Will the Hornets Make a Trade?

Since Dell Demps joined the Hornets, roster turnover has been the one constant.

We've seen the entire original team shipped out and then some via moves, both expected and wildly unexpected, flying about in all directions. Demps brought in Ryan Anderson over the summer, a trade that looked inspired at the time and one that looks better by the day. Anderson has proved that not only can he excel without Dwight Howard, he can be a legitimately great player on a legitimately awful team. The thought of Anderson alongside a healthy Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon is exciting.

As Oleh explained last week, much of our current and future flexibility would be impossible without Demps successfully dumping the contracts of Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor on the Washington Wizards. And sure, the Jarrett Jack trade looks rough right now, but if it was a failure, it was a failure on a much lesser order than the successes of the Ariza/Okafor and Ryan Anderson trades.

So what's next?

For one, a Ryan Anderson trade before the deadline is a virtual impossibility. He's rapidly turned into one of the most pined after players in the league, which is fair, but I'm yet to see an even remotely plausible trade idea involving him. Despite starting a full 6 to 7 games fewer than the rest of the guys on this list, Anderson ranks 7th in offensive win shares this season:

That's tremendously good. That's with little to no talent surrounding him on the floor. Combine his performance with his age, his contract, and his fit in virtually any offensive system imaginable, and Ryan Anderson's one of the most valuable trade assets in the league. No team is acquiring him for cap space, terrible draft picks, and throwaway players.

One thing we've discussed often is Monty Williams' deflation of Al-Farouq Aminu's trade value. It's questionable if he had any at all a couple weeks ago, but Williams has surely destroyed it if it existed at all by dropping Aminu from his rotations completely.

Ultimately, the Hornets are weak at point guard, shooting guard, and small forward. That's too many positions to struggle at, and so it wouldn't be surprising to see Dell Demps attempt to address one of them before the trade deadline. He'd do well though not to make a temporary improvement at a position (say, trading for the 32 year old Jose Calderon) and sacrifice the long term vision.

Feel free to play around with the Trade Machine today; any trades you'd make right now to address our need positions?