subject: The New Orleans Hornets Tickets : The Hornets Finished The Season With A Low Record [print this page] The New Orleans Hornets are a professional basketball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. They play in the Southwest Division of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise began play during the 1988/89 NBA season as the Charlotte Hornets, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they were located until the end of the 2001/02 NBA season.
In the aftermath of a highly unsuccessful end to the 2009 NBA season and the in-season attempt to trade starting center Tyson Chandler for expiring contracts, the New Orleans Hornets were widely perceived to be looking to trim the payroll. Indeed, at the start of the NBA free agency period on July 1, the Hornets had the highest payroll of all teams in the league, topping $77 Million. When the luxury tax level was set on July 7, it left the Hornets in excess of $7 million in the tax zone.
Despite comments from the team owner and leadership about the intention to compete and building a winner, it was still seen as quite surprising when on July 28, the Hornets landed center Emeka Okafor from the Charlotte Bobcats for Tyson Chandler. While the move allowed the Hornets to shed $1.3 Million of the 2009-2010 payroll, they also took on the remainder of Okafors contract valued at just under $63 Million for 5 years. The frontcourt was bolstered further with the signing of free agent forwards Ike Diogu & Sean Marks.
The backcourt had been strengthened via the draft. On June 25, 2009, the Hornets drafted Darren Collison with the 21st pick of the 2009 NBA Draft. The Hornets also traded two future second round picks to the Miami Heat for the 43rd pick Marcus Thornton.
On August 12, 2009, the Hornets traded starter Rasual Butler to the Clippers for a 2016 second round draft pick, in an elaborate attempt to lower the payroll. Butler was slated to earn $3.9 Million for the season, but due to the Hornets being in the tax zone, those savings were effectively doubled. On September 9, the Hornets traded guard Antonio Daniels to the Minnesota Timberwolves for guard Bobby Brown and forward Darius Songaila.
On November 12, 2009, the Hornets fired head coach Byron Scott after starting the season 3-6. Scott was replaced with General Manager Jeff Bower. On November 18, the Hornets unveiled brand new purple, green, and gold uniforms, exclusively during the Mardi Gras holiday games.
To get below the luxury tax threshold, the Hornets traded back-up center Hilton Armstrong along with cash considerations to the Sacramento Kings for a conditional 2016 second round draft pick .On January 25, 2010, they made two additional roster moves. First the team traded starting shooting guard Devin Brown to the Chicago Bulls for reserve center Aaron Gray. Shortly after it was announced that backup guard Bobby Brown was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for a conditional 2nd round draft pick.
The financially motivated trades diminished the Hornets team depth, which in turn became a significant problem late in the season as both Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic were lost to injuries for significant stretches of time. The Hornets overcame the bad start to the season and were as high as 6th in the Western Conference standings in late January. In the second to last game of January, Chris Paul got injured trying to save an errant pass going out of bounds. Despite returning for a stretch late in the season, that injury effectively ended Paul's season.
The lone highlight for the remainer of the season was the stellar performance of rookies Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. Collison achieved the longest stretch of games with at least 18 points and 9 assists (7 in a row in February) for a rookie since Oscar Robertson. For Thornton, one of many highlights was the 37 points (including a franchise record quarter of 23 points) he dropped on Cleveland on February 23. Both rookies made the all-rookie teams after the season, a first in franchise history.
The Hornets finished the season with a lowly 37/45 record and missed the playoffs. Jeff Bower later resigned as head coach to concentrate on his front office duties. In June 2010, the team hired Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Monty Williams to take the role as head coach. At age 38, he will be the league's youngest coach.
