Hornets Looking At Bringing Back Kemba Walker or Isaiah Thomas

[frankw]

1 minute ago, Shocker said:

Why are we trading Bouk?  That makes no sense at all.  If we look at this young team Bouk fits well.  I think he is probably a 20 pt per night guy…maybe more.  Jumping ship on our young guys is dumb.  Kemba is a nice backup scorer on a good night and that is fine with me

Good franchises trying to turn a corner can make use of talent like Bouknight. Bad franchises need to bring back fan favorites from yesteryear who are slowly washing out of the league. I sincerely hope they make room for James this season and he takes the next step. I'm not going to hold my breath on that with Clifford though.

[MillionDollarCam]

30 minutes ago, frankw said:

Teams are paying Kemba to leave. I love him too but we gotta face facts. And honestly if we do this we need to trade Bouknight and get value for him now bc what a waste of a pick to have zero confidence in the kid.

Well Bouknight is a two-guard so there is no need to trade him, he averaged a whole 1.5 assists per game at UCONN. On the contrary, he probably would do really well beside Kemba because neither needs the other to get open shots.

Additionally, teams are paying Kemba to leave because of his contract, not because he’s a bad player. He’s just not worth $10M a year anymore.

Kemba would probably be looking at a vet minimum deal from the Hornets, something in the $2.5M to 3M range.

If our fans want to get upset about Bouknight not playing then they need to be upset at  Martin resigning, not the potential addition of Kemba.

But theoretically the roster would look something like:

G - Ball, Walker

G - Rozier, Martin, Bouknight, McGowens (two-way)

F - Hayward, Oubre, McDaniels

F - Washington, Thor, Jones

C - Plumlee, Williams, Richards

That leaves one more roster spot and one more two-way contract available. And in a strange situation, the Hornets could even bring back IT as well should they move out someone like Richards or McDaniels. Obviously IT would only play if there was an injury and he’d be purely a locker room guy.

Anywho, Bouknight was probably blocked from getting meaningful minutes as soon as Martin re-upped, he’s simply not a point guard. He’s got a unique skillset to create his own shot and he’s pretty good off the ball but he isn’t going to run an NBA offense.

Edited July 26, 2022 by MillionDollarCam

[Shocker]

5 minutes ago, frankw said:

Good franchises trying to turn a corner can make use of talent like Bouknight. Bad franchises need to bring back fan favorites from yesteryear who are slowly washing out of the league. I sincerely hope they make room for James this season and he takes the next step. I'm not going to hold my breath on that with Clifford though.

Wha?  This is the exact opposite of what this team needs.   He isn’t a fan favorite and I don’t see it that way at all.  He can score on a microwave level.  Give this player mins and he will score.  Not sure who you think we would trade him for in return but this thinking is wrong

To go another level this team needs another star…which we are having a hard time finding but such is being a Hornet fan.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Shocker

[frankw]

13 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

Well Bouknight is a two-guard so there is no need to trade him, he averaged a whole 1.5 assists per game at UCONN. On the contrary, he probably would do really well beside Kemba because neither needs the other to get open shots.

Additionally, teams are paying Kemba to leave because of his contract, not because he’s a bad player. He’s just not worth $10M a year anymore.

Kemba would probably be looking at a vet minimum deal from the Hornets, something in the $2.5M to 3M range.

If our fans want to get upset about Bouknight not playing then they need to be upset at  Martin resigning, not the potential addition of Kemba.

But theoretically the roster would look something like:

G - Ball, Walker

G - Rozier, Martin, Bouknight, McGowens (two-way)

F - Hayward, Oubre, McDaniels

F - Washington, Thor, Jones

C - Plumlee, Williams, Richards

That leaves one more roster spot and one more two-way contract available. And in a strange situation, the Hornets could even bring back IT as well should they move out someone like Richards or McDaniels. Obviously IT would only play if there was an injury and he’d be purely a locker room guy.

Anywho, Bouknight was probably blocked from getting meaningful minutes as soon as Martin re-upped, he’s simply not a point guard. He’s got a unique skillset to create his own shot and he’s pretty good off the ball but he isn’t going to run an NBA offense.

Kemba has maybe one or two seasons left in him. Doubling down on this going in reverse thing with Clifford and Kemba when we are trying to hand LaMelo the keys isn't the move. Cody is a stud on defense and his offensive game is catching up. I just want to see our young talent develop. We've had a 3rd overall pick 11th overall 13th and 15th overall and here we are talking about bringing back Kemba Walker

[MillionDollarCam]

Just now, frankw said:

Kemba has maybe one or two seasons left in him. Doubling down on this going in reverse thing with Clifford and Kemba when we are trying to hand LaMelo the keys isn't the move. Cody is a stud on defense and his offensive game is catching up. I just want to see our young talent develop. We've had a 3rd overall pick 11th overall 13th and 15th overall and here we are talking about bringing back Kemba Walker

Well where exactly would you like Bouknight to develop at? Cause it isn’t going to be with the ball in his hands.

