| Grading The Deal: Hornets Give Away Chandler Authored by Christopher Reina - February 18, 2009 - 5:16 pm
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The Hornets had the payroll of a big market club slated for 09-10 with nearly $77 million in committed salaries and since shedding Peja Stojakovic's $13.392 million and $14.256 million wasn't an option, they instead were able to remove Chandler's $12.25 million and $13.15 million from their books.
Chandler had been playing at a near All-Star level since being traded to the Hornets and playing with Chris Paul is the greatest thing that could happen to an athletic, low skilled big. His offensive efficiency skyrocketed to better than 62% as the beneficiary of Paul-assisted lobs and layups.
But this season his production and many times his effort declined considerably. He has been bothered by a bad neck and a sprained ankle and hasn't looked like the same player. Not only as his field goal percentage dropped back down to 56.3%, his rebound rate has declined dramatically, though he's still been solid on the offensive glass.
The Hornets were probably the only team in the NBA capable of gleaning the entire value of Chandler's contract because it really cannot be overstated the kind of impact a point guard like Paul has and Russell Westbrook is a much different type of player.
Chandler is young enough (26) to be a part of Oklahoma City's long term plans that surround Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Westbrook. He also would fit nicely beside Blake Griffin in the frontcourt should the Thunder luck out in the lottery.
It is uncommon for bigs on the right side of 30 to be traded away for essentially nothing and the Thunder were incredibly fortunate to get in on the sale. Furthermore, though loaded with picks to spare, the only piece of future they had to relinquish was Hardin, a 2nd round pick in 2008.
For the Hornets, their future is clearly sacrificed and they won't have the financial resources or a bad enough record to sufficiently replace a big of Chandler's caliber either via free agency or the draft. But the self-pitying won't begin until the summer when Smith and Wilcox come off the books after they prove capable of combining to give the Hornets a similar level of production.
Smith is essentially David West-lite, while Wilcox has always been a good finisher when he has been on a team that can manufacture easy looks and is also a solid rebounder.
The Hornets weren't going to win the 2009 Finals this season as it was, but very easily could have had reached the Conference Finals; now the 2nd round would be a surprise. This deal does nothing for them longterm except improve the bottom line and stay one step ahead of the luxury tax. It is unfortunate that the economy and the current structure of the NBA has reduced so many teams to this shrunken capacity to compete.
Grade for Hornets: D+
Grade for Thunder: A |
