How the Hornets can get Quality Depth without Spending any Money
The scene: I’m Hornets’ GM, Jeff Bower. I’ve just been given the green light from owner George Shinn to make any moves I want as long as I don’t go one dollar more over the $77,839,230 that Shinn’s already paying on team salary for the NBA franchise (and with the luxury tax, that would actually be two dollars). These assumptions are far better than realistic. They are real. Well, of course, other then the assumption I’m Jeff Bower. But you never know what connections some writers may have…
Shinn is quoted as saying he won’t just trade players to save money. “That’s how you lose fans” he said. There will be no dumping of Chandler or Stojakovic’s contracts and thank goodness for that. A team that’s willing to take Stojakovic’s contract would expect much more talent in return than Bowen or Shinn would allow (such as David West). Thus the reason the Hornets organization has publicly nixed trade rumors involving dumping huge contracts. This is analyzed more in depth in HoopAngle’s “State of the Hornets Address”.
As much as I love the draft and first round draft picks, there comes a point where I would be willing to throw away the little excitement I get from the offseason for guaranteed stability and injury insurance, aka quality backups. The Oklahoma City Thunder still has some available money to burn under the cap. They’re an extremely young team with an average age of 23.5 years old. I would call Sam Presti up and say, “Hey, how about you guys take Morris Peterson’s $5,800,000 contract off our hands with your extra cap room and we’ll hand over an unprotected first rounder from whatever future year you want.” Late first rounders can be purchased for between one and two million dollars which happens quite often, so there is no stretch in saying they would pay Mo-Pete’s contract for a shot at potentially hitting a lottery jackpot. Peterson would be a much better backup than Kyle Weaver to the Thunder’s newly acquired James Harden, and his contract is also small enough to give the Thunder enough financial flexibility to chase a prime 2010 free agent if they wish.
The reason this is a sweet deal for New Orleans is because they get a trade exception in the deal and an opportunity to participate in free agency. I would then immediately outbid Washington and San Antonio for Fabricio Oberto. That shouldn’t be hard because San Antonio just signed center Theo Ratliff and Washington not only stinks, but also has center JaVale McGee, their potential filled first round pick from 2008. I would also give Ben Wallace a call just to see if I could get him to blink at a few more dollars than Detroit is willing to give him (which is likely to be veteran’s minimum).
When all is said and done, Morris Peterson and a first rounder will be gone, Oberto will be signed for $3.9 million per year, Ben Wallace will be signed for the bi-annual exception of $1.9 million per year, and the Hornets’ payroll will be exactly the same as it was. New draft pick Marcus Thornton could come in and fill Peterson’s minutes based on his summer league play. This gives the Hornets a reserve lineup of Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, James Posey, Ben Wallace, and Fabricio Oberto. Now THOSE are some quality improvements to the Hornets’ reserve dilemma.
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