bLACKpANTHER

never seen a post match the poster's name so well.. kudos

OP said he has started every game for WAS since 2015... so either him or you are lying.. also - im not interested enough to fact check - so fug you both..

If Melo can add some bulk - WOW - he will be a force going to the basket.. I love his body control and the way he would not shy away from the contact - but rather lean into the defenders, bounce off them and still have the control to finish.. it wasn't bully-ball LeBron move - more like a PG13 strong-finesse move.. and even if he didn't finish, he can knock down clutch FTs (76%).. that is music to my ears.. it's why I always say "In Mitch I Trust".. as frustrating as a season this was and pissed that we didn't obtain a center at the deadline - or truly make the playoffs - I understand that there is ZERO possibility we'll be a legit title contender for at least 2-3 more seasons.. shortsighted teams that have been bad for a long time, get a sniff of success and make a quick move to get them over the hump but forfeit long term success.. Giannis, Embiid and Brooklyn aren't going anywhere.. if we really want to compete with them, we have to think long term.. adding an Allstar Big to this roster will help a lot, but the roster needs more than just a quick fix.. the fact is we are a lottery team that overachieved OR at best 6-8 seed that had a tough time with injuries.. we still need to make 2-3 perfect roster moves and I think we can contend - if we make 1 bad roster move - we right back in the lottery.. we are one of the youngest teams in the league and have a lot of upside.. but i agree we do need vet players - and not the Wanamaker/Biz type who have just been journeymen.. legit players we can turn to in crunchtime and down the stretch of a season.. obviously, in that way, Hayward was so sorely missed..

After we beat the Cards to make it to the Super Bowl and Jim Nance is interviewing players before we are awarded the NFC trophy.. he gets to Cam and gives some long drawn out question hoping for Cam to answer.. the mic is put in front of Cam and all he says is "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" - and the crowd goes crazy... i smile just thinking about it and obvi: X-Clown vs STL Deshaun's run vs PHI Olsen's catch vs SEA Rosario's catch vs SD not so obvi: Tre Boston's Pick 6 vs ATL to put us in the playoffs Guy falling on the field after Luke's Pick 6 vs SEA Norman's game saving INT in endzone vs HOU Stewart's 1st game (preseason) long TD run vs WAS

