Can these superpower bball teams PLEASE stay out of our division?

[Joker]

I don't know how to respond to this. David West is a scoring threat everytime he touches the ball. You seem to think Smoove is the second coming of someone. But even if he is, the Hornets are not going to pay 18 million a year to have two power forwards. Go find a young Center and SF on our team and you have a chance at a deal.

You keep throwing this Smoove info out there as if, 1- the Hornets need a PF, 2- Smoove has made some all-star games and is a marketing dynamo, and 3-David West is not a great value at under 6 million a year. Don't know if you noticed this or not ( I think not) but David West has not been included in any of these Paul trade rumors.

He is not going anywhere KB, and certainly not to the bench to backup Smoove, when the Hornets have so many other pressing postional needs along with monetary releif. IMO you are looking at our roster and seeing what works well; but completely ignoring the Hornets roster and what would work well for them.

I understand the Homer viewpoint on Smoove and Craw being worth CP3, but it is not realistic when you look at the Hornets lineup and overall needs. Not realistic at all IMO.

:cant believe: Seriously. West can opt out next year, he has a lot of value to a playoff team come Feb. Smoove is a top 25 player, should he have made an All Star, yes but he hasn't, it still doesn't change the fact that his numbers are the best on the team including 123 million dollar Joe. What the hell are you talking about. West can score anytime is as silly as you can get. Smoove could look like a star with CP3, it's not like West does anything great. His defense is very poor and he is undersized and not athletic enough to compensate for it. West is every expendable but he hold some value not enough to do anything major even when packaged. He is just a good PF, while Smith is all star level and only 24.

Edited July 24, 2010 by nbasuperstar40

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I hate to disagree, but I do.

Del Demps is not going to deal Chris Paul to Orlando for Jameer Nelson and filler, which is what every other player you listed there is. Orlando absolutely cannot match a package of Josh Smith, Jamal Crawford, Mike Bibby, and draft picks in a deal for Chris Paul, and if Chris wasn't getting bad advice from LeBron's management group, he would welcome a move to the Hawks.

The other team mentioned by "sources", which I'm going to assume is TRMR, is the Knicks, and they certainly don't have anything they can deal that would attract the Hornets.

They can, if they simply want a lot of cap relief, which Vince Carter's expiring contract will provide. That's an 18 million team option that New Orleans could refuse to exercise on Vince's contract going into 2011 - 2012, plus add Jameer at the point, and draft picks ( which I would ask for if I were them ).

Edited July 24, 2010 by northcyde

[Buzzard]

:cant believe: Seriously. West can opt out, he has a lot of value to a playoff team come Feb. Smoove is a top 25 player, should he have made an All Star, yes but he hasn't, it still doesn't change the fact that his numbers are the best on the team including 123 million dollar Joe. What the hell are you talking about. West can score anytime is as silly as you can get. Smoove could look like a star with CP3, it's not like West does anyway great. His defense is very poor and he is undersized and not athletic enough to compensate for it. West is every expendable but he hold some value not enough to do anything major even when packaged. He is just a good PF, while Smith is all star level and only 24.

If they needed a power forward it might would work. But they don't. David West is a great value and he is better at PF than any player they currently have at SF and C for that matter. I mean seriously Okofor did not have a good season last year which should shock the hell out of you since you think Paul made West so great.

In March and April with Collison starting, West put up his best numbers of the season. I guess Collison made West better than Paul did. Its all good though. Keep thinking West should be benched, hoping we get CP3 for Smoove and Crawford, while the Hornets keep him, start him, and pay him a whole lot less than Smoove.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Buzzard

[Joker]

They can, if they simply want a lot of cap relief, which Vince Carter's expiring contract will provide. That's an 18 million team option that New Orleans could refuse to exercise on Vince's contract going into 2011 - 2012, plus add Jameer at the point, and draft picks ( which I would ask for if I were them ).

Even if NO gets VC, his contract for 11-12 is still owe 4 million and that's by cutting him. So it's not an expiring at all. Jameer is a very good player but they have a PG with more potential that is cheaper who they want to build around. Orlando deal is not awful but it doesn't help NO.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

:cant believe: Seriously. West can opt out, he has a lot of value to a playoff team come Feb. Smoove is a top 25 player, should he have made an All Star, yes but he hasn't, it still doesn't change the fact that his numbers are the best on the team including 123 million dollar Joe. What the hell are you talking about. West can score anytime is as silly as you can get. Smoove could look like a star with CP3, it's not like West does anyway great. His defense is very poor and he is undersized and not athletic enough to compensate for it. West is every expendable but he hold some value not enough to do anything major even when packaged. He is just a good PF, while Smith is all star level and only 24.

