# Charlotte Hornets Offseason thread



## Diable

We are going to have a significant amount of capspace, but I am not sure what we can really do with it.​


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## Bogg

The offseason I'd like to see Charlotte have:

1) *Trade Biyombo, one of Neal or Henderson, and the Portland pick for Jeff Green plus a future second-rounder, if you can get it*. Anyone who watched them all season already knew it, but the Miami series really exposed how badly the Bobcats need more offensive firepower. It's also difficult to build a roster as long as you're committed to Kidd-Gilchrist as a starting forward, because then you _have_ to have a perimeter threat at power forward, and Miami completely ignoring him on defense hurt the team all series. You can be relatively certain that Green will step in next year, give you around 15 points a night, and shoot spot-up threes well enough that he has to be guarded. As an added bonus, Green's big enough to spend some time at power forward as the kind of guy you need between Jefferson and MKG. Biyombo doesn't figure to get major court time for as long as Al's in Charlotte and Zeller figures to be able to soak up the backup center minutes, while item #2 is going to render one of Neal/Henderson expendable. 

2) *Sign Lance Stephenson.* People are obviously very down on him in the wake of how the Pacers have collapsed (although they aren't dead yet), but I see it as creating a buy-low opportunity for a franchise that doesn't have the luxury of assuming they can simply sign the next guy instead. There's a real possibility of Lance leaving Indiana with a chip on his shoulder from being scapegoated and wanting to prove doubters wrong, like what happened with Rudy Gay in Sacramento. I don't mind committing a high annual salary to him if you build in a team-friendly escape clause in case he starts making trouble. Using the contract Cleveland gave Bynum as inspiration, I'm thinking something like a three-year deal with the last season fully non-guaranteed and, if you can get him to agree to it, the second season only partially-guaranteed (although that might be pushing it). 

3) *Bring back McRoberts.* He's almost certainly going to opt out of a contract that pays him less than $3 million next year, and he makes a number of things much, much easier for Kemba and Al. He's openly stated that he wants to stay in Charlotte and he'd struggle to find a better on-court situation for himself, so you won't have to overpay to keep him around. Finding a fair number shouldn't be too difficult. 

4) *Try to bring back Douglas-Roberts* as your fifth swingman. He was a pleasant surprise this season and his improved three-point shot makes him a useful bench player. I don't think there's going to be much of a market for him in free agency, so if he'd come cheap I'd love to have him back. I'd give Anthony Tolliver a minimum deal for the same reason. 

5)* Address the backup point guard situation. *One of Pargo/Ridnour can stick around as the third-stringer, but they aren't cutting it as the backup. There isn't going to be a lot of money to do so in this theoretical, and trading the first-rounder makes it harder. This is probably one of those scenarios where you have to find someone overlooked in either the second round or as an afterthought in free agency. Something needs to happen, though.


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## Diable

We pretty much have to pay McBob, but it's really hard to say what he's worth. Nothing more than 5 million over a short term I'd hope. Lance Stephenson is a ****ing moron and there's not any cure for it, no way in hell I'd want to pay him what he's likely to get. I've been through that shit with Stephen Jackson, don't want to watch a team where I actively hate the guy who thinks he's the best player on the team. 

We aren't likely to give up on MKG, dude needs to move in with Mark Price and get real familiar with the short corner three-ball. If he wants to ever be more than a defensive roleplayer he has to have that shot. 

Ideally it would be great if we could come up with a guy who could move Kemba to the bench. He's pretty much destined to play a Jamal Crawford role on a good team. He'd be terrific if that was what you were using him for, but it's hard to see how you get someone better than him to run the team and take those shots. Same thing goes for Gerald Henderson, although I could see him getting a bit better, he's both a good all around guard and not good enough to play the role he's playing. You would ideally want to get 25 minutes per night from him.

Truth is I would listen to offers for Big Al if there was a market for him. Making a team that can do what we did last year or maybe make it to the Second Round is not what I want. If someone wants to give you a good price for a guy who just had a terrific year, I'd listen to them. There's no one on this roster I'm so in love with that I wouldn't be willing to trade them for the right price.


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## Diable

Wow we got all that capspace and there's not a lot we can do with it that makes sense, not unless we get into some sort of sign and trade where we facilitate something like a Melo or a Lebron S&T. Greg Monroe is an RFA and although I thought it was crazy when I read it, David Falk is going to talk someone into giving him a Max Offer Sheet. I guess that could be us honestly, it's not a totally illogical move even if I don't care much for the idea.

After that the only interesting UFA's are Luol Deng and Greivous Vasquez. Deng seems to have been totally lost in Cleveland, but we are running the sort of system he'd be good in. If the price was right, maybe I could see that, but I doubt the price will be right. 

Vasquez makes a lot of sense though. He is the anti-Kemba and he's big enough that you could play the two of them together with Vasquez guarding the 2. You could do something with Henderson or you could have the three of them split the minutes pretty evenly. Of course Vasquez is probably going to get a pretty nice offer in that he's a useful player and there's not a lot of that to go around this off season.


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## Bogg

Diable said:


> Ideally it would be great if we could come up with a guy who could move Kemba to the bench. He's pretty much destined to play a Jamal Crawford role on a good team. He'd be terrific if that was what you were using him for, but it's hard to see how you get someone better than him to run the team and take those shots.


I mean, it'd be nice to be able to use him in a "Jason Terry in Dallas" kind of role, but I don't think it'd happen by way of the Hornets getting a better point guard. It seems more logical if it happened by way of landing an elite scorer at one of the 2-4 positions and wanting to space the minutes on offense. Otherwise, if you're getting an all-NBA point guard, it seems like you'd get more value out of Kemba trading him unless said point guard can also guard swingmen. 



