Hornets hire Jeff Peterson as Head of Basketball Ops.

[yosemiteben]

But they did sooooo many other great things like...draft Salaün 6, take on Josh Green whose contract is now negative, and.... oh wait.

Mitch was trying to get Green here a month before Jeff was announced as his replacement, so wouldn't that make chasing Green Mitch's idea? If you're saying this is Mitch taking orders from incoming ownership, then you'd also have to credit them for bringing in Tre and Grant.

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I'm not taking your smelly ass bait, Wilson because you're not in the slightest interested in honest appraisals. You're just playing games and it's boring the hell out of me. Good day.

Next time please just ignore instead of attacking like that.

[Diop]

I'm not suggesting or suspecting Moussa will be a multiple time dpoy, just made an allusion to the first "undersized" starting center that crossed my mind to make my point about getting pushed around. I think that's pretty clear from what I wrote, but if it's confusing, I can try another way.

most recent successful undersized centre i can think of is Horford, but his offensive skills help him.

[fatlever]

I'm not suggesting or suspecting Moussa will be a multiple time dpoy, just made an allusion to the first "undersized" starting center that crossed my mind to make my point about getting pushed around. I think that's pretty clear from what I wrote, but if it's confusing, I can try another way.

it was very clear the point you were making.

[Bassman]

I know you have admitted to not being able to catch many of the games last season (and not many would blame you for missing them even if you could have), but I think you're really underestimating Moussa Diabate. No one is going to bully him around. It's like arguing Ben Wallace was undersized and not a capable starting center. I wrote other thoughts about the center issue in the offseason thread, so I won't repeat it all here, but Moose is an improvement from a team perspective over Mark Williams. Maybe (probably) Mason is a downgrade from Nurkic, so I guess that could be a criticism, but some version of Grant Williams should be around and then you add Kaulkbrenner so there are a couple of wildcards at the pivot.

"Jeffie" is so unnecessarily demeaning, I really wish you would reconsider how that looks and opt for almost any other name instead as you "fry" the guy for not having an acceptable to you center on the roster at this point, but I do my best to look past it.

I would love to be wrong about Moose as a starting caliber center, or the Hornet’s attempts to construct the position out of old car parts and a second round draft pick. I’m not, according to those who cover NBA for a living, and watch plenty of games and tape. And yes I’m sure my drumbeat on this front office is annoying to many here, so apologies for that. But Peterson has traded away both our centers and failed to replace them with any acceptable option. When Jeffie can accomplish that, he will demonstrate competency and graduate to Jeff. I am sincerely hopeful it happens prior to training camp.

[KembaWalker]

I'm not suggesting or suspecting Moussa will be a multiple time dpoy, just made an allusion to the first "undersized" starting center that crossed my mind to make my point about getting pushed around. I think that's pretty clear from what I wrote, but if it's confusing, I can try another way.

it was very clear the point you were making.

i'm not seeing it.
literally said "saying Moussa is undersized is like saying Ben Wallace was undersized"
comparing literal Moussa Diabate to a guy that was built like a brick shithouse with HOF level defensive instincts. what are we doin here

not that it really matters, Ben Wallace was playable in an era where you could win games scoring 70 points, so his uselessness on offense didnt really matter that much. Moussa is near equally useless but we need to generate 115 PPG to win anything in this era so having offensive deadweight on the floor especially at such a critical position where good teams are generating more and more dynamic play from is just crippling. we need 2 way players.

that "anonymous" statement is just laughable, its one of my biggest basketball pet peeves when people just list one good thing the guy does and act like thats relevant to anything. Plumlee is gonna help us a lot with his passing! Moussa is gonna help us a lot with his defense! okay but what does that do for us to have Plumlees passing when we are getting scored on every time down the floor, what good is Diabates defense if we are playing 4v5 on the other end for their whole stints. players that are "good" (even calling Plumlee a good passer is a massive stretch) at one thing are useless

[SWedd523]

It's called copium. it's a very strong drug.

If you can't tell, there's no appetite around here for anyone to feel strongly negative about anything this all star front office has done.

[JDR720]

I'm not suggesting or suspecting Moussa will be a multiple time dpoy, just made an allusion to the first "undersized" starting center that crossed my mind to make my point about getting pushed around. I think that's pretty clear from what I wrote, but if it's confusing, I can try another way.

Miles is more undersized as a PF than Diabate is as a C.

