Offseason 2025 Thread

[GoBobs]

What I would do is.... Trade Nurkic, Salaun, Josh Green, Mark Williams, nick smith jr for cap space and any assets we can get. I would use the early 2nd round picks to accomplish this if needed.

Cut Jefferies, T. Mann, Okogie, KJ, all the other D leaguers.

That would leave us with:

LaMelo
Grant Williams
Brandon Miller
Miles Bridges
Moose

90 million in salary

add the first round pick and we are at like 100 million, lets say

The cap is projected at 154 million so that leaves us 54 mil to fill out the roster, plus the exceptions.

[JustBuzzin]

At what point do you say this core can't win games together?

Melo/Bridges/Williams are all talented, but even when they are healthy we haven't won much. At some point you have to shake up the core pieces.

[fatlever]

Notes on exit interviews

- melo jokes that he's not bothered by people trying to push him out of Charlotte

- LaMelo Ball on being in Charlotte: “Just being here, I love it. I mean, the fans are amazing. The living situation has been amazing. Everything's been solid. So all that you need to leave and this and that . . . I mean, when you’re build something, it's never just going to pop up and be the best thing. So you gotta stay here, work it out, do what you going to do and see what happens if you're gonna try to make it work. You know what I'm saying?”

- LaMelo Ball says he's in a good spot right now, having gotten the ankle/wrist procedures when he did. Expects to have a full, normal offseason. As expected, he plans to spend time in the weight room this summer.

- Miller says he's still months away from shooting or trying to play basketball

- Mark Williams on how the trade situation between the Hornets & Lakers impacted him and if he thinks he will be in Charlotte next season: “I think with the whole situation, it's given me a new perspective on understanding it's a business, understanding it’s the NBA, so I can't say a 100 percent yes, but obviously there's a chance of that. Good chance of that. But like I said, I didn't think I was getting traded the first time. So yeah, I’ll just leave it at that.”

- Taj Gibson thinks more free agents should want to come to Charlotte


“This is a gold mine. This is special.” call me until you get all so gross

- Josh Okogie said it was important for him to return for the final 2+ weeks of the season after missing so much time with his hamstring injury because he never wants to take the game for granted. "I didn't sit out eight weeks to get healthy and then not play." "This organization did a great job of taking me in and treating me like family from Day 1. It feels like I’ve been here my whole career with the love they’ve shown me."

- Miles Bridges on turning the Hornets into a playoff team: “I talk about it all the time. I want to turn the city of Charlotte around, become an annual playoff team and fight for a championship one day. So I just feel I just gotta keep on working that. I'm going to have the guys in the gym this summer a lot. So we all got the same mindset.”

- Peterson: "The goal is to build a sustainable winner. Nobody is happy we won 19 games this year. It's not fun quite frankly. The goal next year is to win and compete for the playoffs. But I'll double down - we're not going to expedite things and skip steps."

[JustBuzzin]

This gonna sound weird, but I think Miles Bridges is our team leader at the current moment. The way the players talk about him and even his own words he sounds like a leader in the locker room.

[fatlever]

I was going to try to do player grades for each player but it's literally impossible when half the team would get an incomplete for injuries

[KembaWalker]

its such a shame Miller is going to have a stunted/no offseason. instead of taking a big third year leap, its going to take all of next year just to get him physically back to where he was the day he tore his wrist, let alone actually progress and develop himself. and god forbid it impacts his shot even a little bit, he'd be basically cooked as a top flight prospect. definitely the worst part of a disastrous season

[SWedd523]

"we're not going to expedite things and skip steps"

aka we're gonna spend all next year talking about next year

[JustBuzzin]

"we're not going to expedite things and skip steps"

aka we're gonna spend all next year talking about next year

New ownership same Hornets.

[fatlever]

its such a shame Miller is going to have a stunted/no offseason. instead of taking a big third year leap, its going to take all of next year just to get him physically back to where he was the day he tore his wrist, let alone actually progress and develop himself. and god forbid it impacts his shot even a little bit, he'd be basically cooked as a top flight prospect. definitely the worst part of a disastrous season

Agreed. One who's not at least a little bit worried about Miller isn't paying attention. Like plow mentioned before a few weeks ago on one of his podcasts, there's been very few NBA players that have ever had this surgery and all of them had it on their non shooting hand. We might be into unchartered territory as to how a player might respond to having torn ligament in their shooting wrist. It might take a full year of retraining the wrist and retraining muscle memory. I certainly hope that's not the case, but it's not inconceivable. Maybe in the short term this changes him to more of a slasher, someone trying to get to the rim, and focusing on defense until that three point shot comes around.

