Ryan and Michael put together the off-seasons that each want to see from the Hornets, trading, signing, and each attempting to improve the team. Bask in their mad GM skills – – or mock them. Either works for us.
Enjoy! Oh, and vote for your favorite off-season below the player!
Those answering Dwight Howard in the above poll are hereby derided. I deride you. Feel the derision emanating from my being.
43 responses to “In the NO Podcast Episode 37: Building the Team”
i think with MMs move, the most difficult part is actually the Granger trade. Pacers will go irate. i think that’s the most difficult thing. They think Granger is a superstar. But i like the team MM made. 🙂
Also, i’m with Schwan. I’d like Nene play beside CP3.. I really hope Dell is finding a way to get Nene. but that’s a pipe dream 🙁
Another question I have for NOH fans is this:
if HOU called with the same offer of Thabeet, Hill and maybe add TWill for Okafor. would you do it?
no
Not unless I knew I could land Nene, Chandler or Dalembert. And even then I might say no. If they add Budinger and Chuck Hayes instead of TWill, I’d consider it.
The Okafor trades, straight up, that I would want, and could see other teams agreeing to:
Okafor and a 1st round pick for Ben Gordon and Greg Monroe.
Okafor for Biedrins and Dorell Wright
Okafor and a 1st for Derrick Williams
Okafor for Derrick Williams and Martell Webster
Okafor for Derrick Williams and Pekovic
of all those trades, i think the only possible trade is Biedrins for Dorell Wright. even then i don’t like that trade at all.
you are overrating Mek’s trade value, his contract is huge and he didn’t play that good in the playoffs
Sorry, Gec, you aren’t thinking about this the right way. How well did any of those guys Okafor is being moved for play in the playoffs?
Oh wait, they didn’t play in the playoffs. Every one of those trades has valid reasons each side might do them.
Gordon’s contract is a horrible millstone.
Williams is the third PF on a team that has no centers.
The new owner of the Warriors mocked Biedrins and has wanted him gone for months.
These are all saleable from both sides of the transaction, and help both teams.
somehow i thought the first-one was for eric gordon! I won’t do the first because Ben Gordon can’t be what Monty Williams want and because he’s too small to play with CP3.
Imho Derrick Williams isn’t the third PF of the Wolves, they’ll try to move the marjiuana-guy first. I don’t think the Wolves will be willing to trade this year second overall pick for a limited guy offensivly who has knee issues, no upside (they like upside) and you have to pay him A LOT. They didn’t give him for Odom as far as i know.
@gec: okafor had knee issues? he’s never been quite healthy the past few seasons
@nikkoewan he has to sit in a bathtub filled with ice after every game and had to last year at least (sorry for my poor english)
so ice bath every after game? most players have that.. it might be just a routine for Okafor (another way he maintains his body)..
Honestly wouldn’t dealing Paul away to the clippers be the best deal? It just seems likely that we can’t resign west so before west can sign w/ nj we ship Paul away now. I know it sounds stupid but trade him for minn’s 1st, Eric Bledsoe, aminu, kaman. Then trade okafor to minn for d williams. Resign Landry and belli and green. Yea we suck prolly for the next couple years by w/ two hopefully ugh draft picks we can do something w/ that and be an uP and coming team once Avon. Tuis may be a bad senerio but it might have to be inevitable. Any thoughts?
i’m sure that package will be there on the trade deadline(minus Kaman pls). until then? id rather see us drown in trying to get Cp3 to stay. Superstars don’t grow on trees.
I think West will be in a Hornets uniform next season if Dell Demps is all serious about keeping him.
However, if West can’t be re-signed or replaced by a comparable talent, then we need to cut bait and start over.
Okafor for Dwight Howard. I want Ryan’s spit on me!!!
*hawk* *Pthooey*
I fell in love with the Granger trade since the moment I heard it…
imho that’s unlikely to happen. The warriors are unpredictable but i don’t see them accept Okafor and his contract in their “system” because he’s like Biedrins and they want to play runandgun.
who says they still want to play run and gun? i don’t know anything about marc jackson as a coach.