Diabate measured 6'9.25 (without shoes) and 216 pounds at the combine. He also has a 7'2.5 wingspan and a 9'1.50 standing reach.

For comparison, Nic Claxton is 6'10 without shoes and has a slightly shorter wingspan, reach and is the same weight.

By now, Diabate is probably close to 225 considering he's been hitting the weights so hard.

Like it's been talked about before, Diabate had some of the best impact stats on the team last season. If Diabate can keep that same impact in a larger role, he'll be perfectly fine as a defensive/rebounding starting center.

[yosemiteben]

If you can't tell, there's no appetite around here for anyone to feel strongly negative about anything this all star front office has done.

Don't spam the same negative takes over and over and no one cares about pretty much any opinion. The strongest pushback you'll get is a question about the support for the take.

We're not going around saying "no negative opinions."

[Bassman]

I'm not suggesting or suspecting Moussa will be a multiple time dpoy, just made an allusion to the first "undersized" starting center that crossed my mind to make my point about getting pushed around. I think that's pretty clear from what I wrote, but if it's confusing, I can try another way.

Miles is more undersized as a PF than Diabate is as a C.

Diabate measured 6'9.25 (without shoes) and 216 pounds at the combine. He also has a 7'2.5 wingspan and a 9'1.50 standing reach.

For comparison, Nic Claxton is 6'10 without shoes and has a slightly shorter wingspan, reach and is the same weight.

By now, Diabate is probably close to 225 considering he's been hitting the weights so hard.

Like it's been talked about before, Diabate had some of the best impact stats on the team last season. If Diabate can keep that same impact in a larger role, he'll be perfectly fine as a defensive/rebounding starting center.

Yes, if he can do those things, and achieve that increased weight, he certainly could be a limited but starting center. Problem remains he can’t shoot. I love the things he DOES do, love his energy, attitude, everything in that regard. He’s not a guy who’s going to be helping to move the ball…not an effective passer. Is he a consistently legit lob threat? I didn’t watch nearly as many games as most of you, but I don’t even see many highlights evidencing that. Can he maintain a dribble, back down opponents, or dribble drive a tight opening? Not saying he can’t, but I just didn’t see or haven’t seen that.

[JDR720]

I'm not suggesting or suspecting Moussa will be a multiple time dpoy, just made an allusion to the first "undersized" starting center that crossed my mind to make my point about getting pushed around. I think that's pretty clear from what I wrote, but if it's confusing, I can try another way.

it was very clear the point you were making.

that "anonymous" statement is just laughable, its one of my biggest basketball pet peeves when people just list one good thing the guy does and act like thats relevant to anything. Plumlee is gonna help us a lot with his passing! Moussa is gonna help us a lot with his defense! okay but what does that do for us to have Plumlees passing when we are getting scored on every time down the floor, what good is Diabates defense if we are playing 4v5 on the other end for their whole stints. players that are "good" (even calling Plumlee a good passer is a massive stretch) at one thing are useless

You can apply this same logic to almost every player on the team. What good is Melo's passing when he's such a bad defender? He's not a 2-way player at all.

The thing with the Center position is way overblown. Like, would you guys prefer to trade a couple 1st rounds picks for Vuc so he can both not defend and not get enough shots on offense? Or Claxton so he can basically be a more expensive Diabate?

Our team is being set up for the centers to have low usage. We have 7-8 guards/forwards that need shots. The offensive role our centers will play will be very limited next season due to team construction.

None of this gets into how bad Mark was last season either. Sure, he put up stats, but he was a net negative. Diabate had better impact stats than he did. If we didn't do the Mark trade, would you guys be more positive? Because there isn't much of a logically consistent reason to be unless you think Mark could play like his rookie year again.

[JDR720]

I'm not suggesting or suspecting Moussa will be a multiple time dpoy, just made an allusion to the first "undersized" starting center that crossed my mind to make my point about getting pushed around. I think that's pretty clear from what I wrote, but if it's confusing, I can try another way.

Miles is more undersized as a PF than Diabate is as a C.

Diabate measured 6'9.25 (without shoes) and 216 pounds at the combine. He also has a 7'2.5 wingspan and a 9'1.50 standing reach.

For comparison, Nic Claxton is 6'10 without shoes and has a slightly shorter wingspan, reach and is the same weight.

By now, Diabate is probably close to 225 considering he's been hitting the weights so hard.

Like it's been talked about before, Diabate had some of the best impact stats on the team last season. If Diabate can keep that same impact in a larger role, he'll be perfectly fine as a defensive/rebounding starting center.

