What's Next In New Orleans: Yesterday the New Orleans Hornets came to a "mutual" agreement to part ways with GM Jeff Bower and while some are saying the decision was made several days ago, sources close to the situation say the decision was not reached yesterday, but it wasn't reached last week either.

Bowers' demise was ultimately his own.

According to sources, Bowers' stance on not trading star guard Chris Paul and a hardline stance on the subject ultimately cost him his job. That stance combined with what some have labeled as a "sour" relationship with Chris Paul ultimately ended Bowers' tenure with the team.

Paul has been extremely vocal about his unhappiness with where New Orleans is in terms of competing for a championship and Bower has done little in the eyes of ownership to defuse the situation in fact some say he's fanned the flames. The inability to get Paul on board was a huge issue with ownership.

The team has begun a search for a new General Manager there was a strong sentiment in Las Vegas yesterday that Chris Paul is now clearly on the trading block with some executives saying they expected him to be traded in the coming weeks.

Hornets sources warned not to read too much into the decision to remove Bower, with one Hornets' insider saying that the hope was a new GM might be able to bridge the divide with Paul and start to repair what's clearly become a broken relationship, however if that divide can't be closed it seems far more likely that the new GM will be faced with a tough decision… trade Paul now or wait for him to walk away in 2012.

Former Blazers' GM Kevin Pritchard has been mentioned as a possible replacement, and sources close to Pritchard said that he had not been contacted yet, but that he was likely a prime candidate mainly because he fits the described criteria perfectly… He is an established credible executive with a strong leadership style. He is an aggressive trader, and he has proven that he can extract good assets in deals.

The fact that Pritchard has a solid relationship with new Hornets' coach Monty Williams surely doesn't hurt his candidacy. And as one Western Conference executive joked "If Monty has any pull, Pritch should be the next guy…"

The Hornets have set no time table on replacing Bower, but it's expected to happen fairly quickly.

From there we'll see how Chris Paul responds, and that might be the most telling sign of his future. If Paul tosses his unwavering support behind a GM, the Hornets may not have to consider the next option and that's trading away their star player.

I would also like to see how Felton looks in this system. I dont know if he will be great or not, but he certainly has a chance to explode here. I mean we saw some stretches where Duhon looked solid giving us 12/8 a night an winning some games. Felton has 10x the skills and physical gifts that Duhon has. When you look at Steve Nash's career and his numbers there is a lot of similarity there. CP3 is great.. really the best but I think we need to sit on this a bit.

Remember when we started the year w/ Crawford, Zach, Lee and Duhon we had a winning record.

What if we start the season 15-10 after 25 games, are playing good ball and Felton is giving you 18ppg and 10assists a night and playing good D. You still want to give up the farm for CP3? I would think that Felton at $7mm would make more sense and keeping your young assets.

Cosmic wrote:It's hard to get a legit feel for these comments anymore.

Yet if it's true we need to do everything we can to get Chris Paul in New York.

If that includes a package of Curry, Chandler, Douglas, and Gallo?

I think you _REALLY_ have to consider it.

Amare+Paul >>>> Amare, Chandler, Douglas, Gallo.

Just the simple facts no matter how much I like Gallo and Douglas and no matter how much some like them and Chandler as well - if you have the chance to get Chris Paul you do it.

If Okafor comes back it's even more amazing for us - so you call up the Hornets right now and start throwing assets at them - all your assets.

Okafor
Amare
---melo---
---felton stop gap?---
Paul

You just have to do everything in your power to make this happen.

--->Amare+Paul >>>> Amare, Chandler, Douglas, Gallo. So Chris Paul with a bad knee is worth more than two potential 20 point scorers who are 6-8 and 6-10 and a guy who can become a high caliber 6th man who is also 23? Then we play Felton at 6 feet as a 2G. Big names sound fancy at times--but we have built a team---lets let the team play out and if we see great opportunity to use an ending contract + picks OR even better straight FA where we pay nothing. I like free. We just signed Felton--lets give him a chance in this system. If he goes 17-8-3--then why do we need Chris Paul

iSergio wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:Im expecting New Orleans to want a few picks, young players, and the team to take Okafor.

No way do I gut the team for Chris Paul. The guy is a beast but no thx. I prefer we just see what we have on this team this year.

That's just crazy. This is CHRIS PAUL we're talking about. You do anything and everything to get a player of his caliber here.

