Charlotte Hornets: The Buzz is Back

I remember in the early ’90s when the Charlotte Hornets were still a new franchise and they had this incredible buzz.(no pun intended) It was a combination of the funky color scheme with the pinstripes and the exciting young players they were acquiring. Larry “Grand Ma Ma” Johnson was all over TV. While Alonzo Mourning was continuing the success of Georgetown centers before him. They were the team of the future, but that future didn’t last too long. They had some playoff runs, but nothing really major before relocating to New Orleans. Charlotte eventually got another franchise in the Bobcats, but it just wasn’t the same. Last season the New Orleans Hornets realized that the name Hornets didn’t fit the city and decided a name change that more closely related to the people of New Orleans would be better. They chose the Pelicans. I’m not from New Orleans so I don’t know if that name fits the city, but that’s the name they chose. This move more importantly left the Hornets name in limbo and Charlotte thought it would be a good idea to try and get it back. It was not only a good idea, it was a great idea and now the buzz is back. (Pun intended)

Living in South Carolina, a state without any actual professional sports teams, you have to adopt your neighboring states teams as your own. If it’s baseball then it’s the Braves. If it’s basketball it’s Charlotte. The Panthers help everyone one out by calling the team Carolina, but they are located in Charlotte as well. With that being said I find it more common that most people in the state are fans of teams all over the country. There are Laker fans, Steeler fans, and fans of any other random team. The Panthers have had some level of success so they get more state wide support from the Palmetto state. The Bobcats on the other hand have never done anything of any significance so they haven’t given the people a reason to root for the basketball team. I’ve lived here for three years and I’ve honestly never met a Bobcats fan, but with the recent events things might soon change. I myself, I[‘m a diehard Chicago Bulls fan and I don’t see my allegiance swaying anytime soon, but I’ll admit my interest is peeked.

I have never been a fan of Michael Jordan the executive. Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison speaks for themselves. So when Jordan decided to try his hand at ownership I was a bit skeptical. I figured he’d try to be to hands on and make all the decisions. He would be the Jerry Jones of the NBA. Well the smartest decision he made was hiring Rich Cho as General Manager. Cho was a mechanical engineer who went back to school to obtain a law degree before getting into basketball management. Most people credit the combination of his math skills and law back ground as major a plus when it comes to his ability to figure up contracts, trades and understanding of the leagues complicated collective bargaining agreement. Another good decision Jordan made was hiring Steve Clifford who before had never been anything more then an assistant coach. The combination of the two got Charlotte back to the Playoffs last season with a little help from free agent signee Al Jefferson. Last off season Charlotte had cap space and money to spend, but didn’t seem like a team ready for any immediate success so bringing in an expensive free agent didn’t make much sense to me. In the summer before what people are considering one of the greatest drafts since probably 2003 why not keep you money, let your young guys develop (tank), and draft a franchise changing rookie in the 2014 NBA Draft? (See Philadelphia 76ers) Jordan and Cho had other ideas. They decided spend some money and sign Big Al, who when healthy is one of, if not the best centers in the NBA. I immediately thought that this was a bad move. Not because I didn’t like Jefferson, but because I knew he would help them win enough games to take them out of contention for Andrew Wiggins, the next LeBron James as many referred to him as. Charlotte wasn’t with the idea of tanking and they surprisingly had a very good season winning 48 games and making the playoffs. Al Jefferson had one of his best season as he earned All-NBA honors for the first time in his career. Kemba Walker established himself as a legit player and a potential all-star. The young players received valuable experience in a hard fought sweep by the Miami Heat, but I was thinking that this minor level of success cost them the opportunity to really improve and they would perpetually be an 8th seed team in the Eastern Conference. Thanks to Charlotte refusal to tank the basketball gods actually showed them some love. Charlotte owned the Pistons first round pick, but it was top 8 protected and if the draft would have went according to plan the Pistons would’ve kept their pick. Needless to say things didn’t go according to plan and the Cavaliers ended up with the number one pick pushing every body else back one which gave the Pistons the number 9 pick which then became Charlotte’s. The moral of the story is to try to win, make the playoffs, and you still can get a lottery pick. Things couldn’t work out any better or could they? When the draft came around ever body said Charlotte needed shooters and everyone pretty much had Doug McDermott locked in at Charlotte. To the the surprise of Charlotte a top 5 pick in Noah Vonleh fell to them at number 9 and even though they just drafted a power forward out of Indiana with a top ten pick the year before Charlotte couldn’t pass on a talent like Vonleh. Many people thought this to be a great choice, but still left them with questions about shooting. I don’t know if what transpired was always part of the plan, but what happened at the draft couldn’t have gone any better. Charlotte addressed their shooting needs later in the draft with probably the best shooting guard in the draft in P.J. Hairston. Before the season started Hairston was thought of as a potential lottery pick. He had great size and strength and he could really stroke it from deep. Hairston made some not so wise decisions and ended up getting kicked off of the University of North Carolina basketball team. He then signed on to play in the NBA development league where he averaged over 20 points per game and scored over 40 points twice. Because of his character issues he was available at number 26 and Charlotte might have gotten the steal of the draft. They actually probably got two steals. All they talk about is the big hands of Vonleh and I hear that’s a good thing for a big man. His ability to shoot with range really compliments Jefferson inside game and you have to think that Jefferson working with the kid on his post game will be tremendous seeing that Al has the best post game in the league.

The Charlotte Hornets now have a very promising present as well as future thanks to a slew of recent great decision including the hiring of Cho and Clifford, the signing of Jefferson, and drafting players like; Walker, Kidd-Gilchrist, Vonleh, and Hairston. The Hornets even have cap space to add more free agents, the current direction and the return of the teal and purple makes Charlotte an attractive destination. Yes, Charlotte fans the buzz is back!