Magloire

Jamaal Magloire, the Toronto native, has quietly become a force, starting all 184 games for New Orleans the last two years and providing the Hornets a nice interior 1-2 punch with P.J. Brown.

Brown and Magloire will see Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol four times a year, and that's just in their division, so continued progress is essential for one of the few Hornets that's entering the prime of his career.

Davis

The Hornets cut their losses after this year's first-round playoff exit, dismissing Floyd and hiring Byron Scott, who was last seen taking the Nets to back-to-back Finals.

A pretty good shooting guard in his day, Scott has a new pet project in first-round pick J.R. Smith, an exciting but raw high-school talent who happens to play the same position at which his coach excelled.

Smith might soon be the Hornets marquee player but for now that title belongs to Baron Davis. Davis was an early MVP candidate before the Hornets limped to the end with a 9-15 finish last year.

Coaching changes aside, this team has benefited from a lot of continuity in recent seasons. Davis, David Wesley, Jamaal Magliore and P.J. Brown enter their fifth season as teammates. George Lynch begins his fourth year with the Hornets.

That group will again provide the team's core, barring trade activity. Jamal Mashburn, though, is out for the season due to a right knee injury.

Darrell Armstrong is back to lead the bench corps, which was reinforced with the addition of forwards Rodney Rogers and Chris Andersen.

The biggest detriment to the team's success is a move to the Western Conference, where their divisional opponents are Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Memphis, all playoff teams.

Hiring Scott was an easy call. If he can get Davis straightened out, this team will pretty much run on autopilot ... for now. The Hornets are getting dangerously close to too much of a good thing. Among the eight players who project to play the most, only Davis and the fellow All-Star Magliore are under 32, putting their five-year playoff streak in peril. It will be a race to the finish.