I do agree that if West could've opted out this year, he definitely would've. And next year, if the owners and players association can come to an agreement, he may opt out next summer. But if they add Josh Smith, they pretty much have to let West go. And if they're hurting for money that much, they may give West completely away even before the trade deadline, if they acquired Smoove.

If Smoove + Crawford was the deal for CP3 and Okafor, then the Hornets would just let Crawford walk, and trade West in the process. They'd completely rebuild, with Smoove and Collison as the centerpieces.

The discussion is moot though. Our ownership has already told us that they want to field an "elite team" without going into the Luxury Tax. Acquiring CP3 + Okafor . . then re-signing Horford, would put us in the Luxury Tax. So unless we're going to lose Horford for nothing, they wouldn't do the deal anyway.

[Joker]

I do agree that if West could've opted out this year, he definitely would've. And next year, if the owners and players association can come to an agreement, he may opt out next summer. But if they add Josh Smith, they pretty much have to let West go. And if they're hurting for money that much, they may give West completely away even before the trade deadline, if they acquired Smoove.

If Smoove + Crawford was the deal for CP3 and Okafor, then the Hornets would just let Crawford walk, and trade West in the process. They'd completely rebuild, with Smoove and Collison as the centerpieces.

The discussion is moot though. Our ownership has already told us that they want to field an "elite team" without going into the Luxury Tax. Acquiring CP3 + Okafor . . then re-signing Horford, would put us in the Luxury Tax. So unless we're going to lose Horford for nothing, they wouldn't do the deal anyway.

I was referring to 2010-11 for West opting out. They also said they will pay the luxury tax for elite type of player. They do not want to pay the tax and finish 18-22 in attendance. They want to be in the top 5 and have sell outs which can only happen with a superstar like CP3. You love bragging about Shaq but every person I talk to said it would be big if they got him but no one said they will buy season tickets. When I mentioned CP3 it's almost like when Vick was here and ticket talks came up. Like it didn't hurt to spend your hard earned money for CP3 but it does to see a pretending team like this current Hawks squad.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Even if NO gets VC, his contract for 11-12 is still owe 4 million and that's by cutting him. So it's not an expiring at all. Jameer is a very good player but they have a PG with more potential that is cheaper who they want to build around. Orlando deal is not awful but it doesn't help NO.

You're assuming that New Orleans is still trying to field a playoff quality squad. Nope. They may simply go for financial relief, much in the mold of what Memphis did when they traded away Pau Gasol.

You overvalue Smoove. He does not have the star power of a CP3. He has limited box office star power actually, because even with him here, people aren't scrambling to go to Hawks games to see Josh Smith. So if the Hornets trade away CP3, they're looking for cap relief, more than adding another muti-million dollar contract to the payroll

The kicker in a deal like that, would be Jamal Crawford's expiring contract. That's what they're really going after. They'd get Smoove + Crawford . . and they'd give us CP3 + dump Okafor on us.

But like I said . . our ownership wouldn't do it anyway. We'd go into the luxury tax.

[KB21]

This article hits the nail square on the head, IMO.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AmZPXTmWBQmv_sJiSbvuSb28vLYF?slug=aw-paulfuture072310

Chris Paul is letting bad people lead him around right now, and this is going to damage him and his reputation long term. He is a pawn in a game right now, and the game is a group of people that want to show they have all the power in basketball. World Wide Wes and the rest of his people are the scourge of baskbetball right now, whether it is their attempts to force trades behidn the scenes in the NBA or their attempts to funnel players to the University of Kentucky at the college level.

[KB21]

You're assuming that New Orleans is still trying to field a playoff quality squad. Nope. They may simply go for financial relief, much in the mold of what Memphis did when they traded away Pau Gasol.

You overvalue Smoove. He does not have the star power of a CP3. He has limited box office star power actually, because even with him here, people aren't scrambling to go to Hawks games to see Josh Smith. So if the Hornets trade away CP3, they're looking for cap relief, more than adding another muti-million dollar contract to the payroll

The kicker in a deal like that, would be Jamal Crawford's expiring contract. That's what they're really going after. They'd get Smoove + Crawford . . and they'd give us CP3 + dump Okafor on us.

