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Buzz City Beat: Hornets’ shopping list, Is there any hope for Charlotte?

By Jerry Stephens

Mar 15, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker (15) dribbles the ball while Indiana Pacers guard Jeff Teague (44) defends in the first half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker (15) dribbles the ball while Indiana Pacers guard Jeff Teague (44) defends in the first half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Buzz City Beat is Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.

With less than a week til the beginning of free agency, the rumors are starting to heat up around Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the Charlotte Hornets‘ shopping list for free agency, how much hope there is for the team and Dwayne Bacon guesses his NBA 2K18 player rating.

Hornets’ shopping list for free agency (Sports.Yahoo.com)

"Charlotte has had mixed success with journeymen Al Jefferson, Lance Stephenson, Jeremy Lin and Roy Hibbert in free agency over the years, and Jordan has a certain allure for veteran players looking to resurrect their value."

The team only has three potential free agents in Ramon Sessions, Brian Roberts and Christian Wood. They’ve already made a decision on Wood as he will not be returning to Charlotte. As for Sessions and Roberts, it is highly unlikely that they will be back. Expect the Hornets to decline Roman’s team option in the coming days and for Brian’s rights to be renounced for him to become an unrestricted free agent.

Looking ahead to free agency, they won’t have much to spend but they can still get some solid contributing players. Ben Rohrbach makes the argument that Charlotte shouldn’t commit long-term to anyone they sign this summer. That would likely mean that they would have to take another one-year chance on a veteran looking to bounce back like with Lin and Hibbert.

Is there any hope for Charlotte? (TheRinger.com)

"The luxury tax is materializing before the Hornets’ beady little eyes with $106.2 million in guaranteed contracts, but Howard’s acquisition and Malik Monk’s sharpshooting falling to them in the draft makes the team intriguing."

There is more buzz surrounding the Hornets than there has been for some time. The additions of Dwight and Monk might not make them title contenders but it does give the team some name recognition and it also makes them better. If nothing else, Charlotte should make a return to the playoffs next year.

I would say that there is hope surrounding the team heading into the 2017-18 season. There is hope that they can play a fun brand of basketball and that they can be successful enough to at least make a small postseason run. At least people are starting to take notice of the Hornets and they are talking about the team.

Dwayne Bacon’s NBA 2K18 Rating (Forbes.com)

"Foot Locker posted a video on Twitter with many of the top rookies guessing their player ratings in NBA 2K18."

Next: Tyrell Corbin can surprise a few during summer league

The Hornets’ second-round pick thinks he should be given “like a 75” rating in NBA 2K18. I don’t think Bacon’s guess is too far off but I doubt a mid-second round selection will have that high of a rating to start. It will depend on how Dwayne plays in summer league and preseason but I think a solid 70 rating sounds about right for him.

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