The speculation on who the Hornets would draft at number 45 has ended. Just after 10 pm central time Dell Demps came into the media room at the Hornets Headquarters and announced that the team would be selling the pick to the New York Knicks. The reaction wasn’t exactly enthusiastic, since we had been here over four hours waiting for some news.
Am I happy about it? Not really, but I doubt anything that happened with the 45th pick today was going to make me particularly thrilled. It would have been a lot of fun to talk about a new player, and get some cool interviews with him, but in the end it’s better that the Hornets use the money on players that they think will help them.
Dell didn’t think anyone available can help us as much as a few ducats can, and that’s a fairly reasonable assumption considering how weak the draft was this year. If money is what the team needs to take the next step, then this was the obvious decision. Ryan has repeatedly posted that the odds of getting a 6th man type player or better so late in the draft are only around 13%, and the fact that he Dell got such good value for such a late pick in a down NBA economy just makes the decision that much more defensible for both the Hornets and their fans.
I’m sure Dell has nothing personally against Josh Harrellson, but would just rather the team have 750,000 right now.
Talk it up in here or at HornetsReport.
73 responses to “Breaking News: Hornets Sell 45th Pick to Knicks”
Sold for how much?
$1m
Looks like $750,000 now.
Thank you, sir.
WOW!
First off, no one wins a T-Shirt? … even if they chose Harrellson? lol
Secondly, I watched the entire draft to hear what I heard last year with Aldrich. Difference, I didn’t have to wait all night.
That being said, Harrellson would’ve helped as much anyway.
…but, where is this going for the Hornets? What is Dell trying to do? When will he do it? This is frustrating … I mean, can you really tell a Hornet fan to be patient? We deserve urgency!
L_REAZY
¡Ay, caramba Joe Gerrity!
This is kind of frustrating. Would have been nice to talk about a new player. Thought Keith Benson out of Oakland or David Lighty from Ohio States would have been nice additions. It feels like we as a franchise have such a lack of faith in building through the draft. Basically, every draft pick has either failed, been traded, or sold since we drafted Chris Paul.
I really hope they make a splash….heck, a FEW splashes in free agency. But who knows when that will occur with the impending lockout. One of the hardest things to do as a fan is wait out a boring offseason….
Dream offseason: David West, DeAndre Jordan (his qualifying offer was only a little over $1 million…the least we could do is make an offer), J.R. Smith
I don’t mind this. I mean it’s not exciting or anything like that but it could be a semi-smart move. The team is operating under a budget approved by the NBA. Selling the pick for $750,000 means they have that much more room in the budget. That could be a couple of d-league players the team wants to try out. Or maybe that is the difference which a free agent needs to sign with the Hornets. There is no owner currently so the money wont be going in to Shinn’s pocket. It’ll be reinvested into the team. So before this gets trashed (my twitter timeline is awesome) let’s see what they do with this money.
If I could embed a song into this comment it would be Patience by Gun’s N Roses.
it does makes sense because with the cash they get in return they get some better players in free agency
As an NBA nerd, happy draft night, as a New Orleanian and Horns fan, I’m interested in how much cash, what the deal is financially, and if I should get invested in a team that Cowherd, on the radio said is unfixable due to lack of corporate support. If the money isn’t here geographically, I might just not follow the Hornets as a fan, but just mainstream association news. I’ll have fond memories of rooting for a hometown team. I’m having trouble rooting for a player that is supposed to be so valuable that he, as an individual, has leverage against the team. He can’t take over the scoring in crunch time. He may be the hardest worker, and deserves his praise, but he has the ability and authority to work with management on economic matters, and to help build a winner. But winning and losing may not matter in the “New Orleans” part of the Hornets situation.
This team can’t wait on production down the road from the 45th pick. I believe the cash from the pick can be spent without it counting against any cap. So you can afford another player, or part of a player, now. I like it, especailly if the price in $1M.
Being honest, I’m glad Harrellson was sold. I wouldn’t have wanted to talk about him. I think this helps the team more than Harrellson ever would have. I would have liked to see us draft Lighty, but chances of him being successful are so slim that I’ll take cash. Like Dell said, we weren’t going to draft someone just to draft someone. Smart.
“Being honest, I’m glad Harrellson was sold. I wouldn’t have wanted to talk about him.”
LOL! I watch SOME college ball but I had never heard of this guy in my life. There were quite a few of those for me in tonight’s draft. I was like “ok now who the heck is that?” LOL.
Heck, did anyone draft Lighty at all? Teams must’ve not favored him much.
Understandable but its just frustrating because with this lockout coming up. We probably wont know what we’re going to do with that extra money till damn near next year if it drags out. Plus it seems like we sell/trade away/or draft busts with our picks since CP3 almost every year. And not to mentioned it completely ruined the contest for the T-Shirt.
