Talking Hornets Basketball: Who We Got Staying? Who Should We Draft?

The Hornets roster will most likely look different next season.  Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is in “the eye of the beholder”.  One thing is fairly certain; we know who will be returning.  If you don’t know, here’s a quick list of who we have currently under contract:

• Kemba Walker – 3 more seasons
• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – 3 more seasons with a “Player Option” 4^th season possibility
• Cody Zeller – 1 more season with a “Qualifying Offer” 2^nd season
• Spencer Hawes – 1 more season with a “Player Option” 2^nd season
• Frank Kaminsky – He’s on his rookie contract, so next season, followed by a couple years of “Team Option” and a “Qualifying Offer” season
• Jeremy Lamb – 3 more season

Folks, that’s it.  Kemba, MKG, Cody, Spencer, Lamb, and Frank are the only guys with contracts pushing them into next season.  These guys are going to tie up roughly $45 million of the new $94 million cap for the 2016-2017 season.  So we got $49 million to spend, right?  So where do we spend it?  Well, we have all heard for a while now that Batum is priority number 1, so we could pray he takes no more than $20 mil per year.  Player salaries will reach an all-time “crazy” number this year.  I thought Tobias Harris getting a 4-year/ $64 million contract was crazy enough.

So, in crunching the numbers, if we were to get Batum to sign for $20mil per season, it would leave $29mil under the cap to spend.  Well, $29mil to spend on 8 players doesn’t seem like a lot.  This is especially true when we will be in need of strong backups at PG, SF, PF, and even possibly a starting C.  Bottom line is that if we sign Batum to a max deal, we have lots of depth need and I don’t know exactly how we will be filling it.  We need to fill the bench back up.

PG – Kemba

SG – Batum & Lamb

SF – MKG

PF – Kaminsky

C – Zeller & Hawes

Take a long look at that my friends.  Troy Daniels is the only low cost option we could add from our team from last season.  He’s has a $1.2 “Qualifying Offer” that we could pick up, but I don’t know if we will want to or not.  Seems as though we are in a bit of a catch-22 in terms of what we could do.  You have to wonder what the free agent market may hold for us.  Will Marvin Williams and Al Jefferson want to stay here?  Will they stay for cheap?  Do we not worry about those guys and shop elsewhere?  What do we shop for?  I’m a little nervous, to say the least, about next season’s roster.  There’s not an NBA-ready player that I can see that will fall to the 22^nd pick, and I’m hoping that the Hornets aren’t banking on something like that to happen.

I’m open for suggestions, again, today, for what we should be drafting.  Tomorrow’s article will make mention of players at positions we need a solid backup in.  I just don’t know that the player we need is in this draft, especially not at the 22^nd pick.  If you want to force me to shoot from the hip on some player names that could possibly be “NBA-Ready”, I don’t even know that I could do it.  I could see Malcom Brogdon, Denzel Valentine, Ante Zizic, Taurean Prince, Damian Jones, or Ivica Zubac, but I just don’t know if any of them are going to make an immediate impact.  There may be 1 or 2 in that list, but you never know.  Folks, give me some feedback.  Tomorrow we can discuss who we should pursue in the draft, or more likely, in free agency.

Until then…

Let’s Go Hornets!

#KeepSwarming