And it's also possible that any minor set back this summer is going to push his recovery well into next season. We have no idea the timetable for grant or for mann - Assuming he is back with the team. Three core players that are starting the season with a huge question mark. Not to mention melo Coming back from wrist/foot surgery. I mean it almost kind of feels like the writing is on the wall for another all out tank job next year. It's not like nsj mark miles or tj are going to take some massive leap to make up for the key injuries to core players. Plus we will likely be adding another rookie to our starting lineup or rotation. 2026-27... thats the year.

[Hornet Mania]

At what point do you say this core can't win games together?

Melo/Bridges/Williams are all talented, but even when they are healthy we haven't won much. At some point you have to shake up the core pieces.

ESPN has been doing offseason guides, and Charlotte's noted that our actual core played well this season in the vanishingly few minutes they shared the floor:

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/44588112/nba-offseason-2025-draft-free-agency-trade-targets-30-teams#cha

"The team's core of Ball, Miller, Miles Bridges and Mark Williams shared the court for only 3% of possessions. According to Cleaning the Glass, that lineup was a +2.1 per 100 possessions and averaged 121.5 points on offense, an intriguing but small sample that ranked in the 90th percentile among all lineups."

I'm still of the opinion the issue with Melo/Miller/Mark is health and not fit or ability.

So much hinges on the lotto. You add Flagg to the above and it's possibly worth one more try, but if they're picking 8th it's natural to ask if it makes more sense to just move off guys who can't suit up consistently. I personally still favor keeping Melo and Mark at the moment, but the summer can change that.

[SWedd523]

its such a shame Miller is going to have a stunted/no offseason. instead of taking a big third year leap, its going to take all of next year just to get him physically back to where he was the day he tore his wrist, let alone actually progress and develop himself. and god forbid it impacts his shot even a little bit, he'd be basically cooked as a top flight prospect. definitely the worst part of a disastrous season

Agreed. One who's not at least a little bit worried about Miller isn't paying attention. Like plow mentioned before a few weeks ago on one of his podcasts, there's been very few NBA players that have ever had this surgery and all of them had it on their non shooting hand. We might be into unchartered territory as to how a player might respond to having torn ligament in their shooting wrist. It might take a full year of retraining the wrist and retraining muscle memory. I certainly hope that's not the case, but it's not inconceivable. Maybe in the short term this changes him to more of a slasher, someone trying to get to the rim, and focusing on defense until that three point shot comes around.

And it's also possible that any minor set back this summer is going to push his recovery well into next season. We have no idea the timetable for grant or for mann - Assuming he is back with the team. Three core players that are starting the season with a huge question mark. Not to mention melo Coming back from wrist/foot surgery. I mean it almost kind of feels like the writing is on the wall for another all out tank job next year. It's not like nsj mark miles or tj are going to take some massive leap to make up for the key injuries to core players. Plus we will likely be adding another rookie to our starting lineup or rotation. 2026-27... thats the year.

Not even next year and we're already talking about next year

[KembaWalker]

its such a shame Miller is going to have a stunted/no offseason. instead of taking a big third year leap, its going to take all of next year just to get him physically back to where he was the day he tore his wrist, let alone actually progress and develop himself. and god forbid it impacts his shot even a little bit, he'd be basically cooked as a top flight prospect. definitely the worst part of a disastrous season

Agreed. One who's not at least a little bit worried about Miller isn't paying attention. Like plow mentioned before a few weeks ago on one of his podcasts, there's been very few NBA players that have ever had this surgery and all of them had it on their non shooting hand. We might be into unchartered territory as to how a player might respond to having torn ligament in their shooting wrist. It might take a full year of retraining the wrist and retraining muscle memory. I certainly hope that's not the case, but it's not inconceivable. Maybe in the short term this changes him to more of a slasher, someone trying to get to the rim, and focusing on defense until that three point shot comes around.

And it's also possible that any minor set back this summer is going to push his recovery well into next season. We have no idea the timetable for grant or for mann - Assuming he is back with the team. Three core players that are starting the season with a huge question mark. Not to mention melo Coming back from wrist/foot surgery. I mean it almost kind of feels like the writing is on the wall for another all out tank job next year. It's not like nsj mark miles or tj are going to take some massive leap to make up for the key injuries to core players. Plus we will likely be adding another rookie to our starting lineup or rotation. 2026-27... thats the year.

