The Hornets have been tight-lipped in the wake of their disappointing end to the season. A season that began with hopes of a trip to the Western Conference final -- if not the NBA Finals -- ended with a fourth-place divisional finish and an embarrassing loss to the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
When it came time for the traditional end-of-season reflections with the media, the Hornets didn't make majority owner George Shinn, general manager Jeff Bower or coach Byron Scott available. Instead, team president Hugh Weber, who oversees the business operation, and Shinn's son Chad, whose title is executive of the board, were left to answer questions about what went wrong and where the team is headed.
The biggest piece of news coming from them was that Bower and Scott, who has one year remaining on his contract, will be back next season.
Injuries, at varying times and to varying degrees, to Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic, David West and Chris Paul hamstrung the Hornets, but the team's lack of depth and consistent scoring to support Paul and West were exposed along the way.
We'll learn more about how the Hornets plan to change their roster when Bower and Scott finally speak sometime during pre-draft workouts. The Hornets hold the 21st pick in the June 25 draft.
SEASON HIGHLIGHT: The Hornets were 32-22 when center Tyson Chandler returned from an ankle injury and aborted trade to Oklahoma City and played his best basketball of the season. In his first game back the Hornets won at Sacramento, 112-105, triggering a season-high seven-game winning streak during which Chandler looked like the Chandler of the previous season and the Hornets looked like the team that was the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs a year ago.
TURNING POINT: The toll of playing too many minutes started to show on Paul, West and the rest of the team when a short-handed Warriors team out-hustled and exposed New Orleans in a 111-103 victory in Oakland on April 3. The Hornets entered the game a season-best 20 games over .500, but they were never the same after this game. Beginning with this game, they gave up an average of 113 points per game the rest of the way, nearly 10 points per game more than their season average before this. They gave up 100 or more points in eight of their last 13 games, losing four of their last five and six of their last eight in the regular season before the 4-1 playoff series loss to the Nuggets.
