In another cost-cutting move, the New Orleans Hornets shipped forward Rasual Butler to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for a conditional second-round pick and cash.
With Butler’s contract set to pay him $3.9 million this season and staring the luxury tax dead in the eye, New Orleans couldn’t get him out of town fast enough. Despite his career-highs of 11.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest while playing in all 82 games, as well as an established role as a contributor, the money dictated that Butler be moved.
The Hornets have more moves to make in order to slide under the $69.9 million tax threshold, but this trade gets them much closer. These financially-driven moves will also, however, firmly entrench New Orleans in the middle of the pack in the Western Conference.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 9:52 pm by reggy10
New Orleans Hornets forward Emeka Okafor believes a trade is just what he needed to reach his potential.
Â
Okafor was not getting along well with Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown and didn’t think the two could work things out.
Â
He made it clear that he is a very loyal person and was in no way trying to leave Charlotte, rather hoping to lead them to the playoffs.
Â
However, he said he couldn’t deny the fact that Brown wasn’t his biggest fan and vice versa and a new start might be best for everyone involved.
Monday, August 10, 2009 at 4:02 pm by steve
New Orleans Hornets head coach Byron Scott knows star guard Chris Paul can’t have all the weight on his shoulders.
Â
The only problem is that the team doesn’t have too many other players capable of helping him out.
Â
The team would like to go out and get him some help, but financial problems are keeping that from happening.
Â
Scott is hopeful that Darren Collison can emerge as one of the top backup point guards in the league to give Paul more rest.
Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 1:01 pm by steve
On Tuesday, July 28, the New Orleans Hornets announced a trade with the Charlotte Bobcats where the two teams swapped young centers - 7′ Tyson Chandler to the Bobcats and 6′10″ Emeka Okafor to the Hornets.
Early reviews have the Hornets as the clear winner in this deal. While PG Chris Paul called Chandler “a brother” recently in Las Vegas, the smaller Okafor has a clear penchant for rebounds and remained injury-free these past two years after early career troubles, starting all 82 games both years. Okafor’s production should immediately increase with Paul at the point and it shouldn’t be long before those Paul-to-Okafor alley-oops become commonplace in New Orleans.
The Bobcats, on the other hand, believe Chandler gives them the big man necessary to bang with the best centers in the league, night in and night out. While Chandler did have that type of productivity two years ago with New Orleans in the playoffs, he’s currently coming off procedures on his left ankle and toe after only playing 45 mildly ineffective games this past season.
Undoubtedly, money played a factor in this one. The Hornets put the league on notice of their potential firesale in February when they nearly traded Chandler to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith (the Thunder declined, barring Chandler not passing a physical).  Okafor is set to make $1.3 million less than Chandler in the upcoming season, however; Chandler’s deal only runs until the 2010-2011 season, while Okafor’s extends for five more years. This move does save the Hornets on the NBA’s dollar-for-dollar luxury tax, as they save themselves $2.6 million this year by acquiring Okafor (they remain nearly $6.5 million over the tax).
Monday, August 3, 2009 at 11:25 pm by bryan
