MillionDollarCam

Add a few more to the mix. The Wolves roster will currently consist of some sort of combination of the below players. Forwards - Ryan Dzingel, Malte Stromwall, Mackenzie MacEachern, Lane Pederson, Jamieson Rees, Stelio Mattheos, Ryan Suzuki, Vasili Ponomarev, Noel Gunler, Blake Murray, Joseph LaBate (Wolves contract), Josh Melnick (Wolves contract), Eric Cooley (Wolves contract) Defensemen - Dylan Coghlan, William Lagesson, Max Lajoie, Cavan Fitzgerald, Ronan Seeley, Griffin Mendel (Wolves contract), David Farrance (Wolves contract) Goalies - Pyotr Kochetkov, Zach Sawchenko, Cale Morris (Wolves contract) Joey Keane, Jesper Sellgren, and Tarmo Reunanen have decided to go overseas. I’ve decided to remove Stefan Noesen from the above list because as of now he projects as Carolina’s 13th forward. That could change as the offseason progresses. Svech - Aho - Jarvis Patches - KK - Turbo Necas - Staal - Fast Marty - Drury - Kase Noesen I’ve decided to leave Coghlan on the list until Gardiner’s and Bear’s contract situations are resolved. That could also change depending the outcome of those two situations. Slavin - Burns Skjei - Pesce Gardiner - Bear Chatfield Andersen Raanta

I don’t think Bouknight was a waste of a lottery pick but I do feel like we might end up wasting him here. Earlier I mentioned that Golden State has become the model for how to develop and move on from players. They keep their stars, develop their young players, and either keep those young players if they become stars or replace them with younger players if they only develop into rotational players. Cody Martin’s best comparison is probably Gary Payton… what did Golden State let Gary Payton do… walk… who are they replacing him with… a younger player in Moses Moody (who was drafted just a couple picks after Bouknight). Additionally, they are going to do the same thing with Kuminga if he doesn’t become a star… and who is waiting in the wings… Patrick Baldwin. The bottom line is that the Hornets made a mistake paying Cody. I like Cody, but teams don’t progress by signing average players that they developed. They progress by signing the elite players that they have developed and letting the average players walk while replacing them with younger players in the draft. It sucks, but as soon as Martin was brought back, the writing was on the wall for Bouknight. I’m hoping that Martin becomes a 15/5/2 player for the Hornets because ultimately I think that’s the type of player Bouknight will become… I just think it will be with someone else. Once the dust has cleared on this Bridges situation, they should really consider trading Bouknight to upgrade the SF position in preparation for the inevitable Gordon Hayward injury.

Blessing is definitely an upgrade but for a team with our payroll… it’s looking more and more like Tepper is content with fielding an average MLS team that competes well but is towards the bottom in payroll to maximize profit. It’s becoming clear that he isn’t a competitive person in the form of athletics, he’s a business man and all that matters is the bottom dollar. I’d be shocked if we ever are top 15 in payroll.

So this is unfortunate but it looks like Wars might be on his way out. In reality, RBA should move out Jeff Daniels and move Wars up while letting Patty Dwyer become the HC of the Chicago Wolves… but it appears that the Canes organization is set to lose Wars.

Busio Blessing It’s a shame we missed out on Busio, having a potential member of the USMNT World Cup Roster patrolling the midfield would have been fantastic, not to mention he has roots in NC. Blessing is a decent consolation prize and deserves to start in the MLS but he’s behind a bunch of talent at LAFC. Unfortunately, Blessing probably doesn’t put us in the playoff discussion.

I’ve lasted through about 3 minutes while watching Joe Johnson and his team play against three other guys I’ve never heard of.

Officially waived… don’t see that too often, they couldn’t even loan him out.

I’m neither here nor there about it, I ultimately think backup PG is a need and I’d prefer Kemba over IT. I do also understand how our fans can be angry with the developmental trajectory of our young guys. I think Golden State has set the model where you have stars who are starters and then you have rookies or young players that come off the bench and contribute (Payton, Lee, Moody, JTA, Kuminga and occasionally Poole). When those young players contracts are up you replace them with new young players unless they turn into stars themselves (like Poole). I really don’t know what the Hornets model is, I guess it could be said that they should focus on their players not getting in trouble with the law first.

Well where exactly would you like Bouknight to develop at? Cause it isn’t going to be with the ball in his hands. Do we ship out Rozier and hope that Bouknight can become a 20ppg player? Martin is a good defender and because he plays better defense than Bouknight he will continue to block Bouknight from getting playing time… Kemba on the other hand won’t. Kemba is the ideal 3PG for the roster that we currently have. It’s really an apples and oranges situation as the players don’t play the same position.

He was and he is primarily a winger but he does have a decent amount of experience as an attacking midfielder. I guess my thought process is that we need a player of his caliber controlling our midfield. Bender, McNeill, and Alcivar are still young, Ruiz is a nice compliment in the midfield but he doesn’t look like a player that will truly control the midfield, and then obviously Bronico and occasionally Jones hold down the CDM position. I still think we are a solid left back, elite attacking midfielder, and elite winger away from being able to compete for a Supporters Shield or MLS Cup. It’s wild that we aren’t involved in any potential transfers at the moment with just over a week left in the window. I’m also with you regarding Hegardt, the match slips my mind but he came in as a substitute a while back and was a complete game changer every time he touched the ball. He nearly found McNeill for a goal.

