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ESPN+/Kevin Pelton gives Hornets a C+ for their offseason:

Charlotte Hornets: C+
Adding Kelly Oubre Jr. on a two-year, $24.6 million deal ($17 million guaranteed) offered more upside to what had been a conservative offseason for the Hornets. They used the rest of their cap space to add veterans Mason Plumlee (via a trade that also allowed them to move up in the second round) and Ish Smith instead of aggressively pursuing a bigger upgrade at center.

Atypically, Charlotte gave up a future first-rounder to add a second one this year (taking center Kai Jones after previously drafting James Bouknight in the lottery) but was able to replace it with one from a sign-and-trade sending restricted free agent Devonte' Graham to the New Orleans Pelicans.

I think that's fair.

I'd probably give it a B.

The draft is a B+. I don't have high expectations but we got two decent 1st rounders and some solid 2nd round potential guys.

The Plumlee trade is an A. No risk medium reward.

The FA's are a C-. Ish and Oubre are solid, but we still have holes to fill.

Gave it an A. Thought about a B+, but settled for locking in Rozier as the push-over. Plumlee on a good contract, adding Oubre with a reasonable deal, drafting well with Bouknight and snagging Jones on an even-swap with the Knicks (Lewis and Thor may determine if it is a B or B+ draft), adding Ish Smith was an underrated move in my opinion.

Still work to do at point guard and at the 4, but solid work by Kupchak keeping contracts on the short side, on reasonable or good salary levels, adding veteran help in key spots while continuing to add youth, length and athleticism. And he refrained from signing Andre Drummond. That's A work right there.

B-

Long term things look fine, but there's a real chance that this year's team could be worse than last years if things don't break right.

B+ it would have been an A+ If we had drafted jalen johnson. Made my position clear on him. Could you imagine bouknight and johnson? it was right there and we didn't do it.

For now I give it a C+ without knowing how any variables turn out.

Positives:
-Two lotto talents in one draft
-Extended Rozier for market price, maybe even a bit below what it would cost next summer
-Plumlee trade was great
-Didn't blow an insane amount on a Center in free agency

Negatives:
-Bouknight looks very shaky to me
-Very skeptical Oubre ever puts it together
-If Kai/Vern can't contribute this year our Center position is in shambles again

If the Pelicans make the playoffs then improve the grade to a solid B. If Bouknight and/or Kai are impressive this season make it a B+. I just hope I'm wrong about Bouknight to be honest. I was fine with choosing him (I trust Mitch) even though I didn't know much about him, I didn't like his game in Summer League at all though, the more I saw the more I worried.

Bumping this.

So, I originally gave us a B. I'm downgrading that to a D+.

Draft goes down to a C-. Bouknight and Kai are both DNP's. Thor looks nice at the Swarm though.

Plumlee trade is a C. Probably a downgrade, but low risk with low upside.

FA is a D-. Oubre has been poor. Ish has been poor. The only thing stopping this from being an F is they're both on 1 year deals (Oubre is partially guaranteed). I can't imagine either being back next season.

JDR720 wrote:Bumping this.

So, I originally gave us a B. I'm downgrading that to a D+.

Draft goes down to a C-. Bouknight and Kai are both DNP's. Thor looks nice at the Swarm though.

Plumlee trade is a C. Probably a downgrade, but low risk with low upside.

FA is a D-. Oubre has been poor. Ish has been poor. The only thing stopping this from being an F is they're both on 1 year deals (Oubre is partially guaranteed). I can't imagine either being back next season.

I agree with most of this except I think Ish has been pretty good as our backup PG.

JDR720 wrote:Bumping this.

So, I originally gave us a B. I'm downgrading that to a D+.

Draft goes down to a C-. Bouknight and Kai are both DNP's. Thor looks nice at the Swarm though.

Plumlee trade is a C. Probably a downgrade, but low risk with low upside.

FA is a D-. Oubre has been poor. Ish has been poor. The only thing stopping this from being an F is they're both on 1 year deals (Oubre is partially guaranteed). I can't imagine either being back next season.

posts like this are why "grading" things is silly

It's 12 games into the season. Lol