Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
The Queen City team’s playoff chances are up to 27% after the Detroit Pistons lost to the Toronto Raptors. (FiveThirtyEight.com) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we preview the Charlotte Hornets‘ game against the Chicago Bulls while also looking at Steve Martin’s retirement and where Nicolas Batum ranks among the highest-paid French athletes.
Hornets vs Bulls prediction (RealSport101.com)
"A loss to the Bulls could start a fatal spiral that would essentially knock Charlotte out of the race by this time next week. Expect Walker and the Hornets to take care of business with a grind-out 107-102 victory to put the wind at their backs to start that three-game road swing at Boston."
Charlotte’s the hottest team in the Eastern Conference as they are riding a four-game win streak heading into this game. Looking at Chicago, they have lost their last four games by an average of 15 points. The only problem for the Hornets is that they haven’t had success versus the Bulls this season (0-2) and are still looking for their first win against the Windy City team.
Dating back to last season, Charlotte’s lost four straight regular-season games to Chicago. Still, I think Kemba Walker and the Hornets will do enough to get the victory at home. They are playing their best stretch of basketball so far this year while the Bulls are looking to tank for a better draft pick.
Steve Martin to retire at the end of the 2017-18 season (NBA.com)
"The Charlotte Hornets announced today that radio play-by-play announcer Steve Martin will retire at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season. Martin will conclude a career that has spanned 30 NBA seasons, including the entire history of NBA basketball in Charlotte, and 50 years overall in broadcasting."
The legendary “voice of the Hornets” will be calling it a career at the end of the season. Martin has called every single season for Charlotte basketball either on TV or radio since their inaugural campaign in 1988. Steve will go down as an absolute legend in the community and should be remembered for decades to come. It’s worth noting that this is his decision and he is not being forced out.
I don’t think it’s crazy to suggest that Martin is deserving of a statue outside of the arena just like Chick Hearn got for the Los Angeles Lakers in front of the Staples Center. Although, I’m not sure if it will ever happen considering that there aren’t any current statues outside of the Spectrum Center. Steve will be recognized at halftime of the team’s final home game. It won’t be the same without him going forward but what an incredible career.
Nic Batum among highest-paid French athletes (Sport.News.am)
"Charlotte Hornets basketball player Nicolas Batum (18.9 million) and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema (16.3 million) are also among the top five French highest-paid sportsmen."
Next: Chris Bosh challenges Dwight Howard
It’s crazy to think that Nicolas is the fourth-highest paid French athlete in the world behind only Paul Pogba (€22 million), Tony Parker (€19.7 million) and Antoine Griezmann (€19.1 million). Batum is the second-highest paid French basketball player in the world and will likely be the highest once Parker’s current contract ends at the end of the season. Looking at their salaries, Nic makes more than Tony but (most likely) because of endorsements and other incomes, Parker ranks higher than Batum.