2024 Offseason Thread

[JDR720]

An expiring Pascal SIakam got 3 1sts.

So I think it's basically impossible to get a higher level All-Star for less than that. Even if one of them is a top 5 pick in this draft.

[LofJ]

Markkanen is the only guy on that list we could somewhat realistically trade for. We'll get outbid for Zion, we should have no interest in Towns, and Miller will be better than Ingram in the very near future.

Markkanen also isn't making big money yet. If he refuses to sign a max extension with Utah this summer (which I think is unlikely) we have the matching salary to get him without gutting the roster. I'd be shocked if he doesn't sign a max extension if it's offered though, that would be a stupid decision on his part. The Jazz would also be dumb to not offer it because they will not get the best return for him if he's only under contract for one season.

That said we tried trade to trade for him before when he was a restricted free agent, but we didn't have the assets to get it done. Crazier things have happened in this league, and I think this off-season will be wild. Trae Young, LeBron, and maybe Mitchell and Towns are all rumored to be on the move.

[NYG]

1. What player options, cap holds, etc. roster info am I missing?
2. Who are you keeping that I don't have their cap hold or guaranteed contract?
3. Who are you letting go of that I have on the roster?


Hornets
LaMelo Ball $35,250,000
Grant Williams $13,025,250
Brandon Miller $11,424,600
Cody Martin $8,120,000
Vasilije Micic $7,723,000
Nick Richards $5,000,000
Tre Mann $4,908,373
Mark Williams $4,094,280
Seth Curry $4,000,000
Nick Smith Jr. $2,587,200
Bryce McGowens $2,019,699
JT Thor $1,988,598
Miles Bridges Cap Hold $15,050,470
Davis Bertans (Wavied/G'teed) $5,250,000
4th Overall Pick $9,196,560

Total Salary $129,638,030
Cap Space $12,361,970
Tax Space $42,961,970
1st Apron Space $49,961,970
2nd Apron Space $60,461,970
Cap Holds $0


Hornets Questions
1. What will Miles Bridges sign for in the off-season?
2. What will Charlotte pursue via draft/free agency?

[fatlever]

Charlotte is at roughly 92 million in guaranteed contracts for next year among 9 guys.
Seth Curry, McGowens, Thor are all unguaranteed.
Bertans is partial guarantee, so if you waive him thats roughly 97 million in cap.
Assume the first round pick has a 8 million cap hold (5th pick).
That puts at 105, Miles has a 15 million cap hold, so if we don't renounce him that leaves us at 120 with cap of 141.
So we have roughly max cap of 35 million if we renounce Miles, Bertans, Curry, McGowens and Thor.

So I would say no Paul George money exists. (Kawhi signed extension for 3/150)

I would say it goes 1 of 3 ways.

Option 1: We pick up Bertans full contract, along with Curry, McGowens, pay Miles. Operate over the cap and only free agent we bring in is on MLE.

Option 2: We operate under the cap use that 20 million to sign a free agent or 2 along with Miles.

Option 3: We bring in a few smaller contracts for 2nd round picks in salary dumps for teams opening space and we only bring back Miles.

I'm leaning option #1 minus Bryce. Use the MLE to get a vet center.

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[EmpireFalls]

Have there been any rumors on the coach, any assistants getting buzz around the league? I don't think we're necessarily the 'experienced coach away', i.e. Budenholzer. might want to get a guy who can grow with the team a la Daigenault or Will Hardy.

It feels hard to believe Clifford will actually continue after this year with the new GM and ownership.

I don't have any clue on good assistant coaches, I do know Sam Cassell's name is getting a lot of attention but that's it. Quietly, I wouldn't mind getting Borrego back.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Charlotte is at roughly 92 million in guaranteed contracts for next year among 9 guys.
Seth Curry, McGowens, Thor are all unguaranteed.
Bertans is partial guarantee, so if you waive him thats roughly 97 million in cap.
Assume the first round pick has a 8 million cap hold (5th pick).
That puts at 105, Miles has a 15 million cap hold, so if we don't renounce him that leaves us at 120 with cap of 141.
So we have roughly max cap of 35 million if we renounce Miles, Bertans, Curry, McGowens and Thor.

So I would say no Paul George money exists. (Kawhi signed extension for 3/150)

I would say it goes 1 of 3 ways.

Option 1: We pick up Bertans full contract, along with Curry, McGowens, pay Miles. Operate over the cap and only free agent we bring in is on MLE.

