Hornets Hope On-Court Sting Merits '09 Championship

The New Orleans Hornets of the 2007-2008 NBA season were a marvel to see, becoming one of the league's best teams and bringing back some hope to a city that was previously lost (and to some degree, still is) to natural disaster. Chris Paul became a legitimate MVP candidate and made the All-Star team for the first time in three seasons, after being injured at the worst times during his first two years, which also contributed to the Hornets' failure to play in the postseason during the same time. With a season of great maturity and growth, New Orleans is well on its way to "Titletown".

Besides the dynamic duo of Paul and center Tyson Chandler, who came into his own last year after years of "potential" labeling his career straight out of high school, the Hornets have a very good mix of veterans and youngbloods to keep the train rolling. Morris Peterson and Predrag Stojakovic will share duties once again as starters at shooting guard and small forward. Peterson will be counted on to keep providing his reliability in shooting and defense, while "Peja" can be counted on solely for his All-Star shooting from the three-point line, as he's proved in the many great years that he was a Sacramento King. David West will be there as well, and will most certainly duplicate his strong play as the starting power forward; unfortunately, he does not have great talent behind him in Melvin Ely (a virtual bust since being made a lottery pick in 2002) and Hilton Armstrong (a young big man with marginal court presence or awareness), but New Orleans worked well enough with them to make an impact, so that may not be a major issue. Just as well, Mike James, who came from the Houston Rockets via trade in the middle of the 2008 season, will spell all the starting guards as a dynamic, court-savvy, high-scoring combo guard, carving a niche with the Hornets that former sixth man Jannero Pargo left available in the upcoming year.

Adding a championship pedigree to the Hornets is James Posey, who has won two championships in three years with the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics; he'll make a significant impact in some degree, but how he fits will be of particular interest, especially with the emerging Julian Wright in competition for significant minutes. Wright, a 2007 lottery pick from Kansas, has shown great ability (particularly in the 2008 Playoffs) in playing everything from point guard to power forward, plays good defense and is long, not unlike Posey. Rasual Butler is also still on the roster, which further creates the logjam at the 2 and 3 spots, but will be alleviated to some degree with small lineups. Devin Brown, the 2008 signee from the Cleveland Cavs, will make the competition very strong, as he did well as a part-time wingman with the Cavaliers as well.

While 'Nawlins would be better served to add one more skilled post player as a scoring relief from the bench and possibly thinning out the perimeter positions, New Orleans is in many ways even stronger than its deep postseason run in the 2008 Playoffs.