Best & Worst Moves This Offseason?

[JDR720]

Fowler wrote this article with fan opinions of the best and worst moves of the offseason. I think it could be an interesting thread.

I asked Hornets’ fans last week in this space and via Twitter to tell me what they thought were the best and worst moves the team has made. Here’s a sampling of the many responses, edited for brevity and clarity.

Chuck from Indian Land wrote: “Best: Traded away several players. Why? They symbolized the Hornets’ mediocrity. Worst: Kept P.J. on the team (for now). Why? He has issues on and off the court that are counterproductive to the team.”

@Ben_Harmon tweeted: “Best: passing on that draft night trade offer from Boston. You need players to win, not a bunch of future picks.”

Jim wrote: “Best off-season move: Dumping Lance Stephenson, addition by subtraction. ... Worst off-season move: Tie: Keeping Brian Roberts and P.J. Hairston. Roberts, nice guy, too small, unreliable shooter, poor defense. Got pushed around a lot last year. Hairston, a train wreck. ... Don’t see him as ever being a starter, star or significant factor.”

@RodBroddick tweeted: “Worst: letting Vonleh go. Best: picking up an undrafted Aaron Harrison on the cheap.”

Allan from Wilkesboro wrote: “The best move of the Hornets this offseason was to bring in the new talent and getting rid of a lot of the old. Batum should be a real up-grade. He is longer and shoots a lot better than Henderson and is a better defender. ... Getting rid of Stephenson was a must.”

@MrFrontPage tweeted: “Best: signing Jeremy Lin to a very affordable contract. Worst: letting Biz walk for nothing. TBD: Batum/Vonleh trade”

Carl from Charlotte wrote: “It’s nice to see the Hornets willing to part ways with players who needed to move on. I like the acquisition of Batum and Lamb. But to be honest, I’m not sure how strong they will be on the defensive side of the ball, or if there is any CONSISTENT rim protection. To get to the next level of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference they need that ‘tough’ guy in there who also rebounds the ball well on both ends.”

W. Randall from Charlotte wrote: “Rich Cho and Michael Jordan have impressed me with the new acquisitions of Frank Kaminsky, Jeremy Lin and Nicolas Batum. All are extremely talented players and the best offseason move. ... But Justise Winslow was a better athlete than anyone on the Hornets’ roster and that was the team’s worst offseason move. This team is still short one prolific scorer.”

@BBallcoachNY tweeted: “Best move: Getting rid of the cancer named Stephenson. Best move ... picking up Harrison. I like his talent & toughness”

@KalebCombs tweeted: “Best: getting the all star game in Charlotte. Worst: keeping Rich Cho as GM”

@TJWickey tweeted: “Best: finding a team to take Lance. Worst: Passing on Winslow for Kaminsky”

@SamuelTyson tweeted: “Best: realizing this franchise runs on MJs yearly hunches and whims. Worst: living with it.”

[url]Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/scott-fowler/article27505654.html#storylink=cpy[/url]

[BigSlam]

Best:
- Getting Lamb for next to nothing
- Signing Lin for next to nothing
- Not extending the QO to Biyombo

Worst:
- Letting Biyombo walk and not re-signing him for $3mil a year

[catch20two]

That Vonleh trade gonna be on here. Tbd.

[LofJ]

Best: Trading Lance for Hawes and Barnes and then flipping Barnes/Ridnour for Lamb
Worst: Letting Biyombo walk to Toronto

[MKGsMotor]

Best: Replacing a few of our draft busts with quality players

Worst: Drafting another bust

[Liver_Pooty]

Best: Getting Lamb for a 2nd rounder could, and probably still is a steal.

I don't think anything we've done has been close to bad, but if I had to pick I'd probably say drafting Frank, although I don't think it was a horrible pick.

[Mystical Apples]

Best (several): Backup PG on cheap, best college stretch big, not trading Cody, flipping a 9 for Batum

Worst: with all the added shooting, still a bad shooting starting (projected) 5.

[ChokeFasncists]

Best:
- Signing Lin for next to nothing

Agreed

- Not extending the QO to Biyombo

Worst:
- Letting Biyombo walk and not re-signing him for $3mil a year

Can someone explain what's the reasoning behind this?

[catch20two]

Worst:
- Letting Biyombo walk and not re-signing him for $3mil a year

Can someone explain what's the reasoning behind this?

He agreed with Cho not extending Biz the QO which woulda been about 6-7mil but he disagreed with Cho not going back to sign Biz to a cheaper contract like the Raptors did.

Doesn't make a whole lotta sense between the stretch of best or worst but that's what I gathered. If Zeller isn't traded in another 2 years I kinda expect the same thing.

[HornetJail]

Best:
Getting a solid all-around wing who will fit very well between MKG and Kemba.

Worst:
Giving up Noah **** Vonleh to do so.