You dont go after a GUARD coming off a serious knee injury who will be expensive to acquire. If he gets hurt again we'd be royally screwed. Reportedly his knee isn't healing as fast as they would like either. We'd also likely have to take back Okafor too. Im not interested in being capped out with no young prospects with star potential or future picks.

New Orleans isn't going to give Chris Paul away.

Cosmic wrote:It's hard to get a legit feel for these comments anymore.

Yet if it's true we need to do everything we can to get Chris Paul in New York.

If that includes a package of Curry, Chandler, Douglas, and Gallo?

I think you _REALLY_ have to consider it.

Amare+Paul >>>> Amare, Chandler, Douglas, Gallo.

Just the simple facts no matter how much I like Gallo and Douglas and no matter how much some like them and Chandler as well - if you have the chance to get Chris Paul you do it.

If Okafor comes back it's even more amazing for us - so you call up the Hornets right now and start throwing assets at them - all your assets.

Okafor
Amare
---melo---
---felton stop gap?---
Paul

You just have to do everything in your power to make this happen.

Take Galo out and add some picks and this will be a great geal.
If CP3 will come Douglas will be expendable. And Chan is not a big deal too.
With CP3 and Amare you can get wing player (Carmelo?) so why you need Chan?
The bad thing tehy will want Randolf and this will make it questionable to me.

technomaster wrote:Chris Paul's injury was a torn meniscus (torn cartilage). From what I understand, in cases of minor damage, the jagged torn areas are snipped off and they send the patient on his way. I think this is what they did w/ CP3.

The only way to grow new cartilage from what I've gathered is through micro-fracture surgery. It's not needed by CP3 at this point. I'd venture to say that if doctors looked at most NBA players' knees in their 30s, they'd see enough deterioration to recommend micro-fracture surgery from general wear and tear. The red flag really comes when young players need the surgery.

While I like Paul and his complete game, I think Felton has the potential to put up some pretty gaudy Paul-lite numbers in the Knicks system. (Note that CP3's protege, Collison, was able to produce similar numbers when Paul was out - so perhaps the NO offensive system plays a part in pumping up CP3's stats too)

sometimes you snip it, sometimes you sew it back on.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/354816-knee-issues-could-potentially-hinder-future-of-nba-all-star-paul

In a year or two he might be having major problems with his knee. Also, I don't actually trust him- If you remember Bron, Wade and Bosh's plan to team up actually included CP joining them 2 years later. I don't see how it would be possible unless he took a ridiculous pay cut, and I know he made those comments at Carmelo's wedding, however it seems really fishy that he suddenly changed his management either just before or just after (Wow- last week seems so long ago, I can't remember!) those 3 did acvtually team up to Lebron's management company.

Besides, are we really going to spend the next year talking about getting Carmelo or CP or Deron Williams or who ever? After what happened this offseason I'm not going to bother torturing myself like that again, and am instead just going to focus on what we've got. Really in the next CBA the ban on tampering should be extended to include the fans discussing players on a contract with another team- it would save us a lot of time and heart ache!

Shin is a bad owner trying to sell his majority stake.

Who is the bad guy? Bower or Paul? Bower is hamstrung by an owner who has limited resources in a small market thats still recovering from a natural disaster. Of course its natural for Republican leadership to ignore them!!!

I think any team that has championship desires needs a Gallo type player. IN fact I'd have to say that Melo-Gallo are similar in skill sets but one is at his prime while another is not quite there.

BOTH NEED A GOOD POINT GUARD!!!!!!! Melo really came of age last year with Billips leadership.

After a week of no "Starphuching" we knick fans are at it again?

I'd say we target CP3 or Melo but not both. Why? Starphuching is bull****!

I am HOPEFUL Gallo gives us some upside and if so, we have a solid core 3. But what it offers us is a solid core.

Lets see what AR and Gallo can do. Can AR be Bosh? Can Gallo be somewhere between Melo and Wally Z (in his prime)? Neither is crazy? Can felton be a billips floor leader? Just need 10-7 with serious leadership. Dude has pedigree to step up.

I like the idea of building from with in and adding parts. At some point you get a pretty compleate roster and THEN use those appreciated assets to get a big piece to compete.

We are not quite at that point. The starphuch in me says "yeah, lets do a big three ourselves" but there is time.

CP3 is a great player but he has had some good teams around him and comes up short and at this moment I would have a question about his leg, but that is for others to worry about.

So I'd say iM open to CP3 but I want Gallo still. I want the right pieces for these guys. IF not, then keep on keeping on until we are further down the road............Don't you carry nuting that might, be a load.......