For the Charlotte Hornets, it has been a summer filled with excitement after yet another disappointing season of missing the playoffs. After the Hornets held some hope for the future by making the playoffs in the 2013-2014 season, last year was plagued by injuries to Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson and the team finished 33-49, 10 fewer wins than the previous season. A year ago, there was plenty of excitement and hope surrounding the signing of Lance Stephenson, but that plan didn’t work
Every team that wants to be good needs a player who is going to do all the dirty work on the defensive end of the floor. For the Charlotte Hornets, that player is 21-year-old Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who officially signed a four-year deal to stay with the team for the foreseeable future. Kidd-Gilchrist is still a bit of an enigma because of a number of issues. For one, what exactly is his ceiling on offense? Throughout his career, the forward has mostly
The silence following Jonas Valanciunas’ contract extension was deafening. When the Toronto Raptors gave a reported $64 million over four years to Valanciunas, there were no proclamations from pundits that the NBA’s financial sky was falling. Owners didn’t start forming plans of collusion. No one drew comparisons to Jim McIlvaine. On the other side, there have been no whispers that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri engineered another steal. Virtually no one has suggested that Valanciunas got fleeced. Agent Leon Rose – who days
Coming off the first playoff appearance since 2010 and turning the page on some miserable years, Charlotte now has new hope — and a new old nickname. The Charlotte Hornets have rediscovered their sting and are for real. Guided a year ago by first-year coach Steve Clifford, Charlotte restructured its entire defensive system, and along with star big man Al Jefferson saw its win total spike from 21 all the way to 43. According to analyst David Locke, the Hornets shaved off
STORY OF THE DAY: When Jason Kidd demoted Lawrence Frank from the assistant coach position, it was assumed that there was a rift between them. While that’s all but true, it appears there was tension between the two the moment Frank agreed to join the team. Tim Bontemps and Fred Kerber of New York Post detailed what went wrong from the jump: One league source told The Post the Kidd-Lawrence union began on rocky footing. After Kidd’s very public courtship of Frank,
Of the popular meanings of the word tank, two have roots signifying damage and destruction. There is the blunt military vehicle, and the less subtle term that is popular in our contemporary basketball lexicon. The basketball version of tanking will unavoidably be a central theme in the upcoming 2013-2014 season. Compared to previous seasons, the 2014 NBA draft class is projected to be filled with All-Stars and franchise-changing players, headlined by Canadian wing Andrew Wiggins, who will play at Kansas this coming
Training camps open in just over a month from now, on Sept. 28, so it’s time to start taking a critical look at the 2013-2014 NBA season. Plenty of players around the league are facing uncertain futures, with contract statuses to be resolved and career trajectories at stake. With that in mind, this post is the first of a two-part series of players around the league heading into make-or-break seasons of varying degrees. Jared Sullinger, F, Boston Celtics There’s no questioning his on-court ability,
After going through an 82-game NBA season, many young NBA players are like caged lions ready to bust out when given the chance. I have just spent the better part of two weeks witnessing it first-hand, watching 15 games in Orlando and more than two dozen so far in Vegas, baby, where the games continue through July 22. The NBA summer leagues are a great opportunity for unproven players to show NBA coaches and decision makers that they deserve a chance