[GEEEEZUZ.. I didn't realize I wrote this much but if you give it the time - I appreciate it..] After an frustrating but very exciting at times season - it's time to do what we Hornets fans are best at - looking forward to the future and assess the current roster and figure out where we need to improve and what dead weight we can get rid or and if there are any splash trades that could be in the works. Before we get started - let me quickly break down what happened this year: We drafted Ball who turned out to be far better than any of us imagined and signed an Allstar caliber player in Hayward. Together with the young lottery players we have acquired over the past few seasons we turned in a great run by midseason and were in the 4th spot in the weaker East. Injuries to Hayward, Ball and Monk derailed our steady play and made us have to change our game up drastically. We no longer were the aggressive, steady attacking team and became a streaky 3ball team that lived and died by the 3ball, hoping other teams didn't catch up if we had a lead. Even when some of the players cam back from injury we played like the 3ball team and never got back to the precision we had earlier on. Some fans have been calling for JB's head.. I am not in that camp at all and won't give it anymore time than I just did, GTFOH.. I say that recap to point out - our only Allstar caliber player got injured. Terry is the only other player you could say was fringe Allstar but he definitely has had about 3/10 games that would be a 5/15 shooting night and 1-6 from the 3pt line. Needless to say, Hayward was our Rock. When you look at other teams in the East: BRK - KD, Harden, Kyrie (Griffin) PHI - Embiid, Simmons (Harris) MIL - Giannis, Holiday, Middleton (Tucker, Lopez) ATL - Young, Collins, Bog (Capela) NYN - Randle, Barret (Rose, Quickly, Robinson) MIA - Butler, Bam, Dragic (Robinson, Herro) BOS - Taytum, Brown, Kemba (Smart) WAS - Beal, Westbrook IND - Sabonis, LaVert, Turner (Brogdon) ^^Each team has at least 2 Allstar quality players with some (solid) pieces to back them up. CHA - Hayward (Terry, Bridges, Ball) All that to say - we need another Allstar to pair with Hayward - or to pair with Ball in the future. We can't just be happy with grabbing solid contributors anymore when addressing GAPPING holes in our team. So - Let's start with the Free Agents: Zeller - $15.4m - UFA Monk - $5.4m - RFA (Qualifying offer $7.3m) Biz - $3.5m - UFA Wanamaker - $2.25m - UFA Graham - $1.6m - UFA Darling - $.5m - UFA Riller - $.5m - UFA If we let everyone walk - we will have just over $22m in FA dollars. Enough to sign an Allstar caliber player. John Collins, Jarrett Allen, DeRozen, Drummond, Harrell, Richaun Holmes all come to mind when I think about what to do with that amount of cash. But let's first look at who we might want to keep from this current crop of players. Centers: I think we have seen the last of Zeller in the purple and teal unless we aqcuire a big name and need someone cheap for the reserve big man role. He has shown that he can be counted on in stretches, can knock down FTs and although he isn't a rim protector, he isn't a liability on Defense. Biz obviously his calling card is his defense and shot blocking, but he is a liability on Offense and the ball stops in his hands (if he cleanly catches it). I don't really put too much stock into the Biz/Ball mentor relationship. I do think choosing the correct "team mentality" guys to bring in is important though. Replacing Biz with Whiteside - for instance - might not be a good move from all the stories we have heard about his locker room presence. Backcourt Duo: Monk does have a Qualifying Offer we can extend him. Mid-season, I never thought that QO would be enough to keep him. But after the injury and his return, he looked really lost and did not bring his shot back with him. $7.3m for one year still might not be enough to retain him, but I think it is obvious we extend that QO to him and we hope someone doesn't come in with some big offer. There are a lot of guards in the FA market and Monk shouldn't be a guy teams throw $$ at and I'm not ready to invest years into Monk just yet. Giving Monk a $10-$12m @ year contract for the next 4 years is something the Bobcats would have done no problem. Now Graham is the bigger '?'... I think Graham is a great asset to have coming off the bench behind Ball. He runs the offense better (less turnovers/bad passes) in the clutch but is also a more aggressive shooter. If we think the Ball/Graham combo could work for us and that is a winning PG rotation, okay.. I'm not entirely sure but now is the time to hitch our future to this idea or not. Ball probably should be paired with a more defensive minded PG but I also like the scoring punch coming off the bench as well. If we can retain Graham for around $8m for 4yrs - I think that is friendly enough for us to keep him. But is that the right way to go. The Rest: Wanamaker, Darling and Riller can all walk. Summary After looking it over - If we keep Monk on a $7.3m QO and give Graham a $8m contract - that's just under $16m of our $22m used up. We need to start investing more in our starting 5 rather than the entire roster. $16m in 2 players coming off our bench just isn't correct in today's NBA and I don't think running it back with this team is the right move. Retaining both Monk and Graham will tie up too much money to properly address the Center position. Ideally, we need to sign someone like Richaun Holmes from SAC for $15m @ year and maybe give Rozier more PG responsibilities - that's what he was brought here to replace Kemba. He played a ton of PG in Boston too. If we gave PG responsibilities to Ball/Rozier/vet FA - that would allow us to address the Center position and possibly get another 3/D wing player? PG - Ball - FA SG - Rozier - Monk (QO) SF - Hayward - C.Martin PF - Bridges - PJ/McDaniels C - Holmes - PJ - FA All-in-All.. this is going to be an interesting offseason. (In Mitch I Trust) Hope next year has a better ending than this year. Peace.

Philly Brown

If we beat Indy, we can definitely beat Boston.. what a hopeful fool I am..

I Photoshop'd their pics and created the graphic in Illustrator.. Used iMovie to splice video clips.. most would shake their head at iMovie but its just an easier layout for my purposes.. After Effects is what I use for sometimes for my job. I just seem to move much faster in iMovie..

