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Charlotte Hornets: Free Agency Winners?

By John Woodcock

May 1, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Nicolas Batum (5) drives to the basket as Miami Heat forward Josh McRoberts (4) looks on during the first half in game seven of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
May 1, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Nicolas Batum (5) drives to the basket as Miami Heat forward Josh McRoberts (4) looks on during the first half in game seven of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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At least one person over at ESPN thinks the Charlotte Hornets won their off season.

The Charlotte Hornets off season has at least one fan. That fan would be ESPN writer Zach Lowe, one of the survivors of the Grantland purge. In his winners and losers of free agency article, Lowe identified the Hornets as one of the winners.

Lowe was impressed that the Hornets were able to get players to sign cap friendly deals in order to keep some flexibility in the other people that were able to sign. Lowe also liked the deal with Roy Hibbert. He thinks that Hibbert will fit well in the defensive system of Coach Steve Clifford. I am not sure I agree with Lowe’s postulation that Hibbert would come back for another friendly deal after a good season. We will just have to see.

One thing Lowe glossed over was the return of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. That might be a good sign, because that assumes that Kidd-Gilchrist should come back no problem. That seems very optimistic considering that the last time Kidd-Gilchrist tried to come back he around for seven games.

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The fact that Lowe identified the Hornets as winners in this off season show the difficulty in sorting through the NBA off season as a whole. The Hornets lost a number of players, only brought back a couple of those guys and were declared winners.

Part of that reasons should be attributed to the teams that play in the division with the Hornets. The Washington Wizards were identified as losers. The Orlando Magic were identified as a team that Lowe wasn’t sure what they were doing. The article did not directly address either the Atlanta Hawks or the Miami Heat.

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With all of that said, the Hornets may have a good chance to win the Southeast Division this year. By holding things together, team may be relatively better off as the Wizards, Hawks, Heat, and Magic take steps back.

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