[high floorParticipant]

They lost badly to the Heat last night, and are 3-7 in their past 10 games.  The fourth quarter epitomizes why this team has so many tough questions to answer this offseason. The Miami Heat trapped Kemba on the majority of their offensive possessions, and nobody else on the team could manufacture any scoring opportunities. He was 0-2 in the period, and the team shot 3-18 from the field.

It doesn’t look like they’ll make the playoffs. Sure, they could go on a hot streak and possibly grab the 8th seed….. but if that even happens they’ll be 1st round fodder for the Bucks or Raptors in a likely sweep.

Well publicized, the Hornets can offer Kemba Walker more money than any other team this offseason. A 5-year max valued at $188 million. Any other team’s high bid would be 4-years, 139 million. The Charlotte Observer floated the Mavericks as a possible destination for Kemba, as many teams would assuredly be interested to bid on his services.

Kemba is an all star, and should be paid like an all star. His current contract of 12-million per year is one of the top 5 best bargain contracts in the league. But Charlotte has / is not proven to be a free agent destination, and unless they hit big on Malik Monk or Miles Bridges the next couple seasons they will be destined for mediocrity with Kemba as a max player….. chasing 7th & 8th seeds continuously. Maybe Kemba will make the decision easy on them, and inform sooner rather than later that he is not resigning…. forcing Rich Cho & the FO’s hand to commence playing for ping pong balls next season & beyond.

What should they do?

[HitsterParticipant]

If Kemba did say he was moving on, I’d figure that Charlotte would look to sit him out apart from maybe a farewell type game. They’d want to increase their lottery chances of course.

Kemba would be leaving a lot of money on the table but he turns 29 soon and would possibly want his later peak years to be on a contender. I don’t really see him taking a shorter term deal, he could take one with the Hornets that maybe has a player option in year 3 say.

[OhCanada-Participant]

 That Batum contract is a real backbreaker. To be fair he is still playing at a very high level, for a role player but his contract is about twice what he is worth. Batum is owed $53 Million-2 years left on his $120 Million-5 year contract. 

Over the next 2 seasons Charlotte owes Batum, Williams, Zeller, MKG and Biyambo another $85 Million. 

Time for Charlotte to hit the reset button and start giving Lamb, Brooks, Monk, Bacon, Graham the green light because Walker is gone.

[juves4783Participant]

they need to work with batum on a release and a plan to stretch his salary over multiple years like NY did with noah.  that’s the only way kemba should come back.  at least then, they could bring back lamb too.

right now, that roster is a mess.  $85M to a bunch of bums and the cost only covers three positions: C, PF and SF.  why they invested in redundant positions is beyond me…and most of those guys are specialist players, not well rounded at all.

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 Charlotte could hit the post Kemba reset button fairly quickly. They have a fair amount of money committed for next season but don’t have a huge amount committed from 2020 nowards. A lot of next year’s bigger contracts will be expiring deals so they would be tradeable and Charlotte could get assets for taking on salary dumps.

If they do end up back in the lottery over the next few years they could add some good young players via high picks too,

[The GoatParticipant]

 They need to get Kemba to agree to a sign and trade and they need to attach a bad contract and a pick  to him in a deal. This is a weak draft, so if they are around 10, they should consider it cos teams overpay for lotto picks anyway. The return has to be a big one too. That’s the only way out quickly.

You may suddenly find some good talent available unexpectedly if the lottery balls fall a certain way – eg. If Chicago win, you may find they draft Zion and shop Markannen.

I think they could work something out around Vucevic with Orlando who may also want a sign and trade.  

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

Rich Cho was fired over a year ago so he isn’t in the front office now.  Charlotte  really needs to reset Sam Hinkie style.

[high floorParticipant]

Mitch Kupchak is current GM  

[HitsterParticipant]

Charlotte did tank out when they only won 7 games in the shortened 2011-12 season and when they only won 21 games the following full season. Since then they have reached the play off twice but the other seasons have been 33 to 36 wins only and it looks something similar this year even with Kemba having another excellent year.

Take Kemba out of this side and it’s probably a 20 to 25 win team across a full season. A lot of the supporting players like Batum and Williams aren’t going to improve and the younger players form a useful core but there might only be a few “Hinkie keepers”.

If Kemba does go then it forces their rebuilding hand.

[Author]

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