Monday, July 14, 2014

Are the Charlotte Hornets really any better?



The Charlotte Hornets have made a flurry of moves in free agency over its first few days. They lost Josh McRoberts to Miami. They made a huge offer to Gordon Hayward, only to have Utah match it. They then raided the Jazz anyway for forward Marvin Williams (right), who is going to be paid like a poor man's version of Hayward (although certainly not like a poor man, given that he's going to get $7 million per year over the next two; Hayward will average a little more than twice that, at $15.75 million over the next four years -- but in Utah).

The Hornets also signed a backup point guard I had barely heard of (Brian Roberts) and saw their two first-round draft choices go a combined 2-for-29 -- yes, 2-for-29 -- in their first NBA summer-league game. Noah Vonleh and P.J. Hairston, it should be said, did play better in the second game in Las Vegas.

So there has been a whole lot of Hornet buzz the past few days. But what I am wondering is whether the Hornets are really any better than they were when this whole free-agency process began.

I would say no -- they are not. The big splash they hoped for required the Jazz opting not to match the Hayward offer. But Charlotte backed the wrong horse in regard to that -- Houston did not match Chandler Parsons at very similar numbers, and so Dallas got Parsons away from the Rockets.

It turns out restricted free agents' offers are matched a little less than 50 percent of the time over about the last decade, but the Hornets keep picking the wrong ones in their history. They now have made three RFA offers in their history, and all three times the other team matched.

The McRoberts loss, of course, was big. McRoberts was a deft passer and almost a point forward for Charlotte -- a lot of the offense ran through him. Williams, who was the sixth man for the 2005 UNC championship team, isn't the same kind of player in that he doesn't see the floor that well, although on certain nights he will be a better scorer than McRoberts was and he could certainly start in front of Cody Zeller.

Now notice I didn't say that Charlotte is no better than it was at the end of the 2014 season, when the then-Bobcats made the playoffs and lost four straight games to Miami. Charlotte is better than it was two months ago. Adding Vonleh and Hairston certainly will make some sort of positive difference, assuming Hairston doesn't get in trouble again and stays on the court (this, of course, is not a sure bet).

But so far in free agency, the Hornets have been only so-so. They have certainly not done anything like the Al Jefferson signing from a year ago. I like a couple of their smaller moves -- Roberts, for instance, came cheaply by NBA standards and sounds like he can shoot -- but the big one that is really a difference-maker? That one is either still on the horizon, or else it is simply not going to happen this offseason.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

adding Williams Roberts, Hairston and Vonleah does make you better, is it a few games? are they a .500 team? who knows..

Anonymous said...

look at brian Roberts stats in new Orleans he is solid backup

Anonymous said...

If MJ can stop going after UNC players, they might can get better. Sean May, Brandon Wright, Brendon Haywood, PJ Hairston, Marvin Williams and could be more. I guess they're going to be Utah of the south, you have Jefferson, went after Heywood, and settled for Williams. You won't pay McRoberts, but give Marvin 14mil for 4 points a game, on a bad team. Don't risk your legacy for loyalty MJ, your 2 best players were from Duke, and should've gone after Deng, to make it 3.

Anonymous said...

We need to go after Lance Stephenson hard. After losing out on Hayward, Lance is the only guy left on the market that will take us from 42 wins to 50+ in my opinion. true he's somewhat of a loose cannon, but he's still young and it's not like he's charging into the stands fighting fans.. he plays hungry and gets after it and is emotional.. he wants to win and I feel like our coaching staff could keep him under control.

USC88 said...

I'd like to see them re-sign Tolliver or Anthony Morrow.

Anonymous said...

If the Hornets wanted to keep their payroll low, offering Hayward a max contract may have been a calculated move. The Hornets follow through on a promise by pursuing a top-flight free agent but avoid paying him as Utah said from the outset it would match all offers made to Hayward. Message to fans, "Hey, we did everything we could to make this team better. It's not our fault Utah matched."

Anonymous said...

I expect some improvement from within. Kemba playe much better after the all star break and will keep improving. MKG will get better as will Zeller. That is the real opportunity. It is not always what you do in free agency. Seeing MKG with the team in Vegas to practice is a good sign.

Anonymous said...

Hendo has improved 3pt past 4 years. Could shoot 37% from 3, and have Mark Price work on shot selection. MKG is expected to finally improve this year. Automatically makes need for SG spacing less glaring. You dont just dump a high character defender and mid range shooter like Hendo.

Cody, Kemba, Biz, and Jeff Taylor could all improve offensively as well. Add PJ, Noah Vonleh, Marvin, Roberts, and Neal- and you have a much improved shooting squad.

Finally, Cliff's new offensive packages and team familiarity around Big Al will help everybody as well.

Year 1 was Defense. Offense will improve.

Anonymous said...

The Hornets haven’t done jack squat in free agency. So much for having a boat load of money this year. And I blame the media here for vilifying Lance Stephenson, otherwise he’d probably be signed by now, and he can certainly make the team a whole lot better. But the holy rollers in this city only want a roster full of choir boys, which is ironic given their congregations a full of people who do plenty of dirt.

Charlottean said...

brandan wright neeeeeeeeeeeever played a game here. why do people always bring him up like he was anything more than an arranged deal for jason richardson?

we need smarter fans.

Anonymous said...

At this point we can't say for sure they Didn't get better. We also can't say that got worse. We can agree no BIG name target landed here however you have added players with some strengths we didn't have last year. We will miss McRoberts I agree. I still believe be successful.

Anonymous said...

WOW, this paper needs an overhaul! Rick is just dogging the rookies in summer league. Scott is asking stupid questions two games into summer league. Writers stink! We all knew Utah was gonna match the Gordon deal. Lance is still available, but Scott doesn't like him. I hope we sign Lance, so Scott and Rick can once again look incompetent. Rick has no inside info!!

Anonymous said...

No way--- should have taken McDermott at nine. Traded the twenty-fourth for a big. Vonleh is four years away from being useful. P.J. isn't the answer. He is God if you are a Carolina fan. Why couldn't we have afford McRob what we gave Williams?

Anonymous said...

The Hornets will be much better than last year's Bobcats. Vonleh, PJ and Williams are very good additions. PJ will be starting SG before mid-season and Williams is actually big and quick enough to guard LeBron better than McRoberts.

If the coaching staff is smart enough to use the talent we have instead of like clueless fans belly aching about players not on the roster, the Hornets will win more games.

The past is just that, the past. Players improve and teams improve from year to year. And since it is Michael's team he can place as many Tar Heels on the roster as he pleases. And I hope he lets Lance stay in Indy. The Hornets can be pretty good with the current roster if they play team ball. Besides consistently running isolation plays for one or two "superstars" is boring basketball.

Funk This said...

So MJ drafted May and Felton? What a dolt. How's that NCSU degree working for you???

Anonymous said...

Seriously, is McRoberts' passing that damn good? Everyone thinks it's the end of the world because we don't have McRoberts' passing. Who gives a @#%&? You know who can pass, shoot and defend better than McRoberts? LANCE STEPHENSON!!! Get him and we're better than the 7th seed that got swept last year. Ray Charles can see that and he's blind and dead.

Anonymous said...

Looks like we just got a lot better this mourning with the Stevenson signing.