Brighter future Hornets or Wizards?

[tamaraw08]

Last season, the Kings have finally woke up and have gotten much better.
OKC, Magic have shown a lot of promise with their young players.
Houston finally opened their wallet and acquire pretty good free agents.
Spurs just drafted Wemby.
Hornets has Ball...but okay..
Wizards for some reason retained their coach even with a pretty bad 2 year record?

[nate33]

Last season, the Kings have finally woke up and have gotten much better.
OKC, Magic have shown a lot of promise with their young players.
Houston finally opened their wallet and acquire pretty good free agents.
Spurs just drafted Wemby.
Hornets has Ball...but okay..
Wizards for some reason retained their coach even with a pretty bad 2 year record?

The Hornets are in better shape talentwise because they actually have at least one player who would definitely be a top 3 player on a title contender 5 years from now. There's nobody on the Wizards roster that you can say that about. There are a couple of possibilities (Coulibaly, Deni, Poole) but nobody you'd bet the farm on.

On the other hand, it looks like the Wizards finally can say that they have superior management. They've assembled a great front office and have finally shed the "play-in or bust" mentality as well as the Beal albatross contract.

So, since neither team really has all that much talent at the moment, I'd say the team with better management has a brighter future. So I'm going with the Wizards. Though that's damning with faint praise.

[Saints14]

Think this all depends on your evaluation of LaMelo and the rest of the Hornets young core and if you think they can be the foundation of a contending team, because I see the Wizards as basically a blank slate (wouldn't be surprised if Coulibaly is the only player still on this team in 4 years). I'm a believer in LaMelo so I'll take Charlotte, but the state of their front office certainly gives me pause

[dockingsched]

Is neither an acceptable answer?

[Johnny Bball]

Last season, the Kings have finally woke up and have gotten much better.
OKC, Magic have shown a lot of promise with their young players.
Houston finally opened their wallet and acquire pretty good free agents.
Spurs just drafted Wemby.
Hornets has Ball...but okay..
Wizards for some reason retained their coach even with a pretty bad 2 year record?

The Hornets are in better shape talentwise because they actually have at least one player who would definitely be a top 3 player on a title contender 5 years from now. There's nobody on the Wizards roster that you can say that about. There are a couple of possibilities (Coulibaly, Deni, Poole) but nobody you'd bet the farm on.

On the other hand, it looks like the Wizards finally can say that they have superior management. They've assembled a great front office and have finally shed the "play-in or bust" mentality as well as the Beal albatross contract.

So, since neither team really has all that much talent at the moment, I'd say the team with better management has a brighter future. So I'm going with the Wizards. Though that's damning with faint praise.

Since the Hornets just got sold, I'm not sure this claim is so cut and dried as it would have been.

[Jadoogar]

Hornets have the 2 best prospects by far among the 2 teams.
Who would be the next most valuable asset?
Young players - Coulibaly, Mark Williams
Established/Overpaid vets - Kuzma, Poole, Rozier, Hayward
Draft busts but still young - Bouknight, Johnny Davis, Kai Jones

I would take the Hornets right now. Wizards are trying to be bad but i actually don't think they will be the bottom of the barrel because they have so many vets on the team.

[ThunderBolt]

The wizards just started rebuilding under new management. It's way too early to evaluate them.

[ConSarnit]

Last season, the Kings have finally woke up and have gotten much better.
OKC, Magic have shown a lot of promise with their young players.
Houston finally opened their wallet and acquire pretty good free agents.
Spurs just drafted Wemby.
Hornets has Ball...but okay..
Wizards for some reason retained their coach even with a pretty bad 2 year record?

The Hornets are in better shape talentwise because they actually have at least one player who would definitely be a top 3 player on a title contender 5 years from now. There's nobody on the Wizards roster that you can say that about. There are a couple of possibilities (Coulibaly, Deni, Poole) but nobody you'd bet the farm on.

On the other hand, it looks like the Wizards finally can say that they have superior management. They've assembled a great front office and have finally shed the "play-in or bust" mentality as well as the Beal albatross contract.

So, since neither team really has all that much talent at the moment, I'd say the team with better management has a brighter future. So I'm going with the Wizards. Though that's damning with faint praise.

