Offseason begins: Looking over Roster

[bLACKpANTHER]

[GEEEEZUZ.. I didn't realize I wrote this much but if you give it the time - I appreciate it..]

After an frustrating but very exciting at times season - it's time to do what we Hornets fans are best at - looking forward to the future and assess the current roster and figure out where we need to improve and what dead weight we can get rid or and if there are any splash trades that could be in the works.

Before we get started - let me quickly break down what happened this year: We drafted Ball who turned out to be far better than any of us imagined and signed an Allstar caliber player in Hayward. Together with the young lottery players we have acquired over the past few seasons we turned in a great run by midseason and were in the 4th spot in the weaker East. Injuries to Hayward, Ball and Monk derailed our steady play and made us have to change our game up drastically. We no longer were the aggressive, steady attacking team and became a streaky 3ball team that lived and died by the 3ball, hoping other teams didn't catch up if we had a lead. Even when some of the players cam back from injury we played like the 3ball team and never got back to the precision we had earlier on. Some fans have been calling for JB's head.. I am not in that camp at all and won't give it anymore time than I just did, GTFOH..

I say that recap to point out - our only Allstar caliber player got injured. Terry is the only other player you could say was fringe Allstar but he definitely has had about 3/10 games that would be a 5/15 shooting night and 1-6 from the 3pt line. Needless to say, Hayward was our Rock. When you look at other teams in the East:
BRK - KD, Harden, Kyrie (Griffin) 
PHI - Embiid, Simmons (Harris)
MIL - Giannis, Holiday, Middleton (Tucker, Lopez)
ATL - Young, Collins, Bog (Capela)
NYN - Randle, Barret (Rose, Quickly, Robinson)
MIA - Butler, Bam, Dragic (Robinson, Herro)
BOS - Taytum, Brown, Kemba (Smart)
WAS - Beal, Westbrook
IND - Sabonis, LaVert, Turner (Brogdon)

^^Each team has at least 2 Allstar quality players with some (solid) pieces to back them up.

CHA - Hayward (Terry, Bridges, Ball)

All that to say - we need another Allstar to pair with Hayward - or to pair with Ball in the future. We can't just be happy with grabbing solid contributors anymore when addressing GAPPING holes in our team.

So - Let's start with the Free Agents:
Zeller - $15.4m - UFA
Monk - $5.4m - RFA (Qualifying offer $7.3m)
Biz - $3.5m - UFA
Wanamaker - $2.25m - UFA
Graham - $1.6m - UFA
Darling - $.5m - UFA
Riller - $.5m - UFA

If we let everyone walk - we will have just over $22m in FA dollars. Enough to sign an Allstar caliber player. John Collins, Jarrett Allen, DeRozen, Drummond, Harrell, Richaun Holmes all come to mind when I think about what to do with that amount of cash. But let's first look at who we might want to keep from this current crop of players.

Centers:
I think we have seen the last of Zeller in the purple and teal unless we aqcuire a big name and need someone cheap for the reserve big man role. He has shown that he can be counted on in stretches, can knock down FTs and although he isn't a rim protector, he isn't a liability on Defense. Biz obviously his calling card is his defense and shot blocking, but he is a liability on Offense and the ball stops in his hands (if he cleanly catches it). I don't really put too much stock into the Biz/Ball mentor relationship. I do think choosing the correct "team mentality" guys to bring in is important though. Replacing Biz with Whiteside - for instance - might not be a good move from all the stories we have heard about his locker room presence.

Backcourt Duo:
Monk does have a Qualifying Offer we can extend him. Mid-season, I never thought that QO would be enough to keep him. But after the injury and his return, he looked really lost and did not bring his shot back with him. $7.3m for one year still might not be enough to retain him, but I think it is obvious we extend that QO to him and we hope someone doesn't come in with some big offer. There are a lot of guards in the FA market and Monk shouldn't be a guy teams throw $$ at and I'm not ready to invest years into Monk just yet. Giving Monk a $10-$12m @ year contract for the next 4 years is something the Bobcats would have done no problem.

