N.O. GM Demps Inherits Sticky Situation

Recently hired GM Dell Demps is walking into a precarious situation in New Orleans. His first task: convince All-NBA PG Chris Paul that the Hornets are going to be contending for championships in the next few years. Last week, according to sources in Paul's inner circle (his belly-button?), Paul will formally ask for a trade today and give the Hornets brass a list of teams he would like to play for. They include: Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic, and the New York Knicks among others.

While the Hornets are good (50-32 last season), it is clear they aren't at the level of the Magic, Lakers, or Heat. To make matters worse, the team is going through an ownership change and has a sticky salary situation. The Hornets owe C Emeka Okafor $53 mil over the next 4 years and SF James Posey $12 mil over the next two. While Okafor is a starting C, he is grossly overpaid. Posey, with his championship experience, was supposed to be the piece that put the Hornets over the top after they made it to the second round two years ago. Instead, his play has deteriorated and stunted the growth of project Julian Wright.

This will be a lot to handle for a rookie GM. For the past 5 years, Demps has been the assistant to Spurs GM R.C. Buford, one of the best in the business. When Demps and company walk into Monday's meeting with Paul, their presentation will probably include the following bullet-points:

- We have some good young talent. PG Darren Collison and SG Marcus Thornton proved they can play in the league for years to come. This year we drafted 2 promising rotation guys in Craig Brackins and Quincy Pondexter.

- We will have cap flexibility after this season. Peja Stojakovic's ($15 mil) and Darious Songaila's ($5 mil) contracts are both coming off the books. Not to mention David West has an opt out clause that he is likely to exercise because he is underpaid ($8 mil). Next summer, we will have enough money to resign West to a long-term deal as well as another big-name player.

- We are going to be active in the trade market. With all of our young talent and expiring contracts, we will be in the running to trade for anyone who hits the block. Here are some potential trades:

* We trade Darren Collison, James Posey, Darius Songaila, and a future 1st to the Pacers for Danny Granger (http://tinyurl.com/32yn7gu)_

With this move, you will be playing alongside another star for the next few years. The Pacers are desperate for a PG (Collison), just drafted another scoring SF (Paul George), and with all their expiring contracts are rebuilding.

* We trade Darren Collison, James Posey, and Julian Wright to the Hawks in exchange for Josh Smith. The Hawks then trade Jeff Teague and Maurice Evans for Roy Hibbert and Dahntay Jones. (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=25r4qzx )

Imagine throwing oops to Josh Smith! The Hawks would finally receive a C (Hibbert) that would allow Al Horford to move to the PF and a young PG (Collison) to complement Joe Johnson. The Pacers receive Teague, who is an intriguing prospect and expiring contract.

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While these might not be the exact deals that go down, you can see that the Hornets will be able to be active in the trade market. Before looking to deal Chris Paul, you can expect Demps to thoroughly investigate trading for a star to play alongside Paul.

CP3 really has no leverage in this situation. With two years remaining on his contract, the Hornets are not obligated to trade him and are not yet in jeopardy of losing him for nothing (via free agency). Right now, what Paul's demand really is a call to action. Whether he gets traded or not, the Hornet's front office has to do something to satisfy their disgruntled star and face of the franchise.


However, with all the change taking place in the franchise -- new head coach, new GM, new owners, lots of young players, the Hornets organization as a whole might not be ready to provide Paul with what he needs to take this team to the championship.