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Mitch Kupchak post deadline presser

ncfan

By ncfan,
in Charlotte Hornets

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OldNorthPowell Proficient

OldNorthPowell

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Kemba will and should leave. Lamb will leave. We should just keep the cap space and tank next season. Should have tanked this season. This was the draft to do it. Instead it is win now as it always is. This results in the 14th or 15th pick or at best the 10th pick and a pat on the back. We are the old Cleveland Browns of the NBA right now. Bad drafters and continually lost when it comes to decision making. 

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carpanfan96 Veteran

carpanfan96

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15 minutes ago, Thelt said:

The last time we tanked and rebuilt our "process" started in 2011. 

2011 Two first round picks that year netted us Kemba and Biz.  That was an OK start, one good player and one bust.  We passed over Klay Thompson, Kahwi Leonard and Jimmy Butler.

2012 the league screwed us and we picked #2.  We took MKG over Beal, Lillard and Drummond.   Pairing Kemba with Beal would have been awesome consolation for missing out on Davis.

2013 We picked #4 and took Cody.  That was a bad draft but we still passed over the Greek Freak and Rudy Gobert.

2014 We picked Noah Vonleh at #9 who was another bust.

2015 We picked #9 again and took Frank who is yet another bust.

We made the playoffs in 2016 and thought it was time to lock in some veteran free agents since our new core was in place.  We overpaid for Batum and Marvin that summer.  That team was supposed to be a playoff regular at minimum.

So all together our last tank got us five draft picks in the top ten but only one of them turned out to be more than a role player.  We signed two free agents with the cap space we had built up and both of them were busts who signed big deals after career seasons only to revert to average. 

We could go all in on another tank and rebuild but there is no guarantee it will turn out any better than the last one. 

IMHO, the best course would be to retain Kemba and wait out the bad contracts.  If we had a second star player to pair with Kemba we would be a solid playoff team every year.  If we had a third we would be contenders in the east.  Maybe in two years either Monk or Bridges will be a star and we will attract a third star in free agency.

By the time all the bad contracts are off the books, its time to resign Monk and close for Bridges. Kemba would be over 30 and is a pg that relies on quick stops and quickness. 

 

Really the only chance to build a winner with Kemba in his prime hinges on getting rid of Batum and one other contract in the off season. Otherwise your stuck with a below .500 team that would have to scratch into the playoffs with no chance of winning a playoff series. Keeping Kemba and waiting on contracts mean your committed to that for 3 more seasons and keeping Kemba likely means promises to greatly improve the team around him. 

 

Which is hard to do when your only trading blocks are Monk and Bridges. 

 

so is it really smart to play out MKG, Batum and other players contracts when by the time you've accomplished said goal it will be time to rebuild because Kemba will likely be near the end of his Career. 

 

Or trade Kemba and get the best possible package in return for him and restart the rebuild the correct way while waiting out those contracts. I say this because getting rid of Batum and getting anything back worth value will cost the Hornets Monk plus a first. 

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OldNorthPowell Proficient

OldNorthPowell

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2 hours ago, Thelt said:

Drafting higher has not helped much.  Poor talent evaluation has been our downfall.  Making bad draft picks and overpaying free agents is how you get to NBA purgatory.  Tanking will not cure that, it only gives you another shot at it. 

Having a chance is better than not having a chance. Picking 10 to 15 is not the same as picking 1 to 5. It is much easier to score good talent early in the draft. It is common sense. There is no guarantee that picking early will cure all of our ills but it will at least give us a shot. Mitch is smarter than Cho when it comes to talent evaluation. 

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kungfoodude Grand Master

kungfoodude

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I think tanking could be in the cards, regardless of if we want it to or not. I would rather have Mitch doing the evaluations if that does come to pass.

I still think that is the best chance of getting another elite talent because I honestly don't see Charlotte being a likely destination for top tier free agents.

It would be great to be wrong, however.

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kungfoodude Grand Master

kungfoodude

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29 minutes ago, Thelt said:

We got an elite talent in the last tank.  Kemba is that guy, or as close as we have ever gotten.  The problem is you need more than one to build a consistent winner.  We had 6 picks in the top ten over five years and only got one star.  Another tank does not guarantee anything.

It isn't a guarantee but I suspect we performed far, far worse than average for a team with those picks over that time period. That really speaks to how poor we drafted more than anything else. Which, most of us at the time were pretty appalled at quite a few of the picks. I know I was. 

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carpanfan96 Veteran

carpanfan96

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3 hours ago, Thelt said:

I agree, we drafted worse than the norm.  Talent evaluation is key to building a good team.  Hopefully Mitch is better at it than Cho was.

I dont think Cho was the main issue, I think it is and always has been MJ. So many stories of MJ overriding the coaching and scouting staff to make them pick a player he likes. Donovan Mitchell would be a Hornet if not for MJ, probably a dozen other stories as well. 

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carpanfan96 Veteran

carpanfan96

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2 hours ago, Thelt said:

That could be the case.  It makes no sense for someone of Mitch's stature to take the job under those circumstances though.  I heard something like that about why we took DJ instead of Lopez.

Mitch might have come in and said if I take the job I have control. I think he was lied too though, I have a sinking feeling that Kemba would've been traded for assets last season if not for MJ backtracking. Have to see what they do in the offseason to be sure but Bridges felt like a Mitch pick to me and not an MJ one. 

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kungfoodude Grand Master

kungfoodude

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14 minutes ago, Thelt said:

Last year would have been the time to move Kemba, if we were going to.  We could have gotten the most value at that time.  I thought that it would happen and that Cleveland would be our trade partner.  Kemba would have been a big help to Lebron and that Cavs team.  They had a high draft pick to send us back.  Maybe we got a decent player back too.  Kemba and Dwight for something like Clarkson and Thompson plus the draft pick would have helped both teams.  Maybe MJ did over rule it.  If he did it was probably because of the all star game and wanting Kemba here for it.  The league screwed us again by taking away the game to start with.  Regardless of how anyone feels about the bathroom law, the Hornets did not deserve to be punished for it.

  

 

I hope none of those decisions had to do with wanting Kemba here for the All-Star game. People would go to the All-Star game regardless of if Kemba was on the roster or on the Hornets. That would be an insanely stupid decision.

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kungfoodude Grand Master

kungfoodude

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1 hour ago, Thelt said:

I would not be surprised to learn it was true.  MJ wants a player in the all star game when it is hosted in Charlotte. 

Yeah but as an owner that wouldn't even make good business sense if you have the opportunity to improve a franchise and make it successful long term. Jordan may not be a good owner but he is not an idiot.

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