Hornets improve with Peja, but is he worth it? Mike Kahn / Special to FOXSports.com http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5750768 The first shot was fired on the opening day of 2006 NBA free agent negotiation period, but it would be difficult to say it was right on the money. In a stunning announcement, Dave Bauman, the agent for free agent forward Peja Stojakovic, said his client was leaving the Indiana Pacers and had agreed to a five-year, $64 million contract with the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. Although no deals can be officially signed until July 12, the accord was a bold move by the Hornets, still slated to play in Oklahoma City for the bulk of their 2006-07 home games as New Orleans continues to find its way back from Hurricane Katrina. Coming off a great draft, in which they landed two fine power players in Connecticut's Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons from North Carolina State, this keeps the Hornets' momentum going. And coach Byron Scott just signed a three-year extension in the wake of a surprise season behind rookie of the year point guard Chris Paul that unfortunately fizzled late for a 38-44 final mark. Nonetheless, the Hornets clearly will be in a great position to make a stronger move toward the playoffs with the addition of Stojakovic — one of the great perimeter shooters in the game. It isn't likely the move caught the Pacers off-guard, because they weren't about to pay Stojakovic that kind of money anyway. Still only 29, the 6-9, 230-pound forward is coming off his worst shooting percentage (.437) since he was a rookie out of Yugoslavia for the Sacramento Kings during the truncated 1998-99 season. And his 18.2 points per game in 71 games combined for the Pacers and the Kings, who swapped him for Ron Artest on Jan. 25, are the least since his second year with the Kings. Moreover, poor post-season performances continue to haunt Stojakovic. A sore knee relegated him to just over 50 minutes and 22 points combined in two games during the Pacers six-game loss to the Nets in the opening round of the 2006 playoffs. It also took Stojakovic awhile to gain any semblance of consistency following the controversial trade until late when managed to raise his scoring average to 19.5 in 40 games for the Pacers after struggling to just 16.5 in 31 games for the Kings. Pacers president Larry Bird made it clear changes were coming in the wake of their mediocre 41-41 regular season and opening round playoff exit. While rumblings of star Jermaine O'Neal's availability continue to be ambiguous and the future of point guard Jamaal Tinsley even more dubious, the exit of Stojakovic is not confusing at all. It is clearly a positive message to last year's first round pick Danny Granger, coming off a fine rookie season; and the very young and gifted Shawne Williams, their top pick in the draft last week out of Memphis. Both players are very athletic, run the floor and pressure the ball, whereas Stojakovic is essentially a jump shooter who can run the floor and go to the basket. He has clearly lost a lot of his fire in recent seasons — particularly after his superb 2003-04 regular season when teammate Chris Webber took some not-so-veiled shots at him after a poor playoff performance. And yet, this doesn't make it any less significant for the Hornets, even if they did have to overpay him. This translates into them allowing free agents Rasual Butler and Speedy Claxton to walk if they are so inclined, while moving fine young forward David West to sixth man or to power forward. Desmond Mason and Kirk Snyder will duke it out for the starting shooting guard spot, giving them depth they haven't had in years. More importantly, they're now stocked enough, they could maybe even orchestrate a sign-and-trade with Butler or Claxton with immature and problematic J.R. Smith if they are so inclined. But now, they don't even have to do anything. Sure, Armstrong is young and raw, but will spell undersized P.J. Brown at center and even allow him to slide over to his natural power forward position occasionally. What everybody really envisions, of course, is the indefatigable Paul barreling up the floor and kicking it out to Stojakovic stroking 3-pointers all day long. That will happen. If Stojakovic stays healthy, he'll be back over 20 points a game and then some in the up-tempo offense Scott wants to run. Nonetheless, the question remains how committed is he? Unlike most players who sparkle in contract years, Stojakovic continued to descend from stardom when he should have been hitting his stride. He is not a malcontent, nor a whiner. He just stopped playing in the summers after the Webber incident and seems to have lost a large dose of his zeal for the game over the past couple seasons. Maybe playing with the infectious Paul will get it back. Perhaps it will help being reunited with Scott, who was an assistant coach with the Kings during Stojakovic's first two years in the NBA, and knows him well. All we know for sure is the Hornets are ecstatic. That leaves the Pacers relieved they didn't have to come up with anywhere near that kind of dough for a guy they have too many questions about. The good news is he'll always be able to shoot. But 10 months from now is Hornets owner George Shinn going to be happy he committed five years to Stojakovic? That is the $64 million question. Veteran NBA writer Mike Kahn is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com. --

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