As far as trading Chris Paul, here is what I’d ask for from the receiver if Chris is signing an extension:
Get Emeka off of our team
Get Ariza off of our team
No other contracts going into the 2013-2014 season.
3 first round picks, over the next 2 drafts.
Players to fill out our roster meeting the contract length requirements.
Clear off our books and hand us the future on a platter. Collecting that many picks shouldn’t cause us the correlation problems Mike pointed out.
Nice analysis, by the way.
agreed.. if we’re gonna trade Paul(i hope we don’t), that’s the package i’d want..
maybe the best shot we have to keep CP3 is go for a MiamiHeat-type of postseason. If there isn’t a 2011/12 season, we are going to have under contract: CP3’s PO, ‘Mek, Ariza and Jack! Trade Okafor for a second round pick or something like that, and if cp3’s is in that “iwanttowinfirst” mode for real he would opt out his PO and sign a lower contract with the hornets with Dwight Howard, DavidWest and some perimeter players 😀
So the Granger Trade. We lose a quality starting center and a serviceable starting SF, and we get back a quality starting SF, a back-up center, and a back up SG. Micheal you started off talking about the Hornets getting longer, but your trade gets them weaker at center?! You trade two starters to get one?! I don’t get it.
You say you are at $44M with a $60M cap, and we still have to sign West, Landry, and another big. (Signing those two will put you just below $60M with no starting center.) Then you say you can get Dalembert cheap ($6.5M). Pie in the sky. Plus you admit Dalembert won’t play that many minutes per game, so you don’t get the Hornets longer as Ryan pointed out.
Ryan’s trades: Minn, takes the huge cap hit? Will that even be allowed under the new CBA? Old CBA? That sound’s like a mini version of the Gail Goodrich trade the Lakers laid on the old N.O. Jazz. Good luck pulling that off.
Why can’t anyone say we have a good core group that needs a little tweaking at the margins, which is the most likely scenario with the more restrictive new cap numbers? Who takes Okafor with his salary (over 3 more years) in a much lower cap environment? I say no one. Who takes Ariza with his salary (over 3 more years) in a much lower cap environment? I say no one.
Maybe, if we are lucky, we get one of the two young resticted free agent SGs at Denver (Chandler or Afflalo) for a reasonable price in addition to moves at the margins like Dell did last season with very good results.
Actually, here’s an article of the character you state:
http://www.hornets247.com/blog/2011/05/27/dunk-that-sht-new-star/
You and I had discussions on this page, but they were centered around the cap figure rather than the premise.
I think the spirit of the podcast was to be on the optimistic end of good under certain constraints that will certainly not apply exactly, but these are angle I’ve not heard yet . . . to me, THAT is what is good in this, even if the trades never happen, as most proposed trades do not. These are two new ideas, and the novel nature of them is EXACTLY what is important, even more so than the particulars of who is traded, at least to me.
Here is the credit for the “Ziko-caps” as I used them twice here . . .
Yeah, 42, you and I get where the other is coming from, and its a similar place. Let’s see where reality ends up.
Minn doesn’t take any cap hit. They are far below the cap because they are trying to build their team with youth. This trade doesn’t even take them up to the salary cap. Not even close.
Both sides, players and owners, could benefit by keeping arithmetic out of the CBA.
The best option may be to dispense with writing altogether, leaving the agreement as an evolving series of gestures and grunts. They can jump around if something is key.
Of course Minn. takes a cap hit, they add around $10M/year for three years to their cap total at a time when you are projecting a $60M cap. So they will have nearly 1/4th of their cap space tied up in Okafor. There is no way that do this, let alone pay with Derrick Williams for the “pleasure” of being handicapped like this for years.