This team is just in such disarray right now it almost sucks to be a fan. I’m pissed cuz I stayed up for this hoping we would do something. And don’t get me wrong I understand the choice but it still kinda sucks. Its like we keep getting told something is going to happen to help the team and it never does. I think I understand how CP feels now.
I’m sure Demps is going to get a FA but at this point it can’t be just some dude he picks up from the DLeague. We need a name. And we need him to play SG or C period if we wanna keep CP3.
So you’d sleep much better tonight if the Hornets had kept Harrellson?
Some of us weren’t happy after last seasons draft night but then when we heard the Hornets had traded for Ariza (which supposedly was a player that CP wanted) during the offseason, we felt ok. Yeah, some were mad we let go of Collison but Ariza helped the Hornets more than Collison would have.
How many players do the Hornets currently have under contract? I’m willing to bet the Knicks won’t stick with Harrellson and the Hornets will still have money to use. Sign it to re-sign West/Landry or any other FA that can help the team.
Use $750K to re-sign West or Landry? That much money is a footnote. Pocket change. Will it really, really make a difference?
Not just the 750 alone. We need to look at the bigger picture of how that money can possibly help, not just the now and not just the $750K. I agree with 42 in that it can help when someone is bidding $750K more than us for someone.
5 players.
It can help when someone is bidding $750,000 more than us for someone.
I heard Josh Smith’s name mentioned in the interview.
That’s the third time I’ve heard ‘Hornets’ & ‘Josh Smith’ mentioned together in the last two days.
Personally, I’d like a move done before the July 1st Lockout begins.
Maybe this will be ‘Domino #1’!
L_REAZY
If they don’t make a move by then we are going to be waiting a long freakin time.
Josh Smith was mentioned by Tom Haberstroh of ESPN as a possible fit for New Orleans, but I don’t think that’s based on anything other than speculation.
In the Q and A with Dell, John Deshazier meant Jason Smith, but he said Josh Smith. It was a long night.
Not loving this. Selling ANOTHER pick speaks to more than just a 45th pick. It suggests sameness, stagnation. Which is a surefire way to lose our two best players and then we’re the damn gutter dwellers that everyone else already treats us like we are. I’m not losing hope, but it was a blow to my chops I thought wasn’t coming. And now I’m all shook up.
How do you know our 2 best players don’t want this? How do you know if whether or not CP would rather they sell the pick if it means using the money to sign another player that he’d prefer? And if you aren’t losing hope it sure as heck sounds like you’re just about there.
I don’t. But I do know that not doing a thing but standing still won’t cut it. And initial reaction was that this leans towards standing still. There’s obviously a plan. I could discern that from watching Demps.
So maybe its that I’m not having the best sequence of events. I’ll relax, have a good night’s sleep and be back to my old self tomorrow.
See this all in a new light.
But for right now. Bad taste is left in my mouth.
Just because they didn’t do much on draft night doesn’t mean they won’t do anything all offseason long.
They’ll be alright.
But that offeseason your talking about will last about a week unless they come up with a new deal. If not we’re looking at nothing happening till December Jan if this lockout drags out and all indications are pointing that way….
Nunu, we have 5 for sure players under contract right now. There will be signings. And I’m willing to bet they’ll be better than a Harrellson signing. LOL.
Eman5805,
This is the 45th pick in a very weak (historically) draft, a team that needs to win now, and a new front office. I don’t see anything in common with the selling of our 2nd round draft pick (2 years ago?), except the odds against them making it in the NBA are very high.
Historically weak? How? It just friggin’ happened. How could you or anyone possibly know how good this draft could be?
I’m over any bad feelings about the draft, though I’ll continue defending why I felt that way now that I see things more clearly, and it had NOTHING to do with Harrellson or any player we could’ve picked in the 2nd round.
Do we seriously think Chris Paul is counting on a player at #45 in this poo poo draft to help this team? I’ll bet if they consulted CP and asked him if he’d rather they use the money to re-sign West and/or Landry or would he want the #45 pick, which would CP prefer?
Besides, like I said over at ATH, some Hornets fans want lottery and new bodies every single year. Well when Chris Paul IS gone, they’ll have their chance at that happines every year.
How many players do the Hornets have under contract right now? Do they still have trade exception money to use?
5 under contract for sure. Lots of trade exception money.
yeah i just looked at the trade exemption money. forgot about that. makes me feel a little better
5 under contract right now? Wow. And the way some people are sounding as though that’s all we’ll go into the season with (if we even have a season). Moves will be made. They have to. I’m not upset with this move.
