Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports has the story:
BEIJING – New Orleans Hornets free agent guard Jannero Pargo, a valued sixth man, has reached an agreement in principle with Moscow Dynamo on a one-year contract worth about $4 million, sources close to the negotiations told Yahoo! Sports.
Some details still needed to be worked out Friday before the contract could be finalized, but sources said there were no hurdles left that should jeopardize the deal.
Pargo will be joining Boki Nachbar and their impressive new head coach David Blatt. The Russian team were able to put more guaranteed money on the table than NBA teams.
This is a really sad day. Pargo was the sixth man on a contender. His exhilirating style of play was a joy to watch and his contributions were extremely important to a weak-then-respectable Hornets bench. The two-man backcourt of he and Paul …. ahh. Big loss for the Hornets.
Not a good day
Dave,
With all due respect.
Jannero Pargo stinks.
The Hornets are soooo much better off without him as their 6th man, it’s not funny.
James Posey is a much more versatile/valuable basketball player … and the Hornets will be able to go out and sign a far superior back-up to Chris Paul, at a much more cost-friendly amount than what Pargo got to go to Europe … e.g. (ironically) Devin Brown comes to mind right away.
Seven things
(1) James Posey is a better 6th man. He’s an excellent role player, one of the best in the NBA.
(2) Jannero Pargo was last season and would still be this coming season an integral bench player for the Hornets. I meant 6th man for his last season if that was unclear, he would have been the 7th man this upcoming season which is great because it’s his ideal role.
(3) The Hornets biggest problem is offensive diversification.
They need another player or two to open up their offense. Teams can do just like San Antonio did and make the Hornets play 2-on-5 by staying at home on the rest of the squad and seeing if David West and Chris Paul can beat them. Paul and West are incredible weapons offensively and a magnificent combination but they’re not winning 4 rounds in the playoffs against top class ball clubs without a more diversified offense. The rest of the team is too easy to shut down outside of them, just stay home on the rest and they’re finished.
The Hornets played their best basketball in the second half of the season after the Bobby Jackson trade. That brought a 10ppg go-to scoring weapon in Bonzi Wells to the floor and another go-to 8-10ppg threat in Jannero Pargo. It took a huge amount of pressure off of the starter’s shoulders and for the first time all season the Hornets bench wasn’t getting slaughtered.
Posey doesn’t answer this, he only furthers hampers the situation because he isn’t the scorer they need and his contract limits their flexibility in adding this another way. Pargo did answer this.
(4) The Hornets already have a fantastic young wing in Julian Wright and had a good wing in Bonzi Wells next to him last season. Posey while a good addition and an excellent role player but he isn’t as big a difference maker as they’re hoping because he’s replacing a position of strength.
Without signing Posey they still had a very good wing. While Posey is a better player overall, Julian Wright is already a superior defense player to Posey which is the biggest reason why they paid the man. They had no stopper to handle Bryant, Roy, Manu or the other wings in the West.
Posey would have been a massive upgrade to the Lakers, the Pistons or the Celtics. For the Hornets his value is relatively less because they were already strong there. It also has the possibility of slowing down Julian Wright’s progress.
(5) Jannero Pargo does not stink.
He’s an above average defensive player, an electrifying penetrator, a very good bench scorer, a solid playmaking guard, and a good passer, and a solid perimeter shooter. He’s too erratic with his decision making to be a lead floor general/starter but he makes for an excellent bench player. He caused the opposition a lot of problems on the court and was a game changing player off the pine.
Jannero Pargo also provided great lineup flexibility with a two guard backcourt next to Chris Paul which caused matchup problems for everyone in the league. That lineup in particular destroyed Dallas in the first round.
Pargo was an excellent primary backup guard for a contender, and in particular to the Hornets where he had proven his value to the team.
(6) I’d feel more comfortable with Pargo in the $3mil range but $4mil is workable. You’re not going to get a better go-to scoring option out of Free Agency who can succeed off the bench for less than that – the position needs to be a guard or big because the wings are locked down which removes the most cost effective bench help in the league from solving this problem.
(7) Devin Brown isn’t a point guard. Are you thinking of someone else? Devin Brown played for the Cavs last season? Same guy?
I’ll be writing a post on their options at the point today or tomorrow. It’s very likely it’ll be Mike James since he’s on the books for $6-6.5mil per annum for two years. I like Mike a lot but he’s a downgrade from Pargo.
Dave,
Unless I’m mistaken …
… Devin Brown played at the PG spot for these same New Orleans Hornets 2 seasons ago, when they hung on gamely until the final weeks of the season fighting for a playoff spot in the WC despite being decimated by serious injuries to key players.
Devin Brown can play the PG spot.
Devin Brown was a back-up for the SA Spurs when they won a NBA Title.
Devin Brown is a better basketball player than Jannero pargo.
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Pargo’s lack of size is a MAJOR liability for a legit NBA Title Conteda … especially when your PRIMARY PG is Chris Paul.
The Hornets were never going to beat a team like the LA Lakers with a player like Jannero Pargo as their back-up PG.
NEVER.
Oh … and, Mike James is a far superior PG, in comparison to a small-framed player like Pargo … even though the vast majority of delusional Raptors fans WOULD never be able to see that for themselves, given the antipathy they still have for Mr. James (stemming from his brief time in a Raptor uniform) and his over-inflated perception of himself which he made very public in Toronto.
