Pocket Full of [Reactions to James] Posey

A [very knowledgeable] friend of mine down at At the Hive posted a reaction to the Posey signing. And I have to say that I agree with him on most of his points. I actually experienced the exact same progression of reactions (1. Yes, 2. NOOOOO!, 3. Yes), eventually coming to grips with the fact that The Hornets have effectively mortgaged part of our future for a shot at the here and now.

Part of me still wishes we had addressed our thinness at the 2, 4, or 5 (especially with the Clips possibly nabbing Azubuike for 9 mil over 3 years). But at the end of the day, Posey does address the bench depth and his presence just means that we will be playing smaller off the bench... which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I can't belive I get to play with Chris Paul next year!"

My one concern with the signing (that falls squarely into one of Hollinger's points) actually has nothing to do with money, but rather the development of one of our brighter youngsters: Julian Wright. How does Byron work him into the mix with Posey on board? Does JuJu fill Bowen's now empty role as backup of anything from the 2-4 slots (since JuJu can play the 4) or does Byron go through with his strange plan to make JuJu the backup for CP3? (That last statement comes from Stein Line). I just have trouble seeing how Wright can develop alongside a player who is going to be eating minutes as the backup 3. Other than using him and JuJu as a guard-forward tag team behind Mo and Peja, I'm not seeing too many other options... even though that one doesn't sound too terrible now that I've written it out.

However, just for fun, last night my buddy and I played "What would Byron do?" and devised a plan in which we would start Peja at the 2 and JuJu at the 3 and have Wright guard the better player at either position on defense. Then bring Mo off the bench at the 2 and Posey at the 3. It's a scrambled version of the above plan, but it could work. Even good defenders at the 2 might have trouble blocking a jump shot from a guy who's 6-10.

Other than "You are absolutely insane" or "this will never happen", if you have any thoughts on this plan, please feel free to comment.

Oh, and how about that Bobby Brown and the ruckus he's been a-making down in Vegas. Looks like Christmas might come a little early for CP.

The Offseason: who wants some cake?

Now that the free agent cake has had a large chunk taken out of it, I thought it was time for me to revisit the potential offseason game plan. After all, let's face it: who doesn't like cake?

Curry has advocated a nice plan that would certainly give us the depth we'd need to conquer the West (and beyond), but I'd like to try something a little different. An approach that I feel addresses our weaknesses and doesn't quite put us in luxury tax land. Now that Corey Maggette and Mickael Pietrus are off the boards, let's start with arguably the best available (restricted, mind you) free agent at the 2: Ben Gordon.

The problem with going after Gordon is that the Hornets are at/over the cap. They could offer him their full midlevel exception, but if Gordon turned down a 5 year 50 million deal from the Bulls last year, I find it hard to believe that he'd jump away from Chicago for a little more than half that yearly salary (the midlevel this year is about 5.8 million). This means that to get Gordon, Bower would probably have to arrange a sign and trade deal. So who would we give up for Gordon? I personally wouldn't want to touch any of the following players: Paul, West, Chandler, Stojakovic, Wright. That leaves Mo Pete, Shoes, Hilt, Ely, and Butler. Does anyone honestly believe the Bulls would trade Gordon to us for any of those players? Short of us giving away all of them, I don't see it happening (not even then, actually). Plus, if we make any deal that sends Mo over to Chicago, Gordon would have to start... which would be bad.

Instead, I'm going to offer a different approach. It will require a little bit of that whole "suspension of disbelief" thing, but it could work. Think "improbable", but not "impossible". Keep in mind that none of this has any grounding in reality; I'm simply musing on the subject. Here's the 3 step plan.

Wouldn't it be nice...

1. Send Hilton Armstrong over with Mike James for Andris Biedrins in a sign and trade. Shoes makes sense for a point guard-less Golden State, especially now that it looks like Chicago may not open to deals involving Kirk Hinrich. James is a poor (very poor) man's Baron Davis. He's fast, he doesn't always like to pass, and he'll throw up contested 3s all day if you let him. The warriors are dying for a point man, and James' recklessness (which is somewhat effective) could be a good fit.

As for Biedrins, the Warriors only use him off the bench (which is a crime given their lineup), so Hilton will be just as useful for them considering he is one of the quicker big men in the game. His 40 minutes averages are far from Andris', but Nellie might be willing to spend more time developing his skills (something Byron had no interest in). Plus Hilt would cost less for them keep, making room for Maggette's contract and anyone else Chris Mullin wants to overpay (4 years, 17 million for Ronny Turiaf? C'MON!).

2. Resign Jannero Pargo. I'm fairly positive we can do this without it counting against our cap. Sure, we could use a backup who is more "pass-first" minded, but Pargo did do well this year all the while managing to avoid Byron's doghouse (despite a field goal percentage hovering near 43). Yeah, he's streaky (but so is Gordon), but he's comfortable with the team and the coaching staff. I still don't think the shot to save our season should have fallen to him, but I'd welcome him back in a heartbeat.

3. Assuming we still have the option (after a very hypothetical trade for Biedrins), offer the full midlevel to Josh Childress. He's restricted, but I'm not sure that Atlanta will match any offer, considering he really isn't their top priority. Childress is super talented, he can play the 2, 3, and 4, and he has a release that will confuse anyone who tries to guard him. He's likeable and he loves Tyson. He's a more solid backup than Bonzi and gives us depth with his versatility. Of course, if we do land him, you'll probably have to switch out you old Josh Childress Wallpaper.

If we couldn't drag Childress away, my vote would be to re-sign Bonzi. It wouldn't be ideal, but then again, if we pull of the above sign and trade, I'd be cool if we signed Curry.

Here's how the Top 10 Bees stack up if my plan goes off without failure

PG: Paul, Pargo
SG: Peterson
SF: Stojakovic, Wright, Childress (or Wells)
PF: West, Ely
C: Chandler, Biedrins

Does the word unstoppable come to mind? It should. Granted, this probably won't happen, but on the off chance it does, you heard it here first.

Peace.

5 or 3? That is the Question for CP3.

According to article by John Reid of the Times Pic, it appears as though the question of whether or not the Hornets resign CP3 is no longer an "if". Rather, Paul seems to be wavering between signing a 3 year, $60 million deal or a 5 year, $80 million deal.

Which shall he choose? I don't care (actually, I do: I'd love for him to take the 5 year deal). The reason I don't care? D. West and Peja have 3 years remaining in their contract and Tyson has two. That means that there are at least 3 years remaining in the Hornet's new era of contention (for those of you worried about my math, we will absolutely be resigning Tyson is CP is still around... the two complete each other).

***

Now then. I shall react to Curry's free agency rundown.

PLEASE GOD DON'T LET BOWER SIGN KWAME BROWN OR DeSAGANA DIOP! AND I DON'T CARE IF JASON WILLIAMS HAS A RING! SO DOES MARK MADSEN! PLEASE GOD, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE!

Sorry. Actually, unless we can land Carl Landry, I say the Bees should focus on wingmen or point guards, hopefully nabbing Sessions, Gordon, or Maggette. These guys really would be excellent additions to the crew we already have. Never mind that one of the under-reported stories the last season was the over-use of CP. The blame for that lies both in Byron and Chris' court (and you could hardly argue with the results until the playoff), but with a more consistent backup crew for the 1 and 2 slots, CP might feel less pressure to win everything by himself.

Meanwhile, Byron could try whipping Hilton into shape the same way he made a bruiser out of Tyson. Scott threatened to fine and bench Chandler every time he caught an offensive rebound and kicked it back out. Either get the second chance points or die trying.

Go Team.