Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak recently discussed a variety of topics related to his team, including free agency, head coach James Borrego, LaMelo Ball and more.
Charlotte (33-39) managed to reach the play-in tournament despite coping with several injuries this season, but lost to Indiana by a score of 144-117. Still, Kupchak believes the Hornets are on the rise and should appeal to free agents this summer.
“I think free agents around the league look at the pace we play, and players want to play that way. I think we have a player’s coach,” Kupchak said, as relayed by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. “And if (free agents) remember why (Ball) is so much fun to play with — his ability to pass — I don’t know why players wouldn’t want to come here to play with him.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Heat have increased their crowd capacity to 17,000 fans for the postseason, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. For now, that number is believed to be the highest capacity of all 16 playoff teams. Miami will host Milwaukee in Game 3 on Thursday and Game 4 on Saturday.
- The Hornets may have interest this offseason in free-agent-to-be Daniel Theis, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer tweets. Theis figures to be one of many frontcourt targets for Charlotte this summer, as Kupchak recently admitted that he could see the team signing more than one center.
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel makes the case for why the Magic should offer head coach Steve Clifford a contract extension. Clifford is set to oversee a rebuild centered around the likes of Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac, and Wendell Carter Jr.
Theis is a MUCH better fit for what Charlotte does than Zeller and Biyimbo and he wouldn’t cost a ton either.
He will cost 14 million a year
Yeah? Do you have Paypal? I will take the under. How much?
No way, best case scenario is the Plumlee 3/24 and that’s a stretch
Nice that the Heat did that after selling seats to season ticket holders… I should have been more careful. I only considered going when I thought there were safe distances between people, and even then I was still wary…now I have to list these tickets b/c I’m not risking it
Boo hoo. Get vaccinated or live in a bubble the rest of your life.
Cynicism warning! Theis is this year’s guy GMs will mention as who they can afford. That will bid his price up, so maybe they cannot afford him anymore. But fans will approve of the preference and think their team is in good hands.
Theis will sign for $1mil over the MLE.
CHA tends to be undersized so Kupchak may want to go bigger.
That’s the opposite of what will happen with Oladipo this summer. He’s going to want over $20M/year and teams will offer him about half that.
Dipo really let rockets off the hook by not signing that 44 mil deal