Now Graham is the bigger '?'... I think Graham is a great asset to have coming off the bench behind Ball. He runs the offense better (less turnovers/bad passes) in the clutch but is also a more aggressive shooter. If we think the Ball/Graham combo could work for us and that is a winning PG rotation, okay.. I'm not entirely sure but now is the time to hitch our future to this idea or not. Ball probably should be paired with a more defensive minded PG but I also like the scoring punch coming off the bench as well. If we can retain Graham for around $8m for 4yrs - I think that is friendly enough for us to keep him. But is that the right way to go.

The Rest:
Wanamaker, Darling and Riller can all walk.

Summary
After looking it over - If we keep Monk on a $7.3m QO and give Graham a $8m contract - that's just under $16m of our $22m used up. We need to start investing more in our starting 5 rather than the entire roster. $16m in 2 players coming off our bench just isn't correct in today's NBA and I don't think running it back with this team is the right move. Retaining both Monk and Graham will tie up too much money to properly address the Center position. Ideally, we need to sign someone like Richaun Holmes from SAC for $15m @ year and maybe give Rozier more PG responsibilities - that's what he was brought here to replace Kemba. He played a ton of PG in Boston too. If we gave PG responsibilities to Ball/Rozier/vet FA - that would allow us to address the Center position and possibly get another 3/D wing player? 

PG - Ball - FA
SG - Rozier - Monk (QO)
SF - Hayward - C.Martin
PF - Bridges - PJ/McDaniels
C - Holmes - PJ - FA

All-in-All.. this is going to be an interesting offseason. (In Mitch I Trust) Hope next year has a better ending than this year. Peace.

[frankw]

If your goal is to shift from a joke franchise to building a respectable contender then players like Cody Zeller need to be shown the door. I would not be in any rush to hand out new contracts like candy to anyone after the showing last night. When players show you they are distinctly not clutch and then proceed to lay their biggest egg of the season in the most consequential game of the season it is time to either look at the coach the culture of the team or the overall roster. You do not just pick up and reset like nothing happened. Things need to be shaken up.

[33inNC]

PJ Washington needs to be put on notice. He is too busy chasing porn actresses and does not seem to care about his actual job. I am sick of seeing him get out muscled and maneuvered for rebounds and generally looking uninspired. 
 

Between him and Monk, I'm not sure if the light goes on upstairs. They both seem to like the idea of being an NBA player more than actually improving. If they had half the fire of Terry, they'd be good players. 

[IceUpSon2001]

14 minutes ago, 33inNC said:

Between him and Monk, I'm not sure if the light goes on upstairs. They both seem to like the idea of being an NBA player more than actually improving. If they had half the fire of Terry, they'd be good players. 

The Hornets talked at one time about having Brdiges and Washington, one would have to go. Send PJ packing and keep Miles. We need a true power forward. 

[IceUpSon2001]

Stephen A called out Hayward.. I don't always agree with him but, he said Lamelo came back broke wrist and all and here's Hayward nursing a ankle sprain. Was he available? Did the team keep him sidelined? It would be nice if journalists would find out these details before calling him out.  If he was healthy enough  and chose not to play....hmmm.

[IceUpSon2001]

5 hours ago, frankw said:

it is time to either look at the coach the culture of the team or the overall roster. You do not just pick up and reset like nothing happened. Things need to be shaken up.

No doubt. Gordon Hayward should not have made that much of a difference. Either they meant to lose so they can get a better pick -(I mean what heck else was that?),Coaches did not have them prepared or the players just didn't care - back to coaching.

[Scott12345]

20 hours ago, IceUpSon2001 said:

The Hornets talked at one time about having Brdiges and Washington, one would have to go. Send PJ packing and keep Miles. We need a true power forward. 

One thing keeps sticking for me on PJ....bridges mage a huge jump this yr, his 3rd yr....can PJ do the same?...he is still on his rookie deal so he’s not costing us that much

[Scott12345]

23 hours ago, bLACKpANTHER said:

[GEEEEZUZ.. I didn't realize I wrote this much but if you give it the time - I appreciate it..]

