"Dwayne Bacon said the best fit for him is to go elsewhere.
He said he’s been in Charlotte three years and he has a lot of respect for MJ and the front office but it’s best for him to present himself to a new opportunity."
Best of luck to him where he goes. Seems that won’t be here.
Another missed trade opportunity. ASSuming he wasn’t shopped around, it is like with cho gone, the front office sits on terminal assets until well after their expiration dates
I think with the addition of the Martin twins he got lost in the shuffle.
Ah, such is the life of the local endangered species, the rare and fragile Hornet 2nd rounder.
They almost had me this time. Got my hopes up unreasonably before for Derrick Brown and Jeff Taylor. Bacon had started to look like a piece…but then you realize with the lifespan of a non-essential worker bee, wasn’t meant to…be.
Guess it shows just how much the mental part of the game separates people at the highest level. Has the body, enough athleticism, and fundamentals to be a good player. I don’t know what his mental block was after looking decent early on. Maybe the knee issue, maybe having the twin power coming on fast behind him.
Chef, while I’d normally agree on the front offices lack of foresight on team assets, I think it was worth holding on to him for this season because his trajectory was still going up. I don’t think anyone really foresaw such a precipitous decline, to the point he didn’t really have any trade value by the deadline.
I’m with you QC, I can’t imagine a window where he looked enough like trade material for others and didn’t look like keeper material here. Best of luck to him. He was worth the time put in even if it didn’t work out.
Nice to see all you guys again. I feel like he got a nice chance hear in Charlotte. Other teams might not give him as big of a chance. He might have a hard time just making a roster.
Don’t think Bacon has ever had much value
No one is going to trade for a player that went from a starter on a team basically gifting minutes to a G-Leaguer. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him in Orlando, Cliff liked him a lot when he was here.
As far as the rest of the roster, I hope to see turnover at the center position behind Cody. A trade for a veteran wing player into cap space with a protected 1st coming with him for one of our expirings, and more quality bench support with consistent knock down shooting.
Malik really needs to find his shot. As much as I love him, he got better off the bounce but shooting around 30 percent from 3 just ain’t gonna cut it. Rozier shot 41 percent and he wasn’t known for that proficiency so he needs to get it or get gone.
Speaking of Rozier, he was better than expected. I don’t know if him and Devonte are the future together, but he’s going to be a nice trade piece if they decide to go for a big 2 in the backcourt to develop.
PJ and Miles, I would love to see them develop some 2 man game stuff. I love PJ saying he wants to work on his ballhandling, that’s the next step when teams run him off the line from 3.
But same thing for Miles, we still need guys who can get a bucket on their own when things break down.
The elusive superstar, I mean we developed Kemba over time. People seem to think no one on this roster can be that, so the only way is a trade or the draft.
I think draft wise, they keep saying the best talent, but I think you really have to analyze pressure minutes on both offense and defense and see how these kids perform, plus the natural offensive ability. It’s hard man but maybe we get this one right.
Trading for one is much harder - you almost have to look for someone like Rozier - a breakout candidate with opportunity - or find a mid-tier guy and give them the latitude to see if there’s more there. Both are risky, especially if we give up draft capital, but if they are serious about adding talent, you gotta pay for it.
I wasn’t thinking of him as a desired trade piece per say but as another way to package expiring and cheap money for more expensive money and an asset.
Although… Has anyone examined the hornets position in the new cap numbers? Perhaps one of the teams with the most favorable future?
It seems a lot of people think Brandon Ingram should be the target we cash our chips in with. So the questions are, is this as good a player as we can hope to get with any cap room we ever get? Will this short change our “rebuilding” plans, where we become a playoff team, but hover around the 5-6-7 seed for the life of his contract, and never getting a chance to get a high lottery pick?
Or does he slot in perfectly with Graham, Miles, and PJ, creating a nice core that we can build around, or give us the opportunity to flip one of Miles/PJ for more roster balance? And I’m assuming bringing Ingram on will have to coincide with moving Rozier in the near future.
I would say that Ingram checks all of our boxes, good shooter, good passer, solid defender, length to defend multiple positions. Pushes the ball up the court in transition. Improving and still hasn’t peaked.
Rozier would have to go by next seasons end. And I think a rather quick and decisive decision will be needed on devonte. Does he improve over his weaknesses or is he looking to be a Lou Williams type? If you think it is the latter, you need to move him before paying him. The team just doesn’t need that at this point.
I would go for Ingram, he played high school and college ball in NC so I think there’s a chance.
Other than that, the only other big name free agent I’d maybe consider is Montrez for the right price. Mitchell Robinson could also be a possible trade target for us.
Ingram is the kind of guy you have to take a chance on, but at the same time they don’t seem to be looking to do that just yet either.
They have tried before in the Cho era, first with Gordon Hayward before Utah matched, then we settled for Lance Stephenson who obviously didn’t work out. But those were talent acquisition moves at that time.
Most likely it’s going to come in the form of a trade, so you gotta look at a good player probably on a contender who is close to the tax. Someone go look at Spotrac and respond. Lol
Nic will pick up his option - a 99% probability prior to the current year, but picked up that extra 1% with the impact to the season.
with the fall of the cap, nic will be lucky if his next 3 year deal will equal 24 mil total
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out of the league once his contract expires.
Not me. I feel like PJ’s upside is a lot higher than most think. I can easily see him being top 3 at his position within 2 seasons’ time. Honestly, Kemba was great but a bit overrated in terms his actual impact on the court. He was an average passer for a PG and a high volume scorer. He also has never really shown the ability to play at his best while within the flow of an offense, i.e., without dominating the ball. I wish we would wait and see what we actually have before we start throwing away talent in shortsighted trades (see how much each players grows after a season as starters). Even Miles I feel is underrated by most fans.
Edit: I should clarify, I’m not necessarily saying either one will become a “superstar” of the Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, etc caliber but I think at least PJ can become elite at the PF position (22-25ppg, 8 rpg, and 3 apg plus great defense). Outside Anthony Davis or Zion there aren’t many outstanding 4’s in the league.
I love PJ. He’s a great player and has passing vision well beyond what most expected recalling the draft and seems like a great young man and I can heap praises on for a while. I’ll be super happy if he can become top 2-3 PFs in the SE Div in the next 2 seasons however. That becomes doubly difficult if no Hornet sees a court in meaningful competition for 9 months. I think there’s a ton of talent at that position in the NBA.
If it makes you feel any better PJ, Miles and Devonte have been posting videos training together almost daily
