Southern Florida is home for Jones, by the way.

Mashburn has averaged 18 ppg in his career, and is very strong for a small forward. P.J. Brown has averaged about 9 ppg and 7 rpg over his career, and was selected to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in both 1997 and 1999. Otis Thorpe is about 103 years old, but as far as tough power forwards to bring off the bench for 10-15 minutes a game, Thorpe is still very useful.

Eddie Jones had one hell of a season in 1999-2000, averaging about 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and, to be exact, a league-leading 2.67 steals per game. Jones was a starter in last year's NBA All-Star game. Anthony Mason contributed about 12 ppg and 9 rpg last season, and can defend as well as anyone. Ricky Davis hasn't done much yet other than show people he's got amazing leaping ability, but he definitely has potential. Dale Ellis is 186 years old, but can still come off the bench for 5 minutes a game to quickly go 1 for 2 or 3 from 3-point range before sitting right back down.

Now, in no way is this a good day for the Hornets. Mason is a better overall player than P.J. Brown, and Eddie Jones is far more valuable than Jamal Mashburn. A Hornets optimist can point out that Eddie Jones was going to leave no matter what, and the Hornets should be happy to get anything for him at all. Fine. But Mason and Jones were the two best Charlotte players, and they're gone, replaced by lesser talents. Those of you who accept that Jones was going to leave could call this a good day for the Hornets. Those of you who assume that teams should be able to hold onto their key players once they become free agents can call this a nasty sting for Charlotte.

Charlotte now has David Wesley at the point, Jamal Mashburn possibly trying to play part-time shooting guard (speculation) when not at small forward, and the trio of P.J. Brown, Derrick Coleman and Elden Campbell manning the power forward and center spots.

As for the Heat, it's going to be very hard scoring baskets on the trio of Jones, Mason, and the best defensive big-man in the league, Alonzo Mourning. Add Pat Riley, a dash of Tim Hardaway (even if old and broken, he'll have lots of open shots with the above players drawing tons of attention), and role players to plug the holes, and you've got a team that will be aiming for the NBA Finals in 2001.

8/3/2000
____________

Back to InsideHoops Home

Say what you've got to say on the InsideHoops NBA MESSAGE BOARD

Sign up for a free web-based email account @InsideHoops by clicking  here.

Basketball fans who don't use InsideHoops as their primary web-based email account might as well forget basketball forever and become diehard water-polo fans.