By Jonathan Lee
July 18, 2012
The Hornets already had a good coach in place with Monty Williams. The franchise has a new owner in Tom Benson – owner of the NFL Saints – committed to keeping the team in New Orleans. The top pick in the draft brought them a franchise player in Anthony Davis. Basically, the offseason rebuild for the Hornets got off to a great start, and has continued to get better as the summer wears on.
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Before the draft New Orleans had a clear dearth of talent projected to finish just 15th in the West. Adding Davis as an immediate defensive force dramatically alters the outlook for the Hornets in a positive way. He projects to bring the Hornets to the fringes of playoff contention.
Ryan Anderson, three-point specialist and this season’s Most Improved Player, was acquired after the draft via sign-and-trade from the Magic. Pairing a nice offensive player like him next to a defensive stalwart like Davis is a good fit for New Orleans and puts the team squarely in the playoff mix. AccuScore now projects the team as basically a 50-50 shot to make the playoffs. On average the Hornets win 39 wins and finish 9th in the West.
The big question comes with the mental state of Eric Gordon. New Orleans is expected to match the max extension sheet he signed with Phoenix to keep the guard for the next four years. Gordon however made comments while in camp with Team USA about his desires to play in Phoenix. He clearly did not read the CBA carefully because if he wanted his freedom he should have waited a year and become an unrestricted free agent instead of testing the waters this year as a restricted free agent. New Orleans will keep Gordon regardless, and if he can learn to coexist with Davis as well as the newly drafted Austin Rivers, the team could compete as soon as this season.
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