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Additional Moves?
ESPN seems to have reason to believe that the Hornets intend to make more trades. The rumor mill states “New Orleans acquired some help for CP3, but it may not be done dealing just yet.” Assuming this statement holds some truth, what do you think are possible trades this team has left to make? What would you like to see?
Break down just who exactly might be on the way out, and this question might yield a few possible answers. To me, I see the Hornets divided into two groups: reason to stay, and reason to leave. Certain players, in my opinion, have a strong argument in their favor as to why they are staying on the team, whereas others look expendable considering this team is building to win. However, the FO might be on the fence about a few players–only they would know who exactly, so I’ve put certain players on multiple lists.
Reason to stay:
- Chris Paul – obviously
- Marcus Thornton – future/current stud badass
- Quincy Pondexter – future stud badass
- Trevor Ariza – we just got him. If we ever trade him, it would be for a better player in return
- David West – CP3’s longtime sidekick
- Emeka Okafor – a solid NBA center
- Craig Brackins – unknown NBA potential–we’ll wait and see
- Mustafa Shakur – why would we pick him up from the D-League just to trade him?
- Peja Stojakovic – good trade chip for team needing cap space (finally)
- Darius Songaila – expiring contract (do we really need three stretch 4s?)
- Emeka Okafor – hefty contract (will he improve?)
- George Shinn – hah, funny eh? but seriously……please god
- Emeka Okafor – depends on how he performs
- David West – CP3’s sidekick, but a trade for potential young star?
- Marco Belinelli – too early to tell, but likely a keeper (but not ruling it out)
- Craig Brackins – same as Marco
- Aaron Gray – is he a serviceable/capable player?
The reason I list West and Okafor in the last group is because both are talented players, but if they don’t improve as a duo, one or both could be traded. This is obviously just my opinion of how I see things, but given this list, what type of player, or who precisely, would this team pursue? Who would be the trade bait? I would say if any moves are imminent, it would be any one or combination of Peja, Songaila, Okafor, or West to be shipped out in return for a young player like Michael Beasley, Jason Thompson (look him up), Thaddeus Young, Maresse Speights, Javale McGee, etc.
What do you guys think??