Yes, if he can do those things, and achieve that increased weight, he certainly could be a limited but starting center. Problem remains he can’t shoot. I love the things he DOES do, love his energy, attitude, everything in that regard. He’s not a guy who’s going to be helping to move the ball…not an effective passer. Is he a consistently legit lob threat? I didn’t watch nearly as many games as most of you, but I don’t even see many highlights evidencing that. Can he maintain a dribble, back down opponents, or dribble drive a tight opening? Not saying he can’t, but I just didn’t see or haven’t seen that.

But none of that (besides the lobs and shooting) matters for what the team wants/needs of it's centers. With all the guards/forwards on this team, we aren't going to be looking for our centers to score in the post or drive to the rim or anything like that.

Diabate's role will be to eat offensive rebounds and set screens and be super-switchable on defense. That's it. This team on offense is going to be heavily reliant on guards and wings, that's why we've acquired about ten of them this offseason.

[JMAC3]

Would Jay Huff be our projected starter?
Pacers traded 1 2nd and 1 2nd swap for him.

[SWedd523]

If you can't tell, there's no appetite around here for anyone to feel strongly negative about anything this all star front office has done.

Don't spam the same negative takes over and over and no one cares about pretty much any opinion. The strongest pushback you'll get is a question about the support for the take.

We're not going around saying "no negative opinions."

clear difference between spamming negative takes and spamming positive ones

[JDR720]

If you can't tell, there's no appetite around here for anyone to feel strongly negative about anything this all star front office has done.

Don't spam the same negative takes over and over and no one cares about pretty much any opinion. The strongest pushback you'll get is a question about the support for the take.

We're not going around saying "no negative opinions."

clear difference between spamming negative takes and spamming positive ones

Yes, the former drives posters away from the board while the other doesn't.

[KembaWalker]

itll be the negative posters driving people away in Jan 2026, definitely not the sitting there watching Dinwiddie-Kon-Green-Salaun-Plumdog tier lineups regularly taking the floor

[SWedd523]

Don't spam the same negative takes over and over and no one cares about pretty much any opinion. The strongest pushback you'll get is a question about the support for the take.

We're not going around saying "no negative opinions."

clear difference between spamming negative takes and spamming positive ones

Yes, the former drives posters away from the board while the other doesn't.

Well I appreciate you at least being transparent and proving my original point.


I'd personally argue that the dwindling numbers around here are more a product of terrible on floor product than negative posts, but that's just me

[JustBuzzin]

Posters are leaving because the franchise has been bad. It has nothing to do with the actual posters. There was a point last season were I wasn't even interested in watching games. The lineups we had were trash. Some posters will leave if there is nothing worth discussing.

I think this back n forth about positive and negative opinions is crazy. As long as the takes are actually about basketball it shouldn't matter if a poster is posting it consistently or not. It goes both ways some people also post positive stuff about the same nonsense as well. Nobody gets on them.

This team has been bad it's going to be hard to post positive takes everyday. Sorry mods, but you have to consider some of us are actually holding the team accountable. It's not negative takes when it's the actual truth!

Saying that I have no issues with anyone on this board, but I will always speak my mind because I have a right to an opinion as does everyone else. People disagree with me all the time I never call them out because I respect everyone's opinion.

[Walt Cronkite]

"It's not negative takes when it's the actual truth!" So obnoxious. My opinion is the actual truth!

[JDR720]

clear difference between spamming negative takes and spamming positive ones

Yes, the former drives posters away from the board while the other doesn't.

Well I appreciate you at least being transparent and proving my original point.


I'd personally argue that the dwindling numbers around here are more a product of terrible on floor product than negative posts, but that's just me

The team being bad leads to less overall activity, but we (the mods) have gotten more than a few complaints about the overly negative lean of the board in the past and we know that posters have quit for that reason, not the teams performance. The team being bad doesn't make people (generally) stop being fans, but the board being toxic does make people leave and go somewhere else whether the team is bad or good.

The whole point of posting on a message board over regular social media is the community aspect. Posters continually being overly negative about everything damages the community aspect. It's no longer enjoyable to post (or read) if the space turns more or less into doomscrolling.

[Walt Cronkite]

Would Jay Huff be our projected starter?
Pacers traded 1 2nd and 1 2nd swap for him.

Projected by ESPN maybe. I find it hard to believe looking at what this FO has done and said that they would have him penciled in over Diabate.