Would a rebuild even be that bad for us?

[Rocketsbaby]

Its true...... those guys aren't the stars we were hoping they would be, but they could take a step this year. Batum could bounce back from his injury. MKG is only 24 he could get 10% better this year. It would'n't be out of the realm of possibility for a guys his age.

We have a bunch of players that are young and would be really good if they took a step. Starting all over with a bunch of 19-20 year old guys who might be good in 6 years isn't that enticing.

Batum isn't bouncing back. Too many injuries. He's too old, too slow, too unskilled. He turns the ball over, he can't shoot, he can't stay healthy. It's just not happening. Even his good season in Charlotte was vastly overrated. Kemba just improved so much in one offseason people attributed the success to Batum. Turns out it was all kemba.

Nah, he is fine. He was actually pretty good after the allstar break last year. I mean our previous coach was playing him out of position at SG. He needs to play SF or PF at this point in his career, but he is an above average starter level player.

Its the same deal with MKG. I mean nobody is looking at the Thunder and saying they can't win because they have Andre Roberson and yet he makes about the same money as MKG.

The Thunder need to add another start to Westbrook and we need to add another star to Kemba. It could be Frank, MKG, Lamb, Monk, this guy we just drafted, cody Zeller. If we get one more guy to improve and break out the way Kemba did we have a decent team.

If we start all over we have to find a first star and then a second star when we get back to where we are now.

Well you are right that they played him out of position. He's a competent SF/PF. He's an atrocious SG.

Roberson was the DPOY last year before he got hurt. Not exactly MKG status.... and i dont hate MKG. Roberson is just awesome

[KingCat]

I really thought a rebuild would make sense right now and I figured we would go for it. Last time we kicked off a rebuild. we dumped everything and let Cho takeover. That obviously didn't work out so I presumed we would do the same thing again with Mitch and the new staff. I guess that is not the case. I feel like the upcoming season is this teams last chance, if we pull out another mediocre 36 win season, then thats probably it for them. Honestly if this team fails again next season, and we still sign Kemba to the max, then I will be pissed. This is coming from someone who is a die hard Kemba fan too. The man deserves success somewhere, and our front office also needs to know when to jump off the treadmill and blow it up again

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

Here is what Mitch had to say:

At some point in time every team goes through a rebuild. Our roster right now will not allow us press the reset button and rebuild starting this offseason. And what that means is we have veterans who have earned good contracts. Some people would say, hey you've got veterans who are locked up for 2 or 3 years. And some people will say 'hey that's gonna limit your flexibility.' But we can't press the button and start from scratch. We have to deal with the roster as it is and go forward. I think to answer your question the goal is to make the playoffs this year. And, at the same time, replenish the team with some youth. We have also created some space to look into the free agent market beginning July 1st. And, obviously, if you're in the free agent market you're looking for a veteran player. We feel like we're in a position to add young players going forward and also be in a position to get this team into the playoffs, which I feel would be a great thing. We don't want to mortgage the future but lets get in the playoffs if we can.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteHornets/comments/8taxfd/transcript_from_wfnz_interview_with_mitch_about/

WFNZ Interviwer: "Is it possible that Kemba Walker could be traded or do you want to shut down that possibility right now that Kemba could be traded?"

I don't think anybody in this league, based on my experience over the last 30 years...you know I went through a couple of periods where the best player was maybe the best player at that time in this league and wanted to be traded, and I fielded calls about that player. And looking back in history...a lot of guys like Wilt, or Kareem, or Julius Irving were traded. So I don't think that anybody can say that somebody is never ever going to be traded. Now, I will tell you this regarding Kemba: he is an integral part of this team. I don't know him as much as management does. But they love him here. I know the community loves him here. He's our best player. He's our all-star. So if there's a way that we can assure he will be here for the rest of his career then we will look to do that.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteHornets/comments/8tagvm/the_actual_kupchak_quote_about_kemba/

And to add my own personal take to what Mitch is saying, lots of those "locked up veterans" will come off the books in the coming years and the team is going to look very different over time with someone other than Cho making the calls.

[BeesWax]

Sounds like Mitch thinks of a rebuild as completely dumping your contracts and starting over. If you look at it as moving to youth then it is something you can do while those contracts come off the books like he talks about. Should be interesting to see how this will go.

[BeesWax]

seems like GS has put together a better team then anyone lately. I don't remember them rebuilding and tanking. why should we?

Who on their roster reminds you of Nic Batum and Michael Kidd Gilchrist??

Its true...... those guys aren't the stars we were hoping they would be, but they could take a step this year. Batum could bounce back from his injury. MKG is only 24 he could get 10% better this year. It would'n't be out of the realm of possibility for a guys his age.

We have a bunch of players that are young and would be really good if they took a step. Starting all over with a bunch of 19-20 year old guys who might be good in 6 years isn't that enticing.

GS got very lucky. Everyone missed on Green and KD bolted to go there. They drafted well and hit on some guys. They did also lead into the turn around averaging 28 wins over the course of 4 seasons from 08-09 to 11-12 they had 29, 26, 36, and 23 wins. They were an aging team and they needed a change.

