possible because they accept that Bosh may want to leave but ask that he doesn’t leave them with nothing.

Andre Iguodala, To acquire SG/SF Iggy, two different combinations of 3 players could be used by the hornets. PF David West and SF/SG Morris Peterson or David West and SF Julian Wright with combined salaries of $14,928,940 and $11,145,556 both withing the 125% plus 100k trade exception available for the Hornets.

This is another difficult trade that could have originally been made easier if Collison was involved but with Jrue Holiday’s recent success I’m not so sure. Again future picks could be used to sweeten the deal to a future building 76ers team. Philidelphia may go for it so they can be rid of a long term contracted player who they may have to be rid of anyway to group a more successful team.

In return The 76ers would have an explosive cheaper starting PF that can really generate points and be a good leader. It would also create trading oppotunities to move the expensive Elton Brand or at the least create room to move him to the sixth man or new SF being only 6-8. They would also recieve an expiring Morris Peterson or a cheap Juju that has potential when motivated. (Songaila or Posey could also be used instead)

For the 2010/11 season this wouldn’t create a playoff team for Philidelphia but would give them the future potential to do so making this trade another possibility. 

The Draft, pick 1 no matter how early or late the pick is the hornets should look to acquire the best SF available. If he is talented enough then he should become our starting 3 so Iggy can return to the SG position he loves best for close to 15minutes a night. ‘Buckets’ can return to being our explosive sixth man where he seemed to have the most success this season. 

Pick 2 should be for the best available PG at the time and with one of the best possible mentors on your team, the new rookie could easily tune his flaws to being a good 10minute sub for Chris Paul with more of an offensive punch. E.g.. Willie Warren, Sherron Collins. Both with scoring, passing, defending and size issues but Chris Paul has overcome all of these and so has Darren Collison.

Other positions wouldn’t really be required as we would already have two centers (Okafor, Gray) at least two power forwards (Bosh, Diogu and possibly Songaila) and a rotation that would mean the 2 is either filled by Iggy or ‘Buckets’ at all times.

The SF position with already a possibility of 3 dedicated number 3’s and really 4 if you count Iggy still needs a solid full timer to take up 30minutes a night. (Peterson, Juju and Posey don’t cut it) So a SF starter would create room to move Thornton back to the bench  and give Iggy some more minutes at his favorite position.

Like i said, I will go into more detail later this week about player minutes, roles and and the future salary of the new team, but does the new line-up sound good?