Now that the Hornets will be in the Western Conference next year, they get to play with the big boys. Of course, there are the obvious teams(Lakers, Spurs, Mavs, Kings, Wolves) who will be better than New Orleans. But there are several teams like Houston, Phoenix, Denver, Utah, Golden State and the Clips who will be very close behind them. So with all this competition, will the Hornets qualify for the playoffs in '05? Why or why not?
Very problematical. The Hornets are getting older, especially the inside guys like Lynch, Brown and Mash. Whether or not they can compete in a vastly superior Western Conference remanins to be seen. Also the owners are too poor to go out and buy some high profile free agents to go out and shore up the team. My guess is that they'll miss the playoffs.
Very good question. I think that if they are all completely healthy they can make the playoffs. The owner would have to buy some high profile free agents if he wants to compete out west in future seasons.
If they stay heathly they have a chance but the way the west teams keep improving while adding talent in the off-season I don't see it happening.Teams like Denver,Clippers and Utah still have ALOT of cap space to spend on good players to add to their roster.While Rockets with Yao another year will be improved.Portland will still be a playoff team with Zach Randolph in the middle. A 10/11th place finish for the Hornets wouldn't surprise me one bit.
This move could squash the bugs. BigButSue makes a solid point, other than Davis, Alexander and Magloire the Hornets don't have any young, established players. Armstrong and Augmon are each 35, Brown, Rooks and Smith are 34, Lynch and Wesley are 33. Baron got his money, now the ownership is going to have to go over the luxury tax to even be able to stay competitive. The Hornets got a really bad deal here, I think the ownership brought that big black cloud with them to the bayou. In the land of voodoo, it seems karma has made an appearance.
They might have a chance. They could do some offseason trading, get a good guy in the middle, and probably have a better chance than any other team.
They need to get younger in a hurry if they're going to avoid being swallowed alive in the next couple of seasons. If they can move a couple of vets like Brown, Wesley or Armstrong in order to bring in some young blood, they might be able to keep their heads above water. If not, they will just not be able to run with big dogs out west.
I have a feeling that they're gonna try to move Armstrong at the end of the year. A guy like Baron, when healthy, simply doesn't need a backup. He can easily play for 42-44 minutes per game without seriously tiring. The management right now is starting a youth movement, starting with Magloire and Alexander and continuing with David West and James Lang in the past draft. Imagine a starting five in 5 years of Baron Davis, Courtney Alexander, Jamal Mashburn, David West and Jamaal Magloire/James Lang. Not bad. And if they trade either Magloire or Lang, who are both centers, they could shore up and get a higher quality 2 or a younger 3.