Within the next week we will hear what West decides. He’ll probably opt out for more money but that doesn’t mean he won’t remain a Hornet. Demps has said he wants to keep both West and Landry. Hopefully whatever monies they have will allow them to keep both.
Here is one way to obtain Josh Smith, if, the Hornets are really looking to make a play for him!
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=63shjj5
Add this trade with Emeka for Iguadola, with the signing of Dalembert and Wilson Chandler …
… might be interesting … assuming Josh Smith is obtained with the departure of David West.
F-Smith, F-Chandler, C-Dalembert, G-Iguadola, G-Paul
L_REAZY
750 thousand to help pay the bills? Wow.
I asked about that and the answer is that the money will be used to make the team better.
That small amount of money won’t make the team better. They had a draft choice who might have worked out in case Gray or Smith isn’t back.
Maybe the Hornets are trying to save some pennies in a desperate effort to keep David West. Strikes me as sad. West doesn’t look like he wants to stay on and a few hundred thousand isn’t going to make the difference.
At first I thought we picked Harrellson for our roster and wasn’t pleased. However, I’m okay with the pick being sold.
I’d really, really like to take a look at David Lighty as an undrafted free agent. I’ve watched him for five years. The dude works his tail off. I also liked Jon Diebler from Ohio State. I figured he’d go undrafted and would fit great as a shooter.But Portland scooped him up.
QueenBee. From what I know, here are our trade exemptions.
Collison – 1.36M
MoPete – 1.35M
Peja – 6.65M
Thorton – 762K
JuJu – 2.58M
I’d love a Josh Smith move. He can be so dumb on the court at times but he’s one of my favorite players in the league to watch.
Thanks Hollis21. That’s some nice trade exception money. Demps is the GM and I think he’ll know what he’s doing. We try to play armchair GM but I think he’ll handle his business. That te money from Peja alone is really nice. Heehee! 😉
It takes years to fully evaluate a draft pick. I say give this move the same consideration. Let’s see what Demps does with the cash before we judge.
Josh Smith. Kinda redundant as he’s kind of a mix of Landry and Ariza and Okafor.
He’d probably be part of a sequence of moves, I hope. Bring in a 2 that can put ball in hoop with required amount of regularity and maybe yet another athletic big like Sean Williams to replace Mbeetaljuice.
Tonight’s draft is the least of our worries. If there’s anything we should be worried about is that they introduce a new CBA that’s favorable for small markets is and we get a local owner that wants to keep the team here so free agents will feel better about coming to play here. We’re pouting because we didn’t keep a late 2nd round pick and for all we know we may not even have a team in the next 2-3 years.
Oooohooo, Dell Demps is a money man. Look if the guys says that there was no one worth picking, then there was no one worth picking. This was a really bad draft class, producing only one potential superstar in Derrick Williams (Kyrie Irving just doesn’t present anything really special to me), so to me it makes a lot of sense to save every dime we could. Harrellson is nothing special, he’s probably going to be nothing more than a deep reserve or maybe never find his way onto the court. We’re going to need every penny we can get if we want to make a push for next season, so picking a guy just to pick a guy seems like a waste. Dell knows what he’s doing, and I apologize if you don’t necessarily agree/
Lol at Fletcher Mackel whining on Twitter about the sale of the pick.
Oh God. Now I know I’m not right. Ain’t no way I could be on the same side as Fletch and think I’m right.
I really don’t have much faith, going forward.
Five players under contract, totaling $40 million. Four of them are very replaceable. West is more or less gone. The free agent “splash” that everybody expects isn’t going to happen – it really can’t happen.
Nothing at all to look forward to.
“West is more or less gone.”
Hahah, how do you know?
Because it was reported on here, and I know how to read.
It’s alright we didn’t do much n the draft. Just think Quincy pondexter developing his handles and his shooting. He can be in the rotation. Nt to push blockbuster deals bt if we can get monta without giving up ariza, we have to get him. Try to sign Greg oden or Deandre Jordan to replace okafor. Also, Denver gt Jordan Hamilton. There is no way they can keep him afflalo jr wilson chandler and gallinarri. I wldnt be mad at getting Brandon Roy. Dnt think iguodala fits in a system with Chris paul. Michael beasley will hit the trade block. Too many names for the hornets to keep steady this offseason.
Really, the annoying part was watching the Travis Leslie highlight reel two picks later. My thinking is that Demps has been given a set amount of money and he just wanted to stockpile more. That is really our best case scenario here.