Option 2: We operate under the cap use that 20 million to sign a free agent or 2 along with Miles.

Option 3: We bring in a few smaller contracts for 2nd round picks in salary dumps for teams opening space and we only bring back Miles.

I'm starting to entertain the idea of keeping Bertans and taking on his whole $16 million next year.

$16 million expiring contract/trade chip>>>$5.25 million in dead cap hit

We should be able to trade that contract at next years trade deadline for some assets if we play our cards right.

If Bertans cracks the rotation even better.

[luciano-davidwesley]

I have a feeling we are gonna empty all the picks to get a star to go with Ball, Miller and Bridges, becuase that is what new owners tend to do. They want to make a splash. Like 5 fists and 2 swaps.

Markkanen, Zion or Ingram, Towns would be my guesses

Ew no thanks. I'd prefer to cash our lotto tickets in the draft and hope we hit on a couple.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Quietly, I wouldn't mind getting Borrego back.

Please no, the guy sucks. Lets not make the mistake of getting back together with the ex (again!)

Also I'm hoping we cut Thor but I'd probably keep McGowens as cheap, deep wing depth. This could change of course depending what happens on draft night, in trades or free agency.

[Bassman]

I really don’t see us capable of dealing for any star or major impact player. We’re not trading Melo. Even if we want to sign and trade Miles we’re not going to get anyone better back IMO. Even including this year’s lotto pick. If it’s indeed a weak draft (and it is), nobody is going to overvalue that pick because they’ve fallen in love with a specific player. I could see a deal for another role player using that pick and a player, along the lines of our recent success, but let’s see how everything shakes out and what ping pong ball is plucked for us.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Given the stigma this draft carries I'd like to see us pick our BPA and see if they can't exceed expectations. We need to keep running it back and making our picks rather than selling the future for a current fringe all-star. Taking short cuts will likely only hurt us long term.

If we can sign or sign and trade Miles for a future first great, otherwise I think we should generally keep our powder dry and keep accumulating assets with a clean cap sheet and trading older expiring contracts/rotation players ala Hayward/PJ/Rozier.

[amcoolio]

I really don’t see us capable of dealing for any star or major impact player. We’re not trading Melo. Even if we want to sign and trade Miles we’re not going to get anyone better back IMO. Even including this year’s lotto pick. If it’s indeed a weak draft (and it is), nobody is going to overvalue that pick because they’ve fallen in love with a specific player. I could see a deal for another role player using that pick and a player, along the lines of our recent success, but let’s see how everything shakes out and what ping pong ball is plucked for us.

Charlotte and Washington firsts are weighted more than other franchises. If we offer 3 unprotected firsts with the Dallas and Miami picks, a team is taking that no question.

As far as contracts, we can make it work regardless, or just absorb the salary if it isn't huge

[SWedd523]

Quietly, I wouldn't mind getting Borrego back.

Please no, the guy sucks. Lets not make the mistake of getting back together with the ex (again!)

Also I'm hoping we cut Thor but I'd probably keep McGowens as cheap, deep wing depth. This could change of course depending what happens on draft night, in trades or free agency.

Could it be anymore Hornets to fire coach A, sign coach B, just to fire coach B and resign coach A, just to refire coach A to rehire coach B.

I mean I'm pretty sure we're still paying both, Cliff might even be still collecting paycheck 1

[wilson115]

Cliff is right about this one, though. If only it was that easy to find a big who can shoot and get it done on D. Just worried about Grant's durability given the way he plays and our injury luck so far.

“I think our defense in the first half was good,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford following the win. “The turnovers killed us. I think we had 12 turnovers at halftime for [12] points. I felt like our defense for most of the game was good. [Tyrese] Haliburton’s a great pick-and-roll player so he puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Miles made the great drive and a lot of that is just because Grant’s at the five. You’ve got so much more room on the floor. If you have a traditional center in there, he’s probably not going to be able to get all the way to the basket.”

https://www.nba.com/hornets/news/balanced-hornets-buckle-down-in-4th-quarter-for-back-to-back-wins

[Soul Rebel]

I love that we have our bench more or less sorted out for the next two years with a backcourt of Mann/Curry/Micic, along with Martin-GWilliams-Richards. I also think we could bring Nnaji over to hit the G League along with NSJ as two guys that could be great depth/fringe starters by 2025-26 season.

We have 3/5 of a core in place with Ball-Miller-Williams. Making Bridges our FA splash and locking him in on a team-friendly/heavily protected against off the court issues 3-4 year deal is the way to go to give us 4 out of 5 starters.

