Who are the Ten Greatest Charlotte Hornets of All-Time?

2.) Gerald Wallace

The Bobcats rescued Crash from a destiny of obscurity on the end of the Sacramento bench in the 2004 expansion draft. During three seasons as a King, Wallace played a paltry 1300-plus minutes. He nearly doubled that in his first season in Charlotte. If we were discussing just the greatest Bobcats, this list would be much shorter, and Gerald Wallace would be indisputably at the top of it. He will forever hold the distinction of being the first and only Charlotte Bobcat to play in an All-Star game, doing so in 2010. At the end of that same season, Wallace earned First Team All-NBA Defense honors.

Crash spent 6 1/2 seasons in Charlotte, appearing in 454 games and logging 16,718 minutes. Both figures are third most in franchise history. Wallace also has the third most rebounds and blocks in Hornets history. Additionally, he places second in points and steals (also personal fouls and turnovers, but we’ll ignore that).

On the whole, Wallace will likely be remembered as a slightly above average player that happened to fill out an All-Star roster one year. He’s much more than that in Hornets history, though. Not only was Gerald one of the longest tenured members in the team’s history, he was a beacon of hope.

Even after his departure, Gerald Wallace has been a gift to the Charlotte franchise. In 2011, Wallace was dealt to Portland in exchange for some roster flotsam and two future first round picks. One of those picks became PJ Hairston, who was part of the trade that brought in Courtney Lee last year. The other, through a long and winding road I would recommend you avoid, turned into Nicolas Batum. Should this current Hornets team have some real success, we all have Crash to thank.