OK, I admit it. I was wrong.Just a half a year ago, I wrote a column about how the Hornets would get ousted in the first round of the NBA playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks.It turns out the Hornets battered and bruised the Mavs and nearly upset the then-defending champion San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals, making me look like a total numb skull and keeping my belly full of the world’s finest crow for the entire summer.But it’s a new year, and I’m back to tell you again my opinion about Louisiana’s NBA team — though this time there will be more optimism.The Hornets are quite possibly the best team in the NBA.Leading the championship charge is Chris Paul, who emerged last season from a very good player to a very great player.But Paul’s supporting cast is what makes the Hornets a title contender.David West is as good an all-around power forward as there is in the NBA and has the inside and outside game to give Paul the second scoring option he needs to keep some of the pressure off his shoulders.The Hornets also have a variety of what I call ‘specialty players’, which every team needs in the NBA — a league of matchups.Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson are the 3-point specialists. Tyson Chandler is the rebounding specialist, Ryan Bowen is the hustler and James Posey is the lock-down perimeter defender the team has lacked since being in Charlotte.What may be the biggest obstacle for the Hornets is the beastly western conference.But if you believe my logic that the Hornets were the third best team in the west last year — behind the Spurs and the conference champion Los Angeles Lakers — then there is reason for optimism that this might be the year the guard changes in the Western Conference.The aging Spurs are a year older, and Manu Ginobili’s injury makes it unlikely the Spurs will be able to make as big a splash as they have in years past.Ginobili injured his ankle in the Olympics and is expected to miss most of the first half of the season.That leaves the Lakers and Kobe Bryant — who has absolutely owned the Hornets in recent history to the tune of 32 points per game in the team’s last 11 meetings.But those numbers came with guys like Peterson and Stojakovic guarding him.The Hornets will be equipped to guard the NBA’s best scorer this season with Posey, who locked down on Bryant in the NBA Finals, took him out of his game and sealed the championship for the Celtics.A dark horse has to be the Houston Rockets, who won more than 50 games last year even without Yao Ming for the last third of the season.The Rockets also added an all-star this season in Ron Artest.But even if Mount Artest doesn’t explode and he stays on his best behavior for an entire season, the Rockets still have to be concerned about the health of Yao and Tracy McGrady. Neither has been healthy for a full season since they’ve been together.It’s absurd to go on record and make an NBA Finals prediction eight months in advance.But barring a slew of injuries, you have to like the Hornets’ chances.I know this time around, I do.—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]