Life After the Pink Cloud
Something historic just happened for the Charlotte Hornets. It gave us all, as well as the larger NBA media and fans, a solid dopamine rush of excitement and potential. For a week, I listened to various major NBA podcasts/analysts discuss topics such as, “is Charlotte this years Indiana Pacers?” and, “Can Charlotte make a run in the playoffs?” All of it was surreal. The Hornets were in the national spotlight.
I ate that shit up and savored every fucking second of it. And also…
A popular term in substance use recovery settings is the “pink cloud.” It’s an analogy that refers to the excitement during the stretch of early sobriety that feels like a dopamine rush. While in it, the present moment feels exciting, the future possibilities feel endless, and problems seem long and gone. For some, there’s a feeling of invincibility that leads to them taking their foot off the hard earned, sobriety gas pedal, and defenses go down. And then, reality (aka life) kicks in. The hard work doesn’t stop after a few months of success, because the challenges of life are endless. In short, I did not do a write up during this historic stretch of the Hornets run. I was too busy, tired, and just didn’t have the energy. Now that the euphoric “pink cloud” phase of the Hornets run has dissipated a bit, it feels like a good time to jot some thoughts down. Reality has kicked back in a bit.
It’s been an exciting three months for the Charlotte Hornets hasn’t it? At some point, I’d like to go back and create a collection of the truly absurd statistics and analytics that emerged from that run. To catalogue it for Hornets history, as well as make a stash of the historic stats, ratings, and analytics to break out when we all need a boost. We’re not only unfamiliar with good things happening-we’re completely unfamiliar with great things happening. That stretch was truly great and I won’t revisit it here, but the remaining question in my mind is, “okay, so what’s next after the pink cloud has worn off?”
When I think about the future, my mind is drawn to an unlikely subject: Can Moussa be the true starting center for the hornets over the next 4-5 years? Is this just a great story or is there more meat on the bone? I know he’s signed for two more years at a paltry 2.6m. I know the starting 5 of Melo, Kon, Miller, Bridges, Moussa set records and was rated number one in net rating for a long stretch. So that I’m not crucified here, in no way am I directly comparing the two in terms of talent, but can Moussa Diabate be the Hornets Ben Wallace? First off, Ben Wallace is a Hall of Famer. Second, Big Ben has about 30 pounds on Moussa. Regardless, they’re both physical specimens, are rebounding savants, and gritty defenders.
As the Hornets look to build on the recent revival, how do they continue to build and upgrade? I’m rarely ever short of ideas and strong opinions (that are usually never wrong of course), but I’m truly unsure about Diabate. But I’ll dabble at least. Say that we cement Moussa into the starting center slot long term. Where else do the Hornets make the improvements? To me, Miles Bridges is the obvious answer, but again, I’m still stuck as to who to fill that slot.
I’ll start with NBA archetypes: Rasheed Wallace. Hornets need a gritty PF that can play defense and shoot. Given that Moussa is the center, modern NBA requires four shooters around him. Can you imagine a center and power forward duo of Moussa and prime Rasheed Wallace? If there was a Rasheed type PF out there, it’s a bit irrelevant due to the Hornets salary cap reality.
Melo will be making 40m+ starting next season. After this following 2026/27 season, Brandon Miller is going to command a huge salary beginning in the 45m range and will escalate from there each season. That’s Melo and Miller combining for 90m as a duo. Kon is going to have a huge deal after the 2028/29 season, which is also the final year of Melo’s deal. (Note for later: this timing will be a very interesting salary cap story to unfold if the Melo, Kon, Miller trio is still together)
Lastly, Coby White was brought onboard to be re-signed this offseason. I don’t see a world where he makes less than 30m per season. Three years, 100 million? I’d imagine he wants a four year deal. Four years, 120 million? If you haven’t noticed, the Hornets salary cap management will be a delicate dance.
This leads us back to the original questions: Is Moussa the center of the future moving forward? How to upgrade the power forward position?
Given the context of the Hornets salary cap dance stated above: 1) Moussa must continue to grow and prove to be a starting level, viable center moving forward and Kalkbrenner to be a trustworthy enough backup. 2) In order to improve the Bridges PF slot, I cannot imagine a world in which Charlotte obtains a star level salaried PF due to their salary cap realities. I think the replacement Bridges PF must come from the draft, and the Hornets front office knows this as well. Two guiding tenets moving forward:
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The Hornets will roll the dice and believe that Moussa is the starting center for the next 4 years.
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The Hornets will use their ammo of draft capital to move up in the 2026 draft to one of: Cameron Boozer, Caleb Wilson, or AJ Dybantsa. Is this going to be costly? Oh yeah, very. You know, unless the Hornets somehow end up with a lottery pick positioned to draft one of those three. The moment the new Hornets ownership and front office arrived, they began the arduous journey to accrue draft capital as the very savvy, misers they proven to be. I’d say this draft would be the time to unload some of it in order to secure the potential young PF of the future.
Anyways. Or they could do none of that.