There’s a little bit of subtext to a move that’s going to largely glossed over by the media types. The San Antonio Spurs today traded guard Curtis Jerrells to the New Orleans Hornets for a second round pick. Without a doubt this move came about as a result of New Orleans’ new GM, Dell Demps, the former Spurs VP and GM of the Austin Toros, for whom Jerrells played extensively and was assigned after being formally signed last season.
The Hornets traded Darren Collison to improve their wing depth with Trevor Ariza and in turn needed a backup guard to fill out the end of their rotation. Demps has kept Jerrells in the Spurs system for a full year, developing his abilities and watched him improve. He showed a lot of improvement in Summer League, but of course, the Spurs don’t need him. That’s the irony of San Antonio’s development system. The draft and sign such good free agents that their development system is a considerable surplus.
Ready for double-irony? The same surplus that prevented Jerrells from being necessary in San Antonio lead to his being traded for a pick… which will most likely be spent on a player that will wind up in the development system.
Meanwhile, Jerrells could end up getting some minutes with the Hornets. He has good perimeter ability and knows how to run an offense. The Hornets will need that, especially if, you know, the worst thing possible happens and CP3 gets dinged up again.
