How would you fix this team?

[JDR720]

Congrats pal, you are now the owner of this team and have complete control of everything. including the roster, system, trades, lineups etc. How do you fix it?!?!?!


My new lineup.

Kemba-Monk
Lamb-Graham
Nic-Marv
MKG-Frank
Cody-Dwight.

So its obviously a lot different than our current one. Cody starts over Dwight because he screens better. MKG plays PF over Marvin because he and Dwight dont need to play together. Monk still does backup PG because we dont have good backup PG's, Lamb starts to give Kemba some scoring help. MCW may or may not replace Monk at backup PG depending on how bad he is. Bacon could replace Graham crackers as my go to snack too.

The system is more of a run and gun style, fast pace. Still expect to be a very good rebounding team and at least average at shooting threes. Defense should be respectable enough with one player who is supposed to be an anchor on each lineup (MKG and Dwight). Gonna do a 10 man rotation so i can keep the injury prone players (basically everyone) minutes down.


Now, in the offseason or even trade deadline if we suck I want to trade at least one of Marvin (probably quite possible), Dwight (you wish) and Nic (maybe, maybe not) to create some cap space. All of these guys are older or very expensive vs how good they are. Ideally all three get traded. Trading them also helps with weird positional problems, Frank is better at center so Dwight needs to go, MKG is better at PF so Marv needs to go etc.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

I know that you probably didn’t mean it that way JDR, but if I’m the owner I’m not micromanaging my coach and telling him what lineups to use. However, I am about to change things.


Step 1

Talk with Cho. I’m getting a feel for who he is and what moves were his and what moves he was pushed into for various reasons. Odds are that he’s gone and I’m looking for a new GM, but step one is interviewing him and finding out if he’s the right guy for what I want to do or not.

Assuming that I have to hire a new GM I’m talking to David Griffin, but I’m also looking at younger names as well … an up and comer. I’m likely to look to San Antonio, Boston, or other successful franchises with established culture, because that’s what this hire is all about. My new GM is going to be the person in charge of the basketball culture, from the kind of coach we have to the guys we trade for and draft. I’m in favor of having a strong analytics department and want a GM who agrees with that.


Step 2

Fire Cliff.

I don’t like Cliff and it wouldn’t be fair to him to try to operate in an environment where the owner didn’t have his back.

I would encourage our GM to consider Silas as a candidate for interim head coach, but I would leave the decision about coaching in his hands. I’m not a micromanager. Hiring the coach is a GM’s job and I would want my GM to feel empowered to make the decisions they need to.

Ideally, I don’t want a system coach here. I would much rather have someone flexible, who can make his players better.


Step 3

Evaluate trades.

There is no one on the team that is untouchable. I’m willing to hear plans from the GM that involve small tweaks, like we’ve traditionally seen from Cho mid-season, to major rebuild plans. That said, my preference is to avoid outright worst in the league tanking in order to get draft picks. I much prefer that the team stays watchable during the entire effort if we go that route.

Guys I’m high on and would be reluctant to trade: Kemba, Cody, Monk.
Guy’s I’m in favor of trading, mostly based on contracts: Howard, Nic, Marv, MKG


Step 4

Prioritize the draft. I really like Boston’s strategy of getting multiple draft picks each year and I feel like the draft has been on of Charlotte’s biggest weaknesses over Cho’s tenure.



Really, the more I typed here the more it starts to feel like MJ is a big part of the problem.

[bravor]

Trade Frank when he still has little value to improve the pf spot by a mobile and athletic pf or sf/pf ( a young Deng ideally). Basically a guy that can help the defense to remain respectable at the wing which means :
-he can box out consistently
-he is fast and focus on the perimeter
-he is decent enough in 1/1 to make his opponent earn his buckets
-he can score his open shots at a decent % and has decent enough bball iq to help with the spacing and sets good picks

Then decide what to do with bench pg as obviously Monk is a bad experiment. Maybe he will figure out how to control the pace and organize the offense, but as of now he can't even move the ball safly under pressure.
Bench is dysfunctional with both Monk and Lamb at guards as both are better as score first guards. They can't involve teamates efficiently. Couple years ago, Hornets bench lead by Lin (and Cody/Kaminsky inside) were doing most of their damage thanks to unselfish bball and great ball movement. The last thing you want in this team is pilling up ball hogs.

