Filed under: HornetsWhen All-Star franchise player Chris Paul left that much-anticipated meeting last month with New Orleans coach Monty Williams and general manager Dell Demps -- and then politely said all the right things -- most everyone else still thought the trade talks and rumors would continue to fly through the start of this season.
Not anymore.
The trade Wednesday of promising young point guard Darren Collison, who looked like a budding star in Paul's absence last season, officially ended any notion that the Hornets will consider trading Paul.
It's time to believe the Hornets. If Paul still wants to leave -- and he fueled the earlier speculation -- he'll have to wait until he can opt out following the 2011-12 season. Until then, he better learn to like the Cajun cooking.
The Hornets, who are strapped financially, spent the early part of the summer exploring some trade options -- to Orlando, Dallas, Portland and New York, specifically -- and they were encouraged by Paul, who questioned whether the franchise was willing and able to build a winner around him.
Even though Paul was the franchise, he became expendable for the right price by the presence of Collison, who played with surprising poise and intelligence as a rookie last season when Paul was injured. In his 37 starts, Collison averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists, which is why Indiana was so happy to get him.
The Works: Darren Collison's Gold Rush
By moving Collison as part of a four-team trade, the Hornets landed versatile Trevor Ariza of Houston, who will become their starting small forward. In a separate deal they also grabbed Marco Belinelli of Toronto, a sharpshooter who will give them more depth on the wing. The two trades made them considerably better, and it allowed them to move James Posey and Julian Wright, who were not going to be playing very much. And Collison would have been playing only limited minutes behind Paul, likely chaffing at the role.
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