On my last season's preview of the Hornets, I wrote two sentences that it makes sense to remind them right now: "After analyzing the probable starting lineup the preview is clear: if these guys stay healthy, Hornets will make some damage." and "This season can be Chris Paul's Prime time in NBA". One year has passed and I can say the Hornets have done what I predicted and they even did better than what the most optimistic Hornets supporter could predict. The team improved a 39-43 record to 56-26 and in the Playoffs, they eliminated Dallas, just to lose the decisive game at home against the Spurs on the conference semi finals.

Chris Paul has been the brain of the team and if the MVP award had been given to him, instead of Kobe, that would have been fair too. He had 21.1 ppg and 11.6 apg last season and we have to say that very few players in the history of the league have averaged more than 20 points and 10 assists on a season. His scoring ability makes his opponents to focus their attention on him, creating open looks for his team mates, who easily get the ball from Paul, due to his amazing on court vision. He was part of Team USA in the Olympics last Summer, but he wasn't used a lot and didn't suffer any injury, so he should be at 100% for this season and we can just wait another brutal season from CP3.

However, not only Paul had a breakout season. Also Chandler and West had breakout seasons and the three together created an amazing "Big Three" which sent the team to a whole new level. For the first time on his career, West averaged more than 20 ppg on a season (20.5 ppg), while playing 76 games, his career best too. His ability to shoot from mid range made his pick n'roll with Paul being one of the most feared on the entire league and this season it won't be different. He also had some amazing clutch shots last season, which shows how confident he is on this new phase of his career.

The same can be said about Chandler, who also had his best season yet. Chandler is mainly a great defender and averaged 11.7 rpg last season, but he also took advantage very well of the open shots CP3 created for him and for the first time on his career, he averaged double digits points on a season (11.8 ppg). He is extremely useful in New Orleans, as he is a big man capable of stopping the best centers of the league and that's essential for a team which wants to have success in the Western conference.

The offensive scheme of the Hornets obligates them to have good shooters in the perimeter and that happened last season. The Hornets were the 3rd best team on the league in 3pts % with 38.9% and the main contributor for that was Peja Stojakovic, who scored 3 3pts shots per game. Peja finished with 231-523 (44.2%) 3pts last season and he was able to keep himself healthy, after a season where he had just played 13 games. His presence on the field makes the opponents struggle a lot in the defense, as they need to think twice in double teaming Paul, as that will leave Peja alone.

The only relevant change on the team was Jannero Pargo leaving to Europe to play in Russia.  Pargo was a very important backup last season, but GM Jeff Bower managed to solve this problem in a spectacular way and added the former Boston player James Posey to the team. As we have watched on last season's Playoffs, Posey was a very useful player in Boston and his shooting ability on the perimeter will perfectly fit on the style of play of the Hornets.

The other players who will see a lot of minutes this season are a mixture of veterans with talented youngsters, which give a deep roster to the team. Morris Peterson, Julian Wright or Mike James are capable of giving 10/15 quality minutes to the team per game.

The Hornets were the biggest surprise last season and even while being on the most competitive division of the league, they never had a bad run, something everybody was expecting them to having sooner or later. The team is young, unlike for example Phoenix, San Antonio or Dallas and they have a lot of years in front of them to get the title. Chris Paul will once again be a MVP contender and the team will be on the Playoffs next April, unless a major tragedy happens.

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