Charlotte Hornets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Meeks, Porter, Reed, Magic

July 6th, 2017 at 2:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards will use their mid-level exception instead of their bi-annual exception to sign Jodie Meeks, tweets Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. The change was made to avoid being hard-capped by the expected re-signing of Otto Porter. Meeks will still receive $7MM over two seasons; the money will just come from a different source (Twitter link). The Wizards still haven’t received the Nets’ offer sheet for Porter, adds J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic (Twitter link).

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Clippers, Warriors, Hawks, Sixers and Pacers all remain in the market for Heat back-up center Willie Reed, tweets David Aldridge of TNT. Miami also hopes to re-sign him.
The Magic’s new management team is taking a cautious attitude toward rebuilding, relays Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando has been quiet during the first week of free agency, despite coming off a 29-53 season and having up to $15.1MM available to spend. “There’s a lot less money in the free-agent market this year than there was last year,” said Jeff Weltman, the team’s new president of basketball operations. “And so, the approach that we’ve taken is to kind of wait and see how some of that shakes out towards the next phase of free agency and see which players we may be able to get into discussions with at that point. But we’ve been touching base with a lot of guys and just kind of gauging the market.”
The Hornets have promoted Buzz Peterson to assistant GM, the team announced on its website. A former standout at North Carolina and a head coach at five colleges, Peterson had been serving as the Hornets’ senior advisor to basketball operations. “He brings a wide breadth of basketball knowledge to the position, having been involved in the game at various levels for close to three decades,” said Charlotte GM Rich Cho. “I’m excited to be working more closely with Buzz in his new role and look forward to his continued contributions to our basketball team.”

Dwayne Bacon Signs Three-Year Deal With Hornets

July 6th, 2017 at 1:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

Dwayne Bacon, the 40th pick in this year’s draft, has officially signed with the Hornets, the team announced on its website.

Bacon received a three-year deal, with the first two seasons fully guaranteed, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com, who adds that Bacon is making a positive impression in summer league play and posted a 29-point performance this afternoon.

The Hornets acquired Bacon’s rights, along with cash, in a draft-night trade with the Pelicans.

Bacon was an All-ACC Second Team choice this season after averaging 17.2 points and 4.2 rebounds at Florida State. He was a finalist for the Julius Erving award, which goes to the nation’s best small forward.

Malik Monk Signs Rookie Contract With Hornets

July 2nd, 2017 at 8:07pm CST by Austin Kent

The Hornets have signed 11th-overall pick Malik Monk, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer tweets. The 19-year-old will make $2.9MM in 2017/18.

After averaging 19.8 points per game in his one and only season with Kentucky, Monk will set out to provide Kemba Walker with much needed backcourt support, although he may need to scale his way up the depth chart before he does.

For details of Monk’s rookie deal, worth $15.7MM in all, check out our chart breaking down the pay scale for all first-round picks.

Hornets Sign Michael Carter-Williams

July 1st, 2017 at 5:34pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7, 10:11am: The Hornets have officially signed Carter-Williams, according to the team.

JULY 1, 5:34pm: Carter-Williams’ one-year deal will be worth $2.7MM, per Chris Haynes of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

We’ll see how Charlotte’s cap situation plays out, but that salary would fit into any exception above the minimum. If the Hornets use the bi-annual exception, it would create a hard cap at just over $125MM for the season.

5:19pm: Free agent point guard Michael Carter-Williams has agreed to sign with the Hornets, Jeff Goodman reports on ESPN Now. The deal, which will be for one year, according to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (via Twitter), can become official after the July moratorium ends on Thursday.

[RELATED: 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

Carter-Williams had been eligible for restricted free agency, but didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Bulls in June, making him an unrestricted free agent. As such, the Hornets can sign him outright, though the team won’t have any cap room — MCW will have to sign using an exception. Depending on the terms of the deal, it could be the mid-level ($8.4MM), bi-annual ($3.3MM), or minimum salary exception.

A former lottery pick and NBA Rookie of the Year back in 2013/14, Carter-Williams has played for three teams in his first four NBA seasons, and has seen his usage and his production fall off since his days with the Sixers. After being acquired by Chicago in a preseason trade with the Bucks last fall, Carter-Williams appeared in 45 games for the Bulls in 2016/17, averaging just 6.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 2.5 APG on 36.6% shooting (18.8 minutes per game).

Carter-Williams reportedly received interest from the Thunder, Mavericks, Pelicans, Knicks, and the Rockets, in addition to the Hornets. With Ramon Sessions and Brian Roberts both on the unrestricted free agent market, Carter-Williams appears to have the inside track to be Kemba Walker‘s backup at the point in Charlotte.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacers Name Chad Buchanan New GM

July 1st, 2017 at 11:32am CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 1: The Pacers have officially named Buchanan as their new general manager, per a press release from the team. The club also promoted VP of basketball operations Peter Dinwiddie to senior VP of basketball ops.

JUNE 29: Hornets executive Chad Buchanan will be the new GM in Indiana, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. He will report to Kevin Pritchard, the Pacers’ president of basketball operations.

Buchanan came to Charlotte in 2014 and has served as assistant GM under Rich Cho for the past two seasons. Before that, he spent 10 years with the Trail Blazers, where he served as director of college scouting. Buchanan and Pritchard were in the Portland organization together, notes Nate Taylor of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link).

Indiana’s GM position has been open since the beginning of May, when Pritchard was promoted to replace Larry Bird, who resigned as team president. Buchanan joins the organization just in time to help oversee free agency and possibly work out a trade involving star forward Paul George.