Well Bouknight is a two-guard so there is no need to trade him, he averaged a whole 1.5 assists per game at UCONN. On the contrary, he probably would do really well beside Kemba because neither needs the other to get open shots. Additionally, teams are paying Kemba to leave because of his contract, not because he’s a bad player. He’s just not worth $10M a year anymore. Kemba would probably be looking at a vet minimum deal from the Hornets, something in the $2.5M to 3M range. If our fans want to get upset about Bouknight not playing then they need to be upset at Martin resigning, not the potential addition of Kemba. But theoretically the roster would look something like: G - Ball, Walker G - Rozier, Martin, Bouknight, McGowens (two-way) F - Hayward, Oubre, McDaniels F - Washington, Thor, Jones C - Plumlee, Williams, Richards That leaves one more roster spot and one more two-way contract available. And in a strange situation, the Hornets could even bring back IT as well should they move out someone like Richards or McDaniels. Obviously IT would only play if there was an injury and he’d be purely a locker room guy. Anywho, Bouknight was probably blocked from getting meaningful minutes as soon as Martin re-upped, he’s simply not a point guard. He’s got a unique skillset to create his own shot and he’s pretty good off the ball but he isn’t going to run an NBA offense.

Dzingel added on a two-way contract, he looks to be headed to Chicago. Add him to the list. Forwards - Stefan Noesen, Ryan Dzingel, Malte Stromwall, Mackenzie MacEachern, Lane Pederson, Jamieson Rees, Stelio Mattheos, Ryan Suzuki, Vasili Ponomarev, Noel Gunler, Blake Murray, Joseph LaBate (Wolves contract), Josh Melnick (Wolves contract)

We don’t have a third point guard and the Hornets aren’t the type of team that trots out a young point guard as their 3PG. The only time I can remember the Hornets/Bobcats using a rookie or second year player as their 3PG would be when they had Sherron Collins and Cory Higgins.

I had no idea he was playing in the big 3 lol. That’s wild considering he doesn’t really have the body type to keep playing at a high level as he gets older.

If Clifford has any say whatsoever then Kemba will be back in Charlotte.

I think the Hornets will, even down to putting LiAngelo on the main roster in a couple of years.

It was a terrible signing. Unfortunately the Hornets got caught up wanting to sign the best player in a horrible free agency class. It set the team back. Now the only way to move forward is to trade him or wait until his deal expires.

I mean it’s not the Hornets fault that Bridges decided to be a fool. At this point they are stuck until Hayward comes off the books.

If Melo is not on this team in seven years time then the Hornets either swapped him for another star or they got a poo ton back for him in a trade… think the Rudy Gobert trade… four first rounders and a bunch of prospects.

Lol this is a dumb argument on your part… player driven or not teams don’t give players away. Melo has no leverage to force his way out without the Hornets getting an absolute haul back. Give me an example of an RFA forcing their way out without the team who has their rights getting a poo ton back.

If you know basketball then you know it’s not exactly easy for an RFA to leave. He’d have to force his way out… see DeAndre Ayton who couldn’t get out of PHX even after IND presented him with a massive contract. Hell, see Gordon Hayward who wanted out of Utah and we tried to help him get out… it didn’t work. He’ll be in Charlotte for a minimum of another seven years and if he’s not it’s because Charlotte got another star for him in a trade. It’s not like they will lose him for nothing.

I’m still not sure why Kemba gets a bunch of hate from Knicks fans… 1) Their team is ass, 2) Did they really think they were going to get a 20/8/5 player at this point in Kenna’s career? I’d be happy if Kemba could give us the same numbers that he gave New York last year.

I actually like Thor, I think he showed what he can do in the last summer league game. If you put him in a lineup with Ball, Mitchell, and Washington then he’ll draw the easiest assignment and I think he’d take advantage. Really, the only player that I’d be concerned about getting meaningful minutes is Kai, he still needs another year of development. Richards might fall into that group as well but at this point he is what he is. I’ll withhold judgment on Richards until I see him against other NBA players in preseason. Ultimately, I’d be fine playing small ball to start the game then adjusting to matchups as the game goes on. Starters - Ball, Mitchell, Rozier, Washington, Plumlee Rotational - Kemba, Beasley, Martin, Thor, McDaniels, Williams, Richards Bench - McGowens, Jones If Bridges somehow doesn’t get jail time then try to trade him for a depth SF. It probably wouldn’t be a game changing player but it’s better than having Bridges on the roster.

The Wolves roster will currently consist of some sort of combination of the below players. Forwards - Stefan Noesen, Malte Stromwall, Mackenzie MacEachern, Lane Pederson, Jamieson Rees, Stelio Mattheos, Ryan Suzuki, Vasili Ponomarev, Noel Gunler, Blake Murray, Joseph LaBate (Wolves contract), Josh Melnick (Wolves contract) Defensemen - Dylan Coghlan, William Lagesson, Max Lajoie, Cavan Fitzgerald, Ronan Seeley, Griffin Mendel Goalies - Pyotr Kochetkov, Zach Sawchenko Joey Keane, Jesper Sellgren, and Tarmo Reunanen have decided to go overseas.

RFA, Stelio Mattheos is officially back.