State of Hornets Fan Mentality - Pre-2016 Offseason Moves

[yosemiteben]

Curious to hear thoughts on the state of your fanhood before our offseason moves and draft. Last year at this time people were very frustrated with our FO, our coaching staff, and most of our key players. Fast forward a year after a surprisingly successful regular season and a mildly disappointing post-season, how are folks feeling now? Obviously there is a wide range of possible moves this summer which obviously could impact your views on the future, but how do you feel about this team moving forward? Optimistic? Pessimistic?

[Marino]

I love them unconditionally either way, and will always be optimistic.

[BigSlam]

Love our owner. He's 100% invested in the team.

Support our FO (although still don't like our drafting).

Love our coach. He's the right guy.

Love having guys like Kemba and MKG represent our brand. Hard working, basketball loving, clean cut kids.

Optimistic about our future.


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[fatlever]

Love our owner. He's 100% invested in the team.

Support our FO (although still don't like our drafting).

Love our coach. He's the right guy.

Love having guys like Kemba and MKG represent our brand. Hard working, basketball loving, clean cut kids.

Optimistic about our future.


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Pretty much what Slam said, except I am a pessimist by nature. I feel better about the team now that I have in many years. I absolute love that Cho puts so much emphasis on character and work ethic. I hope he never loses sight of that aspect of team building.

[HornetJail]

Love our owner. He's 100% invested in the team.

Support our FO (although still don't like our drafting).

Love our coach. He's the right guy.

Love having guys like Kemba and MKG represent our brand. Hard working, basketball loving, clean cut kids.

Optimistic about our future.


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yeah, pretty much this

[Eoghan]

Owner = (Rum &) Coke
GM = Tang
Coach = Sierra Mist
Kemba = Formerly Mr. Pibb, now Pibb Xtra
MKG = Dr Pepper
Zeller = Diet Ginger Ale
Batum = Sprite
Marvin Williams = Peach Ne-Hi
Lin = Mello Yello
Lamb = Dr Brown's Cel-Ray
Hawes = Faygo
Jefferson = RC Cola
Kaminsky = Tab
Lee = Cheerwine
Hansbrough = Surge!
Daniels = Crystal Pepsi

Biyombo = Josta

[Braggins]

Hawes = Faygo

I dont think ill ever be able to look at Hawes again without picturing him with Insane Clown Posse face paint.

[simon24]

Curious to hear thoughts on the state of your fanhood before our offseason moves and draft. Last year at this time people were very frustrated with our FO, our coaching staff, and most of our key players. Fast forward a year after a surprisingly successful regular season and a mildly disappointing post-season, how are folks feeling now? Obviously there is a wide range of possible moves this summer which obviously could impact your views on the future, but how do you feel about this team moving forward? Optimistic? Pessimistic?

I feel great. I think this team is similar to the 2014-15 Hawks going into the off-season.

Hornets don't need to make any big moves. Just focus on getting their guys back.

They should be #1 in the East next season.

[jtsmith]

Hornets will no longer be that sleeper team coming out of nowhere. Will still be under rated and underdog but earned a lot of respect this year.

This summer we will see how the owner and FO drive the strategy moving forward. Baby steps upward or bet the farm (and risk a hard fall)

Either way it will be more fun than previous years. I'm optimistic.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

I'm a bit pessimistic. I see lots of flaws at all levels of the org from ownership to the players. Things seem to be working for now though, so onward I guess.

MKG and Frank are the only guys on the team that I really like. Not a huge fan of Cliff. Like Cho, but don't think that he's really super special (i.e. replaceable, though it's easy to go wrong with GMs).

I'm kind of optimistic about Batum but less so about Lin in terms of returning. Doubt that CLee is back, but really wish that the team could find a way to make it happen.

[316Hornets]

If I'm being honest here and keeping out the Hornets are the greatest team ever bias, there is a cause for concern with the future of the team. While having Kemba and MKG for the foreseeable future is a great start, the team has sort of traded/released all of the young pieces that were also supposed to be a part of the Hornets future(Biyambo-Vonleh). Now, this offseason is very important. If the team signs Batum to a Giant contract and he doesn't live up to expectations, where is there to go from there? On the flip side, if Batum doesn't get signed, that basically means Vonleh was traded for a first round exit, which could have happened without Batum; possibly in the weak East. All in all, I'd say my optimism for the future is less than it was last year. Batum had a great year, yet I'm not sure if his play should command the Giant contract that he is going to be asking for. I am expecting a worse record in 2016-17 unless the team is able to land a star center.

