Scenario 1 of 3: Hornets Offseason

[lewis hay]

First article I wrote about the Hornets. Use to post here a while back under a different username. Tell me how I did, my problems in my writing, and if you want more. I can put out the other two parts for this writing if y'all want.  THANKS

 

 

 

Scenario 1.  Keep the Core

The hornets keep their core in tact. Mostly signing their own players to deals.

• Batum to a max deal

• Lin to a 3 year 17 million

• Marvin to a 2 year 20 million deal

• Courtney lee to a 3 year 15 million dollars

• Al jefferson somewhere between 10 and 15 million. ( Which is ridiculous given his age).

 

The money left over is about 2 million. Sign some lower paid bench players with that 2 million.. Yes the money is a lot, but with the cap hitting 92 this off season and how well some of these players played. In all honesty this could get us to the 2nd round or possibly Eastern Conference Final. “Well how come we did not get that far this year?” MKG, simply put when healthy he is a great player. Rebounds well, athletic, relentless motor, and of course his lock down defense. In all honesty I don't even consider that his greatest contribution to this team. To me it would have to be his fast break points. Last year we were 26th in the league in fast break points. I know our offense isn't fast break oriented, but the hornets would like to be capable of fast breaks . I want someone who can take on that one or two defender on the break. Then dunk the ball furiously and getting the crowd cheering. MKG is that guy. He wasn’t last year since his shoulder injury. That is the only problem on this team, you can't afford Batum, MKG, or Kemba to get hurt. MKG has a history of injuries and that is what scares me most of this situation.

Rich Cho also said that he wants a rim protector. Those guys sure aren’t cheap, but what if we could draft one? Maybe not a good offensive player, but one that can be a big hassle trying to shoot the ball over. Also probably should get a good weight guy. Someone that the offense will get tired of trying to drive while this banger is in center. Here we have two possibilities that might still be there and fit the description. Diamond Stone and Damian Jones, both are tall, strong, good weight. and averaging around 1.5 blocks per game in college. Not the most impressive number but this is the 23rd pick. More than likely though Damian will be off the board since he is more polished offensively. The draft is very unpredictable. I won’t try to say who we draft for the reason Rich Cho always surprises me. All im saying that these two players make sense to draft.  Then after all free agency we will see what Clifford can do.

[cbarrier90]

Your salaries are based on the "old" cap.

After Durant re-ups with OKC, the market is barren and teams will have a ton of cash to spend. Lin and Lee will break double digits/year. Marvin will see > 10 million/year.

[Manos]

Speaking of rim protectors does anybody know what it would take to get Ibaka from the thunder? He seems to have somewhat checked out on them and I could see a change of scenery being what he needs. Would Lamb, Zeller/Frank and our first be enough? Is that too much? I'm not sure but I feel like Ibaka is the exact type of player we need, he blocks shots and is a stretch 4. Find a way to bring in Howard, retain Batum, Lin and Lee and you have a team that can legitimately compete in the east.

[chknwing]

I want whiteside and derozan

[Sapper]

Scenario 2 and 3?  I liked the write up since I know you put a lot of thought into it.

[bLACKpANTHER]

I like the idea of bringing Batum, Lin and Marvin back.. but not a fan of Jefferson's game anymore and Lee will be the odd man I'm afraid.. Lee was great for us but not exactly what I want from my starting SG.

Kemba - Lin
Batum - Lamb
MKG - (Draft Pick)
Marvin - Frank
Zeller - Hawes

That team looks formidable but needs some massaging.. dump/trade Zeller, Lamb and Hawes for cap space to sign a rebounding/rim protector maybe..? who could possibly be available? hmm...?

[Zaximus]

I don't see any way we keep Lin.  He wants starter money, and while he still gets starter minutes here, he's not called one.  He'll probably get more than that somewhere else.  Marvin may also get paid even more, unless of course they look at his playoff disappearing act.  

Jefferson needs to take a hefty paycut for me to care about bringing him back.   I'm not sure he'll do that.

I've said it before, and it's not perfect, but our best option is trying to get Howard in here and pay him too much.   Obviously you keep Batum, that's a given.

Kemba, Batum, MKG, Frank/Zeller, Howard.  Looks good to me.   I'm not sure where the tall white guy we draft this year will fit in though.

If Jefferson takes a really big pay cut, you could play him as a PF with Howard.   Howard isn't the offensive guy he was but his defense should cover up the black hole's lack of said defense.   

Of course Batum will most likely play SF after MKG gets hurt in a few weeks into the season, so that's a bummer. 

[TheRed]

1 hour ago, Zaximus said:

I don't see any way we keep Lin.  He wants starter money, and while he still gets starter minutes here, he's not called one.  He'll probably get more than that somewhere else.  Marvin may also get paid even more, unless of course they look at his playoff disappearing act.  

Jefferson needs to take a hefty paycut for me to care about bringing him back.   I'm not sure he'll do that.

I've said it before, and it's not perfect, but our best option is trying to get Howard in here and pay him too much.   Obviously you keep Batum, that's a given.

Kemba, Batum, MKG, Frank/Zeller, Howard.  Looks good to me.   I'm not sure where the tall white guy we draft this year will fit in though.

If Jefferson takes a really big pay cut, you could play him as a PF with Howard.   Howard isn't the offensive guy he was but his defense should cover up the black hole's lack of said defense.   

Of course Batum will most likely play SF after MKG gets hurt in a few weeks into the season, so that's a bummer. 

If you have concerns about the Hornets drafting abilities, throwing the kitchen sink at a franchise killer like Dwight Howard should really just about be the last thing on your mind.

[Omega Atrocity]

We should resign Batum and Lee. I don't particularly want Lin back (especially not for what he'll want), and I don't want Al Jefferson for the minimum. I'd resign Marvin if he comes at a fair price, but someone might throw a lot of cash at him, he was amazing this season.

We really need to upgrade the center position as well, so someone is going to have to be gone, it's going to be pretty interesting.

[Zaximus]

3 hours ago, TheRed said:

If you have concerns about the Hornets drafting abilities, throwing the kitchen sink at a franchise killer like Dwight Howard should really just about be the last thing on your mind.

Man I'm not happy about it, it's just the only way I see us competing.

Howard was fine in Orlando, in a small market, I have hope he'd be OK here for the same reasons.   Probably not, but it is what it is lol.