WE WANT D. HOWARD
I’m alright with it. I’d have rather saw us draft Leslie from Georgia but the extra dinero aint bad too. We gonna need all the cash we can get if we want a decent free agent class
Awwww man this offseason is gonna be scary and i meant that in a good way because i think our cap is like 70M (roughly) and with everyone coming off the books we have about 40M Spent (Including west and if he opts in then we have about 47M) we can go ahead and make some major moves and sign some major players man i cant wait for Dell to get started with this offseason and plus we even have trade exceptions too so man this should be a fun Offseason my fellow hornets fans
If West opts out we sign Glen Davis then Jamal Crawford maybe.Trade Okafor and Dave Andersen to the Pistons for Rip Hamiltion & some draft picks.Then sign Wilson Chandler,Samuel Dalembert,Leon Powe,Delonte West and J.J Barea or Earl Watson.Re-sign Gray,Mbenga,Landry and Green.
C:Dalembert-Gray-Mbenga
PF:Davis-Landry-Powe
SF:Ariza-Chandler-Pondexter
SG:Hamilton-Green-Delonte West
PG:Paul-Jack-Watson
I’ve another Idea Hornets-Cavs Trade Okafor for Varejao and Sessions.Then sign Glen Davis,Crawford,Dalembert,Chandler and Delonte West.Then re-sign Green,Gray,Jack,Landry,Mbenga and waive David Andersen
C:Dalembert-Gray-Mbenga
PF:Davis-Landry-Varejao
SF:Ariza-Chandler-Pondexter
SG:Crawford-Green-West
PG:Paul-Sessions-Jack
The optimist in me allows for a way to certainly find positives in trading out of the 45th pick, regardless of how much I would have enjoyed to anoint a fresh face as our next unsung gem. To begin, several of the players that were slated as being a potential selection with our pick went completely undrafted (Lighty, Bryan-Amaning, Hopson), which means that they were obviously not NBA talents in the scouters eyes, or they can be brought in later for a look in workouts and training camp.
Realistically, the players that could have filled a bench role or be part of a back end rotation kind of flew of the boards right before the Hornets selection, which obviously altered the landscape of things very quickly. Although the $750,000 won’t garner a great deal in free agency, and second rounders contracts are not guaranteed anyways, I still feel as if this move will be beneficial in some sense down the road for the Hornets. Demps made some great moves throughout the season that allowed for the team to remain competitive and I believe this slight bit of leverage will assist him this offseason.
The sum of the parts is greater than the whole, so we must allow for the GM and Co. to really get the wheels spinning to find out whether this was a great move or error in judgement.
JR Smith, Josh Smith, and Wilson Chandler
This team have $49,302,945 in the salary cap to spend you want to know how i got those figures because of trade exemptions,expired contracts and west opting out there you go.
That is absolutely false. And those trade ideas above are terrible. And if Quincy Pondexter is ever a rotation player, we’ll have plenty to talk about come draft time, because it’s back to the lottery we surely have went.
Pondexter sucks
So you’re saying the hornets are going to tank the season for a draft lottery pick you must really want CP3 gone
Some of you are just plain idiotic! Right now the hornets roster consists of 5 players taking up around $42 mil. Hypothetically, let’s say DWest opts in for his last year, AG exercises his player option and the team makes qualifying offers to Bellinelli and Jason Smith. The grand total is now at $50 mil with 9 roster spots filled. This leaves the team with around $20 mil to fill 6 roster spots which includes hopefully resigning Carl Landry for around 4-5 mil. We’re SOL! We should be holding free agent mini-camps like other teams are doing to find some kind of diamond in the ruff. How are we supposed to find a shooting guard, back-up center and back-up small forward plus fill two more spots with $15mil????
Hey, Deebo.
Write another sentence like your first one, and you are done. Everything else you wrote is fine.
Please, don’t write another sentence like your first one.
Why in the world wouldn’t we take Jamie Skeen. Just plain idiotic
$49,552,945 to spend on some good talent.
full Contract on the right and per year contract on the left
(SG) Arron Affalo 5yr $25 Mil $5,000,000
(PF) Glen Davis 5yr $ 25 Mil $5,000,000
(PF) Carl Landry 4yr $ 18 Mil $4,000,000
(C) Arron Gray 3yr $ 9 Mil $3,000,000
(SG) Marco Belinelli 3yr $9 Mill $3,000,000
(C) D.J MBenga 2yr $1.6 Mil $850,000
(SG) Delonte West 1yr $850,000 $850,000
(PG) Carlos Arroyo 1yr $750,000 $750,000
(PF) Juwan Howard 1yr $650,000 $ 650,000
$23,000,000 in year one salary for the players they would sign,re-sign and extended contracts.
I for got to add (SF) James Jones Contract 4yr $18 Mill $4 Mil a year with the total in my previous post now totaled $27 Million for year one contracts of the re-signed,extened and signed free agents.The reason i added Glen Davis as a free agent to sign in case D West Opts out.
So you really believe there will be $50 million to spend, huh? That wasn’t a joke the first time?
Oh.