Ariza isnt tht bad. We hav to be realistic. Although, you can tell Monty questioned him alot., he still gave him a bulk load of minutes and values his defense. I also value his d. Here’s my ideal trade
We give Okafor, Jack, and a second rounder
for Monta Ellis and andris biedrins.
sign patrick mills for backup pg., resign carl resign jason smith. sign some backup center. Keep Patrick Ewing. Do ur best to resign aa monta is a better scorer than danny granger. He isnt intimadated by d wade or ron artest, when ariza has to defend the other wing. I still like bellinelli but he is a great sixth or seventh man. Get another big maybe overseas or wait till the draft or d league.
If tht doesnt work out… Y cant Nene and Emeka can play together. It wuld be the highest paid frontcourt next to the lakers, but we culd be the lakers with them two. Sign like fransico elson or jeff foster, if they let us go over the cap with landry, do that. If we dnt sign landry, sign shannon brown. and willie green i gess.
Cps/Jack
Marco/Shannon Brown/Willie
Ariza/Pondexter/Ewing
Nene/Jason Smith/Ewing
Okafor/Gray or Mohammed
I really think the Hornets have an opportunity to get Nene! He would love to play with CP3. Maybe not the Hornets as an organization (at the moment until they get an Owner / stability), but definitely CP3 might be enough to get him.
I do not think he wants to play in Denver anymore. So, I think the Nene-race is wide open.
If the Hornets signed Nene instead of David West they’d be dangerous, and that would definitely be an upgrade. Add a SG free agent signing (JR Smith or Jason Richardson), and we would have a pretty nice team!
F-Okafor, F-Ariza, C-Nene, G-Jr. Smith, G-Paul
F-Landry, F-Pondexter, C-Ja. Smith, G-Belinelli, G-Jack
L_REAZY
Or …
F-Okafor, F-Prince, C-Nene, G-Ariza, G-Paul
F-Landry, F-Pondexter, C-Gray, G- Belinelli, G-Jack
L_REAZY
….if I had to choose one of the trades proposed (that seems realistic) I would choose the Biedrins / Wright trade for Okafor. I’ve been saying Okafor for Biedrins for a while now. I like AB!
F-West, F-Ariza, C-Biedrins, G-Wright, G-Paul
L_REAZY
Hornets get:
JaVale McGee
Wizard get:
Emeka Okafor
Hornets Re-Sign
David West
Aaron Gray
Carl Landry
Willie Green
Hornets sign:
Jason Richardson
Chris Wilcox
McGee/Gray/Wilcox
West/Landry
Ariza/Pondexter
Richardson/Belinelli/Green
Paul/Jack
i would forget about getting richardson all together. he’ll ask for so much that his contract will be 2X bigger than Okafor. we need to put together pieces of the puzzle without going to far over the salary cap.
i’d rather sign J.R. Smith then J.Rich. J.R. might come at a cheaper price, and McGee for Okafor I like it I been think we should’ve done it but Okafor cost to much. it will put over the salary cap. so it won’t work unless a 3rd team gets involved and ship okafor to them and we get McGee and maybe even another player or 1st/2nd rd D-pick in return. but it still won’t help us win a championship even if we get J.Rich, or JR Smith w/ J.McGee, but it can help convince Paul that we’re serious about winning!!!!!!
Landry is very unlikely to come back.
This was easily my most favorite podcast so far. Good job guys.
This offseason I think we either have to make a huge leap forward or take a huge step back. There’s no more time for being mediocre, good, okay. It’s do or die.
With that in mind I like the Granger deal much more than the Nene deal, mainly because it’s just so much more realistic IMO. CP3, Granger, and West/Landry is a nice core that can win big next year if everything blends together well. One underrated part of this deal is Jones. I was always a big fan of Jones from the days he locked CP3 up in the DEN series a few years back. He’s just what Monty would love at the SG spot for key defensive possessions.