We draft our 5th core piece this year (probably top-8 selection) and we roll next year.

It's so wild that we waited this long to lock in "glue guys" and vets that understand the meaning of chemistry and knowing their roles.

PJ might be more offensively gifted than GW, but Williams brings an attitude and IQ that PJ did not. Also PJ would look like an All-Star for a few nights and then disappear for a few nights. Grant is a MUCH better fit on this roster than PJW.

Rozier was a dawg and we loved him, but we've known for a few seasons that he doesn't fit beside Ball. Square peg - round hole. I miss Terry the person and clutch player, but knew our ceiling was only so high with him in our backcourt. He got us a future first down the line after the dust settles and we will be able to use that piece at some point to add young talent to our roster.

Hayward was an aging vet presence but was only on the court 50% of the time. He was blocking Miller at SF and his strengths were unfortunately equally outweighed by his negatives.

I feel our team with PJ and Hayward as starters was soft. Way too finesse and lazy. The injection of new blood and guys that understand b-ball with a vet mindset is huge.

Trying to manage expectations, but it's like night and day from watching games a week ago. Plus we have two locals back home that appear to truly be happy back in the 704.

[fatlever]

Seeing the new bench really drives home just how **** awful our bench was previously. Legit had 7 guys who probably shouldn't be in the league.

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[MasterIchiro]

Had we pivoted just prior to last season (in 2022), no Brandon Miller. So maybe some spoiled babies out there should modify or reconsider what they wish for.

The 2023 draft is the day we were set up to pivot. Kupchak put us in position to pivot this offseason, so I have to credit him for that. At worst the pivot was one-half season too late.

We gave Thor, McGowens, Bouknight, Maledon every last opportunity to audition for the bench. Along with Ish and Frank, those players tanked our record and weighed down core talent that obviously looks promising with LaMelo, Miller, Miles, Mark.

Kupchak pivoted by churning the contracts of Rozier (iso/selfish) and Hayward (MIA, cupcake) and PJ Washington (secured on a tradable contract this offseason thus could not be traded prior to the season and held less value before that).

In place we have a young core in tact (LaMelo, Miles, Miller, Mark), developed NSJ, added Mann, will be adding a top-5 pick.

Rozier's money goes to the new bench so essentially we let Hayward's allotment expire even though we cut Lowry and brought in multiple bench players in the Hayward trade. It all comes from the same pot.

Not only did Kupchak position the team to pivot at possibly the most optimal time necessary to revamp the bench, we have control of our own pick in 2024 plus 2 lightly protected 1sts.

We are in position to add as early as the draft if we decide to release our 1st owed the Spurs. At the very latest, we're in position to buy at the deadline.

When you transition from being 1 of 5 sellers to 1 in 25 buyers all within the span of 1 year (2 deadlines), I can't hold the timing against you. Clearly you're not entering a rebuild.

Kupchak called it a retool. Nobody here can compel me to subscribe to the idea that the world ended and civilization has to start all over again in Charlotte.

Just watch the games.

[MasterIchiro]

So frankly I want to barf whenever I hear suggestions Mitch left us with nothing, bare naked. That kind of moping is defeatist and misguided. It's emotional, not factual.

So shoot the messenger if you want to but...

You missed me bitch!

[Walt Cronkite]

So frankly I want to barf whenever I hear suggestions Mitch left us with nothing, bare naked. That kind of moping is defeatist and misguided. It's emotional, not factual.

So shoot the messenger if you want to but...

You missed me bitch!

Not sure if you realize but a lot of your posts come off unnecessarily combative and hyperbolic. Hornets fans have suffered plenty, not sure why there must be unnecessary infighting as well.

[MasterIchiro]

So frankly I want to barf whenever I hear suggestions Mitch left us with nothing, bare naked. That kind of moping is defeatist and misguided. It's emotional, not factual.

So shoot the messenger if you want to but...

You missed me bitch!

Not sure if you realize but a lot of your posts come off unnecessarily combative and hyperbolic. Hornets fans have suffered plenty, not sure why there must be unnecessary infighting as well.

The forums have been toxic. You want me to shut my mouth about the constant hostility towards 6 years of building that's been treated as rubbish?

[LofJ]

If Melo and Mark can get healthy the team is in the best position it's been in for 30 years. There's no reason for any of us to be hostile to one another. We all just need to hope/pray that we can keep everyone healthy and look forward to seeing some awesome basketball in the years to come.