Oops, you made two comments. My apologies, I missed the first one.
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Devin Brown didn’t play the point because of talent, he played there for a very short period out of necessity due to injuries and the team didn’t achieve any success with it either. He didn’t run the offense well enough.
He was the backup two guard for the Spurs while there which is best position.
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Why do you think Mike James didn’t play over Pargo last season?
Do you think it was a mistake by Byron Scott?
I saw Devin Brown play in-person during the 2006-2007 season.
Devin Brown can play the PG spot in the NBA.
In general, one of the major problems many NBA insiders/observers have is an inability to envision how a certain player might be able to find success at a different position than the one which they are most accustomed to seeing him play in the NBA.
The lack of success the Hornets had was NOT on account of Devin Brown’s inability to run their team … it was due to the lack of ability of the remaining players on their roster, after the injuries hit them big-time.
As a defender and a rebounder with good size & quickness, who can play the PG spot, Devin Brown is Heads & Shoulders better than Mr. Pargo.
IMO, James didn’t play much in NO last season because he wasn’t picked up to serve in that capacity and the team had found a nice rhythm with Pargo … BEFORE James arrived.
James was brought in last year, strictly as insurance … not as a guy who was going to get minutes and upset the apple cart.
Bonzi Wells had a specific role, on the court … Mike James was an insurance policy so that they could cope with an injury to Chris Paul (their Starter), who their team revolved around.
Well-run teams do not necessarily play the insurance policy, over the player who has already established his role with the team since the beginning of the season.
This year, if James sticks with the Hornets it will be because Byron Scott thinks that Mike can be a contributing player to their everyday rotation. If not, keeping Mike James around is not a good idea, on account of his ego.
The majority of Brown’s minutes at the point were with both Tyson Chandler and David West on the court. He also had his two best wings that season in Mason and Butler – since Peja hardly played that season, they were two wings who played the most minutes. He had a strong lineup out there.
There was nothing that happened in that stretch that would convince me he could play the point full time at a high level.
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Good take on the Mike James situation. I like James, I think he’s a very good backup. Great energy and hustle, good defense, good shooting and scoring. He’s limited as a floor general but functional. He’s comfortable at both guard spots too which is a nice bonus when you want to try and up the tempo. I was very disappointed Rick Adelman didn’t use him in Houston, James could have had great value in that system and lineup.
I think Pargo would have won the spot anyway if they had both started off in training camp. Pargo added more to the Hornets lineup because of Pargo’s dribble penetration and playmaking skills. I’m not as sure of James’ value to the Hornets because while he’s a good backup he doesn’t possess that creativity that was necessary to the Hornets offense last season.
Dave,
http://www.wwltv.com/sports/hornets/stories/wwl082208bhhornetssign.f1caab.html
It’s an uncanny thing just how often I am right.
Khandor,
He has to play the point and do it well for you to be right in this instance. The signing gives your theory the possibility of coming true.
You must be happy with this Hornets move.
Dave,
It’s interesting when I talk NBA hoops on different sites … e.g. Ball Don’t Lie; 20 second time-out, Hardwood Paroxysm, Raptorstalk.com, Arsenalist.com, etc. …
and certain individuals … e.g. ‘Kelly Dwyer’, ‘JE Skeets’, ‘David Freidman’, phdsteve, ‘Robert Archibald’, ‘RBS’, ‘FAQ’, etc. …
might disagree with what I have to say about a certain topic … e.g. which stats are actually connected with winning games in the NBA; which player is perceived to be more talented than another by a certain team’s head coach/GM; what a team’s best line-up might be; etc. …
just how often one of my all-time favourite quotes,
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” – Anonymous
comes into play AND eventually favours/supports the position I’ve taken … with the passage of time, i.e. “Time will tell [all].”
Fact is … no human being is perfect, me included.
That said …
each of us know a lot more about certain areas in Life than certain others do … and it can be quite comical, sometimes, to listen to the banter.
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IMO … Devin Brown (who can definitely play the PG-spot in this League) is a far superior NBA player, in comparison with Jannero Pargo … and it’s gratifying when men who I respect, e.g. Gregg Popovich/RC Buford & Byron Scott/Jeff Bower, seem to agree with that perspective.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AsNOSwHrxWCM9yyRfZcAxh.8vLYF?slug=ap-hornets-brown&prov=ap&type=lgns
* “Brown, 6-foot-5, likely will be the primary backup to All-Star point guard Chris Paul and will join recently signed James Posey as a backup shooting guard.”
* “I’ll be all over the place,” Brown said. “I can play (both guard spots and both forward spots).”
* “We like the depth that (Brown) provides in a number of areas,” Hornets general manager Jeff Bower said. “He’s a veteran that we have a lot of confidence in.”
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In general, I’m a supporter of good basketball people and good basketball teams.
Forced to choose between the Hornets and the Spurs my allegiance, as a hoops aficionado, lies with men like Popovich, Duncan, Bowen, Ginobili, etc. … even though I have full respect for the leadership group in place with New Orleans.
Both Popovich and Bower went after Pargo first and offered Pargo more money before Bower took his fall back option of Devin Brown. Popovich has also shown minimal interest (no interest?) in re-acquiring Brown over the past few seasons.
Not sure how that’s them agreeing with you that Devin Brown is the superior player of the two.