[ChokeFasncists]

Worst:
- Letting Biyombo walk and not re-signing him for $3mil a year

Can someone explain what's the reasoning behind this?

He agreed with Cho not extending Biz the QO which woulda been about 6-7mil but he disagreed with Cho not going back to sign Biz to a cheaper contract like the Raptors did.

Doesn't make a whole lotta sense between the stretch of best or worst but that's what I gathered. If Zeller isn't traded in another 2 years I kinda expect the same thing.

Cool, thx man, but I thought the QO is around 4 mil?

http://www.atthehive.com/2015/6/29/8864787/charlotte-hornets-decline-to-tender-a-qualifying-offer-to-bismack

The Charlotte Hornets will not tender a qualifying offer to center Bismack Biyombo, making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski.

Biyombo's qualifying offer would have been $4.05 million.

[catch20two]

Best: Trading Hendo. Getting Lamb. Signing Lin.

Worst: Trading Vonleh. Letting Biz walk.

Cho get a C from me because these offset each other.

[catch20two]

Can someone explain what's the reasoning behind this?

He agreed with Cho not extending Biz the QO which woulda been about 6-7mil but he disagreed with Cho not going back to sign Biz to a cheaper contract like the Raptors did.

Doesn't make a whole lotta sense between the stretch of best or worst but that's what I gathered. If Zeller isn't traded in another 2 years I kinda expect the same thing.

Cool, thx man, but I thought the QO is around 4 mil?

http://www.atthehive.com/2015/6/29/8864787/charlotte-hornets-decline-to-tender-a-qualifying-offer-to-bismack

The Charlotte Hornets will not tender a qualifying offer to center Bismack Biyombo, making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski.

Biyombo's qualifying offer would have been $4.05 million.

You're right. I think it's the cap hold that was 6-7 mil that I got it confused with then.

[Hornet Mania]

Best:
-Upgraded at backup PG with Lin, and for a bargain bin price.
-Traded Lance for Hawes/Barnes
-Lamb joins team, Lamb Gang erupts in jubilation

Worst:
-Traded Vonleh and Hendo for Batum on a 1-yr deal
-Let Biz walk rather than retain him on a bargain contract
-Never even attempted (as far as we know) to add more rim protection after Biz was not retained.

So-so
-Passed on Winslow for Kaminsky. I'm pretty sure Winslow will be the superior player by a clear margin in the end, but Kaminsky doesn't look like a bust at least.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Biz's cap hold was $9.7m, they could've gotten wind that he was gonna take his time before signing (I think Kanter is the only RFA to sign an offer sheet with another team, who knows how long Biz would've taken), thus strapping us with only a taxpayer's MLE to spend.

Given our desire to find a wing, we probably would've given that full amount to Alan Anderson or something, meaning no Lin.

[Mystical Apples]

Addendum

Best: not offering a QO to the 5th big who got 1/2 that on open market. Fan overreaction.

[LamarMatic7]

That Vonleh trade gonna be on here. Tbd.

I'll be a really bad person at some point in the next few years and throw around the link on my write-up on Vonleh's potential everywhere. Even if Batum stays here past his expiring deal and produces at the solid rate he can, it's easy to see how bad this trade might look in hindsight.

[catch20two]

That Vonleh trade gonna be on here. Tbd.

I'll be a really bad person at some point in the next few years and throw around the link on my write-up on Vonleh's potential everywhere. Even if Batum stays here past his expiring deal and produces at the solid rate he can, it's easy to see how bad this trade might look in hindsight.

Would you have felt better about that trade if it was Zeller outgoing instead of Vonleh? Tbh I know I would. The only acceptance I have in the deal is that Hendo's chapter is finally over with and we can start trying legit SHOOTING guards instead of homeless man on a death bed version of Michael Jordan.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Best: Acquiring Batum - After striking out on Hayward (and in a way, Lance too), I think we've finally found our SG. Losing Vonleh stinks, but we added a starter without losing one, I'll take that any day.

HM: Signing Lin for cheap - We need to use at least part of our MLE to justify using the Bi-annual, but getting Lin for that cheap is a steal.

HHM: Acquiring Lamb for Barnes and the cash we would've sold that second rounder for - If you combine the trades it's Lance and a 2nd for Lamb and Hawes. Not bad.

Worst: Losing/not replacing Biz - I get why it happened, but it still sucks. The current frustration is that only 1 of our 5 bigs is even decent defensively.

DM: Trading our crazy-high-potential young prospect. I think this kid is gonna be special, I mean multiple all-star appearances. We're gonna look like fools. Yeah, Juan Vaulet is gonna make us regret trading him.

[Al Kidd-Walker]

Best - Essentially turning Lance into Lamb
Worst - Letting Biz walk, passing on Winslow and Booker to draft Cody Zeller 2.0, trading the #9 pick from the prior year with a high ceiling for a 1 year rental coming off of a trash year