It’s never easy to replace a franchise player like Chris Paul, but 28-year old Jarrett Jack is trying his best.  Jack has played in 17 games (all starts) for the Hornets so far this year and he is averaging 37.9 minutes, 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.  Jack is having a pretty good season and a lot of teams are going to be interested in dealing for him at the trade deadline if the Hornets don’t straighten up pretty soon.

28-year old forward Carl Landry is off to a good start for the Hornets so far this year.  He has played in 9 games (6 starts) for the Hornets so far this year and he is averaging 28.4 minutes, 15.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.  Chris Kaman and Landry have been flip flopping in the starting lineup, but it appears that Landry will be coming off the bench for the foreseeable future.  The Hornets need to make sure that they keep giving Landry starting type minutes as he might just be the best offensive player on the team right now.

28-year old point guard Jarrett Jack has been playing well so far this year for the Hornets.  He has taken over Chris Paul’s old starting job at the point.  He has played in 5 games (all starts) for the Hornets so far this year and he is averaging 37.4 minutes, 17.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game.  The Hornets need Jack to keep playing well because they don’t have a safety net if he fails.

30-year old power forward David West’s 2010-11 season ended early due to knee surgery but he put in another solid year for the team.  West played in 70 games (all starts) for the Hornets last year and he averaged 35.0 minutes, 18.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  West has now played in 530 games (438 starts) in his first 8 years with the Hornets and he has averaged 32.4 minutes, 16.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  He is moving up the in the Hornets’ franchise record books.  West is #3 in Hornets’ history in games played with 530 of them.  He is also #2 in rebounds (3,853), #8 in steals (396), #3 in blocked shots (435) and #2 in points scored (8,690).  West is set to be a free agent over the summer and the Hornets really hope that he wants to come back to them.

39-year old head coach Monty Williams did a solid job his first year with the Hornets.  Williams led the Hornets to a 46-36 record (56.1%) during the regular season and they were 2-4 (33.3%) in the playoffs against the Lakers.  Williams got the Hornets to improve 9 games from the season before in his first year in charge.  It also seemed that Williams earned the respect of Chris Paul as the year went on.  Hopefully, Paul will like Williams and New Orleans enough to re-sign with the Hornets when his contract is up.

25-year old point guard Chris Paul showed that his knee was healthy in 2010-11.  He played in 80 games (all starts) for the Hornets last year and he averaged 36.0 minutes, 15.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game.  He has now played in 425 games (all starts) in his first six years with the Hornets and he is averaging 37.1 minutes, 18.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 9.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game.  Paul is rising up the franchise record books for the Hornets.  He is #6 in team history in games played with 425.  Paul is also #7 in three pointers made (379), #10 in rebounds (1,951), #2 in assists (4,228), #2 in steals (1,010) and he is #3 in points scored (7,936) in Hornets’ history.  The Hornets hope to convince Paul to sign a long term deal so that he can continue to be the face of the franchise.

I figured that Chris Paul was going to have a huge series because he’s just too good to try to check with ancient Derek Fisher.  Paul has played in 4 games (all starts) for the Hornets so far in this series and he is averaging 41.5 minutes, 25.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 11.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.  He is also shooting well from everywhere on the floor as he is hitting 57.1% of his shots from the floor, 78% from the free throw line and he is 7 of 14 (50%) from three point range against the Lakers.  The Hornets are going to need Paul to keep playing at a high level if they are going to upset the Lakers.

27-year old forward Carl Landry has stepped up for the Hornets since David West’s season ending injury.  In his last five games, Landry is averaging 36.2 minutes, 17.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game e.  He has now played in 19 games (6 starts) for the Hornets since coming over in deal with the Kings and he is averaging 26.1 minutes, 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  The Hornets are going to need Landry to play well in the playoffs or they aren’t going to be very successful.

27-year old small forward Carl Landry has been playing solid basketball since coming over from the Kings in the Marcus Thornton deal.  Landry has played in 12 games (0 starts) for the Hornets so far and he is averaging 22.5 minutes, 10.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  He is shooting 55.6% from the floor for the Hornets as he is bringing instant offense off the bench.  The Hornets hope that Landry keeps up the good work for them because Thornton is doing really well for the Kings.

29-year old shooting guard Willie Green has bumped Marco Belinelli out of the starting lineup.  Green scored 19 points and he grabbed 1 rebound in 35 minutes in his first start which came against the Timberwolves earlier this week.  He has played in 5 games so far in February and he is averaging 22.4 minutes, 9.6 points, 1.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Green has now played in 49 games (3 starts) for the Hornets so far this year and he is averaging 20.1 minutes, 7.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  I think Green can hold off Belinelli for the starting gig at shooting guard as he’s just the better player.  I am still kind of stunned to see Marcus Thornton buried on the bench though.