If Stone or MCW can't come back fast and stay healthy for next few weeks (say till january), they need to find a good pg or combo to organize the offense from the bench. Not necessary a good defender (the more, the better) but this team mostly needs a guy that can create offense not just for himself and control the pace (needless to say, someone that can put the ball on the floor without turning it over or throwing the hot potatoe to his teammates every two possessions).

I strongly disagree about trading Howard. The best interest for this franchise is to make sure it works enough to save his trade value and at worst manage to trade him for a (very) good return during next offseason. And no one can say how useful (or not) he would be in play offs.
But obviously since history repeats itself (i mean the hack-a-howard comedy), and as mentioned by others, Howard should stick to what he can do and go back to the bench when necessary, and above all in crunch time.

This team can perform with Howard, as long as errors are limited. But the most dysfunctional area for me is bench efficiency. I guess everyone is aware that this team has depth. But the lack of playmaking, toughness and focus is ruining any chance to impact the game the way they are supposed to.

PS : Btw, about Batum, maybe something could be done with the Kings involving G. Hill & Batum. It would mostly benefit to the Hornets (obviously) but maybe they need some veteranship at the wing more than a mentor for their rookie pg.

[amcoolio]

Our four highest paid players. 62% of our total cap.

The first highest paid player is being used so incorrectly (by either the coaching staff or taking it upon himself) that he hurts the team on both ends of the floor, and if he simply DNP'd him or cut him, we'd be better.

The second highest paid player seemingly has no effect on the team whether he is there or not. When healthy he improves offense a good bit but gives some back on defense. Its not the worst use of our cap, but he needs stars and a good system around him.

The third highest paid player is the most average NBA player in every since of the word and easily replaceable. The Hornets drafted a 2nd round rookie that will be a better play than him by the end of next season with more experience. While its not a total cap killing figure, the length of the contract is a major problem and extremely shortsighted

The fourth highest paid player seems to have hit his ceiling and appears to be an average NBA player as well. He'll show up once in every 5 games and the energy and intangibles that made him so great early in his career have completely disappeared. He's a player that looks like he's going through the motions

Ladies and Gentleman, we are ****. 62% of our cap is untradable and contributes to so few wins. At least we have all our first round picks

[StitchJones]

As owner. I fix this team by firing Cho and Clifford. Let Silas be the interim coach for now and hire Mike Zarren or Troy Weaver for the gm job.

[fatlever]

we've had a lot of bad backup PGs, but rookie Monk at PG is probably the worst of the bunch. cho failed miserably for several years to get a backup, Lin year excluded.

Cliff has to figure out how to use Dwight and Cody correctly. The dwight mess is all Cliff and he needs to sort it out ASAP. you can't close games with Dwight on most nights.

Cliff has to change the pnr coverage. Cant keep having DH sag off everyone and allowing wide open shots.

Batum, Frank, MKG and Cody have to step up and find ways to contribute on a consistent basis.

Stop playing Bacon, for now.

[euphorbus]

Personnel: Start Zeller, Kidd-Gilchrist, Batum, Lamb, Walker. Those are our five best players. In the new, "positionless" NBA, they should be on the court to start and end every first half, every second half.

Strategy: Allow, even emphasize offensive rebounds. Emphasize passes, movement off the ball, and screens on offense. Smothering, true man-to-man coverage on defense. Do not leave anyone open at the three-point line, and in fact, try to intercept the ball if it is thrown to your man. Change the offensive plays and flow to fit the second team's strengths and personalities.

Pace: Change the pace to fit the opponent's weaknesses, and change the pace during the course of the game. The second team, with Dwight Howard and Marvin Williams could play more slowly, concentrate on high-percentage shots, and wear out the other team's defense.

[catch20two]

Change the starting lineup to Kemba, Lamb, MKG, Batum, Dwight.

Take Batum out for Marvin after the 7 minute mark of each half and bring him back in when Kemba is subbed out to be the de facto PG.

Minimize regular rotation to 8-9 players on most nights.

2nd unit will practically be Batum, Monk, Marvin, Frank, Cody.

Close games with Cody or Frank at center depending on who got the hot hand or best skill set to defend the opposing team.

Play Lamb 30+ minutes.

