The Problem with the Hornets

I can't believe how bad your teammates are either, Chris.

This is something that's been knawing at me for a while, and the link I gave to Sham earlier today had a quote that really underscored what I've felt about the Hornets for a while:

"Peja is still going, although he's not far away from being Postdrag. He owes it all to the pretty tremendous contract that Jeff Bower gave him, one which calls for two more years and $27.6 million for a player with a PER of 12.5 last year. Nice. Their other shocking contract of that offseason - Bobby Jackson - has finally expired, but not before the Hornets traded it for a longer one (Mike James, later Antonio Daniels) just to get a two month Bonzi Wells cameo. They made a "go for it" trade, missed by miles, and are still suffering from the repercussions, having to dump players to avoid the tax. Nasty. It often escapes mention quite how bad Jeff Bower has been in New Orleans. He wasn't even the one who drafted Chris Paul."

When New Orleans got Chris Paul and realized how good he was, they went with what I call the "casual fan" team building model. What is that you ask? It's buying into stupid beliefs that casual fans spout off like "great point guards make everyone around them better," and trying to build their team by just filling in with complementary pieces. I say that is a stupid belief because great PG's don't make everyone around them better; go to basketball-reference or 82games.com and look at the stats for players before they play with a great PG, when they play with one, and after they play with one. Chris Paul has not made James Posey or Mo Pete or Peja or Rasual Butler any better playing with him. Steve Nash did not magically morph Quentin Richardson or Raja Bell or Eddie House or James Jones into better players. People always trot out Marion playing with Nash as the poster child for this theory, but you could even argue that Nash did not make him better considering Marion was pretty damn good before Nash ever got to Phoenix. Sure, I understand that complementary players are needed in team building, but teams like Phoenix and New Orleans thought they could get by without any other playmakers on the perimeter because they had such great PG's, and it hasn't worked (although it almost did for Phoenix, but it also helps when you have Amare and Marion in their primes in the frontcourt, along with one of the best coaches in the league).

This is what New Orleans did; they dumped huge money on an aging and decomposing Peja. The supposed reasoning? "Well, all he'll have to do is stand there and wet open threes on Paul's drive and kicks." They threw the MLE at Mo Pete under the similar thinking of "well, with Chris Paul on board, we don't need a 2 guard who can create, but just one who can stay out of the way, play defense, and hit open jumpers." That same line of reasoning led them to later dump the MLE on an aging James Posey. Unless you have two great players in the front court (like Phoenix when they had Marion and Amare to go with Nash) who can score, you need wing players around your stud PG that can do more than just hit stand still jumpers and play defense.

This even applies to stars that aren't PG's; look at the Cavs and LeBron. For years their team building strategy was to just surround him with guys who can bang open jumpers and do nothing else; guys like Damon Jones, Daniel Gibson, and Donyell Marshall. They were always good (because LeBron was so incredible, and they played really good D), but they were always dreadful on offense and a step short of being a true contender. What happens last year? They go out and get two guards (Mo Williams and Delonte West) that can not only hit that open jumper, but they can also create a little bit of offense for themselves and others. All of a sudden, their offense is great, they win 66 games, and they lose in the conference finals to a Magic team that Cleveland didn't match up well with and because Orlando played out of their minds. Even LeBron needs someone else who can create.

Why has this struck such a nerve with me? Well for starters, I hate to see one of the best PG's of all time in a bad situation. Chris Paul has had two of the best statistical seasons ever for a PG in the past two years, and sadly it looks like New Orleans isn't going anywhere fast because of the black holes they have at the 2 and 3. And secondly, as a Bulls fan, this is very similar to the defense the Bulls and many of their fans have made for letting Ben Gordon go; "well, he was expendable because we have Rose, and he's our creator." Where is it written in stone that you can only have one creator on the perimeter? I understand the need for team balance, but why do all of a sudden people think players like Nash and Deron Williams and Rose and Paul can just do it all on their own on the perimeter? Why have more teams not modeled themselves after the Spurs? Sure, they have one of the greatest PF's of all time, but they also have two damned good guards who can both create for themselves, create for others, and hit jumpshots. When Ginobili was out last year, no one seemed to think that some complementary player could fill in his role because they had Parker and he was their creator and they had Duncan and he was their big. Yet, for Paul, Nash, Kidd, Rose, etc. it's a different standard.

So hang in there CP3; there are those of us out there who know that you're great, who know that you can't do it all, and who know that your GM sucks. And so help me God, if the Bulls start dumping MLE contracts on average swingmen because "Derrick Rose is our creator"...