Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets biggest disappointment, Alvin Gentry praises Kemba
Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
Kemba Walker joined the Inside the NBA crew during All-Star Weekend to talk about making his second straight All-Star appearance and trying to get his team more consistent. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the Charlotte Hornets being one of the biggest disappointments this season, Alvin Gentry complimenting Kemba Walker and the worst contracts from the 2016 spending spree.
Hornets’ biggest disappointment (Sportsnaut.com)
"Team building in Charlotte: Adding lottery pick Malik Monk and former All-Star center Dwight Howard to team up with Kemba Walker was expected to build a playoff squad in Charlotte this season."
After the offseason additions that Charlotte made, they looked like a top-six team in the Eastern Conference on paper. Rich Cho had made a blockbuster type move for Dwight Howard, the team got a steal with Malik Monk and signed a former Rookie of the Year as their backup point guard in Michael Carter-Williams. What looked like a promising team at the beginning of the season quickly became an underachieving one.
It’s now clear that the Hornets didn’t put together a great squad. While there are a few bright spots and building blocks, there are also a number of bad contracts, dead weight and low-ceiling players. This team could use a rebuild and a total overhaul could be in order as soon as next season.
Alvin Gentry praises Kemba Walker (CharlotteObserver.com)
"Gentry recently paid Walker a blow-away compliment. “He’s probably the biggest competitor that I’ve ever met,” Gentry said in January. “I think you could put him right up there with Kobe (Bryant), from a competitive standpoint."
The New Orleans Pelicans’ head coach gave Kemba the highest of praises when he said that he was Kone-like in his competitiveness. He said that Walker has “an edge about him” and that the Hornets’ point guard has the confidence to always believes that he is the best player on the court. You can see that in Kemba’s style of play.
Walker will carry his team and do whatever it takes to lead his side to a win. Much like Kobe Bryant, he isn’t afraid to take the final shot or have all of the weight on his shoulders in clutch situations. It’s crazy to put Kemba and Kobe in the same sentence but speaking from just a competitive point of view, they are both competitors of the highest order.
Worst contracts from 2016 spending spree (FanRagSports.com)
"In 2019, it will have significant cap space regardless of whether or not Batum is there, but a big deal to Kemba could complicate all that. Either way, you can’t owe $75 million to an oft-injured wing shooting 33.3 percent from 3-point range over his last four seasons."
Next: The Charlotte Hornets' coaching problem
Nicolas Batum‘s contract ranks as the fourth-worst from the 2016 free agent spending spree as Charlotte gave him a five-year, $120 million deal to remain with the team. Only Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Chandler Parsons‘ deals are worse than Nic’s. Dwight Howard and Marvin Williams‘ contracts are also mentioned but are labeled as “fine” deals as opposed to being destructive.