| A New Beginning In New Orleans Authored by Patrick J. Austin - February 25, 2005 - 2:13 pm
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The first trade to hit the wire was Mashburn and Rodney Rogers heading to Philly in exchange for Glenn Robinson. This was a salary cap move, plain and simple. The club was only paying a portion of Mashburn’s contract(insurance is paying a majority of it) but his entire salary(about ten million dollars) was counting against the team’s cap and lasts through next season. Since they’re looking to create financial flexibility for this summer, his contract needed to be moved. Rogers was essentially a cap filler in this deal. He’s still a productive backup forward, but they have some young guys at the 3/4 positions that needed more playing time. In return, the Hornets received Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson who now has the dubious nickname of Glenn “Big Cap Relief” Robinson. He’ll probably continue to stay on the injured reserve or receive a buyout. The team traded for his contract, not his play.
The second deal certainly received the most headlines. The Hornets dealt star point guard, Baron Davis to the Golden State Warriors for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis. Again, this was a salary cap move. New Orleans was desperate to get rid of Baron’s contract (he’s owed more than sixty million dollars over the next four years) and getting Dale Davis, who has a ten million dollar expiring contract, will give them a nice amount of cash to spend in the offseason. But the question needs to be asked—was this the best New Orleans could get for their franchise player? We all know Baron is having a down year. He’s had a string of injuries and his surly attitude made people wonder if he was a locker room cancer. Though just last year, he was arguably the best point guard in the league averaging 23ppg, 7.5apg, and 2.5 spg. Trading him for scraps could come back to haunt the Hornets. We’ve all seen how different Vince Carter played after being dealt. It wouldn’t shock me to see Baron do the exact same thing.
Another reason the Hornets might have been so eager to deal Baron was because of the superb play from Dan Dickau. He’s really come into his own since being dealt to New Orleans. They moved him into the starting line-up and saw his numbers jump to nearly 17ppg and 7apg. If he keeps performing at that level, the team might not miss Baron for very long.
It’s an understatement to say the Hornets have been dismantled. Since the beginning of the season, five trades have been made with a majority of the team’s veterans getting shipped out for young talent.
This was the roster at the beginning of the 04/05 campaign:
PG-Baron Davis/Darrell Armstrong/Junior Harrington
SG-David Wesley/J.R. Smith
SF-Lee Nailon/George Lynch
PF-P.J. Brown/Rodney Rogers/David West
C-Jamaal Magloire/Chris Andersen
This is the roster as of today:
PG-Dan Dickau/Speedy Claxton
SG-J.R. Smith/Casey Jacobsen
SF-Lee Nailon/Bostjan Nachbar/George Lynch
PF-Maciej Lampe/Chris Andersen
C-P.J. Brown/Dale Davis/Jackson Vroman
*Magloire is on the injured list along with David West and Glenn Robinson
As you can see, a lot has changed in the span of four months. But change was necessary. It became obvious early on that this team wouldn’t be able to compete for a championship anytime soon (heck, finishing above .500 would have been a monumental challenge). The time was right to start fresh and take the chance on youth.
Right now, the Hornets have a solid core of young talent in J.R. Smith, Dan Dickau, Jamaal Magloire and David West. If they get lucky in the draft and land a high pick, use their cap space wisely on some quality free agents and retain some of their own free agent talent, then the future doesn’t look too shabby.
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