It really irks me when people seem to treat the injuries like a black and white video game simulation where the offseason as a clean reset where next season means renewed health expectations when it’s so obvious by now that’s not how it works. Or even using games played as a metric of health. Like the celebration of Melo hitting 47 games played, ignoring that that’s still a pitiful number, to me it’s misleading anyway, the dude played like straight crap after a couple dozen games because he was breaking down before our eyes. So I can only shake my head when people try to excuse him with the “he’d play even more games if they ever mattered” as if that would help anything

Idk I’m rambling, but the injury situation with this team is simply apocalyptic to me, I don’t know how you even begin to address it. I don’t even blame Salo for bailing

[fatlever]

Yeah I would feel a lot better if our injury situation was just A couple of broken bones. But all of the injuries are complex. Never ending soft tissue injuries, Torn ligaments Across multiple players, nerve damage and pinched nerves, back problems across multiple players. These are not typically injuries that just get magically fixed after two months. All of these guys are going to be on conservative injury management plans next year. I wouldn't be surprised if any of those 5 Players - melo, mark, miller, mann, grant - we are talking about played in back to back games next year. 5 of your core rotation Most likely on Injury management for the season. It's like having 5 Kawhi Leonard's on your team, except none of them are that good.

[JustBuzzin]

its such a shame Miller is going to have a stunted/no offseason. instead of taking a big third year leap, its going to take all of next year just to get him physically back to where he was the day he tore his wrist, let alone actually progress and develop himself. and god forbid it impacts his shot even a little bit, he'd be basically cooked as a top flight prospect. definitely the worst part of a disastrous season

Agreed. One who's not at least a little bit worried about Miller isn't paying attention. Like plow mentioned before a few weeks ago on one of his podcasts, there's been very few NBA players that have ever had this surgery and all of them had it on their non shooting hand. We might be into unchartered territory as to how a player might respond to having torn ligament in their shooting wrist. It might take a full year of retraining the wrist and retraining muscle memory. I certainly hope that's not the case, but it's not inconceivable. Maybe in the short term this changes him to more of a slasher, someone trying to get to the rim, and focusing on defense until that three point shot comes around.

And it's also possible that any minor set back this summer is going to push his recovery well into next season. We have no idea the timetable for grant or for mann - Assuming he is back with the team. Three core players that are starting the season with a huge question mark. Not to mention melo Coming back from wrist/foot surgery. I mean it almost kind of feels like the writing is on the wall for another all out tank job next year. It's not like nsj mark miles or tj are going to take some massive leap to make up for the key injuries to core players. Plus we will likely be adding another rookie to our starting lineup or rotation. 2026-27... thats the year.

It really irks me when people seem to treat the injuries like a black and white video game simulation where the offseason as a clean reset where next season means renewed health expectations when it’s so obvious by now that’s not how it works. Or even using games played as a metric of health. Like the celebration of Melo hitting 47 games played, ignoring that that’s still a pitiful number, to me it’s misleading anyway, the dude played like straight crap after a couple dozen games because he was breaking down before our eyes. So I can only shake my head when people try to excuse him with the “he’d play even more games if they ever mattered” as if that would help anything

Idk I’m rambling, but the injury situation with this team is simply apocalyptic to me, I don’t know how you even begin to address it. I don’t even blame Salo for bailing

Every year it's the same excuse. Next year turns into the year after and the year after. How many years do we need to prove Melo can't stay healthy.

[fatlever]

I will say this on a positive note. Even though Jeff Peterson's moves last summer backfired. I do trust this ownership and this front office ten times more than I trusted anything under Michael Jordan, Mitch, Rich Cho etc...
I do genuinely believe these owners will put forward the money to try to be competitive. And I do believe that we at least have a plan and won't flip flop every other year like we did before based on the whims of Michael Jordan. And I do understand that it takes time to undo decades of utter cheapness and incompetence under the old ownership regime. I don't think that's something that just gets fixed overnight. I still have no idea what to make of coach Lee but I'm 100 percent in favor of giving him another year. The players seem to really like him. None of the big name coaches that are available would come here even if we had an opening so forget about that fantasy.

[SWedd523]

I will say this on a positive note. Even though Jeff Peterson's moves last summer backfired. I do trust this ownership and this front office ten times more than I trusted anything under Michael Jordan, Mitch, Rich Cho etc...
I do genuinely believe these owners will put forward the money to try to be competitive. And I do believe that we at least have a plan and won't flip flop every other year like we did before based on the whims of Michael Jordan. And I do understand that it takes time to undo decades of utter cheapness and incompetence under the old ownership regime. I don't think that's something that just gets fixed overnight. I still have no idea what to make of coach Lee but I'm 100 percent in favor of giving him another year. The players seem to really like him. None of the big name coaches that are available would come here even if we had an opening so forget about that fantasy.