But like I said . . our ownership wouldn't do it anyway. We'd go into the luxury tax.

Ownership would go into the luxury tax to get Chris Paul, and it is completely ridiculous to think they wouldn't. If they didn't want to spend the luxury tax, they would let Joe Johnson walk. It is that simple. All this crap about the owners being tight or not willing to pay the tax is a bunch of baloney and went out the window when they maxed out Joe Johnson. The only is that now, they are actually exercising some restraint and aren't going to pay the luxury tax for players that aren't going to elevate this team...i.e. Shaq.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I was referring to 2010-11 for West opting out. They also said they will pay the luxury tax for elite type of player. They do not want to pay the tax and finish 18-22 in attendance. They want to be in the top 5 and have sell outs which can only happen with a superstar like CP3. You love bragging about Shaq but every person I talk to said it would be big if they got him but no one said they will buy season tickets. When I mentioned CP3 it's almost like when Vick was here and ticket talks came up. Like it didn't hurt to spend your hard earned money for CP3 but it does to see a pretending team like this current Hawks squad.

I don't believe anything this ownership group says anymore. They said that they were also looking for a PF and a C in free agency, and we're potentially getting the absolute bottom of the barrel in both categories.

And those people who say it would be big that we got Shaq, may not buy season tickets, but I bet they'd be compelled to go to more games. And Shaq would definitely bring out the casual ATL fan that normally only go to games unless we're playing a big name team.

But that ship has apparently passed, so we don't have to worry about Shaq anymore . . . until he pops up in Boston. Then Horford will get to go up against Jermaine O'Neal, Shaq, and Kendrick Perkins ( when he gets healthy ). I bet Big Al is looking forward to that.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Ownership would go into the luxury tax to get Chris Paul, and it is completely ridiculous to think they wouldn't. If they didn't want to spend the luxury tax, they would let Joe Johnson walk. It is that simple. All this crap about the owners being tight or not willing to pay the tax is a bunch of baloney and went out the window when they maxed out Joe Johnson. The only is that now, they are actually exercising some restraint and aren't going to pay the luxury tax for players that aren't going to elevate this team...i.e. Shaq.

I firmly believe that ownership is waiting on the fans to go to more games. If they're for certain that acquiring CP3 would achieve that, then maybe they would. But this ownership also loves Josh Smith to death. And how would the trading of Josh Smith to get CP3 go over with fans who also love Josh Smith? It's not a slam dunk that fans would embrace CP3, if you traded away Smoove. That's why ownership would hedge at doing it. They want to know for certain that Paul would dramatically increase ticket sales. The ownership doesn't take risks, so they may even balk on a deal for CP3, if it involved Smoove.

Right now, Smoove is the most popular player on the Hawks. Even more popular than JJ or Horford. Trading him would garner a mixed reaction from the fan base.

I bet if we were to take a poll, more people would rather trade Joe Johnson straight up for CP3, than trade Smoove, or even Horford.

Edited July 24, 2010 by northcyde

[Joker]

You're assuming that New Orleans is still trying to field a playoff quality squad. Nope. They may simply go for financial relief, much in the mold of what Memphis did when they traded away Pau Gasol.

You overvalue Smoove. He does not have the star power of a CP3. He has limited box office star power actually, because even with him here, people aren't scrambling to go to Hawks games to see Josh Smith. So if the Hornets trade away CP3, they're looking for cap relief, more than adding another muti-million dollar contract to the payroll

The kicker in a deal like that, would be Jamal Crawford's expiring contract. That's what they're really going after. They'd get Smoove + Crawford . . and they'd give us CP3 + dump Okafor on us.

But like I said . . our ownership wouldn't do it anyway. We'd go into the luxury tax.

I never said Smith was CP3, I just said he is a top 25 player who could be a top 10-15. In fact Joe is a top 12-15 player and no one goes to the see Joe in the box office. Smoove= young talent under a great contract. Crawford= talented expiring aka major cap relief. What is so hard to see about that. CP3= superstar and box office draw who wants out. Okafor= rotational player who getting paid like a star. slightly better Zaza for three times the pay.

[dlpin]

$37,500,000 for a top 25 player with the potential to be a top 10-15 is an amazing contract. CP3 is demanding to be traded, has been for awhile but now he's public about it. I don't know where ppl think Williams is overpaid outside of HS and some of them would think he's overpaid if it was just for the MLE. As for Bibby, he's overpaid but we can't do nothing about it now. Crawford is owe 10.8, was the 6th man of year and is an expiring. Okafor contract is albatross, taking his contract on is seriously negative value for us. One that makes us not want to trade Crawford but rather Bibby and Evans instead.