Do we ship out Rozier and hope that Bouknight can become a 20ppg player?

Martin is a good defender and because he plays better defense than Bouknight he will continue to block Bouknight from getting playing time… Kemba on the other hand won’t.

Kemba is the ideal 3PG for the roster that we currently have.

It’s really an apples and oranges situation as the players don’t play the same position.

 

[frankw]

10 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

Well where exactly would you like Bouknight to develop at? Cause it isn’t going to be with the ball in his hands.

Do we ship out Rozier and hope that Bouknight can become a 20ppg player?

Martin is a good defender and because he plays better defense than Bouknight he will continue to block Bouknight from getting playing time… Kemba on the other hand won’t.

Kemba is the ideal 3PG for the roster that we currently have.

It’s really an apples and oranges situation as the players don’t play the same position.

There's no one move fix. Should have drafted Eason and Williams and kept it pushing but what's done is done. I'd be willing to move Terry but only if we can solidify center in return. I do not want to watch Plumlee again he stinks. Kemba will check the feels boxes but that isn't enough anymore I just want to see some basic playoff competition. Hey hopefully this works out I'm not trying to rain on your parade do your thing fellas.

[MillionDollarCam]

2 minutes ago, frankw said:

There's no one move fix. Should have drafted Eason and Williams and kept it pushing but what's done is done. I'd be willing to move Terry but only if we can solidify center in return. I do not want to watch Plumlee again he stinks. Kemba will check the feels boxes but that isn't enough anymore I just want to see some basic playoff competition. Hey hopefully this works out I'm not trying to rain on your parade do your thing fellas.

I’m neither here nor there about it, I ultimately think backup PG is a need and I’d prefer Kemba over IT. I do also understand how our fans can be angry with the developmental trajectory of our young guys.

I think Golden State has set the model where you have stars who are starters and then you have rookies or young players that come off the bench and contribute (Payton, Lee, Moody, JTA, Kuminga and occasionally Poole). When those young players contracts are up you replace them with new young players unless they turn into stars themselves (like Poole).

I really don’t know what the Hornets model is, I guess it could be said that they should focus on their players not getting in trouble with the law first.

[toldozer]

14 hours ago, MillionDollarCam said:

I had no idea he was playing in the big 3 lol. That’s wild considering he doesn’t really have the body type to keep playing at a high level as he gets older.

I have no idea what he's doing and don't watch the big 3 lol

[Carl Spackler]

13 hours ago, MillionDollarCam said:

We don’t have a third point guard and the Hornets aren’t the type of team that trots out a young point guard as their 3PG.

The only time I can remember the Hornets/Bobcats using a rookie or second year player as their 3PG would be when they had Sherron Collins and Cory Higgins.

2018-19, best PG depth ever.

1: Kemba Walker
2: Tony Parker
3: Devonte Graham

[MillionDollarCam]

50 minutes ago, toldozer said:

I have no idea what he's doing and don't watch the big 3 lol

I’ve lasted through about 3 minutes while watching Joe Johnson and his team play against three other guys I’ve never heard of.

[MechaZain]

Bouk's less of a passing gaurd than Monk even and we saw how to trying to make him a PG went

[frankw]

1 hour ago, MechaZain said:

Bouk's less of a passing gaurd than Monk even and we saw how to trying to make him a PG went

Sounds like a waste of a lottery pick then. All the Mitch praise the last few years isn't aging well.

[MillionDollarCam]

I don’t think Bouknight was a waste of a lottery pick but I do feel like we might end up wasting him here. Earlier I mentioned that Golden State has become the model for how to develop and move on from players. They keep their stars, develop their young players, and either keep those young players if they become stars or replace them with younger players if they only develop into rotational players.

Cody Martin’s best comparison is probably Gary Payton… what did Golden State let Gary Payton do… walk… who are they replacing him with… a younger player in Moses Moody (who was drafted just a couple picks after Bouknight). Additionally, they are going to do the same thing with Kuminga if he doesn’t become a star… and who is waiting in the wings… Patrick Baldwin.

The bottom line is that the Hornets made a mistake paying Cody. I like Cody, but teams don’t progress by signing average players that they developed. They progress by signing the elite players that they have developed and letting the average players walk while replacing them with younger players in the draft.

It sucks, but as soon as Martin was brought back, the writing was on the wall for Bouknight. I’m hoping that Martin becomes a 15/5/2 player for the Hornets because ultimately I think that’s the type of player Bouknight will become… I just think it will be with someone else.

Once the dust has cleared on this Bridges situation, they should really consider trading Bouknight to upgrade the SF position in preparation for the inevitable Gordon Hayward injury.

Edited July 26, 2022 by MillionDollarCam

[MechaZain]

7 minutes ago, frankw said:

Sounds like a waste of a lottery pick then. All the Mitch praise the last few years isn't aging well.

He was brought in to replace Rozier bro using a lottery pick on LaMelo's backup would have been a waste.