Eric Gordon Staying in New Orleans, Hornets Playoff Chatter Continues

For the next four years, New Orleans has a talented trio locked up – Gordon, No. 1 pick Anthony Davis, and No. 10 pick Austin Rivers.

Not surprisingly, Monty Williams has decided Rivers will be his new point guard. Even though Rivers is 6-foot-5 and more of a scoring combo guard (he had zero or one assist in 12 games as a freshman at Duke), it was clear before the draft that he needed to convince teams he could play point guard. If not, he was going to slide out of the lottery. So Rivers probably went to teams and said he’ll be a score-first point guard, like Russell Westbrook or Tyreke Evans or Derrick Rose (and score Rivers can!).

Thus Jarrett Jack became expendable, and he was traded to the Warriors in a 3-team deal that netted New Orleans Edin Bavcic, a 6-foot-11 28-year-old bruiser from Bosnia who hasn’t played a minute in the NBA.

Now that Jack has been dealt and Gordon is officially back, the starting lineup is set: Rivers and Gordon in the backcourt. Ryan Anderson and Al-Farouq Aminu at the forwards, and Davis in the middle.

I’m probably too giddy about them for next season, but 2013-2014? Get crunk, NOLA.