Hornets, Grizzles, and Rockets Combine To Make Three Way Trade At Deadline

The Memphis Grizzles, New Orleans Hornets, and Houston Rockets have made a deal for some last minute trades right before Thursday’s deadline.

Here are the transactions of the trade:

Southwest Division rivals pulled the trigger on a three-way deal just an hour before Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.

New Orleans acquired guard/forward Bonzi Wells, guard Mike James and cash considerations from Houston in exchange for guard Bobby Jackson, rookie guard Adam Haluska, forward Marcus Vinicius and a 2008 second round pick. As part of the three-team deal, Memphis will receive Vinicius, the rights to Malick Badiane and cash considerations in exchange for the rights to Sergei Lishouk.

The trade gives the Hornets depth to their roster, while the Rockets get a veteran backup point guard and make room financially for another possible deal.

News On Hornets Acquisitions:

“We have been looking to improve our bench as we head into the playoffs,” said Hornets General Manager Jeff Bower. “This trade dramatically improves our team by giving us proven veteran scorers at the backup guard and swing positions.”

Wells has averaged 9.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 22.0 minutes of play in 51 games (seven starts) for the Rockets this season, while James has averaged 6.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 16.3 minutes of play in 33 games (one start).

Wells spent his first five-and-a-half seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers before being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for Wesley Person and a 2004 first-round pick midway through the 2003-04 season. He spent a year-and-a-half with the Grizzlies before being traded to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Bobby Jackson and Greg Ostertag before the start of the 2005-06 season. Wells spent one season with the Kings before signing as a free agent with the Rockets, where he has spent the last one-and-a-half seasons.

Wells has averaged in double figures in five of his nine seasons, including a career-best 17.0 points in 2001-02. He has played in 36 career playoff games (16 starts), with his best playoff series coming as a King in 2005-06, where he averaged 23.2 points and 12.0 rebounds in six games against San Antonio.

James has six-and-a-half years of NBA experience with Miami, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Toronto, Minnesota and Houston. He was traded along with Justin Reed to the Rockets for Juwan Howard prior to the 2006-07 season. James has averaged double figures in scoring each of the last three seasons, with his best season as a pro coming in 2005-06 when he averaged career-highs in points (20.3), rebounds (3.3) and assists (5. in 79 games (all starts) with the Raptors. He has also appeared in 29 career playoff games, including a championship run with the 2004 Detroit Pistons.

Hornets Pull Away From Dallas Late

Chris Paul went absolutely nuts on the newly acquired Jason Kidd of the Mavericks, Peja came up with some big 3’s, and David West got some monster dunks as the Hornets downed the Mavs in front of 15,941 at the Hive 104-93. This puts the Hornets at 37-15 and a full game ahead of Phoenix, with them losing last night, for the top spot in the West. The Hornets currently hold a three game lead over Dallas in the Southwest Division.

With games like Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix coming fast, this win was important for the Bees. They got it done in front of a lively New Orleans crowd. Even though it was 1,300 short of a sellout, which the Hornets managed twice this year, it was probably the loudest the arena has been in a long time. On the radio, it almost sounded like they were broadcasting out of the Dome. The Hornets take on Houston Friday at the Hive.

Field Goals				Rebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
C.Paul	G	40:38	11-20	2-3	7-7	+20	0	5	5	11	1	9	1	0	0	31
M.Peterson	G	13:26	1-4	0-2	0-0	+1	0	1	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	2
D.West	F	34:47	6-14	0-0	6-9	+14	4	4	8	2	5	0	1	0	1	18
P.Stojakovic	F	37:30	6-12	3-4	3-3	+16	1	4	5	1	2	0	3	0	1	18
T.Chandler	C	34:00	2-3	0-0	4-6	+1	4	5	9	0	3	0	2	0	0	8
B.Jackson		27:23	6-11	5-9	0-0	+12	0	4	4	2	1	2	2	0	0	17
H.Armstrong		15:55	1-3	0-0	3-5	+9	1	2	3	0	4	0	0	0	0	5
R.Bowen		14:06	0-1	0-0	1-2	+3	1	3	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	1
J.Pargo		13:04	1-4	0-1	0-0	-6	0	1	1	2	1	0	4	0	0	2
R.Butler		07:42	0-2	0-0	0-0	-10	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
J.Wright		01:29	1-1	0-0	0-0	-5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 20 (AP) — Perhaps Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets don’t need any blockbuster trades to keep pace with their Western Conference rivals.

Paul had 31 points, 11 assists and a career-high nine steals, spoiling Jason Kidd’s debut with Dallas and lifting the New Orleans Hornets to a 104-93 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night.

“We were excited that we would be their first game (with Kidd),” Paul said. “We knew it was going to take some time for them to get used to playing with those guys and we took full advantage of it.”

Kidd, acquired Tuesday from New Jersey, looked out of sorts at times, committing six turnovers.

“He made some great passes and some of the time guys weren’t looking for the ball,” Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. “This is kind of like a mini-training camp. We just don’t have a lot of time. But at the same time, we need every practice and every game for everybody to get on the same page and everybody to get used to playing with Kidd.”

Kidd has had one full practice and one game-day shootaround with his new team. He finished with eight points and five assists.

“I caused a couple of breakdowns,” Kidd conceded. “We can build on this. … I have some bad habits. I just have to make some adjustments and look at the game. I just need to keep getting the feel of everybody and go to practice tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Paul’s dazzling performance on both ends of the floor had the enraptured crowd on its feet, raining down chants of “M-V-P!” for their own All-Star point guard while a banner offering similar sentiments flapped from the upper deck.

“It’s fun to watch. I was getting pumped up,” said Hornets center Tyson Chandler, who at one point early in the fourth quarter was jumping along the sideline, arms raised triumphantly, while waiting to check into the game. “Tonight was unbelievable. The guy was all over the place. He took a personal challenge to go out and just, I mean, he was incredible. I haven’t seen anything like that in a while.”

While Paul dribbled surgically through Dallas’ defense, Peja Stojakovic and Bobby Jackson shot with precision from the perimeter, combining for eight of the Hornets’ 10 3-pointers as New Orleans won its fifth straight.