Post by Nick Malone 77 on Dec 19, 2014 16:00:26 GMT -6
1998-99 Charlotte Hornets Media Day
- Well, last season was interesting. After trading away our franchise cornerstone again (this time to New Jersey), the direction of the franchise was heading downward. We underachieved and missed the playoffs for the first time in a few years which was a given. But, wiping the slate clean and changing the face of the organization gave this club a new sense of identity and wanted to really bring a sense of connection between the team and the community. Leaving one of the lone returning members to last years club was Voshon Lenard. Lets take a closer look at the deals that were made from the end of last season to what we see before us here today.
- When we dealt Tom Gugliotta, we had to get back a younger player that could have been the new "face of the franchise", enter Juwan Howard. Juwan is a talented forward that excelled in his brief time with the club and used the most of his time in Charlotte to gain the interest of several clubs that would be offering mega contracts during restricted Free Agency. We knew the kind of contract he would receive and when word broke out that Washington had won the bidding process, we quickly dialed them up to gauge their feelings on the whole dealings and if they really, truly, wanted him, had no problem working on a deal that benefited the both of our clubs. Now, we had no problem initially matching their offer to keep Juwan around for the long term but when they came to us with the offer of David Wesley (An Allstar and Most Improved Player of the year candidate a few seasons ago), we knew that he was the kind of caliber player that could lead our new club. We truly want to express our sincerest gratitude to the fine people of the Washington Wizards organization and J2 as being the nicest people in the entire sim league. We wish Juwan the best of luck in his newest venture in his career.
- We had several people coming off the books heading into free agency and with the cap space, we had a plan to try and fill and round out our squad. We also snagged Charlie Ward from the Seattle Sonics during the restricted free agency phase and with his experience, we are looking at him contributing a great deal at either guard position over the next few years. Adding to our guards core, we made a draft day move with GM Eazy and San Antonio to deal Damon Stoudamire and that NJ Nets protected pick for SG, Jeff McInnis, and the 14th pick that we used to select super raw prospect Al Harrington that we knew had drawn the interest of several other clubs that we knew had some potential and value down the road. We never stopped answering our phones.
- With the other pick we snagged in the Gugliotta deal, we made the choice to select one of the more NBA ready PG's despite his miniature size in Earl Boykins at 17. We feel that Earl can come in and develop within the next few years and watch and learn how the game is played. Earl is gonna take some time to grow within our organization and we don't want to put the pressure to him right away to lead our second unit. That's where our next journey takes us into the world of Free Agency...
- We had a few targets that we sent major contracts out for that didn't exactly hit but that didn't stray or deter us from our vision. We were able to sign a few guys to contracts that we felt wanted a second chance to possibly salvage their career and when training camp came, they didn't want to exert the effort so we cut them. No harm. No foul. The targets we did sign however we look to play crucial parts to our club if we are going to succeed this season ahead. We saw what Clyde Drexler did for the last few clubs he played for the last few years and still meant something. He can come in and play important minutes for us whether it be in a starting role or off the bench. We feel the same exact way about a target we had wanted within our organization since we came into the league but nothing came of it till this off season in Muggsy Bogues. Muggsy has always been known for his defense and his high IQ for knowing the right moments to pick pocket opposing guards. We really think he can be a foundation piece that can play a vital role off the bench for when David Wesley needs a rest. We also signed Tyrone Nesby and Vitaly Potapenko. Guys that went undrafted but can really develop here if they are given the minutes.
- We also were active on the trade winds. We heard that our friends in Atlanta were shopping veteran bigs with some rebounding and defensive presence. We were in need of some bigs ourselves. They were looking for extra wings after signing Donyell Marshall away from Boston. We knew we had made a mistake with our initial evaluation of Jamal Mashburn and the dollars that were given to him. He's a perfectly fine role player in the right system but we asked too much of him and struggled here. We wish him the best of luck in Atlanta along with Al Harrington. We were quite pleased in what we got in return. Vlade Divac is a major body that has played quite well whenever he played against us whenever he was with Philly or Milwaukee. He'll be asked to be our main starting 5 and a key player next to David Wesley if this club is gonna thrive next year. We also acquired young big, Erick Dampier who is an excellent defensive option that can either start or ride the bench for us that we can look at and play some needed minutes. We also reacquired a player we originally drafted and hated to trade away in the Junk Yard Dog, Jerome Williams. Jerome is an excellent rebounder that should help us exponentially if we need to corral some extra rebounds late in the game. We also, welcomed one of the newer owners of the Philadelphia 76'ers and extended to him a deal that we needed to make after calling several GM's around the league to try and acquire a starting 4. We feel that Anthony Mason is another player that can come in and contribute at a high level in our lineup and interchange him with the likes of JYD and Dampier and Potapenko.
- With all that said, we open the floor to questions.
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