Something to get you through the long summer until camp..

Mid season i thought Monk and Graham were both worth $12m contracts this offseason.. no way now.. ugh - such disappointment.. Hayward not being there just killed us the whole 2nd half of the season.. I guess that was a high probability when we signed him.. The inefficient offense in the 4th is just so painful to watch.. just living and dying by the 3ball.. thats our M.O. - turnovers and contested 3s..

Bucks vs Indy tonight is just as important.. they are playing well and we need to keep them behind us.. we have to find a way to win 1 of these last 3 games.. if we can magically win 2 out of 3 = we are #8 no doubt Hopefully the Bucks and LA will beat Indy.. Pacers will most certainly beat the Raptors.. gawd dayum those losses to Cleveland, Chicago x2 and NO are just abysmal looking.. if we grabbed one of them we wouldn't be in this mess.. we need Hayward and/or Miles back to compete..

Word out of Boston is Jalen Brown out for the season with torn ligament in hand/wrist.. Man if we can somehow play them in the 7vs8 game..... cmon Hornets

if we win 1 more game - I will be surprised.. but if we do - we should lock up the 8th spot.. Indy and Washington have a tough schedule down the stretch and we own tiebreaker over both of them.. gotta root for ATL over WAS 2x this week (Beal will be out at least the 1st game) and PHI, MIL, & LAL vs Indy.. this is doable but not the way we have been playing..

i can't.. Washington is going to get the 8th spot.. we can only hope to get healthy by the play in.. doubt it though..

It probably was time about a week ago after the Bucks/Celtics back-to-back losses BUT it is official now.. We are not hopping over anyone in the standings and we have to nestle into the #8 seed.. We need to focus on winning the games we should win and also getting Ball, Monk and (fingers crossed) Hayward back on the court and all gelling together.. Ball seems to have fit right back into place (check).. Monk always runs hot/cold but hopefully we can get him playing closer to like he was before the injury.. Hayward has to come back and build it back up to 75-80% of what he was contributing before his injury.. Hayward is the most important and the one I'm most worried about.. We have a very winnable 4 game stretch (DET, CHI, ORL, NO) but follow it up with 4 tough games against playoff teams.. Have to make sure we beat the teams we are supposed to beat and watch our a$$.. Pacers and Wiz probably won't be able to gain the ground but if we can't come together and are in preseason "figure it out" mode... well, i dun need to tell you what could happen in this play-in tourney..

smart move with Pitts and Ridley and Michael Thomas and AB and Mike Evans in our division

Update to OP

Starting doesn't mean much.. Crunch time is key: Graham Terry Hayward Miles PJ is the lineup we run with at full health.. Ball will obviously be made apart of that but seems like JB trusted Graham more..

the dunk was great but woulda rather had the W.. that loss was really tough Bridges stats: 11ppg - 6rpg - 2apg - 38.6% from 3pt 16ppg - 7rpg - 2apg - 40.1% from 3pt [last 10 games] Bridges has definitely been the only one to truly step up their game since all the injuries hit.. I still want him coming off the bench though - he has filled his role really well this year by giving us a spark behind Hayward.. Miles compliments him really well..

Yeah.. Terry needs to come back.. Biz and Zeller can hit the road.. we have to find a legit center on the market this offseason.. if we don't it will be Mitch's fault - and like i have said forever - in Mitch I trust..

I understand why the twins are getting run with all the injuries we have right now - but I better not see either of them on the roster next year.. We could replace both of their combined contributions with a vet min contract to MKG.. Gawd damn this 3 game skid is hurting my soul.. .. and with Nets, Blazers, Knicks, Bulls coming up..

1.Justin Fields (Oline in 2nd Rnd) 2.Pitts (Oline in 2nd Rnd) 3.Sewell 4.Trade Down

is this the "pink flaps" dude?

The problem is we don't have someone to defend the paint at center - so when someone drives to the basket - we have to help defend and they leave their man on the edge and even if we recover teams can just swing-swing pass to the open guy. Its a problem we have had because we have never had a legit rim protecting/rebounding Big..