Charlotte Hornets
The Basketballin’ in Charlotte has also been a long standing model of mediocrity, quite similarly to the Washington Wizards, but with a lot less drama and fewer wins for the Hornets.
Washington at least rolled out some quasi-contenders in the East, the best Charlotte could muster is what they have always been: middling pretenders.
The Hornets have been stuck in some sort of purgatory situation. Since 2008, Charlotte has picked between #8 and #12 in the first round of the draft an astounding nine times. NINE times. And like Tom Cruise in “Edge of Tomorrow,” they keep dying and coming back to life in the same set of circumstances as before. Except without progress. No light at the end of the tunnel. And now Hornets fans have woken up and Kemba Walker has turned into Terry Rozier. (Scary!)
The mismanagement of the Kemba situation will loom over Charlotte for years to come. Trading away the team’s lone All-Star while hosting the All-Star game would have been a rough look, yes, but that’s better than getting zero return on their only real asset.
Even worse — and just like Washington — this cap sheet is still dreadful. Oh sure, some guys are coming off the books next summer (Biyombo at $17M and Marvin Williams at $15M), but 48-year-old Nic Batum is about to opt into a $27 million player option. Slight exaggeration on Batum’s age, he’s 30, but the best part of his game is the way the PA announcer yells his name: “Nicolas Baahtoooooooom!”
Charlotte is shelling out a ransom for Terry Rozier (3 years and $57 million) and he’s SO spring 2018. And fourteen milly for one of the Zellers!?
Of course the year that the Hornets will finally be subject to sucking serious ass and landing top odds in the lottery, it’s a year where the draft is regarded as particularly mundane.
It really couldn’t be more on brand.
League Pass Notes
Watching the Hornets without Kemba will be a “You didn’t fully appreciate them until they were gone” type of deal.
Miles Bridges power dunker alert. Unleash Malik Monk!
Rookie P.J. Washington from Kentucky is something to keep an eye on. The Hornets seriously love the blue bloods.
The Final Question / The Final Take
What is the opposite of a goat? For all of his undeniable and unbelievable accomplishments as a player, Michael Jordan as an owner has been nothing short of an unmitigated flop.
The Hornets have the potential to be so bad this year that we might have to start calling them the Bobcats. UNDER 24.5 wins.