So Lebron James goes to the Miami Heat, Chris Paul is tangentially related to all those shenanigans and now the Hornets have “mutually” parted ways with GM Jeff Bower because New Orleans and Bower “weren’t on the same page” about Paul’s future with the franchise (even though Bower had insisted that they were).

-

Gee, where have we heard all this before? With two years left on his contract, Paul has made it very clear that he wants the Hornets to compete. Anyone who thinks he’ll stay with a less-than-playoff-caliber roster is out of their minds. I’m on the record as saying Paul is not the type of player to quit on his team. And then Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! Sports decides to throw a possible wrench in that theory with this remarkable story.

-

-

Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

-

The story focuses on James’ off-season (and not-so-subtley hints at his petulant immaturity), but there is one passage that will be of great interest to Hornets fans:

-

Within days of the season’s end, James and Carter traveled to Winston-Salem, N.C., for the birthday party of New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul’s(notes) young son. With James on the premises, rules for the toddler’s birthday party included no photos, no video.

James was close with Paul, and free agency and the possible connecting of the players’ futures did come up in conversation. Paul was unhappy with the Hornets, and frustrated to see so many of his Team USA teammates on championship contenders and playoff teams. James and Carter long had been trying to recruit Paul to their LRMR marketing company and the Rose/Wesley/CAA cluster for his contract representation.

As a prelude to Paul eventually going into business with James, Wesley began working the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets to get them to try and trade for Paul with the strong suggestion that it could deliver James in free agency. Both tried, both failed.

-

This, of course, confirms two things we already know. 1) Chris Paul is not happy playing on a mediocre team in New Orleans and 2) The Hornets are not willing to give up CP3. But this article also gives us insight on to the inner-workings of the new NBA economy. Lebron James may or may not be a lazy Mellennial who would rather join his ubber-talented buddies to form a dynasty than try and win titles by himself. But James realizes that he is part of a young and up-and-coming NBA class of superstars that essentially can decide their own fate.

-

Chris Paul may or may not heed many lessons from this summer. If Carmelo Anthony goes to New York to join Amar’e Stoudemire, it could be a foregone conclusion that Paul is on his way to the Big Apple as well. That is, unless, the Hornets throw in a game changer. Bower never made a splash as much as he quietly filled in the gaps to the Hornets roster. If the Hornets can lure some serious talent to the Big Easy, they may still have a shot at keeping Paul in the long term (though it’s not like their recent signings are indicative of a spending free-for-all).

-

The nature of the NBA is this: players have more power than ever before. The lessons of Beijing in 2008 is that many NBA players, despite their outlandish egos, truly can get along with each other. The younger talent also have come to recognize that no one player wins titles alone.  Larry Bird had Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish. Magic Johnson had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. Hell, even Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen. And one thing we’ve realized is since “His Airness” retired is that there we have not seen another incarnation of Michael Jordan (even Kobe Bryant had to lean on Pao Gasol, Lamar Odom, et al..).

-

Never have the NBA’s best players had the opportunity to truly decide where they get to play and define their legacies. The Celtics and Lakers relied on great front offices to assemble their rosters. The Bulls, meanwhile, are still desperately looking for the combination that will repeat their past titles. Chris Paul and the Hornets are at a similar stage as Lebron was with the Cavaliers two years ago. Even if the new Hornets G.M. assembles a roster that wins the most regular-season games in the next two years, there’s no guarantee that Paul re-signs. Not with the possibility of teaming up with Stoudemire and Anthony in Madison Square Garden. Not with knowledge that, as one of - if not the - best point guards in the NBA, Paul can decide where and with whom he can play.

-

Again, this isn’t saying that Paul leaving New Orleans is a done deal. But the fact remains that the nature of the current NBA is against team loyalty, as players realize their leverage in free agency and the possibility of winning with peers they’ve grown to befriend and admire, it’s up to front offices across the league to make accommodations for the stars they want and try to build around that, or else be left by the wayside foolishly bemoaning the lack of loyalty from their multi-millionaire employees.

It’s been a point of professional pride that I have avoided writing about the whole LeBronomania that seemingly engulfed the entire non-soccer sporting world over the past few weeks. It’s this writer’s opinion that the whims of a multi-millionaire shouldn’t be the subject of so much debate, speculation and mis-guided fury. Where an athlete plies his or her trade is their decision and theirs alone. It’s why we now have free agency, so that lunatic owners don’t rule players’ lives with an iron fist.

-

But I was going to keep those opinions to myself because, frankly, who cares? But then Chris Paul had to go on and get involved.

