32-year old PF Darius Songaila has exercised his player option for the 2010-11 season allowing him to return to the Hornets. Songaila played in 75 games (1 start) for the Hornets last season and he averaged 18.8 minutes, 7.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. He has now played in 485 games (79 starts) in his seven years in the NBA and he is averaging 18.9 minutes, 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. The Hornets probably could have used the money elsewhere but Songaila is a decent backup forward.

The Hornets have signed 38-year old Monty Williams to a 3-year deal to be the new head coach of the New Orleans Hornets. He has a lot of winning in his background. He started coaching with the Spurs in 2004-05 and they won the NBA Championship that year. Williams then went on to be a assistant with the Portland Trailblazers from 2005-06 to 2009-10. I think Williams will do a good job for the Hornets as he hopefully learned well under Gregg Popovich and Nate McMillan.

The Hornets have signed 31-year old point guard Jason Hart to a 10-day contract. Hart played in 1 game earlier this season for the T-Wolves in which he played 5 minutes, had 1 assist and 1 steal. Hart has now played in 337 games (56 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 15.6 minutes, 4.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. This was a smart move by the Hornets to bring in a veteran hand to work behind Darren Collison until Chris Paul is ready to return to action.

The Hornets have traded 25-year old SG/PG Bobby Brown to the Clippers for a conditional 2nd round pick. Brown played in 22 games (0 starts) for the Hornets this season and he averaged 14.9 minutes, 6.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game on 39.5% shooting from the floor. The Hornets have enough depth at guard to pick up for not having Brown and this trade likely gets them under the luxury tax.

The Hornets have traded 31-year old shooting guard Devin Brown to the Bulls for 25-year old center Aaron Gray. Brown played in 39 games (37 starts) for the Hornets this season and he averaged 24.8 minutes, 9.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game on 39.4% shooting from the floor. Rookie Marcus Thornton will replace Brown in the starting line-up. Thornton has played in 37 games (0 starts) this season for the Hornets and he is averaging 18.6 minutes, 9.4 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game on 42.4% shooting from the floor. Aaron Gray will serve as Emeka Okafor’s back-up center. He played in only 8 games (0 starts) for the Bulls this season and he was averaging 6.3 minutes, 2.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Gray was only shooting 38.1% from the floor and 28.6% from the free throw line this year. He has now played in 215 games (19 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 11.0 minutes, 3.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Gray has made 49% of his shots from the floor in his career and 55.8% of his free throws.