According to several sources, the Hornets and Kings are finalizing a trade whereby the New Orleans Hornets will send second year swingman Marcus Thornton and cash to the Sacramento Kings for scoring forward Carl Landry.  Thornton, who played collegiately at nearby Louisiana State University, was clearly a hometown favorite and will undoubtedly be missed by many of his fans at New Orleans.  Although the trade is still being finalized and has not been made official yet, I take this opportunity to review Thornton's contributions to the Hornets since his joining the team as a rookie last year and comment on why the contemplated trade may be good for both Thornton and the Hornets.

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The New Orleans Hornets announced yesterday that they have acquired Jarrett Jack, David Andersen and Marcus Banks from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Jerryd Bayless and Peja Stojakovic.

Jarrett Jack is a combo guard who will likely play as the backup point guard to Chris Paul and, in that sense, he's an improvement over Jerry Bayless, who, although not without talent, has never been reliable at the point.  Still, he's not at all a pure point and, at $5 million, he's much too expensive.  Which raises the question, was he worth it?  Comparing Jack to another guard that the Hornets could have had, may help to answer this question.

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Marc Spears reports that Marcus Thornton might be added in any deal that involves Peja Stojakovic. According to Marc, "despite their strong start, the New Orleans Hornets continue to explore ways to upgrade their roster, sources said. The Hornets wouldn’t mind moving Peja Stojakovic and his expiring $15 million contract. Second-year guard Marcus Thornton also could be available. The team hasn’t made any progress toward trying to acquire Philadelphia 76ers swingman Andre Iguodala."

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The good news for the New Orleans Hornets is that after going through a mediocre, injury riddled campaign that saw the Hornets go 37-45 and miss the playoffs last year, the Hornets should have a fresh chance to right the ship in the upcoming season.  Nevertheless, this off season has been less than auspicious and, if recent events are any indication, the Hornets might be well on their way to an unfortunate meltdown before they have even had a chance to play a single basketball game this season.

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With respect to the recent "spat" between the two players, we have to understand where Rondo is coming from and where CP is coming from. 

With respect to Rondo, you have to understand that whenever people talk about the Celtics, they always talk about the "Big 3".  As if Rondo is some bit player in their show.  Fact is that without Rondo, they wouldn't have won a championship 2 years ago, or made it as far as they did last year when Rondo was a constant triple double threat every playoff game.  People easily forget that when  the Big 3 came together in Boston, point guard was considered the weak link of the Celtics and there was a ton of pressure for Rondo to just be at least adequate.  Fact is that Rondo blew by all the expectations that were put on him.  He's much better than people expected and has been a key piece of Celtics' championship squad.  Rondo feels understsndably frustrated that people still refer to the Celtics as the story of the "Big 3".  This comes it when he plays a top point guard like CP.  That's the background of why Rondo might have acted like that.

With respect to CP, he feels, perhaps rightfully, that he is a player of destiny but he is not yet convinced whether the players around him are of a caliber where he can go to the Championship.  This is frustrating CP and this season will really test CP's patience--especially if the Hornets can't play as consistently well as he would like.  It's not the first time that CP has commented about the supporting players surrounding on of his competitors at point guard.  Remember in the Denver series last year, CP said in frustration that Denver has better players "at every position".  This was during a time that Denver played much better than the Hornet while he was having his head to head matchup against Billups.  This memory is still raw in his mind and last night it came out during the game against the Celtics when he was matched up against Rondo.

So each player's actions and reactions are quite understandable considering their histories and current positions.