New Orleans Hornets trade their only draft pick to New York Knicks - NBA Update
The New Orleans Hornets gave away their only pick from the 2011 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft to the New York Knicks. The trade took place on Thursday night and the Hornets received an undisclosed amount of cash in
return.
According to the general manager of New Orleans Dell Demps,
“We had a number of guys on our board that we thought could help us, but when those guys were no longer available, we moved quickly to make the trade. We didn’t want to pick someone just to be picking. We will use the money we
acquired strictly to make our team better (in free agency).”
The Hornets picked Kentucky Wildcats centre Josh Harrellson with their 45th second round pick. Before going into the draft, the Hornets proclaimed that they will select the best talent available in spite of their low
position in the draft and now as expected they have traded him to get some extra space on their budget cap.
The Hornets did not have the first round pick in this year's draft as they ended up on the seventh spot in the Western Conference standings with a 46-36 record and successfully made their way into the playoffs.
In the postseason, the Hornets punched above their weight and keyed by Chris Paul, they took down the two time defending champions Los Angeles Lakers in the very first game. The Lakers however picked up pace as the series progressed
and eventually cut short the Hornet’s post season run with 4-2 decision.
The Hornets have publically stated their desire to retain Chris Paul and build a team around him. With David West also becoming a free agent this summer, they had to pull off something to keep C3P interested. According to G.M
Demps, they tried hard to move up the draft, but failed to reach a deal.
Demps said, “We didn’t get real close on that. We tried some different avenues, but we came up short.”
This is the third time when the Hornets had made a trade related to the draft pick in the last four seasons. In the previous draft, New Orleans picked Cole Aldrich as No. 11 overall and then immediately traded
him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for power forward Craig Brackins and small forward Quincy Pondexter.
The duo failed to live up to the expectations. However, this move by them certainly makes some sense as they have increased their chance of landing the likes of Nene Hilario, Tyson Chandler or may David West in
this year’s free agency, whenever that happens.
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