So they would trade a top 5 player to save 30 million dollars, but take a "top 25" (highly debatable) player with a longer deal and more money on the books? And then go on to also take Bibby (who you couldn't give away right now) and Williams?

[Joker]

So they would trade a top 5 player to save 30 million dollars, but take a "top 25" (highly debatable) player with a longer deal and more money on the books? And then go on to also take Bibby (who you couldn't give away right now) and Williams?

Who said they would Bibby and we would trade Marvin. As for the trade. It will be the best offer they would get, please name a better offer that can still contend with CP3?

So they would trade a top 5 player to save 30 million dollars, but take a "top 25" (highly debatable) player with a longer deal and more money on the books? And then go on to also take Bibby (who you couldn't give away right now) and Williams?

Who said they would want Bibby and we would trade Marvin. As for the trade. It will be the best offer they would get, please name a better offer that can still contend with CP3?

[JJFAN4LF]

I don't know how to respond to this, but I will try. David West is a scoring threat everytime he touches the ball. You seem to think Smoove is the second coming of someone. But even if he is, the Hornets are not going to pay 18 million a year to have two power forwards. Go find a young Center and SF on our team and you have a chance at a deal.

You keep throwing this Smoove info out there as if, 1- the Hornets need a PF, 2- Smoove has made some all-star games and is a marketing dynamo, and 3-David West is not a great value at under 6 million a year. Don't know if you noticed this or not ( I think not) but David West has not been included in any of these Paul trade rumors.

He is not going anywhere KB, and certainly not to the bench to backup Smoove, when the Hornets have so many other pressing postional needs along with wanting monetary releif. IMO you are looking at our roster and seeing what works well; but completely ignoring the Hornets roster and what would work well for them.

I understand the Homer viewpoint on Smoove and Craw being worth CP3, but it is not realistic when you look at the Hornets lineup and overall needs. Not realistic at all IMO.

The smartest thing to do for a team that is trading their star player is to accept whoever is giving the best talent. It doesn't matter if they don't fill a positional need. It's kind of like if you have the #1 pick. You take the best player available regardless if you have a player that is already serviceable at that position. For example, Washington already has one of the best scoring point guards in the league, but they still drafted John Wall instead of filling in a positional need and draft Evan Turner. They should accept the best talent and make moves accordingly.

[dlpin]

Who said they would Bibby and we would trade Marvin. As for the trade. It will be the best offer they would get, please name a better offer that can still contend with CP3?

Who said they would want Bibby and we would trade Marvin. As for the trade. It will be the best offer they would get, please name a better offer that can still contend with CP3?

I can name several teams that could offer more for CP3 and would be at least as much of a contender.

To get CP3 + Okafor, the hawks would have to offer Josh Smith plus either Bibby+Williams or Crawford.

Orlando can offer a bigger expiring (Carter) or cheaper young players (Reddick, Nelson, Gortat and Bass).

Denver can offer a bigger expiring (Kenyon Martin) plus JR Smith and Chris Andersen.

Houston can offer Ariza, Battier (expiring), Aaron Brooks, and Kevin Martin. (plus NY picks)

OKC can offer Westbrook, Green, Collison and Harden. (plus lots of 1st rounders)

And these are all 2 team trades with contending teams. There are endless 3 team possibilities.

The only way the hawks' offer would be better is if Horford AND Smith were included, and that would be just bad for the hawks.

Because, again, a team that has been thinking of dumping a potential MVP candidate to save 30 million is not going to make a deal to take on almost 40 million dollars to a guy who is maybe a borderline all star.

[KB21]

I can name several teams that could offer more for CP3 and would be at least as much of a contender.

To get CP3 + Okafor, the hawks would have to offer Josh Smith plus either Bibby+Williams or Crawford.

Orlando can offer a bigger expiring (Carter) or cheaper young players (Reddick, Nelson, Gortat and Bass).

Denver can offer a bigger expiring (Kenyon Martin) plus JR Smith and Chris Andersen.

Houston can offer Ariza, Battier (expiring), Aaron Brooks, and Kevin Martin. (plus NY picks)

OKC can offer Westbrook, Green, Collison and Harden. (plus lots of 1st rounders)

And these are all 2 team trades with contending teams. There are endless 3 team possibilities.

