Locked On Hornets & Hornets Direction

[fatlever]

We have the worst record in the league again. Or as our front office likes to say, we are only seven and a half games back from the play in spot. Anything can happen in this league.

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[Bassman]

Bravo, keep us in the gutter coaches and players. With our luck, we’re likely to still pick 12th, but all you can do is what is being done.

Someone go record and sing a parody of the the classic Bowie song, but call it…”LET’S TANK”!

[fatlever]

"If I were building a young team I’d have a married vet in his mid 30s who’s made his $ and wants to lead by example. Then I’d have a guy who had a tough path to a 8-10 year NBA career. Someone who grinded through Europe and G League. Those dudes are at practice 1 hour early"

I like this quote from Barlowe.

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[SWedd523]

"If I were building a young team I’d have a married vet in his mid 30s who’s made his $ and wants to lead by example. Then I’d have a guy who had a tough path to a 8-10 year NBA career. Someone who grinded through Europe and G League. Those dudes are at practice 1 hour early"

I like this quote from Barlowe.

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I've been saying the Hornets need that ever since Marv left

They're never going to have a professional locker room without it

[fatlever]

Yeah, I'm just sure Gordon and Mason are those dudes. Lol.

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[NCHeels2008]

Leaving this here.

Read on Twitter

Mark Williams will have a better career than Duren.

That trade for the Nuggets pick however.

not sure Mark will be better if Clifford coaches past this year

[Braggins]

That trade is going to end up being a lottery pick for basically five 2nd round picks. Still blows my mind when I think of it.

[Diop]

Marv is with the club but I guess it ain’t the same if he’s not playing. Let’s give him a 10 day.

You can see why Miami let Haslem hang around

[fatlever]

Cliff says he thinks we would be a top 4 or 5 team if we didn't have the injuries.

Lol. Come on dude. We aren't that gullible. Sell that ra ra **** to the team, but don't insult our intelligence. Even if every player played 100% of the games this year we aren't top 5 in any scenario you can't get this bunch to defend. Not any combination of players you put out there can defend. Top 5 my ass. You think you could be ahead of [checks standandings] one of Boston. Philly, Brooklyn. Milwaukee or Cavs? Lol. At best maybe, just maybe we could be on level with Knicks or pacers or Miami.

It's insulting or delusional. The self awareness of this franchise is concerning.

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[JMAC3]

Future of the team, more so talking cap space, contract options and how that affects trade deadline decisions.

So first? Where we are right now. We are currently sitting at 112.7 million in active cap + 8.8 million in Batum dead money or Roughly 121.5 without Cap Holds. The current salary cap is 123.6 Million so it makes no sense to renounce bird rights on Miles as it stands now to open up 2 million in salary.

Fast Forward to this summer. We have 8 guys under contract with Gordo, Terry, Ball, Martin, Bouk, Mark, Kai and JT Thor. These 8 guys make up 85 million dollars in active roster, with a projected 2023 salary cap at 134 Million. So roughly 50 million in cap space.

That means we have 8 FA including PJ, Kelly, Mason, Nick, Theo, DSJ, McDaniels and McGowens who currently sits on just a 2way deal.

Current cap holds for each, guys with lower cap holds are valuable because it allows you to use outside capspace first before resigning them to really any amount. Also, after their cap hold, I made an educated guess on what each guy will be worth in FA this summer.
PJ - 17.4 million.... roughly worth 15 million AAV
Kelly- 16.3 million.... roughly worth 15 million AAV
Mason- 16.1 million.... roughly worth 3-5 million based on Ibaka, Lopez, Drummond and Dedmon deals
Nick - 2.2 million... roughly worth 6-8 million AAV based on Hartenstein, Looney and Claxton deals
Theo- 2 million... roughly worth 2-3 million based on Aaron Holiday, Neto and
Smith Jr- 2 million.... roughly worth 3-5 million based on Austin Rivers, Donte Divincenzo, and Daniel House
McDaniels - 1.8 million.... roughly worth 5-7 million based on Bruce Brown, Martin twins, Otto Porter and Jasean Tate
McGowens - 1.8 million... probably another 2 million type of guard.

So we have a ton of options to spend the 50 million in cap space, whether that is resigning outside guys, our own guys, using midlevel exceptions... but also do not forget we will be paying a top 3 pick in the 9-11 range. So lets just assume we only have 40 million in cap space because of Rookie.

Option 1- Starts with PJ, we could give him 4/60 with last year being TO lets say. That still leaves 25 million to sign a big name in FA. Or we could try to resign Bridges in the 20 million range and bring back McDaniels or Nick with remainder of cap. Round out roster with the cheap young guys above and draft picks.

Option 2- We let PJ walk, pay McDaniels a Martin type of deal in the 3/22 range. Then look to FA to sign a guy in the 15-25 million range. Here are the realistic options money wise... Kyle Kuzma, Dillon Brooks, Gary Trent Jr, Caris Levert, Harrison Barnes, Draymond, Klove, Myles Turner, DLo, Christian Wood or we could try to overpay the only coveted RFA Cam Johnson and try to convince suns not to match.

Option 3- We try to move off Hayward or Rozier deal. This would give us 60-70 million in cap space even after accounting having to pay a rookie 10 million. This would open up the next tier of FA names... Kyrie, Harden, Middleton, Porzingis, Jerami Grant... not much doing there if you ask me. So maybe it would be to sign two guys from the previous list or PJ + 1 of guys from previous list.

Option 4- You resign Bridges, you resign PJ then you can use the bird rights to resign Kelly, Nick, McDaniels and you operate as an over the cap team putting you roughly in the 155 million range and still having 7 million of wiggle room under the 162 million lux tax.

This was a lot to think through upon the first look through, but I think it did help me realize that we can still bring everyone back while not necessarily having to move Gordon or Rozier and we can still be under the tax line.

but also, are Kuzma, Brooks, Levert, DLo types that much better than Rozier that it would be better to reroll the dice in FA and sign one of them if we can dump Rozier to someone like Lakers?

[wilson115]

Screams "top 5 team" without the injuries.

The Hornets rank near the bottom of every major defensive statistical category so far this season. Currently, the Hornets rank 29th in points allowed, 29th in rebounding, 30th in defensive rebounding, and 28th in assists. What does that mean? The Hornets aren't stopping anyone from scoring, they are allowing too many offensive rebounds in the paint and teams are passing the ball around with ease on the Hornets.

https://www.si.com/nba/hornets/news/defense-what-defense-hornets-struggling-to-stop-anyone

[Snidely FC]

Good thing they brought Clifford back to improve the defense

The phrase “Hornets Direction” is an oxymoron

[JDR720]

Our defense somehow got worse. We were like 25th last season.

[fatlever]

And yet our defense is the good side of the ball. Lol. We are DFL in offensive rating.

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[JDR720]

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[Braggins]

Watch on YouTube

[wilson115]

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[JMAC3]

I like Mitch, drafts have been solid especially second round picks. Made some nice moves to get Theo, Harrell and Terry/Kemba trade was a win.

But... based on how much "interest" our 5-6 players are getting in rumors he needs to crush this trade deadline or I might be on the side of letting him go. Very few sellers in this market, he needs to come away with more than just second round picks.

[fatlever]

Prepare to be disappointed jmac.

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[GoBobs]

Really wish we would try this offensive system. Interesting video about a team that empathizes passing over dribbling.

Watch on YouTube

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