Training Camp Invites - New Orleans Hornets

Neither of these guys are likely to make the team given the Hornets' salary cap situation, but hey, we can still talk about them, right?

Earl Barron - I wonder if he walks around saying "I can't be out of Earl, I'm the Earl Barron!"  Probably not, but maybe I will.  Anyway, Barron struggled through an injury last season, and was pretty inconsistent both in scoring and rebounding.  Pretty inefficient as well.  He's had some NBA experience with the Miami Heat, and even started 15 games for them in 2007.  He doesn't turn the ball over or foul all that much (at least in the NBA - his D-League numbers are a little higher), so that's a positive, but he'll likely need to show some improvement over last season to get another NBA look.

Larry Owens - Like Barron, Owens was a member of the Hornets' Summer League team this year, but unlike Barron he's a pretty efficient scorer.  That's good, because as a power forward he doesn't rebound all that well.  His three-point shot comes and goes; he made 41 percent of them in last year's EuroChallenge, but during his actual season in Belgium he shot only 18-110 from outside.  And yes, you read that correctly.  He shot 110 threes and made only 18 of them.  And yet he still ended up making almost 54 percent of his total field goal attempts.