Charlotte Hornets 1990 (de)Presser

[NickMalone77]

This is becoming a yearly chore in the name of “league participation.”

Peaking behind the curtain at the notable attendees of reporters waiting to ask the general manager of the Charlotte Hornets, his mindset on the moves he made. It wasn’t as much the eager anticipation from the reporters that bothered him as much as it was the process of getting to this point and the effect of making it through another training camp with diminished returns.

Not to make it seem like an excuse but after the last two years in the league, you’d want to see more progress than what’s been shown so far. This ownership has spent money. The fans in North Carolina pack the Charlotte Coliseum to see this team play and given the product,you’d’ expect more than two 30 + win seasons and 0 playoff appearances to show for it.

Team attendants test the microphones, adjust the chairs, pour the cups of water, and do what is generally needed to prepare the dais.

Maybe this year will be the season…

One by one, several team officials of the Charlotte Hornets walk onto the stage as camera flash bulbs pop off. The coaching staff, a few members of the Front Office, and lastly the President of Basketball Operations, Nick Malone, walks out to the center podium after the officials have taken their official seats.

I’d like to welcome the members of the media from across the league for being in attendance today. I’d like to take your questions after the overall assessment of the team and how we got to this point.

Nick takes a sip of his water and adjusts the papers for his prepared speech. After looking at his papers, he silently reads, and then disposes the papers into the trash bucket down next to the podium.

I feel like it’d be disingenuous to read a prepared statement instead of reading from the heart. The people of the Carolinas deserve a team that they can be proud of and I share the same sentiments of disappointment as I’m sure many across the state to in how this team has underachieved. That’s not to question their effort or level of play because they’re professionals and they prepare with extreme dedication to play as hard as possible. This owner has dedicated his time and money to giving the Charlotte Hornets fanbase a team that can play with the best of the conference and frankly, the results haven’t shown the effort this staff puts in to put out a team that’s worthy of their efforts. For that, I apologize and take full responsibility.

Nick shakes his head and just stares off into the distance as it’s a familiar feeling. Saying things and the results don’t match the words. This team shouldn’t be in the lottery year after year and consistent doormats for the rest of the league.

We finished another non playoff season without a pick as we watched Portland trade up from our pick to select a great talent in Elden Campbell. We hope Elden succeeds at the highest level in Portland as he begins his career. Given the kind of talent in this draft and without a pick, we knew we could trade into this draft and select a talent that could help us down the line and we were fortunate enough to chat with the fine folks in Dallas and we bought our way into the first round for cash considerations and selected Lou Vaught. We thought Loy could be a successful role player down the line for whoever we played for. More on that in a little bit.

Looking at the eager faces in the crowd, he knew they would be ready to ask away.

After the draft, we had the second most cap space in the league and had our sights set on signing some premium FA’s to add to our core of Spud, Hersey, & Vlade. We made the difficult decision to trade away two time Hornet, Jay Vincent to Golden State for younger assets and a future First Round pick from Golden State. That freed up an additional million in cap space, we had our sights set on Rodney McCray. Given the cap situation in San Antonio & McCray’s pension for wanting his own team, he took an interest in Charlotte and we were eager to work out a sign and trade. He’s extremely skilled offensively and defensively, he’s a dawg that gets after the basketball. He was just shoved to the bench playing behind the MJ’s & Chris Mullin.

After RFA had passed and the Hornets took on the McCray contract, they still had the most cap space in the league and with spots to fill, notably at the 3 and another 5, we came with an open checkbook and targets in mind.

We approached both Moses Malone & Rod Higgins. Two veterans with plenty of playoff experience and still lots to offer. Signing Moses allows Vlade a little bit more time to mature and develop. Coming over from another country and playing in America for the first time is a big life changing experience. Hopefully, this development of letting Moses start at the 5 will allow Vlade a bit more time to get acclimated to the roster and develop at his own pace. Signing Rod will give us another capable scorer on the wing that can play across the board with Rodney, Hersey, & Spud. We envision this starting 5 to be really versatile but skilled in all 3 levels offensively. This is how we envision the starting 5 to start out at least in the beginning….

C: Moses Malone
PF: Rodney McCray
SF: Rod Higgins
SG: Hersey Hawkins
PG: Spud Webb

Now the floor is all yours and we hope this roster can compete for a playoff spot this year ahead.

[IamQuailman]

You gave up yet another future pick for a 29 year old player, although McCray is looking like something spectacular. But what is your long time goal? Can you really build around a 29 year old?

[NickMalone77]

You gave up yet another future pick for a 29 year old player, although McCray is looking like something spectacular. But what is your long time goal? Can you really build around a 29 year old?

The hope is that McCray can be a stable presence in Charlotte for years to come along with Spud Webb while Hersey Hawkins & Vlade continue to develop. Lead by example and the high floor of each proponent SHOULD raise our ship hopefully to the extent that this team is ready to get to that next level which is making the playoffs.

[BigDaddyd8720]

Picks Emmington, SLOE Gazette,

Do you have any regrets about not trying to build this team up from its expansion year? Or do you think trying to become an immediate playoff team is still the route to go?


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[NickMalone77]

Picks Emmington, SLOE Gazette,

Do you have any regrets about not trying to build this team up from its expansion year? Or do you think trying to become an immediate playoff team is still the route to go?


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I’ll never apologize for taking swings to compete amongst the best within the conference. Donaldson & Nance were all stars in Charlotte during our inaugural season and they dominated teams often with their size and length but it didn’t quite work out. I felt like we were one piece away but it led to back to back disappointing seasons. Hopefully we can turn it around but I don’t have any regrets overall.

[WigNosy]

Steve Duin, the Oregonian:

You have stubbornly held on to Vlade, yet you brought in the corpse of Moses Malone to start at Center - how confident are you in Vlade's ability to develop into a starting center, and how long will your fan base wait for that to happen?

[NickMalone77]

Steve Duin, the Oregonian:

You have stubbornly held on to Vlade, yet you brought in the corpse of Moses Malone to start at Center - how confident are you in Vlade's ability to develop into a starting center, and how long will your fan base wait for that to happen?

Vlade is in his second season. We were hoping that Vlade would take the reins to be able to develop into a full time starting center in this league and we are willing to be patient with his development. Moses is serving well so far and can still play in this league and with his ability still deserves the starting nod over Vlade. Divac will be able to develop on his time and pace.