The only way the hawks' offer would be better is if Horford AND Smith were included, and that would be just bad for the hawks.

Because, again, a team that has been thinking of dumping a potential MVP candidate to save 30 million is not going to make a deal to take on almost 40 million dollars to a guy who is maybe a borderline all star.

Give me a break! None of those trades net the Hornets a young budding star in the deal for their young star. Every trade you just mentioned would be nothing but a salary dump for the Hornets. They would get nothing of substance in any of those deals with the exception of cap relief, and I can guarantee you that Del Demps isn't about to trade his best player for cap relief. This isn't the same situation Sam Presti walked into when he had an aging Ray Allen. Chris Paul is still in his prime, and Del Demps is going to do everything he can to convince Chris Paul to be patient and let him build a team around him. Otherwise, Del will trade him for a deal that nets him the most talent, not cap relief. Del Demps has been a part of one of the best front offices and scouting departments in the NBA while with San Antonio, just as Sam Presti was before him. He isn't about to do something stupid like trading him in a trade centered around JJ Reddick or JR Smith. Exactly how is getting Reddick or JR Smith better than then getting Josh Smith? It isn't, and it is ridiculous to think so.

Josh Smith is 19th in the NBA in PER. He is 22nd in the NBA in win shares.

The higest rated player relative to PER that you just listed as better deals for New Orleans is Russell Westbrook, who is 49th in the NBA in PER. As far as win shares goes, the highest rated player is Vince Carter, who is 39th in win shares, but he's nothing but an expiring contract at this point. That's his value. He gives you nothing long term. After him, JJ Reddick comes in at 54 in win shares. Russell Westbrook is 65th in win shares.

Not only is Josh Smith better than the rif raf you have stated would be a better trade for New Orleans, but Jamal Crawford is also better. Jamal was actually 37th in PER last season and 40th in win shares.

Think about that for a minute. When taking into account PER and Win Shares, the Atlanta Hawks have FOUR players on their roster who are in the top 40 in both categories.

PER

Josh Smith - 19th

Al Horford - 29th

Joe Johnson - 33rd

Jamal Crawford 37th

Win Shares

Al Horford - 8th

Josh Smith - 22nd

Joe Johnson - 26th

Jamal Crawford - 40th

No other team has four players in the top 40 in both categories. The closest is the LA Lakers, who had four in the top 40 relative to win shares, but only 3 in the top 40 relative to PER.

The fact is, the Hawks really don't have to make a major move at all. The reason being is because two of their better players are 24 years old and will continue to get better. In fact, I would call both of them the best players on the Hawks with Joe Johnson being the third best. The Hawks could have made a financially sound decision by letting Joe Johnson walk and building the team around Al and Josh. This is two top 25 players in the NBA right now that the Hawks have to build around, and New Orleans would definitely jump at the opportunity to get one of them if World Wide Wes tries to force a trade.

[Buzzard]

Ok enough is enough. People keep saying Josh Smith is not tradeable unless we get a future potential HOF type player like Melo and CP3. The posters saying this are all citing Smooves huge upside because he is only 24 yrs old. Well here are three players drafted extremely young and here is what they were doing 6 years later in the NBA.

Kevin Garnett, 22ppg, 11rpg, 5 apg, 1.8 bpg

Kobe Bryant, 25.2 ppg, 5.5 spg, 5.5 rpg

Tracy McGrady 32.1 ppg, 5.5 apg, 6.5 rpg

Now everyone of these players had just as good, or better in Kobe and Garnetts case, numbers the season before. So for all you Homers out there who think Smoove still has a world of growth left, go find me the young prodigy player that came into the league at 18 or 19 and took longer than 5 to 6 years to develop to their full potential. By the time they turned 24, Garnett, Kobe, TMac were all world players, and barring injury, HOF bound no doubts about it.

What you see with Josh Smith at this stage of his career is exactly what you are going to get. There aint going to be some HOF butterfly transition into a Charles Barkley or any other HOF power forward. I am sorry people, but I have had it with this BS concerning how great our players are and soon will be, when we cannot even get past the 2nd damn round. And only one of our GREAT players can break 20 ppg for a season average. The homerism and denial on this board is astounding to say the least.

Hell, the ASG does not even have to fool 1/2 the fan base into thinking they are spending good money on future HOF type players, half of them do that just fine all by themselves. No wonder the ASG does not feel any need to upgrade and spend money on this team. Half the fan base thinks Josh Smith is this generations Charles Barkley in waiting. Ya just keep on buying those season tickets and they will be more than happy to keep Smoove just for ya.