Diable said:


> Truth is I would listen to offers for Big Al if there was a market for him. Making a team that can do what we did last year or maybe make it to the Second Round is not what I want. If someone wants to give you a good price for a guy who just had a terrific year, I'd listen to them. There's no one on this roster I'm so in love with that I wouldn't be willing to trade them for the right price.


See, this I totally disagree with. If somebody came to the plate with a hugely above-market offer for him (say, the Lakers winning on lottery night and offering a top-3 pick for him), sure you have to think about it, but blowing up the team as soon as they start having some modicum of success would be a huge kick in the teeth to the players and fan base. People treat being good-but-not-great as the worst possible thing a team can be, but that's totally off-base so long as you have the flexibility to make further moves. Building up a track record of competence and assembling a solid supporting cast puts you in play for big free agents and trade targets down the line. 

It's why I want to use a mixture of the cap space, some of the younger guys, and the Portland pick to swing on one or two buy-low opportunities who can help right away. That leaves Charlotte with all of their own first-rounders and the lightly-protected Pistons pick going forward, which would at least put their name in the hat the next time a star comes available, as opposed to doing something like meeting Orlando's high price for Afflalo and paying Trevor Ariza for contract year production. 



Diable said:


> Wow we got all that capspace and there's not a lot we can do with it that makes sense, not unless we get into some sort of sign and trade where we facilitate something like a Melo or a Lebron S&T. Greg Monroe is an RFA and although I thought it was crazy when I read it, David Falk is going to talk someone into giving him a Max Offer Sheet. I guess that could be us honestly, it's not a totally illogical move even if I don't care much for the idea.
> 
> After that the only interesting UFA's are Luol Deng and Greivous Vasquez. Deng seems to have been totally lost in Cleveland, but we are running the sort of system he'd be good in. If the price was right, maybe I could see that, but I doubt the price will be right.
> 
> Vasquez makes a lot of sense though. He is the anti-Kemba and he's big enough that you could play the two of them together with Vasquez guarding the 2. You could do something with Henderson or you could have the three of them split the minutes pretty evenly. Of course Vasquez is probably going to get a pretty nice offer in that he's a useful player and there's not a lot of that to go around this off season.


Monroe would only work if MKG is moved to the bench. That the problem with Kidd-Gilchrist, you're required to have a stretch-four on the court with him and Al at all times or your offense is in serious trouble. I don't have a problem with Monroe in theory, but he also probably doesn't work that well with Jefferson, either. Greg will be a good player for someone, but between Al's slow feet and MKG's broken jumper Charlotte doesn't seem like a great fit. 

Deng is interesting. The mileage on his body absolutely scares me, as does his reported contract demands, but he'd work with what the team does defensively, he's a solid character guy, and he'd upgrade the outside shooting at the small forward spot from "disastrous" to "not great, but workable". Ultimately this isn't where I'd go with the free agent money, but I'd understand Cho's rationale if it happened. 

Vasquez is a guy I'd like for Charlotte only if they have money left over after making one major upgrade and taking care of the other housecleaning, like bringing back McRoberts. Also, for what it's worth, he's a RFA but Toronto's probably going to be sinking a good deal of money into Lowry, so he'll probably still be available. I like the idea of moving Kemba off the ball for stretches, but that's also another reason I'm so willing to gamble on Stephenson. I completely agree that it _could_ go poorly, but Lance's size and ability to act as a secondary distributor could make him a perfect fit next to Kemba. Vazquez or Shaun Livingston could fill the same type of role, as could one of the Harrison twins when they declare, but the two former aren't nearly as good as Stephenson can be and the two latter are long-term ideas at best.


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## Wilt_The_Stilt

I think they should trade Henderson, 9, and 24 for Afflalo and the number 12. Gives them a versatile wing who can shoot.

That would leave about $17 mil to split between a PF and SF plus a room exception to get a backup point guard. The question is who to go after at each spot. 

At the 4 spot you are looking at guys like Ed Davis, Patrick Patterson, Jordan Hill, or McRoberts. 

Davis is the best defender, but his offensive game needs work. Patterson is the best shooter, but doesn't offer rim protection or great rebounding. Hill is a very good rebounder, but is injury prone and doesn't have much offense. McRoberts is the most versatile and has the familiarity factor, but is a little older like Hill, and I get the sense he is near his peak.

At the 3 spot you are looking at Ariza or Deng. Luol would seem to fit the culture well, but seems to have struggled lately, especially with the 3 ball. Ariza is the ideal 3 and D guy, if you trust his contract year production.

For the backup point guard spot I'd look at Steve Blake for the Room Exception. 

With the 12th pick I'd look at guys like Stauskas, Harris, Hood, and Young.

Throw in a vet min guy like Tolliver, and a 2nd round pick to fill out the roster and you have the makings of a solid playoff team.


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## Bogg

Given that Orlando's already stocked with plenty of youth, I don't think they're looking to have three first-rounders in this draft on top of it all. I just don't know where they would come up with the playing time to develop them all.


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## 29380

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/477305369329287168

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/477305931676413952


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## 29380

*Hornets now considering signing Lance Stephenson
*


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## Diable

We signed Jason Maxiell to an unguaranteed deal. He gets a chance to compete for a roster spot.

Bonnell casually mentions that we're talking to Kemba about a contract extension, but it does not seem as though it's more than that. Kemba is a very difficult case and I doubt that it's in his interest to sign a deal right now


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## Free A-Mo

You'd think this thread would be popping with all the excitement over the Hornets being back


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## RollWithEm

I'm still curious to see how Steve Clifford juggles this rotation.


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