As the NBA season gets started, Bill Simmons seems to be jumping aboard the Charlotte Hornets' bandwagon with his latest comments. The thing is, I'm not so sure the fanbase is super eager to bring him on board their bandwagon considering his history of speaking about the franchise.
Bill's comments from one of his latest shows are as follows: "The heart wants what the heart wants, and my eyes kept drifting towards Charlotte. It's just a delightful League Pass team ... I like [Ryan] Kalkbrenner. I'm just going on the record. I think he's a real NBA player. I think he's a 30-minutes-a-game big guy."
Walker Mehl and Doug Branson of the Locked On Hornets podcast had what I would consider to be the perfect response to these comments from Simmons. "So you're not a big fan of Bill Simmons wanting to hop on the Charlotte Hornets' bandwagon after all of the comments he's hurled our way before?" Mehl asked Branson.
"Well, that's the problem," Branson responded. "I don't want to get stuck in the mud here, but I'll just say quickly here, this man has called for the extinction of this franchise. So no, I'm not going to suddenly be like, 'oh, thank you, thank you for liking us this year.'
The Hornets are more than a "fun League Pass team"
"And also, I think when people say, 'that's a fun League Pass team,' I'm just over it. I don't want the Hornets to be a League Pass team. I want the Hornets to be a playoff team. I don't want to be, 'oh, you're so fun. It's so fun to hang out with you.'
"No. I want them to be a playoff team. I want them to be the team that you date. That you marry. That you take to the playoffs. That's the team that I want them to be. I want them to be feared. I don't want people to say the Hornets are fun, I want people to say the Hornets are scary."
As funny as this might have sounded from Branson, I think he totally hits the nail on the head. The Hornets have been getting called "a fun League Pass team" ever since 2021 when the LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges lob dunks began to dominate social media.
Charlotte has long been thought of as a team that plays a fun style and is entertaining to watch when they're fully healthy. The thing is, this team now has much higher aspirations than simply making a lot of highlights. They have the personnel and system to win a lot of games and be highly competitive this season.
If national analysts like Bill Simmons want to hop on the Hornets' bandwagon now, they're more than welcome to do so. But fans in Charlotte have heard plenty of backhanded compliments directed at their team in recent years. They're ready to see their team achieve a lot more than just being anointed as a group that's fun to watch.