Whatever you do this offseason, you have to make sure its enough to win big, not 1st round and out. If there’s no hope then the CP3 deal to LAC is exactly what I had in mind. Me and a friend had a discussion about this identical deal during the draft. If you are gonna rebuild through the draft, the time to do it is next summer. The draft will be loaded with future all stars, not solid role players like the most recent draft. MIN and our own pick should easily be both top 5 or 7. Try to get another pick or 2 by trading Okafor, Ariza, Jack, and/or West (sign & trade). We would struggle next year but be in much better shape the following decade if we make the right selections in the draft. It gives Demps and Monty a chance to start over and select players they know will fit in their system, not making the most out of whats already here. We can still enjoy our old hero CP3, as he fills the highlight films every night with alley oops to Griffin, and what better thing to witness than us being a part in helping the Clips dethrown the Lakers as LA’s best!
Time will tell what the team can do this offseason, but if I am Demps, I give it all I got this summer to build something great but if I fall short I start over and 2 top picks in next years draft is one hell of a head start.
Im a very optimistic person. Lets stop putting dwest and landry on the same team. They both want big money and big minutes and thats nt gonna happen with both on the roster. They both have a bunch load of media already telling them they will be strongly coveted elsewhere. Lets consider ourselves blessed just to get one of them back. Sorry.
I would either do 1 or the other trade west to start looking for some superstars like Iggy , D.Howard, or ME8 (Each with Defense ability with a lot of offensive flair). do a resign and trade deal w/ Landry and D.West to an upgrade for the positions or resign Landry and trade him & Okafor for a superstar like D.Howard most likely. send a 1st RD pick w/ w.Green (after resigning him) and t.Ariza over their to Phi. to get Iggy. C. Paul still need a 6th man, and two role player to even think about a championship run!! maybe they can get t.young (6thMan) and Al Thornton (role Player) Rasul butler or J.Jack (role Player) with Bellini as your strater trade 2nd d-pick to get J.Pargo (his best career was in NOH that’s why I say get him). sign Vladimir Radmanovic and a couple of d-league player.
G: CP3, J.Jack, J.Pargo
G: M.Bellini, R.Butler, J.Jack
F: Iggy, Al thorton,Vladimir Radmanovic
F: D.west, t.Young, J.Smith, D-L
C: D. Howard, A.Gray, D-Leaguer
Hornets get:
JaVale McGee
Rashard Lewis
Wizard get:
Emeka Okafor
Trevor Ariza
Hornets Re-Sign
David West
Aaron Gray
Carl Landry
Willie Green
Hornets sign:
J.R. Smith
Chris Wilcox
McGee/Gray/Wilcox
West/Landry
Lewis/Pondexter
Belinelli/Smith/Green
Paul/Jack
J.R. Smith would be the starter I mean its about time that he starts mostly on a team now!! and like “Brandon” said, “We are unlikely to Landry back.” Lewis cost more than Okafor, plus he’s starting to look like a bust. should’ve went with Nick Young instead of R.Lewis. and we need to get taller PF/SF as well Pondexter is too short for SF, trade him for taller SF maybe someone 6″7-6″10 as a back-up.
Ryan or MM why hasnt anyone talked about Rodney Stuckey. I think he wud run floor nicely next to Cp3. He doesnt have much of a jumpshot but belli cud come of the bench for shooting.He is a RFA but i dont think Detroit really wants him back considering they drafted Brandon Knight. We could try to sign him or do a sign a trade
“A lot of the Chicago Bulls success this year was because Thibs brought Brian Scalabrine with him.” Says who??? Not anyone from Chicago.
Anyway…basketball is a form of religion in Indiana. So why would their suit-and-ties deal an all-star who’s won a gold medal for this country? 30 milli and a quota? Hey, Hornets need Granger – no doubt, but I think Golden State values Lee more than Ellis (b/c of Curry), and Indy values their star player more than a lack of money and melanin. Now if we could Dalembert that’d be great. Amundson and Brown, not so much. As for Granger, that’s just a pipe dream IMEO.