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Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets’ season preview, Howard drops new signature shoe

By Jerry Stephens

NINGBO, CHINA - AUGUST 26: American basketball player Dwight Howard attends a students' basketball game during his visit to Ningbo on August 26, 2017 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
NINGBO, CHINA - AUGUST 26: American basketball player Dwight Howard attends a students' basketball game during his visit to Ningbo on August 26, 2017 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) /
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Buzz City Beat is Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the latest news and stories from around the web about the Charlotte Hornets.

Dwight Howard still has some bounce left in his legs as he posted a photo of him dunking on Instagram. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the Charlotte Hornets‘ season preview, D12’s new signature shoe and Spencer Hawes being waived by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Hornets’ season preview (GetMoreSports.com)

"Not only that the Hornets have a quite talented starting lineup, but they also have a solid bench, and we all know that without quality on the bench teams cannot be taken seriously. Charlotte may not win the Southeast Division, but they should easily surpass the last year’s number of victories"

Things are looking up in the Queen City and there is a sense of excitement surrounding the Hornets for the upcoming season. The team is expected to bounce back and make a postseason appearance after a down year in which they only won a disappointing 36 games. On paper, Charlotte looks like a squad who can compete for a division title and a top five seed in the Eastern Conference.

Their success will likely depend on how well the new additions in Dwight Howard, Malik Monk and Michael Carter-Williams perform. After having a less than stellar bench last year, Rich Cho worked hard to add quality depth to positions of need this offseason. While a playoff series win is the dream scenario for Charlotte, finishing above .500 and having a strong first round performance is a realistic goal.

Dwight Howard unveils new signature shoe (IG/ @DwightHoward)

"Signature DH3 -RED #12isBack #peaksport"

Howard dropped the red version of his new signature shoes in a video on Instagram. The eight-time all-star used to be with Adidas but has since signed a shoe deal with Peak Sport who also has deals with Tony Parker and Matthew Delavadova.

Dwight is the only Hornets’ play with a signature shoe. Even though Kemba Walker, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Cody Zeller, Malik Monk and Dwayne Bacon are all signed to Jordan Brand, none have their own signature shoe. Consider you can get the DH1’s and DH2’s for $100, expect the DH’s to release around the same price.

Milwaukee Bucks waive former Charlotte big man Spencer Hawes (247sports.com)

"Spencer Hawes will have to look for a new NBA home. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Milwaukee Bucks will waive Hawes to avoid the luxury tax penalty this season. Hawes was owed $6.2 million this season:"

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The Hornets would’ve been in the same position as the Bucks were with Hawes if they wouldn’t have traded him at the deadline this past season. Charlotte didn’t want to hold onto Spencer knowing he would exercise his player-option and they would have to pay him over $6 million for the 2017-18 campaign. Instead, they freed up cap space and eventually landed Dwight Howard in exchange for Miles Plumlee who they got from Milwaukee.

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