After an frustrating but very exciting at times season - it's time to do what we Hornets fans are best at - looking forward to the future and assess the current roster and figure out where we need to improve and what dead weight we can get rid or and if there are any splash trades that could be in the works.

Before we get started - let me quickly break down what happened this year: We drafted Ball who turned out to be far better than any of us imagined and signed an Allstar caliber player in Hayward. Together with the young lottery players we have acquired over the past few seasons we turned in a great run by midseason and were in the 4th spot in the weaker East. Injuries to Hayward, Ball and Monk derailed our steady play and made us have to change our game up drastically. We no longer were the aggressive, steady attacking team and became a streaky 3ball team that lived and died by the 3ball, hoping other teams didn't catch up if we had a lead. Even when some of the players cam back from injury we played like the 3ball team and never got back to the precision we had earlier on. Some fans have been calling for JB's head.. I am not in that camp at all and won't give it anymore time than I just did, GTFOH..

I say that recap to point out - our only Allstar caliber player got injured. Terry is the only other player you could say was fringe Allstar but he definitely has had about 3/10 games that would be a 5/15 shooting night and 1-6 from the 3pt line. Needless to say, Hayward was our Rock. When you look at other teams in the East:
BRK - KD, Harden, Kyrie (Griffin) 
PHI - Embiid, Simmons (Harris)
MIL - Giannis, Holiday, Middleton (Tucker, Lopez)
ATL - Young, Collins, Bog (Capela)
NYN - Randle, Barret (Rose, Quickly, Robinson)
MIA - Butler, Bam, Dragic (Robinson, Herro)
BOS - Taytum, Brown, Kemba (Smart)
WAS - Beal, Westbrook
IND - Sabonis, LaVert, Turner (Brogdon)

^^Each team has at least 2 Allstar quality players with some (solid) pieces to back them up.

CHA - Hayward (Terry, Bridges, Ball)

All that to say - we need another Allstar to pair with Hayward - or to pair with Ball in the future. We can't just be happy with grabbing solid contributors anymore when addressing GAPPING holes in our team.

So - Let's start with the Free Agents:
Zeller - $15.4m - UFA
Monk - $5.4m - RFA (Qualifying offer $7.3m)
Biz - $3.5m - UFA
Wanamaker - $2.25m - UFA
Graham - $1.6m - UFA
Darling - $.5m - UFA
Riller - $.5m - UFA

If we let everyone walk - we will have just over $22m in FA dollars. Enough to sign an Allstar caliber player. John Collins, Jarrett Allen, DeRozen, Drummond, Harrell, Richaun Holmes all come to mind when I think about what to do with that amount of cash. But let's first look at who we might want to keep from this current crop of players.

Centers:
I think we have seen the last of Zeller in the purple and teal unless we aqcuire a big name and need someone cheap for the reserve big man role. He has shown that he can be counted on in stretches, can knock down FTs and although he isn't a rim protector, he isn't a liability on Defense. Biz obviously his calling card is his defense and shot blocking, but he is a liability on Offense and the ball stops in his hands (if he cleanly catches it). I don't really put too much stock into the Biz/Ball mentor relationship. I do think choosing the correct "team mentality" guys to bring in is important though. Replacing Biz with Whiteside - for instance - might not be a good move from all the stories we have heard about his locker room presence.

Backcourt Duo:
Monk does have a Qualifying Offer we can extend him. Mid-season, I never thought that QO would be enough to keep him. But after the injury and his return, he looked really lost and did not bring his shot back with him. $7.3m for one year still might not be enough to retain him, but I think it is obvious we extend that QO to him and we hope someone doesn't come in with some big offer. There are a lot of guards in the FA market and Monk shouldn't be a guy teams throw $$ at and I'm not ready to invest years into Monk just yet. Giving Monk a $10-$12m @ year contract for the next 4 years is something the Bobcats would have done no problem.