[Bassman]

Lots of good ideas so far, but FIRE CLIFF is the starting point for everything. Not because he's a bad guy or coach per se. He is stubborn and only knows his way, which is not working. Expecting change is foolish at this point.

Most of our assets are truly not tradeable. Nobody beating on the door wanting MKG, Marvin, Frank, etc. Dwight? Nope, nada, nobody.

If Cliff really wants to keep his job, and I'm the GM, we just met this morning and my short speech is this: "You wanted Howard and he is killing us with turnovers, P&R defense, etc. You have to convince him to play his strengths, and only those, immediately. Also he has to know he's not playing in crunch time. I want no pouting, no boo hoo body language. He does that, your gone. Also, play lineups to their strengths late in games. No more ISO hero ball crap. I want to immediately see ball movement and good execution on offense. Lastly you are known for defense. Better find it fast."

Then I'm investigating any trade options to try and acquire a legit 4 and a back up PG. MCW is tissue paper.

[HornetJail]

1) Promote Stephen Silas to HC and move on from Clifford- it's not getting better with him in charge. I gave him the benefit of the doubt last season but enough is enough. I'm not watching the same old bull another season.

2) MKG to power forward.

3) Cut Frank out of the rotation, or at most play him 3-4 minutes in each half to test whether he's hot.

4) Howard can start but Zeller needs to play most of his minutes and close games with the starters.

5) Rotation:
Howard/Zeller (or whatever order)
MKG/Marvin/Frank
Batum/Lamb
Lamb/Monk/Graham or Bacon
Kemba/Monk/MCW

6) Look into any possible way we can get our hands on an upgraded backup PG that can actually run an offense. Frank + 2nds (if needed) should be adequate trade bait. If we're lucky we can hold on to Frank as our 5th big, but I don't really care anymore.

7) Emphasize ball movement, run more screens to get MKG extra touches on cuts to the rim and encourage him to shoot ~2 threes a game to just establish himself as a threat.

8) GUARD THE PERIMETER. HOLY **** ****. WE HAVE DWIGHT **** HOWARD OR CODY ZELLER IN THE PAINT. WE DON'T NEED TO COLLAPSE INTO THE PAINT WHEN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE JUST SHOOTS THREES NOW. MKG AND BATUM CAME INTO THE LEAGUE AS ELITE PERIMETER DEFENDERS. USE. THEM.

[Hornet Mania]

I don't think there's much we can do any major changes this year without throwing in the towel on the playoffs, and I'm not quite there yet. I'd most likely end up swallowing the bitter pill of a 38 win season, but after that change would be in order.

If I were the fantasy owner my rough plan would be to start doing all this next summer:

-Quietly inquire about Sam Hinkie's interest. I'm not going for a complete Sixers-style tear down, but instead looking to tinker around the edges now while making savvy moves to stockpile picks in future years. I actually think Hinkie would be good in a situation like Darryl Morey, where the Rockets simply won't let him tank, just because he makes so many great trades. His draft history is also arguably better than Cho's, even if he didn't get to reap the rewards. That's Plan A: Hire Hinkie. Plan B is some other analytic-minded GM who values picks to carry out the following plan:

-Try to move Batum and Dwight. Batum is totally doable, he's still good, we might even get a surprisingly decent asset for him. He never seems to move the needle much when he plays or when he sits, his contract is going to be awful in a couple years, now is the time to cut bait. Dwight is a more difficult guy to unload but he'll only have a 1 year left on his deal by then, and if we can't, so be it. Just play him less.

-Replace Cliff with a coach who embraces the pace and space revolution. I don't have any specific candidates in mind, hopefully someone good gets cut loose but otherwise a fresh face would probably be my choice.

-Invest in the analytics department so it's among the best in the league. Do the same with the medical staff.

-Invest more in international scouting so we can find a use for those 2nd rounders.

-Put Stephanie Ready back in the booth with Curry and Collins.

Tldr: Try to implement a new team culture that makes us Rockets East with a dash of Spurs scouting.

[GoBobs]

Trade a protected pick for Rick Calisle. Trade Dwight.

Kemba/MCW
Lamb/Monk
MKG
Batum/M WIlliams
Cody/Frank

[JDR720]

Bump. We still suck.

[catch20two]

I’m leaning towards bringing Batum off the bench. His skill set benefits the bench better than Lamb’s.

