Player Movements

After Jannero Pargo received a $3.8 million deal from Russia (with love), I've been wondering what the Hornets would do to shore up the depth of the bench. As we've reported, the team has added veteran James Posey, and the coaching staff will be relying on the improvement of JuJu and Hilt to strengthen the reserve unit. In addition to all of that, the Hornets re-signed Mr. Hustle himself: Ryan Bowen will return to action to give us another season of bust-yo-ass highlights and flailing-arm defense.

Although most of the 2007-08 roster remains intact, the team and its fans will no longer enjoy the heart-stopping play (sometimes in a good way... sometimes in a bad way) of Mucho Jannero. But they will have a familiar face on the bench in guard Devin Brown. Earlier today, the Times Picayune reported that he'll be re-joining the team after appearing in 58 games during the 2006-07 season. I'm excited about the signing. After key players went down with injuries, Brown was a big reason why the Hornets stayed competitive through the final week of 06-07. In his first stint with the Bugs, he averaged 11.6 ppg, 4.3rpg, and 2.6 apg (all career bests). Although he primarily plays shooting guard, he can spend some time at small forward and can handle the ball well enough to spell CP3 at the point.

The roster is really starting to fill itself out. Chef Paul will be better than he was last year... if you can even imagine that. D-West will likely play right around the All-Star level he achieved last year. Tyson will probably put up slightly better numbers than he did last season. Peja (with any luck and no injuries) will give the team reliable shooting. Mo Pete could improve his offensive output and will continue to provide defensive pressure. Look for JuJu to improve. Posey will offer a new threat from the bench. Devin will give us what we lost in Pargo. And that's a pretty formidable eight-man rotation.