Hive Mentality: A New Day in Charlotte

[JDR720]

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[LofJ]

I'd like to see a list of the holdovers from the Jordan era, that list has to be pretty small at this point.

[yosemiteben]

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[LofJ]

Night and day.

[vorbis]

personally it's kind of hard to process all the good vibes coming out of Rod Boone's article here
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article290735769.html

Salo heads up a new 10-person staff, which dwarfs the previous number of people in the team’s health care and performance department. Brought to Charlotte following seven years with the Detroit Pistons — including the last two as the senior director of athletic performance — Salo’s task is an immense one, given the Hornets’ injury woes over the past few seasons. The arrival of Salo, along with hiring a sports medicine director as well as a director of athletic performance, is just the latest in a flurry of moves sweeping through the franchise in the first full year with Schnall and Plotkin calling the organizational shots.

“You hit it on the head — it starts with Rick and Gabe,” Peterson told The Observer. “Even during the (basketball operations opening) interview process (back in the spring), this was a huge topic for all of us. I know that in this space, you can really create an advantage if you get it right. So, it was something that we discussed a lot, and I’m just thankful that we’re aligned because you don’t always get that. “But they were fully on board from day one, supported me to go out and find the best. And that’s what we did. So, just to have them committed emotionally, financially ... and truly invested in this space means a lot. Because as you know, guys, in order for them to play well they’ve got to feel well. And it just starts with their bodies and minds.”

Besides tapping Salo, the Hornets also added Matthew Tuttle as director of sports medicine and Bryce Daub, formerly director of strength and performance for the University of Oklahoma men’s basketball, as their director of athletic performance. Pete Elliott is on board as the associate head trainer, Rachel Webb will serve as the director of performance psychology and wellness and Anthony Berry takes the head athletic performance coach duties. Factoring in head of rehabilitation Harrison Herman, performance dietician Oluremi Famodu-Jackson, physical therapist Cassidy Papa and senior performance and developmental scientist Harjiv Singh, it takes two hands to count the new hires. “It’s interesting, if you look across our group a lot of them have advanced degrees and Ph.D.s,” Salo said. “They’ll all be the first to tell you, yeah the academic stuff is important, but that’s not really what matters. Everybody has that curiosity gene in their great mindset of wanting to continue to learn and get better. “That’s part of my role, to connect all different dots.” The lone returnee to the performance team is Quinton Sawyer, formerly the Hornets’ associate head athletic trainer for the last six years. Fresh off serving as a trainer with Team USA men’s basketball during the Paris Olympics, Sawyer was promoted to head athletic trainer.

Previously, the Hornets didn’t boast a director of sports medicine to oversee all of their medical services. Same goes for the director of athletic performance. That’s right, athletic performance. “It’s termed athletic performance and not strength conditioning for a reason,” Salo said. “They don’t operate just in the weight room. We don’t want them being in a box and just saying, ‘No, you just lift weights with guys.’ Yes, of course, that’s a part of it. You need to get bigger and stronger. “That said, those individuals in the weight room come from a playing background. We want them on the court rebounding for guys or collaborating with our player development coaches, saying, ‘Hey, we noticed this when he moves this way, we think he can guard a little better if he does this exercise on the court beforehand.’”

So, how do the Hornets intend on transforming their performance staff into one the premier groups in the NBA? “Yeah, great question and the big question,” Salo said. “I think it starts with communication and expectations. So, our secret sauce as a group, if you will, is communicating at a high level and everybody being on the same page. Because too often it’s doing a balance exercise in the training room, but they don’t talk to the weight room. And they do the same balance exercise in the weight room, and they go on the court and do the same thing.” In other words, expect the Hornets’ new staffers to have plenty of dialogue among each other. Sharing notes will be a given. “At the end of the day for us, if you have experts in each of these disciplines,” Salo said, “and they’re great humans to start and you can collaborate with and they have the curiosity growth mindset, then there’s no reason why new information and new knowledge can’t be generated from these discussions instead of just doing something because it’s always been done that way.” Immediately after each game, Salo will have members of the Hornets’ performance staff watching video breakdowns to analyze specific movement patterns. The goal is to use visual data and analytics to assist in maximizing the overall health of each individual.

“We work backwards from the game,” Salo said. “What does the game demand? What are the top five injuries — ankle strains, anterior knee pain and muscle strains. OK, what does the research say when we’re trying to prevent them or trying to rehab those? “So, we do believe in being objective. There is an art and a science to it, and we take that seriously. That said, as a sports medicine staff in particular, we need to be able to provide objective information, saying, ‘No, you have a 40% asymmetry in your strength and probably are not ready to return to play, even though you feel great.’ So, it’s combining that part with the objectivity and evidence in science to come to an informed decision.”

