OKLAHOMA CITY - The New Orleans Hornets signed free agents Bobby Jackson and Rasual Butler on Wednesday, capping a busy offseason during which the team has overhauled its roster.

"We have to create a chemistry," said Butler, who re-signed with the team after averaging 8.7 points a key reserve last season. "It's a different basketball team, but it's a mixture of younger players and older veterans who understand what it takes to win basketball games.

The Hornets, who finished 38-44 last season and remained in the Western Conference playoff race until the season's final week, began their offseason retooling by using their two first-round draft picks on big men Hilton Armstrong of Connecticut and Cedric Simmons of North Carolina State.

Through free agency, the Hornets picked up the 6-foot-1 Jackson, the 2003 NBA Sixth Man Award winner. The biggest acquisition was another free agent, three-time All-Star Peja Stojakovic, acquired in a sign-and-trade deal with the Indiana Pacers.

To have an experienced, true center ¡ª something the Hornets lacked last season ¡ª they traded veteran forward P.J. Brown and swingman J.R. Smith to the Chicago Bulls for Tyson Chandler. The Hornets finished their makeover by trading Kirk Snyder to the Houston Rockets for cash and a conditional second-round draft pick in 2008.

Their only significant loss in free agency was backup guard Speedy Claxton, who signed with the Atlanta Hawks.

Jackson became a free agent after one season with the Memphis Grizzlies, to whom he was traded by the Sacramento Kings last August.

Jackson played 71 games for the Grizzlies last season, but missed big portions of his final three seasons with Sacramento because of injuries. He sat out 51 games in 2004-05 because of a torn ligament in his wrist.

Jackson has a 10.2-point career scoring average in nine seasons with the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento and Memphis.

"I didn't want to go to a team that wasn't going to be in the playoffs," Jackson said. "I feel real strongly that with the guys that we have ... we can make a strong run for the playoffs."

He and Stojakovic played together for five seasons with Sacramento, and Jackson said that increases his comfort level with the Hornets.

With the Hornets, Jackson figures to play much the same role as Claxton did last season, backing up Chris Paul at point guard and also seeing playing time at shooting guard.

"We have always admired his hustle, talent and attitude and the style he plays the game with," Bower said. "We always watched from a distance and said that's the type of player that makes you win. That's the type of player we want to have in our program.

"He accepts his role and he excels at it."