Travers wrote:catch20two wrote:Travers wrote:I still can't understand why the team and fans love Batum so much 2 years ago. Offering him near max instead of trying to keep Jeremy Lin and other pieces. Especially when the team loss 4 playoffs game with him and won 3 without him. Kemba and Lin combo in their first year had already been deadly, so bad cant keep them together. I am sure Lin would have stayed if the team offered half of Batum's salary and a starting role.
I don’t think Hornets fans love Batum anymore. It’s more past tense as in loved.
A lot of fans and media pundits quickly grasped for Batum as the savior because of their love/hate relationship with Kemba. Many wanted to believe that Batum was the sole reason for the team playing better especially those that weren’t fond of giving Kemba that credit. Batum was criminally overrated by the Hornets front office and fans alike. I never was too big on him but he can be a solid contributor providing quality depth and versatility. We never should’ve gave him that contract. Some of us expected us to regret it almost immediately while others felt like he was worth it.
As far as Lin he only came here for the opportunity after he was kinda written off following his years in Houston. He only signed a 1-year deal below market value purposely to show teams what he got and get a big payday with a starting spot elsewhere the following year. Lin never was a realistic long-term plan for us even if we wanted him to be.
This shows how bias people can be, even for the so called experts in the front office.
I agree that Lin signed here below market value for his career revival. But he really have no reason to leave Charlotte for Nets if Charlotte offered him a starting spot and 12M/year something contract. His friendship with the teammates and chemistry with Kemba had already put Charlotte in the prime position to retain him. Why leave a playoff contender for the worst team in the league and start all over again?
So sad it's a loss loss situation for both party as Lin might not have injured had he not left Charlotte.

Hasn't Lin been injured multiple times since he left here? I don't think that is just random bad luck if so.
I'm still okay with the Batum's signing. It's obviously not a great value now due to the cap change, but if given the choice and not knowing cap increase was going to stall, I'd do it again.
For instance if cap was 110-115 and Max contract guys were getting like 35 mil/year next year and average guys were getting like 17 mil, then Batum's contract wouldn't be terrible. He is more of a luxury for us at this point but if we could trade MKG or Howard for some picks or better shooting, I think we could better utilize his skillset.
The Charlotte Hornets will win their first round series against the Boston Celtics in the 2021 Playoffs