Since the Hornets just got sold, I'm not sure this claim is so cut and dried as it would have been.

There's also the idea that the "fish stinks from the head". If that's the case (as far as NBA teams go) then the Wiz still have the "head" (Leonsis) in place. The Hornets should see some positive regression to the mean in terms of FO strictly because it would be almost impossible for the new owners to be worse than the old one as far as team building goes (Jordan cheapness, hiring UNC cronies, etc). Even if Leonsis has turned over a new leaf it's an uphill battle to pass the Hornets any time soon.

-in a draft of both teams the top 3 picks would likely all be Hornets (Ball, Miller and Bridges (if he can keep his head on straight))
-the 2024 draft is supposed to be bad. That could put the Wiz another year behind in high end talent acquisition

But as others have said, it's too early to tell because of the Wiz. They are the most "nothing" team in the league. Just dumped their 2 best players and didn't really get a high draft pick last year who can be sold as the future. They chose the right path but we have zero idea if it will work out.

[SweaterBae]

The light at the end of the tunnel is a train.

[Slimjimzv]

Both of these teams have had a rough go of it. I went with the Wizards because I do think DC is a more viable destination than Charlotte. Though I've never been to either, so my opinion on that is not especially valid. I worry for Charlotte that Ball will leave for brighter lights. PJ Washington is a stud, but I don't know what to think about Miller. And I worry about the leadership there after they passed on Scoot. I really think that was an awful decision. As for Washington... uh. . . I like Coulibaly . . . Yeah, both of these teams are rough.

[King4Day]

Hornets right now. That's the obvious answer given the talent they are accumulating. If Bridges turns his life around, he, Ball, and possibly Miller are a solid 3.
We also need to see what the new ownership will do. If they hire the right people and spend decent money, the franchise can be on an upward trajectory. Charlotte is growing and people love it here. Just need the right leaders to exploit it.

[itrsteve]

Hornets could easily be a playoff team this year. Wizards are too far out, different timelines.

[LarsV8]

Washington hasn't even started yet, so not really a fair comparison.

[GoBobs]

Better question is hornets vs pacers vs magic vs rockets vs pistons. I have magic, rockets and pistons at the bottom of that group because they don’t have a guy who is clearly the #1 guy yet.

[Exp0sed]

Hornets and ainec

the Wizz have been the worst run organization in the league since Leonsis bought the team, and they have no real talent on the roster and not much upside either

we could speculate they could get better without all the Wall\Beal's of the worlds getting paid laughable money and not doing much, but Leonsis is still in charge and that bodes poorly for the team imo

Hornets on the other hand are now out of MJ's curse would be free to surge to heights the franchise has never seen before
they also have some great talent already, Ball is underrated, if he can stay healthy he's a heck of a player

Lamello, Bridges, Mark Williams showed real promise. B. Miller looks like the real deal and might be a perfect guy to pair with Melo
they are on the rise

[spanishninja]

neither. every team Jordan leaves is basically cursed.

[giberish]

I'd take Charlotte, just because there's better odds of the post MJ front office being actually good then there is of a Leonsis led FO being good. Of course the post MJ front office for Charlotte is a complete unknown and could also be terrible but there's at least a reasonable chance of it being good unlike with Washington.

Neither current roster is all that inspiring to me, though obviously Charlotte has a head start in being bad for several years before and getting the accompanying high draft picks.

[dolphinatik]

depends on the timetable. My answer long term is the Wizards, bigger market and despite how things turned out they have drafted well. They need to be more proactive in free agency of acquiring strong vets.

[jkvonny]

This one is easy. Lol. Charlotte Hornets. Much more recent and consistent, too. Youth. Lot of talent.
They stay healthy, they'll be a consistent playoff team.

Wiz are in for a long rebuild. May be a few years before they get back to respectability.

[jkvonny]

Last season, the Kings have finally woke up and have gotten much better.
OKC, Magic have shown a lot of promise with their young players.
Houston finally opened their wallet and acquire pretty good free agents.
Spurs just drafted Wemby.
Hornets has Ball...but okay..
Wizards for some reason retained their coach even with a pretty bad 2 year record?

Miller and new ownership too.