[Bassman]

I am bullish on the prospects of our beloved Hornets staying competitive. With MKG back, presuming he can stay healthy, we are better on paper. Getting to the next level is my biggest concern. But...this team will be different next year. Looking at the cap and player situations, we have just as great a possibility of slipping back as of inching forward. Do not want the whole old guard returning; Al needs to go, Lin likely to leave without a big raise. Marvin had a nice run in a contract year, but he is older and limited, so I don't want big money used on him. Batum is valuable but not a go-to player to carry us. He will be overpaid to stay, which hurts us with other pieces. Signing Marvin hurts us with other possibilities. Not their fault, but it demonstrates why bringing some players back is a gamble.

[catch20two]

I don't know how to feel right now because I lot hinges on how Cho handle the re-signing of Batum, Lin, Lee, and Marv to me. I want to re-sign them all but to reasonable contracts. I could live with two of Batum, Lee, or Marv walking but I want Batum the most obviously. I just don't agree with giving Batum a max contract when he's basically a superglue guy that's a inconsistent and limited scorer that's prone to turning the ball over too much. I think it's a no-brainer to bring back Lin unless another team is willing to pay him starter salary over 10 million.

Last year around this time I was frustrated about the team's direction like YoYo said but after a few moves like bringing in floor spacers like Batum, Hawes, Lin, and Lamb I was mildly satisfied knowing that we'd be better than the previous years of Hendo. I also liked drafting Kaminsky even though I had Kelly Oubre and Miles Turner ahead of him in our range because I just viewed it as the end of Cody tryna be a stretch 4 experiment.

This offseason we need to focus on getting at least one rim protector and I wouldn't mind adding a couple depending on the circumstances.

[catch20two]

The key to this offseason is adding rim protection and better individual rebounding ability.

Last year it was adding shooting and playmaking. We did that.

[arthy704]

I'm pretty sure cho knew we needed a rim protector in the offseason but wanted to get shooting down to at least make it into the playoffs then add the final touch this offseason to complete the team.


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[Benjamin Linus]

I'm just glad they've finally come around to putting together a team that can play in this era.

Remember when they kept hanging on to Hendo... when we already had MKG... and then they added Lance Stepehenson...

[Mystical Apples]

Very little not to like. Charlotte won 51 games, has cap space and multiple Bird Rights, no bad contracts, their #1, and several young players locked into team friendly deals. Oh, and a healthy MKG would be the equivalent of adding this year’s 3rd or 4th best Free Agent with plenty of upside remaining.

The biggest issue of course is re-signing the right players to cement culture and time deals this summer through 2017 to maximize chances of making the Finals over the next 3 years. Salary figure aside, retaining Batum signifies more than the money itself. Every player in the league could envisions himself playing with Nic and that counts for something.

A nice FA signing followed by a February trade would make the Hornets a legit threat.

[yosemiteben]

Call me crazy but I think this past regular season is the floor for our success for the next several seasons and I'm very excited about that.

Before last season we introduced a totally new offensive system to a rotation half of which was new players and a quarter of which was existing players seeing massively changed roles. Actually, now that I think about it, whose role on this team was the same last season and this season? Kemba and...that's pretty much it.

We have the ability this offseason to both build continuity in terms of defined roles, which should lead to greater consistency next season, and to incrementally increase the talent level and fit of this team. Getting MKG is huge and I still think underappreciated. I love CLee and he was a massive improvement over PJ, but he really only hit 1 three per game for us and wasn't much of an impact guy offensively. I think MKG can be significantly more impactful in our starting lineup if he can stay healthy.

I think there is a lot of reason to be optimistic and that we are in a really good spot as a franchise. We have a solid coaching staff that has a defined system that they have proven to be able to effectively implement while making major dividends in keeping players happy and changing the image of CHA to potential FAs. We have the ability to improve via cap space or retain high caliber players that fit our system, like our team, and enjoy playing here, while still having draft picks to play with.

Last offseason there was a lot (A LOT) of talk about how Cliff could not even understand how to run a modern NBA offense, that he was literally incapable of doing it and that we should just go ahead and fire him. Fast forward a year and we had a top 10 offense, the most efficient offense this city has seen in the past 15 years. We went from "lulz no shooters can shoot under Cliff" last season to finishing 7th in the league in 3PT% and 4th in 3PTA this season.

When we made those offseason moves last year, there was a lot of talk about how we could not possibly sustain our defensive and rebounding success, and that was before we lost MKG. Yet here we are, just having finished yet another season with a top 10 defense, with our defensive metrics the same as last season and as 2013-14 (our performance this season would have ranked 6th overall in 2013-14). We rebounded exactly the same as we did the previous season and the season before (well technically a little better but whatevs).

I think this team is highly unlikely to take a step back, and if you told me that we would play nearly all of last season without MKG and finish tied for third in the East, I would not have believed you.