Six Teams Interested In Michael Carter-Williams

July 1st, 2017 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

Michael Carter-Williams received a call from the Rockets last night, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link), who says that Houston is one of at least six teams with interest in the free agent point guard. Spears identifies the Knicks, Thunder, Mavericks, Pelicans, and Hornets as other clubs eyeing Carter-Williams.

Carter-Williams, the NBA’s Rookie of the Year back in 2013/14, has seen his usage and his production fall off since his days with the Sixers. After being acquired by Chicago in a preseason trade for Tony Snell last fall, Carter-Williams appeared in 45 games for the Bulls in 2016/17, averaging just 6.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 2.5 APG on 36.6% shooting (18.8 minutes per game). The Bulls didn’t tender him a qualifying offer this week, so he’s an unrestricted free agent.

While Carter-Williams appears to be drawing some interest, it remains to be seen whether he’ll prioritize joining a contending team or finding a situation where he’d have a larger role.

The Rockets, Thunder, Pelicans, and Hornets all have standout starting point guards, while the point guard situations in New York and Dallas are a little more in flux — the Knicks and Mavs addressed the position in last week’s draft by selecting Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr., respectively, but those those rookies likely won’t take on huge minutes right away.

Hornets Notes: Point Guards, Howard, Karnowski

June 29th, 2017 at 8:58pm CST by Austin Kent

The Hornets are expected to target point guards through free agency, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes, especially after the franchise elected to part ways with Ramon Sessions earlier today.

“Backup point guard has to be No. 1 priority,” general manager Rich Cho said. “Ideally, someone who can play with and without Kemba Walker, who plays both ends of the floor.”

Worth noting is that Charlotte’s 2016/17 third-string point guard, Brian Roberts, is also a free agent this summer and may not return. That could mean that the Hornets’ front office will turn their attention to the prominent names available on the market.

All of Darren Collison, Patty Mills and Shaun Livingston will be free agents but Bonnell wonders if they may be too pricey for what the Hornets currently have available. If that’s the case, cheaper options like Michael Carter-Williams and Shelvin Mack could be in play.

Traditionally, head coach Steve Clifford likes to retain three point guards and three centers on the roster, Bonnell notes, so it’s almost inevitable that the team will add somebody. The question is, with limited cap flexibility thanks to a busy 2016 offseason, who that may be.

There’s more from the Hornets:

After starting his career as a mainstay with the Magic, Dwight Howard has bounced around from franchise to franchise. Dating back to his final year in Orlando, Howard has played for four teams in six seasons. The big man tells Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer that he’ll “hopefully” end his career in North Carolina.
Don’t rule out Dwight Howard as an offensive option in the pick-and-roll. “Go back to my time in Orlando. We used a lot of of pick and rolls,” the big man said, addressing critics in an interview with Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. “It’s not that I don’t want to set screens. People just used that to have something negative to say.”
Consider undrafted big man Przemek Karnowski a dark horse candidate to land a two-way contract, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes in a mailbag with readers.

Hornets To Decline Team Option On Ramon Sessions

June 29th, 2017 at 4:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Hornets won’t keep veteran guard Ramon Sessions for another season, according to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.

Charlotte has elected not to exercise its team option on Sessions, which was worth nearly $6.3MM for 2017/18. Sessions is expected to remain on the roster until midnight in case a trade materializes, then will become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow night.

Sessions, who turned 31 in April, inked a two-year deal with the Hornets last summer that contained the team option. He played a career-low 16.2 minutes per game this season, and his scoring average dipped to 6.2 points per night.

Fellow backup point guard Brian Roberts is also a free agent, Bonnell notes, so the Hornets will have to address that position on the open market.

Hornets Received $1.8MM For Trade Down To No. 40

June 26th, 2017 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans sent $1.8MM to the Hornets in order to move up from No. 40 to No. 31 on draft night to select Frank Jackson, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). While that’s a significant price to pay to move up nine spots in the second round, New Orleans recouped some of that money later in the night, according to Pincus, who tweets that the Pelicans got $1MM from the Pacers for the No. 52 overall pick.

Ramon Sessions Appears Finished In Charlotte

June 25th, 2017 at 4:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

Ramon Sessions‘ brief stay in Charlotte seems certain to end by Thursday, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.

That’s the deadline for teams to make decisions about options for next season. Sessions is due to make $6.27MM, and Bonnell doesn’t think the Hornets want to commit that much cap space to him.

The veteran guard, who turned 31 in April, signed a two-year, $12.27MM deal last summer that included a team option. He will probably be kept on the roster until Thursday in case Charlotte wants to use him in a trade, Bonnell adds.

Sessions played just 50 games this season before being sidelined in February with a meniscus tear in his left knee. Even before that injury, which required surgery, Sessions’ numbers were declining. He averaged a career low in minutes at 16.2 per game and assists (2.6), while his scoring average of 6.2 points per game was the second worst of his career.

Sessions has played for seven organizations during his 10 years in the NBA, including both the Bobcats and Hornets in Charlotte.

GM Rich Cho has limited options to find a new backup for Kemba Walker. The Hornets took shooting guard Malik Monk and swingman Dwayne Bacon in the draft, and although Monk may be given some minutes at the point in summer league, it’s not his natural position. Briante Weber, who will also be on Charlotte’s summer league squad, is a potential option.

The Hornets have their mid-level exception, worth about $8.4MM, and could find a decent backup on the free agent market in that price range. Bonnell suggests Darren Collison, Patty Mills, Shaun Livingston, Brandon Jennings or Raymond Felton.