[WestCoastBadger]

Step one is removing Clifford. Regardless of what you evaluate the talent level of the hornets, Cliff is not a modern day coach. He’s got to go. He’s also not a coach to develop youngsters. I think he is actively hampering what Frank and Monk could become. Every game with Cliff at the helm is a game wasted.

Second, consider axing Cho too. I don’t know Cho enough to say for certain, but nothing really stands out to me that says “this guy has what it takes to right the ship.”

Third, unload older players to allow younger players to get more minutes. First is Marvin. He’s making too much for this team but can still offer value to a more competitive team. This allows Frank to be needed more and hopefully build his confidence over the season. See what you can get for Batum as well. He also offers value to contenders. Hang on to Kemba unless someone comes to you with a mega offer. If Dwight keeps playing well (fix those turnovers) see if there is a taker at the break.

Finally, hope for lotto luck and first round picks from trades in what should be a deep draft.

This team is nowhere close to challenging Boston or Cleveland. It’s also not up to Washington, or Toronto in a series. Philly and Milwaukee (who also needs a new coach) are ahead of Charlotte in prepping for the future.

[Braggins]

Clifford has no vision of what to do with a team in the 2017 NBA. We need to move on asap.

The roster could use some tweaks, but the talent is still there imo. I would try to retool around our young core with a different coach and philosophy before blowing the team up. I would keep Kemba, Cody, MKG, Lamb, and Monk. I would keep Marv as long as we aren't blowing up the roster. I would consider trading Marv if he could net some value, but I think if we are going for a quick turnaround, which is what I prefer, then he is worth keeping. I would see if there is any way to get rid of Howard and/or Batum. I would be trying super hard to get out of Batums contract. I would rather get rid of Dwight for basketball reason, but I don't mind getting stuck with his contract for one more year and I think there is still some potential for his fit here if we had a good coach. Our roster would be more balanced with Cody/Frank + a cheap bruiser as our center rotation, though.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

What happens with Howard if Cliff is shown the door? Will any coach that replaces Cliff be in a good situation at that point and be able to do better? As much as I agree with Cliff needing to go, I just don't have confidence that it's going to make anything better this season.

[fatlever]

First question you have to ask yourself as new general manager of the team is do you intend to resign kemba in 2019?

Or do you try to trade him prior to his contract end?

Any plan to try to rebuild the team should begin with trading Kemba because it would be foolish to try to blow up the team and expect him to stick around past the end of his contract

As long as kemba is on the team I think we owe it to him to try to compete for the playoffs

Sent from my SM-G920V using RealGM mobile app

[316Hornets]

If I was in charge of fixing this team and not make any trades to do it. This is what would be done.

Zeller is going to get a lot more playing time. Dwight will only play heavy minutes against centers with similar skillset as himself, meaning inside the paint, big body guys.

Lamb is going to start and Batum is going to go to the bench. MKG will be able to mask any of Lamb's defensive weaknesses while Lamb will be able to do the same for MKG on the offensive side of the ball.

J.O.B. is going to be sent in every game that Frank misses his first two shots. If Frank isn't scoring, he's a major liability. At least J.O.B. has shown he's capable of knocking down long range shots on a consistent basis.

MCW is going to be on a very tight leash and not going to take any contested jumpers or 3 point shots. He's not going to handle the ball much either. We're going to use Monk and Batum as the primary playmakers on the second unit. Only thing I want MCW is playing defense and taking the occasional wide open shot. If MCW takes more than 5 shots a game, he's out and Stone is in.

Coach Clifford is fired. He has done nothing to improve this team. Coach Silas will take over and will be instructed to discipline Dwight anytime he acts foolish on the basketball court. If Dwight can't handle it, he's going to be benched. There's only one star on this team and it isn't Dwight.

[Braggins]

What happens with Howard if Cliff is shown the door? Will any coach that replaces Cliff be in a good situation at that point and be able to do better? As much as I agree with Cliff needing to go, I just don't have confidence that it's going to make anything better this season.

Firing Clifford could cause problems with Kemba as well. I honestly think the biggest thing holding Kemba back at this point in his career is his loyalty to Clifford. If Kemba wanted Clifford gone hed be out in a second and I assume his support is one of the main reasons Clifford is still here.