re: The 2011 Offseason Trade Idea thread

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In that deal the hornets get younger, cheaper, and better. Too good to be true.

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I think every team would benefit greatly from that trade.

Including Smith, the Hawks have 7 players under contract for next year, who they owe a total of $64 million. The year after that, they owe 6 players $58.5 million dollars.

They aren't going to trade Smith's contract for an even larger one in return. They are paying guys like Joe Johnson and Al Horford a shite ton of money for the next 5+ years, and they'll have to pay to keep Jeff Teague in a couple of years too. No point in adding Okafor's contract on top of all of that. If they want to move Horford to power forward and find another center, they'll do it. But it won't be Okafor, who is scheduled to be the 5th highest paid center in the league next year.

Horford and his dad can say that he doesn't want to play center all they want, but they aren't going to sacrifice their future financially to make it happen (hell, they might just straight up not be able to do this financially).

Like I said, if they want to move Horford to power forward, and they don't want Collins or Pachulia(sp?) at center, then they'll make some kind of move to improve their depth at that position. But I doubt they think they can afford a contract like Okafor's.

Obviously there are different reasons for parting with Smith, but he also makes some good money for the next two years, and Atlanta would be happy to get that off the books sooner rather than later if they can.

And how do you see Smith fitting in here in New Orleans? He's great at times, but he's inconsistent too. West is better than Smith and much cheaper if he takes his player option.

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It would seem like you'd agree since you're hell bent on shipping Paul out for the exact same reasons.

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frick yes I'd do your trade, but I'm saying there's no way in hell Atlanta could or would do it.

The difference is that Paul has much more appeal than Okafor. For example, Oklahoma City would probably be willing to break up their core four of Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka if it meant getting Paul in return. And a team like Oklahoma City doesn't have multiple players with huge salaries tying them down in the future like Atlanta does.

Paul and Durant with a decent supporting cast is probably the best team in the West. If the Hornets can get a scoring point guard like Westbrook, a great defensive PF like Ibaka, and maybe more for Paul, don't you think they should do it? We'd probably be just as good as we were this year, except for we'd finally be under the salary cap.

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I just think you REALLY like Westbrook and are pissed off at Paul's regular season performance. Give him another year. I showed you the stats in the other thread. Paul's the superior player in every category, even injured.

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Paul's awesome. He's better than Westbrook when he goes all out, but I think Westbrook is a better fit on the majority of the teams in the NBA. Paul is outstanding. However, if your point guard is going to be your best player, and he is a pass-first guy, you need some other great players around him if you want to compete for a championship (or even just compete to win the West). Right now, there aren't that many options to bring in at the 2 spot who can help us in that aspect. Plus, Ariza and Okafor are both locked in at their positions, and they don't provide that much offense either.

Either Paul needs to become much more aggressive on the offensive end (especially in the 4th quarter), or we need a guy who looks to score first at the point guard spot. A guy who is looking to get his. Paul was great this post-season. If he can play like that for an 82-game season, then of course everyone would rather have him. But you just don't know if he will ever be that same Chris Paul he used to be for an 82-game season.

Chicago is a very defensive oriented team, with a few decent offensive options around Rose (Boozer is a bit overrated), and they still managed to win a ton of games and reach the conference finals. I think the Hornets could be sort of similar to that situation, although not as good obviously. We have the defensive-minded coach, we have David West (our Boozer), we have a defensive stopper (Ariza), and we have an effort center (like Noah), even if he does make a little too much money.

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Westbrook has led the league in turnovers 2 out of his 3 years, and had 150 more TOs than CP this year. Thats 150 less possessions the Hornets would have. Paul also usually leads the league in steals. Thats even more possessions gained. Paul also sets scrubs like Bellineli up for WIDE OPEN shots, and averages more assists. To me, those things alone make up for whatever point differential there might be. Plus, remember Paul looked healthy in the playoffs. The last regular season Paul was healthy he averaged 23/11.

We shouldnt shouldnt trade Paul to add a few more points. We should replace our d-league shooting guard with a real one.

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I think Westbrook is just in the completely wrong place in Oklahoma City. He's not a good fit. There are two players who want to dominate the ball and look to score at all costs. There's not enough ball to go around. And to make things worse, he's not "the guy." He's not the one who got the extension over the summer. He's not the one who the fans and the entire town love. He's not the one who is the future of the franchise. There's a lot of pressure and negative energy on him right now.

I think if he were out of the spotlight (yea, spotlight in Oklahoma City ), he could thrive. And if I'm wrong, then I'll be the first one to admit it.

If the Hornets could somehow make the 3-team trade I posted earlier, we'd be one of the top 3 teams in the West for sure. It's just so hard to make a deal like that where all of the salaries line up and every team gets better.

The only problem with making Westbrook THE guy on a team, is i think it makes him an even more inefficient player. I dont know that im sold on him being a franchise level guy quite yet.

Whether its Westbrook or Paul though, the Hornets HAVE to add another scorer. If the Hornets had West and a guard that could actually knock down the wide open shots they were getting i think they couldve beaten the Lakers. The difference between what Dallas did to the Lakers and what the Hornets did was Terry knocked down all those shots that Belinelli bricked.

As for Paul, i agree with you, we need playoff level Paul all year next year. Im willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because there are legit reasons for him to take it easy only months off of that surgery. Had i not seen his playoff performance i wouldve been much more skeptical. He showed that it was still in him to be a top 5 player.

However, if he starts out next year like he did this past regular season, then id be ready to make a move. Or of course if he's pushing for a trade behind the scenes

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Hornets
1 - Westbrook/Jack
2 - Iguodala/?
3 - Ariza/Pondexter
4 - Ibaka/Landry/Smith
5 - Okafor

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You think the scoring on our team last year was bad...

That team would be scoring 60 points a game. They would be abysmal offensively. GREAT defensively, but they wouldn't be able to throw the ball in the ocean.

Hornets Get:
Iggy
Marreese Speights

76'ers Get:
Okafor
Pondexter

Why Philly Does it:
Gets rid of a guy who might not want to be there that has an expensive contract. Lets their young talent get more playing time. Trading away a position where you have a lot of depth for a position where you dont have much depth.

Phillys lineup:
PG Holliday/ Lou Williams
SG Turner/Meeks
SF Young/Q-pon
PF Brand
C Okafor/Hawes

Hornets lineup:
PG Paul/ Jack
SG Iggy/belinelli?
SF Ariza
PF West/Landry
C Speights/Gray

okafor and jack for bynum and blake

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And why would LAL do that?

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bc of what happened in game 4