Now Graham is the bigger '?'... I think Graham is a great asset to have coming off the bench behind Ball. He runs the offense better (less turnovers/bad passes) in the clutch but is also a more aggressive shooter. If we think the Ball/Graham combo could work for us and that is a winning PG rotation, okay.. I'm not entirely sure but now is the time to hitch our future to this idea or not. Ball probably should be paired with a more defensive minded PG but I also like the scoring punch coming off the bench as well. If we can retain Graham for around $8m for 4yrs - I think that is friendly enough for us to keep him. But is that the right way to go.

The Rest:
Wanamaker, Darling and Riller can all walk.

Summary
After looking it over - If we keep Monk on a $7.3m QO and give Graham a $8m contract - that's just under $16m of our $22m used up. We need to start investing more in our starting 5 rather than the entire roster. $16m in 2 players coming off our bench just isn't correct in today's NBA and I don't think running it back with this team is the right move. Retaining both Monk and Graham will tie up too much money to properly address the Center position. Ideally, we need to sign someone like Richaun Holmes from SAC for $15m @ year and maybe give Rozier more PG responsibilities - that's what he was brought here to replace Kemba. He played a ton of PG in Boston too. If we gave PG responsibilities to Ball/Rozier/vet FA - that would allow us to address the Center position and possibly get another 3/D wing player? 

PG - Ball - FA
SG - Rozier - Monk (QO)
SF - Hayward - C.Martin
PF - Bridges - PJ/McDaniels
C - Holmes - PJ - FA

All-in-All.. this is going to be an interesting offseason. (In Mitch I Trust) Hope next year has a better ending than this year. Peace.

Great write up

zeller could be a really good depth piece, but not at that price

biz...brick hands...lousy rebounder for his size...gone

devonte...keep...he was one guy that had the courage to take big shots, and yes he missed two we needed in the last weekend, but by that time all our karma was gone...the guy has it, and he should be on our team

monk...gone...he doesn’t have it...he is not a big game player

hayward...what a disappointment he was...he is a big time player, but he has got to be on the court...we have to have him playing at his high level to be a good team...and he has to stay healthy

PJ....also a key...he has to be better...he wilted down the stretch...he should be a big time rebounder and he is not

Yes we have to address center, big time...most importantly we have to get some rebounding and toughness and scoring on the paint....we need more than one player here

we turned into a 3 point shooting team with no defense or rebounding....fix that and our guards will be much better

coach is dead on about melo...he is gonna be a superstar if he grows into it

and coach stays...with all the injuries, we were a shot away in two games last weekend

[Shocker]

Personally I would keep Graham and Monk provided the deals are reasonable.  Focus resources on center as Zeller and Biz should be allowed to move on.  

That said defense in general must get better or we will have the same conversation next season too.

Edited May 20, 2021 by Shocker

[IceUpSon2001]

17 hours ago, Shocker said:

That said defense in general must get better or we will have the same conversation next season too.

Yes, agreed.  We had two centers on our team that we did not play (Carey, Richards). Are they good? We don't know, didn't see them much. Zeller can be a good power forward not center but, I think his time is over in Charlotte. Biyombo, he can come back at league minimum salary if he wants. Not sure about Monk, he was a flash in the pan before he hurt his ankle. I love Rozier, he is a fighter and plays hard all the time, that being said...we probably could have traded him for a center which we desperately need. We were looking at Montrezl from the Lakers, that would have been a trade that helped both teams. We have way too many guards on the team, need to get bigger.

[frankw]

After reflecting some more I have to come back to coaching. Remember when Vernon Carey got his first start? He played very well but then the struggles came and we gave up on him. I know he's a rook but our established starters have had cold streaks too and they have stayed out there longer then they should have just look at the shooting in the Pacers game. We should have played our young draft picks more through the second half of the season and let them take their lumps. The more I look at Borrego the more I see Clifford with better developmental traits but still the same negatives.

[IceUpSon2001]

3 hours ago, frankw said:

We should have played our young draft picks more through the second half of the season

Exactly. Could they have done any worse playing some of the rookies? Once Bridges went out, it was pretty much downhill. Should have gone big with the rookies to see what happens.

[trueblue]

I very much enjoy a healthy Hayward... But man, would it be nice to have that extra 9 mill in cap space from the Batum stretch.