Yeah, that’s why for me I can’t be but so critical of the front office. I get that its a results driven business and the last couple of years have been brutal for this organization. I’m not going to shed a tear if/when Kupchak is gone but I think he’s done as much as I would reasonably expect with the hand he’s been dealt.
I think the lion’s share of the blame for our demise lies with Miles and that’s evident with the impact he’s had since he’s returned. Prior to his poor off the court decisions, we were considered ahead of schedule with back to back play-in appearances. When you remove the leading scorer and a top talent from the mix on that team of course its going to be a setback. Many place blame for not pivoting from him immediately and okay I get that if we’re arguing from a moral standpoint but if we’re talking about on the court results, can someone please explain to me who was sitting out there realistically available to us that we could/should have gotten to replace the level of production Miles provides and what would the cost have been to get them when most agree we don’t have so much talent assets to begin with? Teams aren’t just giving away players that talented. The opportunity has to be available and most of the players that are made available are devalued for a reason and most people would find a fault or flaw with them (i.e. Lavine).
In my opinion, at best we were looking at adding a marginally talented role player that was overpaid and we’d have given up assets to get them. We’d have given up cap flexibility. They may have added a few more wins but they wouldn’t have replaced Miles’ talent or production. Plus we weren’t’ in need of role players as much as we were in need of star power particularly losing Miles who was 2nd closest to a star at the time. From an ON COURT STANDPOINT, I don’t see any better contingency than to wait on Miles at the time that decision was made.
Then came the overwhelming rash of Injuries that took away almost all of your main rotation including your only star player for the majority of the season. Again, the blame is not having made moves to have the talent in place to win despite the injuries. But I ask, how many NBA teams are built to sustain winning with the amount and longevity of injuries we endured last year? What happened to the Warriors when they were without Steph and Clay for a season. They were in the lottery with a #2 pick. What happened to Memphis with Ja and Adams out of the lineup this year? They’re the worst team in the league. You can go thru almost all teams in the league and take away 5 or 6 of their top rotation players and you will find their genius GMs have not constructed a roster that can sustain winning.
Yeah, we missed bad on the Bouknight / Kai draft but what GM hasn’t. The great Bob Myers who built a dynasty took Wiseman over Melo and Haliburton. No GM has gotten all their picks right but I’ve agreed with our picks under Mitch for the most part. Especially Brandon!
And that’s the biggest thing for me about why being patient and not rushing to make a trade or overpay for a marginal vet in the state that we were in is because as painful as last season was, it was required and absolutely worth the price to get "It's Miller Time!". Whatever losing it took to get him on this team, it was well worth it. The kid paired with Melo and Mark for years to come is going to be special.
Bottom line for me, Miles’ poor off court decisions are what derailed us. And while I would never have wished for the circumstances that caused it (suspension and injuries), I’m thankful for the silver lining that it netted us Brandon and finally a legit young core to build around. If you could have added Miles’ talent/production (on court only) to that core on a discounted contract you’re set up really well for success for years to come.
I mean, the post George Shinn franchise has drafted so horribly overall that Mitch’s picks have been a breath of fresh air, even with the Bouknight/Kai miss that one year. And Bouknight had huge value on draft night. Many fans would’ve been enraged if we hadn’t selected him.
Edit: And folks can call Mitch a dinosaur, but he was talking about positionless basketball right from the start, and how Miles Bridges fit into that. Mile’s low length measurables would’ve put him in 'tweener status with a lot of old world GMs.
It’s the desperation big free agent deals of the last 10 years. It’s the roster killing resignings. It’s the failure to make a team that can deal with injuries. It’s not having capable back up point guards. It’s trading firsts for 2nds and 2nds for cash.
Most of all it is horrible luck which isn’t a GM fault.
100%. This was the single most impactful thing that has altered our trajectory, far more than any personnel decision made by the FO. I have been critical of the FO around a couple of decisions. For me, the Duren trade and not re-signing Oubre are the two that stand out, but on the whole I think they have done a solid job, and an above average job in the draft, particularly mining second round talent.
What big FAs have we signed in the past 10 years though? I guess the Big Al signing, which I would view as a great acquisition that led to two playoff appearances. And Hayward, which on its face wasn’t terrible. We were trying to win and we took our shot so I actually appreciated our effort to be competitive. But obviously in hindsight it didn’t work out since he could never stay healthy. I didn’t love having to stretch Batum to get that done, but even still I don’t think the Hayward signing crippled us. We’ve still managed to stash talent while getting a mini-taste of the postseason since he’s been here.
In terms of consistency, or lack thereof, I’d say Hayward would be the person best suited for a back up role. I too would like to see Miller remain a starter, but slow starts have been our undoing this year. Moving Terry to the bench doesn’t help that.
Yes Hayward should be going to the bench for sure. But we know Miller will be. I think a bench role would be perfect to preserve Haywards legs which are obviously not there every night.
I also would rather start Miles at PF because he is just more productive at PF.
Okay, to respond to myself like a doofus. More context here, apparently Melo has just been using tape on his ankle-with no brace.
Yikes. I’m guessing Melo is going to be out for a while here. Several weeks (or so?). During that time he needs to be wearing ankle braces all day to get used to them and finding different shoes. It’s just irresponsible man.
This is just such a good example of where this team needs an “adult” in the locker room and leadership from higher up the organization. A 22 year old like Lamelo needs a heavy hand from the team internally about how to manage this and what he needs to do to keep his ankle together. With the hornets being a PROFESSIONAL sports franchise, Melo should have infinite selections of ankle braces to try and options.
Throwing tape on a surgically repaired ankle ain’t it man.
Sure, ankles braces aren’t comfortable or “cool”, but missing huge amounts of games while you’ve signed a super max deal isn’t “cool” or comfortable for your team either. Insane to me.
This is just frustrating beyond belief. We finally got Miles back after a year and a half and he’s looked great. Finally got Terry back after 3 weeks and he looked great. We finally have a legitimate max level player in Lamelo who was playing out of his mind. The 3 of them were all active and available for the first time since April of 2022 and they got to share the court together for 15 minutes before Lamelo is hurt again. And now it looks like he’ll be out for weeks (at least) during which time we can expect to get zero updates on his status and will be provided no timetable for his return. I think we all deserve reparations for being Hornets fans.
Melo for some reason being allowed to play without an ankle brace reflects poorly on the hornets. Cliff isn’t going to say anything about it. We all know he’s a “who is available to play tonight” mentality. We need organizational leadership and need adult, grown men leaders in the locker room.
They just signed Melo to a super max deal. Dude has bad ankles and a recent surgically repaired one. Melo simply cannot have the option to say “eh whatever” about the ankle brace.
Sorry if that’s forceful, but it’s the new responsibility of being a 200m dollar player. You can’t let the team down because ankle braces aren’t cool and take time to adjust to.
I feel bad for Melo, but I’m also upset with his decision making and the powers at be that let this go.
And sorry if this makes me sound like I’m 80 years old, but I fully believe his shoes play a role in the ankle stuff. Change shoes dude.
