Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets worst regret of 2017, Time to dismantle the team?
Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
Here is a trade idea involving Nicolas Batum being dealt moved to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Avery Bradley. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the Charlotte Hornets‘ worst regret of 2017, if it’s time to dismantle the team and how Nicolas Batum’s role as a helper bee isn’t working.
Charlotte’s worst regret of 2017 (BleacherReport.com)
"Had Charlotte gone almost any other direction on the free-agent market rather than leaving itself tethered to Carter-Williams, Julyan Stone and Marcus Paige, its bench might not give away so many leads through an utter inability to score."
B/R pens the signing of MCW as the Hornets’ single worst regret of the year. Considering how bad he’s been backing up Kemba Walker this season, I would have to agree. If Rich Cho and the team’s front office would’ve put more importance into the backup PG spot, they could’ve signed a more capable player instead of one who consistently makes a negative impact.
The problem wasn’t just MCW either. It was signing unproven backups like MCW, Stone and Paige instead of going after a reliable point guard. They even waived Briante Weber who is now on a two-way contract and is getting minutes with the Houston Rockets. After Jeremy Lin left, Charlotte has failed to find a suitable PG for the second unit missing on players like Ramon Sessions and MCW.
Time to dismantle the Hornets? (BBallBreakdown.com)
"Regardless of the cause, Buzz City needing a makeover isn’t the issue that’s really up for debate. Instead we’re forced to think about how they could pull one off. With so many bloated contracts, such littler maneuverability under the hard cap and such little ability to flank Kemba with the talent he deserves, we’re left to wonder if these Hornets really can make meaningful change to their roster this year."
It’s clear that Charlotte’s in need of a rebuild or at least a re-tooling. The only problem is that it may be nearly impossible to do unless they package young players and/or future picks with some of the massive contracts on their roster. If they did that, it would hurt a rebuild attempt but if they don’t, then they will be stuck with underperforming players who are vastly overpaid for the next few seasons.
It’s crazy to think that a team that had such promise before the season started, already needs to be considering dismantling after only 34 games but that’s where we are. Things will go one of two ways at the trade deadline for the Hornets. They will either attempt to turn their season around by bringing in new role players or they will embrace the tank and try to move some of their most valuable assets.
Nic Batum as a helper bee isn’t working (CharlotteObserver.com)
"if there is even a miniscule chance of saving this season, he has to be more the alpha male. Sometimes the dynamic reminds me of when another cerebral Frenchman, Boris Diaw, played in Charlotte: Too much helper bee, not enough take charge. I would rather see Batum aggressively bad than how this looked."
Next: Kyrie Irving praises MKG's offensive evolution
I, for one, would much rather see Batum (who is being paid over $20 million this season) be more aggressive on the offensive end than play passive like he has been. He is averaging three fewer shot attempts than he has each of the past two seasons with the Hornets and there have been multiple games this year where he’s been invisible. There’s no reason why Nicolas should have less than 10 points while playing more than 30 minutes.