The New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans Need To Get Significantly Better at Drafting

The New Orleans Hornets are about to become the New Orleans Pelicans, and they have to hope that the Hornets name was a jinx that would explain their horrid drafting. Time will tell how their 2012 draft worked out as surely Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers have potential and upside, but the Hornets draft history leaves a ton to be desired and is the main reason why this organization struggles to be relevant in the NBA.

In 2002, the Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans, and in 2005, they drafted a future Hall Of Fame point guard in Chris Paul. We know this guy is a wonderful player, almost good enough to carry a franchise for a decade worth of drafts, but check out the laundry list of mistake after mistake by this organization:

When the Hornets moved to the Big Easy in 2002, they did not have a draft pick that year. But in 2003, they got their drafting off to a great start with David West. He was really good for a long time for this organization and was an All-Star twice, but they lost him for no return assets in 2011. Overall, I like West, and I would have to say that he did enough for this organization to say that he was a great draft pick.

After that, though, there’s been a massive decline.

James Lang, J.R. Smith (he played two seasons with New Orleans, then was traded for Tyson Chandler who, after a few solid seasons, was traded for Emeka Okafor – so all in all, pretty good pick). Tim Pickett, then CP3, Brandon Bass (not the Bass we know now, as he did nothing in his two seasons in New Orleans) then Hilton Armstrong, Cedric Simmons, Marcus Vinicius, Julian Wright, Adam Haluska, Darren Collison (traded him after his rookie season which was too early) then Craig Brackens, Quincy Pondexter, and Josh Harrelson. Yikes.

In 2012, the Hornets won the lottery, but they only had a few teams to leapfrog for that. In 2013, they will have around a half dozen teams to jump over to win the lottery again. Dell Demps has had the keys to the franchise since 2010, and he is the guy that needs to improve the draft history of the Hornets/Pelicans.

Craig Ballard is a NFL/NBA/MLB writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow  him on Twitter @craigballard77, and you can find all of his articles HERE