-

-

Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

-

First it started with the reports that CP3 signed on with LeBron James’ fledgling management group (the same group of P.R. geniuses that put on “The Decision” which was met with resounding media derision). Now comes the (probably completely baseless report) that Paul made a toast at Carmelo Anthony’s wedding that predicted the two would join Amar’e Stoudwmire and create their own “Big 3.”

-

Hornets fans, not surprisingly, are not pleased with the news. Over at Hornets247.com, Ryan Schwann sympathizes with Paul’s frustration (even while fellow blogger Joe Gerrity calls Paul-to-New York “moronic at best“), but Schwann concedes that the Hornets losing Paul would be a “disaster.” Over at HornetsHype.com, this blog post title pretty much says it all.

-

As a fan, it’s pretty hard to wake up every day and see your mediocre team continue to wade in mediocrity. It’s even harder to accept that maybe, just maybe, your team will never really be that good (at least not soon). Coming from a guy who has diligently attended 90% of Hornets home games the past three seasons with the hope of one day reporting something spectacular, I know it can be downright depressing seeing a team flounder day-in and day-out.

-

But, for a moment, imagine how hard it must be to be a superstar athlete on said mediocre team. Chris Paul is exactly that. When healthy, he’s the best point guard in the league. He has a top-ten forward in David West to compliment his skills and…well not much else. Paul wants to win more than anything, and the Hornets haven’t exactly been doing that lately. So yea, he’s gonna be frustrated and he probably going to start looking at his options with just two years left on his contract.

-

So what is a fan to do? Paul has certainly left his mark in New Orleans with his attitude, community work and just overall athletic awesomeness that was lacking in this pre-Saints Super Bowl. Paul brought a lot of joy and excitement to a city looking for a winner. For a brief period, we all thought Paul would be the Big Easy’s savior.

-

But guess what? The Saints are World Champions and Drew Brees is the undisputed athletic King of the Gulf South. Paul can’t hold a candle to that kind of success without a championship of his own and he’s going to think about how cool it would be to be a winner some place else than a loser here. Hell, don’t Hornets fans think about how cool it would be if New Orleans had some superstar players from other cities?

-

Paul, though, won’t quit on his team like LeBron James quit on his (in the playoffs for Chrissakes!). That’s not saying that Paul will stay here forever (if the Hornets stay on the track they’re on, he’s as sure as gone in two years), but while he’s here, he will continue to compete to the best of his ability, he will continue to play every minute as if its his last and he will continue to try and win games.

-

As fans, that’s really all we can ask for.

-

They said “cock-up”.

Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

-

-\

-

The knock on the New Orleans Hornets for much of the season has been their uncanny ability to just give up for entire quarters of games, if not more. It’s a trait that carried over from the Byron Scott days, when this team was busy losing games in the most horribly historic ways possible. Trailing by 22 points at the half Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, and with coach Jeff Bower already having been ejected in the first quarter, it seemed that another lackluster loss was in the books.

-

And then something surprising happened. The Hornets, inexplicably and without the aid of Chris Paul or Peja Stojakovic, began to play inspired basketball. They scored 40 points in the third quarter (two more than they scored en the entire first half. The second half was one of the most exciting stretches of basketball this team has played in nearly two years and, despite losing 103-104 in the end, gave fans some sort of hope for the future after a hapless, throwaway season.

-

The Hornets, by any measure, had no business even being competitive in this game. The Hornets shot 32.5 percent in the first half, including just 2-of-7 from three-point range. Moreover, the Bobcats were playing in dominant fasion. Stephen Jackson racked up 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting and former Tyson Chandler (whom the Hornets traded away for Emeka Okafor) had 10 points and five empathic blocked shots.

-

That first half made me wonder if the Hornets had any life in them left at all and had to leave many a fan wondering what was really in store for their franchise in the future. With George Shinn reportedly looking to sell his majority share in the team and Avery Johnson a seemingly sure-fire shot to replace Jeff Bower (not to mention some speculation as to how safe Bower’s GM job is) all the news seemed to be about next season. It seemed that, with nothing to play for other than a paycheck, the Hornets were ready to just lay down and die.

-

Marcus Thorton and Darren Collison, though, had other plans. The rookie duo combined for a total of 60 points on the game, including a 12-point third quarter by Collison that ignited the Hornets comeback attempt. The rookies picked up their team and led them within a point from victory in spite of lackluster performances from the big-name free agents that were supposed to bring this team over the top. James Posey made just one basket and had five points in 24 minutes, while Okafor struggled all night against Chandler and finished with seven points and nine rebounds. Darius Songaila went three-for-four, which is not bad, except that he played nearly twenty minutes and had nearly as many fouls (four) as he had points (six).

-

The Hornets have a lot of questions coming into the post-season. But they can be at least sure of one thing: it’s no long just the Paul and West show in the Big Easy, Collison and Thornton have shown they can put on a display as well.