2003-04 Charlotte Hornets Media Day

[NickMalone77]

The future is bright.

After finishing last season a difficult 40 games below .500 and subsequently missing the playoffs, the hive was silent and baron. Zach Randolph was wondering if he was ever going to be apart of a winning organization. Wheels started to turn midway through last season after acquiring oft embattled big man, Jermaine O'Neal, from the Utah Jazz. Jermaine and ZBo turned into quite the productive young front court and moving forward, figure to be a long term piece of the plan at the 4 and 5. Tyronn Lue helped to steer the 9-47 club at the time to play at a .500 pace to end the season on a bit more of a positive note in his return to Charlotte in a midseason trade with San Antonio. The club was tied with the New York Knicks in the standings at the end of the year and figured to be within the 3-6 range. The Knicks ended with Carmelo Anthony at #3 while the Hornets selected the "Brazilian Blur" Leandro Barbosa at 6. So the front court was set and with a young guard, the Hornets still searched for another versatile wing and contacted their good friends in Sacramento and took a risk dealing their own first round pick in 2005 and the defending champs, Toronto Raptors first in 2004 for Richard Jefferson. Jefferson, Randolph, and Barbosa all took great strides in improving their game at the next level in Training Camp and hope to leave their impact on the court in the upcoming season ahead.

The Vets.

Charlotte also signed long time, skilled guards, Terrell Brandon and Robert Pack to one year deals to hold the fort down. Their unique skillsets for the guard position will help to create new opportunities for the rest of the Hornets to grow and develop for not just this season but many more ahead. With any hope and the depth in place, this rebuild may be a bit quicker than what most expect and may even be quick enough to result in a playoff birth in the upcoming season ahead. All hands on deck.

[kucoach7]

Nathan Sliver, sevenfortyseven.com: I'm going to be honest, when I look at your roster I wonder what your plan is. You seem poised for a slow rebuild but you also don't have your pick this year. If the opportunity arises to acquire younger talent but make your team worse this year, will you take it or are you dead set on making a playoff run this year?

[NickMalone77]

Nathan Sliver, sevenfortyseven.com: I'm going to be honest, when I look at your roster I wonder what your plan is. You seem poised for a slow rebuild but you also don't have your pick this year. If the opportunity arises to acquire younger talent but make your team worse this year, will you take it or are you dead set on making a playoff run this year?

The goal is always, always, always, to make tomorrow better. Last year, a lot of difficult decisions had to be made with trading away a lot of established veteran stars. We established this last year as such and the returns for taking that gamble resulted in having the 6th pick, a developing ZBo and making trades that benefitted our future growth. The team as a whole had a great training camp. the important pieces we have in place will be with this franchise collectively for hopefully the next 5-10 seasons. In trading away Ron Artest, I needed to acquire a building block and thats what Randolph is. I took a risk in dealing away our pick in 05 to acquire a young and prospering talent in Richard Jefferson. Barbosa made great strides in Training Camp and we are hopeful that with another season or two of development that he can be a long term answer at the 2. The pieces are in place. Without our own picks, we still have the Wizards pick in the next draft ahead and the Warriors pick in 05 that could depending how both franchises go, turn out to be better worthwhile investments. The goal is to try and allow the pieces of our future to yield promising returns in the present by giving them time and minutes to play together and grow as a unit. Of course, some moves will have to be made to restructure how this franchise will go moving forward but I anticipate us making sure the Timberpups have a pick that isn't lotto bound and make the playoffs. If we can do that with the young core we're growing despite the numerical hypothesis, I think we'll have the chance to do a lot of great things to come in the season ahead and the future for sure.

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: It seems like Zach's taking a little bit longer to adjust to life in the NBA than one might hope. Is there any concern that Zach's development might slow down the rebuilding effort? Was Jefferson brought in to keep plans "on track," so to speak?

[NickMalone77]

Random Reporter: It seems like Zach's taking a little bit longer to adjust to life in the NBA than one might hope. Is there any concern that Zach's development might slow down the rebuilding effort? Was Jefferson brought in to keep plans "on track," so to speak?

As far as Zach goes, his development has been encouraging. He's taken another great stride forward this past offseason with great gains defensively and improving his offensive game as well inside the paint. His hard work and dedication to get better is another great stride for him and for us. He's 22 years old and this will be his third season in the NBA. A great player will fail and have off nights but it's what that great player does with his failures and uses them to get better than will continue his development and take another step forward will help propel this franchise even more.

Richard Jefferson was also apart of the plan here in the offseason. We weren't quite sure the plan in Sacramento to reset their franchise but we always viewed Richard Jefferson quite highly since he was drafted by the Magic. Jefferson's also entering his third season and being that he's 23 years old, he can play and grow with ZBo. There's a similar pattern here, I'm willing for this team to grow and struggle together to grow that chemistry so that they know what the other is thinking and can do 5 steps ahead working as a singular unit on both sides of the court. I think this team as you see it will go through more changes but the nucleus we have developing will help put this franchise in the right direction towards bigger and better things.

[IamQuailman]

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