What exactly have they done or shown that engenders that confidence aside from "they aren't MJ and Co"? I'm genuinely curious.

The only one I can think of who has had any success is Lee and, well, early returns aren't promising there either.

[fatlever]

Fair question. I think I'm mostly basing this on dozens of pieces of information, snippets of conversations, quotes from people who have been in and around the franchise before and after the ownership change, almost all with the same conclusion that this ownership feels different. The fact that they immediately pumped money into areas that Jordan never would come up mainly ramping up the medical staff, improving the facilities, providing more accommodations for the players, increasing our travel budget, seemingly getting just more competent people involved at every level of the organization.

We seemingly invested in Summer League and took it seriously for the first time seemingly ever. I don't think it's any coincidence that our G League team team had a winning season for the first time in franchise history. front office at least had a plan to unload veterans that didn't seem to be impacting in favor of collecting future assets. It's at least a direction, something that Mitch or his predecessors were never really Willing to do.

All of this is not to say that I trust the new ownership or front office yet. I mean that's got to be earned by actually proving to be successful at what they're doing. But I do genuinely believe they are acting in good faith towards trying to make this a respectable franchise and not just An investment or hobby or whatever it was to Jordan and his circle of friends. Jordan and his ownership and Mitch by proxy just always seemed to be stuck in the past trying to stick to the way things were in the 80s and 90s when clearly the league had changed.

And you can have all the good intentions in the world but if you are just terrible at evaluating basketball talent, especially through the draft and in market like ours, and none of it matters. If we keep wasting first round draft picks like we've done for the past 20 years then nothing is going to change. And if you suck at drafting me better be really good at recruiting free agents or making trades. And for the most part I have liked Peterson's trades that he has pulled off so far with the exception of the Josh Green Trade. But even that trade at the time I was okay with. And he does seem to have the cut throat mentality to make a big deal when that time comes.

And I totally respect anyone who is saying prove it before changing their opinion. I can't argue with that.

[MasterIchiro]

The new GM has added zero good players. Skeptical of his next draft selection (Salaün, KJ Simpson) and his next big addition (Josh Green).

Here's to hoping this is rock bottom and JP will make his first key add.

[KembaWalker]

just like all the good players on this team were gotten by the previous regime, the new facilities were also secured by the previous regime

i also wouldnt be surprised if this is one of our most budget coaching staffs of all time. certainly Atkinson and his squad was going to be a much more expensive hire than Lee and that budget ended up killing the hire but even in the past we've had some notable assistants, Borrego was allowed Triano with former HC experience, Clifford had Ty Corbin with former HC experience, we've had notable assistants in the past like Ewing and Silas who went on to become HC candidates around the league. Larry Browns crew certainly didn't come cheap.

I look at our coaching stable now and I see a bunch of nobodies, and maybe thats how Lee wanted it but then it speaks even more poorly of him. if he wants to play good cop Mr. Nice Guy smiling all the time pretending like this utter abomination of a product he put out on the floor every night has him totally unphased, he needs somebody to balance him out. honestly always preferred coaches who seem like dicks, and you have the assistants there to good cop and keep the morale up.

[MasterIchiro]

just like all the good players on this team were gotten by the previous regime, the new facilities were also secured by the previous regime

i also wouldnt be surprised if this is one of our most budget coaching staffs of all time. certainly Atkinson and his squad was going to be a much more expensive hire than Lee and that budget ended up killing the hire but even in the past we've had some notable assistants, Borrego was allowed Triano with former HC experience, Clifford had Ty Corbin with former HC experience, we've had notable assistants in the past like Ewing and Silas who went on to become HC candidates around the league. Larry Browns crew certainly didn't come cheap.

I look at our coaching stable now and I see a bunch of nobodies, and maybe thats how Lee wanted it but then it speaks even more poorly of him. if he wants to play good cop Mr. Nice Guy smiling all the time pretending like this utter abomination of a product he put out on the floor every night has him totally unphased, he needs somebody to balance him out. honestly always preferred coaches who seem like dicks, and you have the assistants there to good cop and keep the morale up.

It's forced smiling which makes it cringe.

I guess good coaching is handing out participation trophies to failed acquisitions/picks and wagging your finger at LaMelo for mental lapses.