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NEW YORK ? The New Orleans Hornets may be in trouble early in the 2009-10 NBA season, but injured playmaker Chris Paul still has high hopes for the team.
The Hornets star said that the Hornets need to strengthen their chemistry to be able to compete against the teams in the Western Conference, a lot of which bolstered their rosters with key acquisitions.
?There are a ton of great teams in the West, there really isn?t an easy opponent,? Paul said in an interview e-mailed to the Inquirer through NBA Asia. ?Everyone has made themselves better, so it will be a great test night in and night out.?
The Hornets also made key moves for the season, the biggest of which brought in Emeka Okafor from Charlotte in exchange for rim-rattling slotman Tyson Chandler. After a so-so start to the season, the Hornets also fired coach Byron Scott, replacing him with GM Jeff Bower.
Paul said the team?s short-term goal is to get comfortable with each other and form a bond. We have a lot of new guys on the team, so developing that chemistry is important.?
Paul said he had prepared hard for the coming season, especially since he had the summer off unlike last year when he had to fulfill national team duties.
?[I] worked out a ton and spent time with a trainer,? he said. ?I worked on a lot of core exercises, played a lot of basketball and lifted weights to bulk up some. I am always trying to find ways to improve my game, whether it be shooting, ball handling or strength.?
After trying to meet high expectations last season, Paul and the Hornets crashed out of the playoffs in the first round. But the disappointment, he said, only made the team more determined to make a deeper push into the post-season this time around.
?It made us hungrier, we didn?t like the way we lost in the first round last season and it put a sour taste in our mouth. We are determined to improve this season and get better as a team.?
Paul underwent a magnetic resonance imaging test recently and it confirmed a left ankle sprain, an injury he sustained in a game against Portland last week after landing on the foot of Trail Blazers center Joel Pryzbilla.
Paul has played 10 games so far and averaged 23.8 points per game (10th in the NBA), 9.2 assists (3rd) and 1.7 steals (15th) per game. He was also shooting .655 from beyond the arc, the best in the league.
