re: So what's next for Hornets ?

We will move Peja and his expiring deal.

It's an expiring deal. It's not that hard to move him if he's expiring.

Point guard: New Orleans is set for the foreseeable future. Barring something downright nightmarish - as in career-ending injury nightmarish - Paul and Collison will be more than enough to keep the Hornets strong as point guards. The only thing will be making sure Collison doesn't leave possibly to start at another franchise in a few years, but for right now, at least, the Bees are fine.

Shooting guard: The emergence of Marcus Thornton scoring more points for far less money than all the other shooting guards on the roster was huge. Time will tell if he's streaky or a monster. Presuming this isn't a fluky outburst of scoring by Mr. Thornton, the Hornets have a very good, young starter. Getting a backup is the real task: Peterson wouldn't be that bad of a backup if he weren't worth $6 million a year and counting. Luckily, the Hornets should be able to get a backup that will either put up better numbers than Peterson at the same cost or put up similar numbers at a lower cost (or both). That's for next offseason, though: there's no cap room to sign another until Peterson's contract becomes workable midway through the 2011-2012 campaign.

Small forward: The Hornets must fix this position up. I don't Stojakovic is THAT bad, but he is not worth >$13 million as far as his actual production goes. Julian Wright just isn't panning out... I would have considered him the future at small forward, but with the way things are looking I'm not sure I'm confident he is the answer. There's not enough negotiating room financially to cash in on the free agency bonanza this offseason, sadly, so the draft may be the best place to look. Posey is too expensive to be a backup, but he's here for a while and the Hornets don't have very many other options; trying him out as a starter might not be a bad move.

Power forward: The Hornets have some work to do here. West is a good scorer, but I think Songaila would be a better starter. I just get the feeling that he would, I don't have anything to offer up. West is too good not to keep, though... and I have to wonder if he would accept being a backup well. If he doesn't, the Hornets need to look for another power forward, because Diogu is too much of an injury risk to rely on as a backup, IMO.

Center: Chukwuemeka Okafor has a badass name and a badass performance for a salary that's not-so-badass for the Bees. I liked the trade for Aaron Gray at first, but I feel as though he'll be a perennial backup at best. Drafting a center seems like the best move the Hornets could make this offseason, and personally I'd like to see Aldrich from KU here: solid passer, fights for rebounds, plays good defense from what little I've seen and more I've heard. He isn't a real scoring threat, but he has all he needs to be a strong backup as a rookie and maybe the scoring comes with time.

Gotcha. Too bad the front office signed Peterson and Stojakovic for one more year than they did. It kind of saddens me to think about $20 million being used on those two during such a promising free agency period... ah well.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments!

It'll never happen. But Andre Iguodala has been rumored to be on the block. If Philly keeps him and sucks to start next season, he would be the perfect option for Peja's expiring contract.

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With $20 million? I mean, the front office hasn't wowed anyone lately, but I'd imagine with $20 million and an opening for someone to come in and kick arse in the frontcourt they could get SOMEONE.

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FWIW they wouldn't have $20 million to spend. They would save $20 million but would still be right around the cap already and wouldn't be able to give any big contracts.

Do the Hornets have any expiring contracts left to deal? Do you think they might move JuJu?