[Rocketsbaby]

Here is what Mitch had to say:

At some point in time every team goes through a rebuild. Our roster right now will not allow us press the reset button and rebuild starting this offseason. And what that means is we have veterans who have earned good contracts. Some people would say, hey you've got veterans who are locked up for 2 or 3 years. And some people will say 'hey that's gonna limit your flexibility.' But we can't press the button and start from scratch. We have to deal with the roster as it is and go forward. I think to answer your question the goal is to make the playoffs this year. And, at the same time, replenish the team with some youth. We have also created some space to look into the free agent market beginning July 1st. And, obviously, if you're in the free agent market you're looking for a veteran player. We feel like we're in a position to add young players going forward and also be in a position to get this team into the playoffs, which I feel would be a great thing. We don't want to mortgage the future but lets get in the playoffs if we can.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteHornets/comments/8taxfd/transcript_from_wfnz_interview_with_mitch_about/

WFNZ Interviwer: "Is it possible that Kemba Walker could be traded or do you want to shut down that possibility right now that Kemba could be traded?"

I don't think anybody in this league, based on my experience over the last 30 years...you know I went through a couple of periods where the best player was maybe the best player at that time in this league and wanted to be traded, and I fielded calls about that player. And looking back in history...a lot of guys like Wilt, or Kareem, or Julius Irving were traded. So I don't think that anybody can say that somebody is never ever going to be traded. Now, I will tell you this regarding Kemba: he is an integral part of this team. I don't know him as much as management does. But they love him here. I know the community loves him here. He's our best player. He's our all-star. So if there's a way that we can assure he will be here for the rest of his career then we will look to do that.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteHornets/comments/8tagvm/the_actual_kupchak_quote_about_kemba/

And to add my own personal take to what Mitch is saying, lots of those "locked up veterans" will come off the books in the coming years and the team is going to look very different over time with someone other than Cho making the calls.

Mitch is right. THere is so little cap space around the league that the Hornets veterans are on relatively unattractive contracts. If you look around the league, MKG at $12m, Marv at $14, and Zeller at $14m aren't that bad. But when you look at free agency and realize guys like Randle, Smart, etc are going to be available on relatively similar if not smaller deas, those deals become unattractive.

A team would be much more willing to take on Marv, Cody or MKG when they are on expiring deals. Those are guys who can absolutely help a playoff push and even make an impact deep in the postseason. But there's jsut a bit too much salary remaining to make them worthwhile additions right now for most teams. It's not like MKGis what the Pelicans need to beat Golden State or anything.. so no one wants multiple years that badly that they'd give up anything of value.

So this is a decent year to just let the contracts slide down a year. You're collecting the rolldown yield right now.

Kemba on the other hand loses ALL trade value at the end of the year and he had a heck of a lot at last trade deadline.

[316Hornets]

Here is what Mitch had to say:

At some point in time every team goes through a rebuild. Our roster right now will not allow us press the reset button and rebuild starting this offseason. And what that means is we have veterans who have earned good contracts. Some people would say, hey you've got veterans who are locked up for 2 or 3 years. And some people will say 'hey that's gonna limit your flexibility.' But we can't press the button and start from scratch. We have to deal with the roster as it is and go forward. I think to answer your question the goal is to make the playoffs this year. And, at the same time, replenish the team with some youth. We have also created some space to look into the free agent market beginning July 1st. And, obviously, if you're in the free agent market you're looking for a veteran player. We feel like we're in a position to add young players going forward and also be in a position to get this team into the playoffs, which I feel would be a great thing. We don't want to mortgage the future but lets get in the playoffs if we can.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteHornets/comments/8taxfd/transcript_from_wfnz_interview_with_mitch_about/

WFNZ Interviwer: "Is it possible that Kemba Walker could be traded or do you want to shut down that possibility right now that Kemba could be traded?"

I don't think anybody in this league, based on my experience over the last 30 years...you know I went through a couple of periods where the best player was maybe the best player at that time in this league and wanted to be traded, and I fielded calls about that player. And looking back in history...a lot of guys like Wilt, or Kareem, or Julius Irving were traded. So I don't think that anybody can say that somebody is never ever going to be traded. Now, I will tell you this regarding Kemba: he is an integral part of this team. I don't know him as much as management does. But they love him here. I know the community loves him here. He's our best player. He's our all-star. So if there's a way that we can assure he will be here for the rest of his career then we will look to do that.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteHornets/comments/8tagvm/the_actual_kupchak_quote_about_kemba/

And to add my own personal take to what Mitch is saying, lots of those "locked up veterans" will come off the books in the coming years and the team is going to look very different over time with someone other than Cho making the calls.

Mitch is right. THere is so little cap space around the league that the Hornets veterans are on relatively unattractive contracts. If you look around the league, MKG at $12m, Marv at $14, and Zeller at $14m aren't that bad. But when you look at free agency and realize guys like Randle, Smart, etc are going to be available on relatively similar if not smaller deas, those deals become unattractive.

A team would be much more willing to take on Marv, Cody or MKG when they are on expiring deals. Those are guys who can absolutely help a playoff push and even make an impact deep in the postseason. But there's jsut a bit too much salary remaining to make them worthwhile additions right now for most teams. It's not like MKGis what the Pelicans need to beat Golden State or anything.. so no one wants multiple years that badly that they'd give up anything of value.

So this is a decent year to just let the contracts slide down a year. You're collecting the rolldown yield right now.

Kemba on the other hand loses ALL trade value at the end of the year and he had a heck of a lot at last trade deadline.

One important thing to consider is the recent sports betting decision. With the NBA expected to demand some type of cut, as well as the extra attention it will draw, the cap could have another jump, thus reducing the weight of these and Batum's contracts. This would enable us to sign Kemba to a max and be much more flexible.

[Rocketsbaby]

i dont think the league has a good argument for getting paid off sports betting. I dont see them forking over that kind of $ easily