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Buzz City Beat: Charlotte vs Portland prediction, Hornets’ three biggest mistakes

By Jerry Stephens

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 8: Nicolas Batum #5 of the Charlotte Hornets handles the ball against the Chicago Bulls on December 8, 2017 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 8: Nicolas Batum #5 of the Charlotte Hornets handles the ball against the Chicago Bulls on December 8, 2017 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE 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.

Back in 2003, the original Hornets were set to move to Louisville, Kentucky but Rick Pitino blocked the plan and they moved to New Orleans instead. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we preview the Charlotte Hornets‘ game against the Portland Trail Blazers while also looking at the team’s three biggest mistakes and the Greensboro Swarm’s win over Raptors 905.

Hornets vs Portland Trail Blazers preview and prediction (RealSport101.com)

"This likely will be a grind-down game, with Portland battling heavy legs on their third game in four nights and fourth in six with a cross-country flight thrown in. But their form and their guard play should be just enough to fend off the Hornets with a 98-91 victory."

Charlotte’s 2-8 in their last 10 games while Portland has gone 5-5. The Trail Blazers have actually played well away from home this season as they have an 8-5 road record. The Hornets’ defense hasn’t been great so slowing down the two-headed monster of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum will be a challenge for them. We could also see a Noah Vonleh revenge game.

Stephen Silas has begun to mix up the team’s rotation a bit in an attempt to boost the squad but it still hasn’t resulted in victories for the Queen City team. At this point, it hard to predict a win for the Hornets. Unless Charlotte’s bench scored 40+ points, they really don’t stand much of a chance. It will be interesting to see if Kemba’s wrist injury bothers him going forward while we are still waiting for Nicolas Batum to break out of his slump.

Charlotte’s three biggest mistakes that led them to be stuck in neutral (RealGM.com)

"1. The first issue is how the club has failed to fill out the fringes of their rotation since key role players left during the summer of 2016. 2. The next problem for Charlotte has been their insistence on tying themselves to veterans they overpaid to maintain. 3. The biggest mistake, however, may have been with Nicolas Batum."

To this day, the Hornets still have not adequately replaced Jeremy Lin. The backup point guard spot has been a carousel of mediocre players since Lin left. He sparked their playoff run in 2015-16 and since then, Charlotte’s been reluctant to spend on a quality backup to Kemba Walker. The team didn’t look too far ahead into the future when they made the mistake of re-signing a 30-year old Marvin Williams to a four-year deal.

Not only that but they decided to give a career 10.6 PPG scorer, close to $15 million a year. Although those mistakes were bad, Nic Batum’s mega-deal has by far been the worst. I understand Charlotte was inclined to pay Nicolas close to the max in order to maintain their core that had just made the postseason but that deal could end up hurting them in the long run. They will be paying a 32-year old Batum over $27 million in 2020-21. Although hindsight is 20/20, looking back, the Hornets made a lot of short-sighted decisions in order to win-now rather than plan for the future.

Greensboro Swarm defeat Raptors 905 behind game winner (Twitter/ @NBAGLeague)

Next: Charlotte Hornets attempted to trade for Jimmy Butler

Charles Cooke finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and one game-winning shot in what was an intense game for the Swarm. In his first game with the team this season, Archie Goodwin put up a team-high 22 points. After a bit of a slow start to the year, Greensboro’s now 3-1 in their last four games as they look to turn their season around.

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