Lets get a grip here people. We do not have one player on our team that is worth CP3 or Melo straight up. Period end of story.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Buzzard

[dlpin]

Give me a break! None of those trades net the Hornets a young budding star in the deal for their young star. Every trade you just mentioned would be nothing but a salary dump for the Hornets. They would get nothing of substance in any of those deals with the exception of cap relief, and I can guarantee you that Del Demps isn't about to trade his best player for cap relief. This isn't the same situation Sam Presti walked into when he had an aging Ray Allen. Chris Paul is still in his prime, and Del Demps is going to do everything he can to convince Chris Paul to be patient and let him build a team around him. Otherwise, Del will trade him for a deal that nets him the most talent, not cap relief. Del Demps has been a part of one of the best front offices and scouting departments in the NBA while with San Antonio, just as Sam Presti was before him. He isn't about to do something stupid like trading him in a trade centered around JJ Reddick or JR Smith. Exactly how is getting Reddick or JR Smith better than then getting Josh Smith? It isn't, and it is ridiculous to think so.

Josh Smith is 19th in the NBA in PER. He is 22nd in the NBA in win shares.

The higest rated player relative to PER that you just listed as better deals for New Orleans is Russell Westbrook, who is 49th in the NBA in PER. As far as win shares goes, the highest rated player is Vince Carter, who is 39th in win shares, but he's nothing but an expiring contract at this point. That's his value. He gives you nothing long term. After him, JJ Reddick comes in at 54 in win shares. Russell Westbrook is 65th in win shares.

Not only is Josh Smith better than the rif raf you have stated would be a better trade for New Orleans, but Jamal Crawford is also better. Jamal was actually 37th in PER last season and 40th in win shares.

Think about that for a minute. When taking into account PER and Win Shares, the Atlanta Hawks have FOUR players on their roster who are in the top 40 in both categories.

PER

Josh Smith - 19th

Al Horford - 29th

Joe Johnson - 33rd

Jamal Crawford 37th

Win Shares

Al Horford - 8th

Josh Smith - 22nd

Joe Johnson - 26th

Jamal Crawford - 40th

No other team has four players in the top 40 in both categories. The closest is the LA Lakers, who had four in the top 40 relative to win shares, but only 3 in the top 40 relative to PER.

The fact is, the Hawks really don't have to make a major move at all. The reason being is because two of their better players are 24 years old and will continue to get better. In fact, I would call both of them the best players on the Hawks with Joe Johnson being the third best. The Hawks could have made a financially sound decision by letting Joe Johnson walk and building the team around Al and Josh. This is two top 25 players in the NBA right now that the Hawks have to build around, and New Orleans would definitely jump at the opportunity to get one of them if World Wide Wes tries to force a trade.

OF COURSE money matters.

If it wasn't, do you really think they would even consider Josh Smith for Chris Paul? Josh Smith is so far from being a player of Chris Paul's caliber it's not even funny. And how many players the hawks have in the top X in a certain statistic is irrelevant.

Nevermind that this sort of argument is completely arbitrary. You can pick a statistic that can make any team look good. "San Antonio is the only team with 2 players in the top 12 PER." 'Lakers are the only team with 3 players in the top 25 PER."

The idea that they would take Josh Smith and Jamal Crawford for CP3 and Okafor is pure homerism, especially when you remember that the hawks have no worthwhile draft picks. Jamal Crawford would have 0 value as a 30 year old player in a team that would be clearly trying to rebuild. His only value would be as an expiring contract. So Josh Smith + cap relief for CP3? I am willing to bet anything and give you whatever odds you want that that won't happen.

They would dump CP3 because he makes 15 million a year only to take on Josh Smith, who makes 12?

And whether or not Josh Smith is currently better than those players I listed is irrelevant. OKC's players, for example, are younger and cheaper. Just what a team that would be rebuilding and trying to save money would need. Orlando's players might not be better individually, but they would get 4 solid players who are relatively young and barely cost more, combined, than the 2 players they would get from the hawks. Same for Houston (who also has a lot of draft picks).

If the Hornets want to dump salary, other teams have much larger expiring contracts. If the Hornets want young prospects, other teams have much better prospects and draft picks.

[EazyRoc]

My oh My..Do you know what type of player kills us other than a center with size and ability ? A quick, penetrating PG. I would almost stop watching basketball if the Magic get Chris Paul. We would stand NO chance.