Swarm and Sting
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Opinion On The Charlotte Hornets Trade For Marco Belinelli

By Joshua Powell

Dec 27, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Marco Belinelli (3) looks on during the fourth quarter of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Sleep Train Arena. The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Sacramento Kings 98-94. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 27, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Marco Belinelli (3) looks on during the fourth quarter of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Sleep Train Arena. The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Sacramento Kings 98-94. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Charlotte Hornets recently made a trade with the Sacramento Kings to acquire shooting guard, Marco Belinelli, in exchange for their only pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Well yesterday I went off on twitter about the trade for Marco Belinelli and my followers might have seen that. For any of the curse words and angry words I am sorry. Am I sorry about how I felt? Nope, instead of feeling mad now I am just sad. I wrote an article praising the front office and then they make a bad trade (just my luck).

Was Belinelli a good player in the past? Yes, he was good but more of a solid good then a standout. On twitter I spoke before the draft of the Charlotte Hornets needing to take chances and swing for the fences. However, they took a bunt with no one on base instead. Trying to use a quick reward to win now instead of continuing to build. They may make it to first base but the odds are they will get sent back to the dug out. We will now dig in deeper to see why this trade was not a win for the Hornets.

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Belinelli Is On The Downside Of His Career

For most of his career Belinelli was a reliable shooter. He helped space the floor for the San Antonio Spurs and worked well in that system. Thing is he was surrounded by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili which helps keep attention off of other players. Therefore Belinelli had time to get off his shots and space to work with. I admit he is a good shooter when he gets time to fire one up.

Now when you look at what he did last season his stats look pathetic. Belinelli only made 1.3 threes out of 4.4 attempts a game. He also shot only .306 percent from the three-point line. This was on a team where he had a lot of opportunity to shoot and have the offense run through him. He only had 1.7 rebounds per game and 1.9 assists per game.

Those stats show he strictly plays the role of shooter in the NBA. Watching any games he has played in you will see he does not play good defense and matter of fact he struggles defending period. So, he is just a taller Troy Daniels with worse three-point shooting percentages. Another point to make is he played 24.6 minutes a game and only had a 9.49 player efficiency rating.

Hornets Got Bad Value For Their Pick

If you look at what the Pacers got in return for their 20th pick it makes the Hornets trade look even worse. The Brooklyn Nets traded Thaddeus Young for the 20th pick and the Pacers got a player who averaged 15.1 points per game and 9.0 rebounds a game.

Meaning a double-double guy for the 20th pick. It hurts seeing that but it proves the Hornets did not get good value for their pick. Most of the time Rich Cho seems to make good trades but this trade for Belinelli seemed like a rush move to avoid making another draft mistake.

When a team is so scared to make a draft pick that they make bad trades to avoid it altogether then the fans should start to question the front office. Knowing you have a problem drafting solid players in the draft and you do not work to fix it that is not a good sign.

Hearing people say “smart move Hornets instead of making another bad draft pick” it does not instill trust in the direction the franchise is going. Another bad part of this trade is that it added more cap instead of clearing cap space. Kind of makes even the hardened fans question what the team is doing.

What It Means For Free Agency

The Hornets currently project to have around 36 million after this trade to spend in free agency. After giving Nicolas Batum a max contract and if he accepts they are looking at around 10 million in cap space. The Belinelli trade added 6 million a year to the cap for the next two seasons.

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So, instead of having a rookie making 1 million a year the Hornets chose to add more cap space while getting around the same contribution a rookie would give. Even if the Hornets trade Spencer Hawes or Jeremy Lamb it will only free up 6 or 7 million. That is if they can find a way to trade them without taking cap back.

Imagine trying to add an additional 8 roster spots with about 10 million in cap space. That figure could be off a few million but that still is not much with the new cap room increase to around 90 million (projected to be that high). Now that trade that cost us around 5 million looks like a bigger deal. We could have had less salary and the same production (or near it) from a rookie. Wanted to make sure I got that out there again.

So What Does It All Mean

I hate to say it but the trade was a BOBcat move. Getting a win now type of player for a team that is just now or at least was making progress. Instead of building toward the future the team made a move to get a guy, who in the past, was a solid player. He is currently on the decline and he added valuable cap space to a team with a lot of free agents.

Next: What Does the Belinelli Trade Mean For Courtney Lee?

In other words the Hornets are taking a step back in my opinion. The franchise always seems to take one step forward and two steps back (insert sad face emoji). I hope I am wrong as a fan and if I am I will admit it. However, I like my chances of being right this time. Either way go Hornets!

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