The Hornets landed Carl Landry back in New Orleans the same day they traded Chris Paul for 1 year at $9 million. That’s not terrible, but it’s a bit much for Landry’s production. Then the Hornets brought back Jason Smith on Friday for three-years at $2.5 mllion per year. That’s not a bad bargain given what he provided last year. Then again, with Emeka Okafor they’re paying $24 million-ish for a very underwhelming frontcourt. Not the worst in the league. Not even a bad one. Just very mediocre.
Landry’s rebounding doesn’t give them much as a power forward, and Smith’s biggest asset is really as a pick and pop player where he was surprisingly good last season. Alongside Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu, along with Chris Kaman’s $12.7 million contract, that’s a lot of dough for a team that’s going to be firmly in the lottery. Then again, they do have to reach the salary floor, so the money’s got to go somewhere
In reality, the Hornets probably got pretty good value. Landry’s one-year deal is ideal, as it means they’ll have room to continue the rebuilding process. That means with Kaman the Hornets will cleary $21 million in cap space in a single season. Pretty good with an extension for Eric Gordon on the horizon, if he’ll take it.
The Hornets won their opening game in preseason Friday night. They have not lost since trading Chris Paul.
That’s like, a joke, or whatever.