Even if it won’t always happen via welcomed fashion. Having everyone — team executives, the player, agent, physicians — agreeing on the same direction of treatment during rehabilitation or ideal avenues to reach maximum health these days is a pipe dream. Debate, though, is not going to be shunned. “It’s crucial to say that we’re going to disagree and that’s good,” Peterson said. “We’re going to have different opinions. And these guys know their bodies better than anyone. They are experts on their body. So, nowadays our job is to push them. Sometimes just human nature, you think you can do 10 reps, you can probably do 12, right? “But we actually encourage disagreeing opinions at times because to us, that’s how you arrive at the best answer. To truly be open-minded and say, ‘You know what? I didn’t think about it that way. Let’s try that method.’ Or ‘You know what, I want to research a little bit more on your calf, let me go see this expert in Europe.’ ... We’re just trying to pull from all different experiences and be open-minded to that.” It leads back in part to Salo, the person overseeing this transformation in the Hornets’ health and performance department. Salo left his hometown team and the comforts of his native state for a position where he’ll be in the immediate spotlight due to the team’s recent injury woes, a decision he pondered for only about a nanosecond before moving to Charlotte.

“You’ve got to think about it,” Peterson said. “This position is arguably one of, if not, the most important. Players are probably going to get upset with Charles [Lee] at some point for playing time, and they’ll probably not like me at some point for whatever reason. But they get to hang out with Trent and his staff every day, and as long as they can make them feel better, they are going to love being around them. “So, just thrilled that he even came, because he was in an excellent position in Detroit. So, he didn’t have to take this leap, either. But just glad that we’re able to partner, and I have no doubt that we will turn this thing into something special.”

I encourage everyone to go read Rod's article. jam-packed and I didn't even quote all the good stuff.

this is what so many fans have been asking for for years. one less thing holding the team back. exciting days to be a Hornets fan??

[yosemiteben]

I signed up for an Observer subscription just to read that article

[Chapelchilla]

Very encouraging article. We are finally doing this thing professionally and first class. Woooo

[fatlever]

the hornets curse ruined mr beast. good thing the feastables patch deal was not renewed.

[Bassman]

Thanks for posting those highlights from the article. WOW! That is a serious collection of medical and training staff. Should be no excuses other than the players themselves (if that’s an issue at all).

[SWedd523]

the hornets curse ruined mr beast. good thing the feastables patch deal was not renewed.

Hornets curse so strong it can bring down even biggest YouTube platform on the planet

[fatlever]

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?t=k76pt6tLKjq2XEzcNUvy1A&s=19

How they gonna do Hugo like that?

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[SWedd523]

"It looks like a Hugo the hornet of some sort"

WTF else could it be, Sherlock?

[Walt Cronkite]

Encouraged by the medical upgrade, one of the biggest sources of frustration and a source inspiring pessimism. Leaving the middle ages on a rocketship.

[yosemiteben]

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Not sure why they're embarrassing the guys in public like this lol

[Bassman]

Great to see them having fun! Golf begins for everyone like that, and for some it doesn’t get much better. Looked like Nick Richards has a good swing.

[HornetJail]

I spent half that video expecting to see Melo accidentally smack his own ankle with the golf club and miss another season because why would that NOT happen to us

[Rich4114]

I spent half that video expecting to see Melo accidentally smack his own ankle with the golf club and miss another season because why would that NOT happen to us

lmao, we are so damaged

[yosemiteben]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5399937/2024/08/21/nba-40-under-40-top-coaches-executives-directors/

Dotun Akinwale, 34, Charlotte Hornets assistant general manager

Akinwale came to the Hornets midway through the season as Jeff Peterson, the franchise’s new head of basketball ops, filled out his staff. Akinwale spent nine seasons in Atlanta, and left there as its vice president of player personnel. He’s now a part of the new braintrust in Charlotte, along with VPs Ryan Gisriel and Patrick Harrell, as the Hornets try to build out of an eight-year playoff drought. “He’s really, really good,” one opposing team’s top decision-maker said.

Charles Lee, 39, Charlotte Hornets head coach

Lee got a team of his own to run this spring after coming close several times in the past. The Hornets were not only willing to hire him, but waited more than a month for him as he finished off a title run on Joe Mazzulla’s staff in Boston. Lee has been an assistant on two championship teams, Milwaukee in 2021 and last season with the Celtics. He has a compelling story as a former college player at Bucknell who left a job on Wall Street to become a coach and work his way up.

“His tactical skills are great,” Jeff Peterson said. “He’s a champion. He’s won two championships. Which, obviously you can never, you know, there’s a premium on just being a winner, and he has that. And he’s just an amazing teacher and communicator. He’s going to do his best just to get everything he can out of each player.”

Jeff Peterson, 35, Hornets executive VP of basketball operations

After four-plus seasons as a well-respected executive in Brooklyn, Peterson was hired to run his own team this winter. It was a job he had been building to. Peterson became an assistant general manager in Atlanta at 27, and was a sounding board for Nets GM Sean Marks in Brooklyn, and he kept notes on how he’d run his own team when he got the chance. Peterson has already put together a smart front office in Charlotte and his relationship with Hornets co-owner Rick Schnall goes back a decade when Peterson was in the Hawks front office and Schnall was a minority owner of the franchise.

“Finding Jeff and putting Jeff in this position is just a home run for this franchise,” Schnall said this spring after the Hornets hired him. He added, “Quite frankly it didn’t very long to figure out that Jeff was going to have a great career and be incredibly successful in this line of work or whatever he chose to do. He’s a special, special person.”

[yosemiteben]

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Gonna be interesting to see if this translates to Lee's offensive philosophy here in CLT.

[SWedd523]

So is Peterson effectively the GM or VP of Ops and they're bringing in a separate guy to fill that role