Charlotte Hornets President of Basketball Operations & General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced today that the Greensboro Swarm has named Joe Wolf head coach. Wolf becomes the second head coach in franchise history. “We are excited to have Coach Wolf join our organization,” Kupchak said. “Joe has a wealth of experience at the collegiate and professional level and knows what it takes to develop young players. Coach Wolf will be an integral part of the program we are building. He is familiar with the region’s passion for basketball and we are excited for him to lead the Swarm in Greensboro.”
Mitch Kupchak Rumors
Charlotte Hornets President of Basketball Operations & General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced today that the team has named Joe Sharpe Director of Health Care & Sports Performance, while adding Dr. Quinton Sawyer, Adam Linens and Dr. Powell Bernhardt to his staff and retaining Aaron Karkow and Jason Meiring. Sharpe returns to Charlotte, where he previously served as head athletic trainer from 2004-08, after spending the last 10 seasons as head athletic trainer for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Charlotte Hornets President of Basketball Operations & General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced today that the team has waived Mangok Mathiang. Mathiang signed a two-way contract with Charlotte on Aug. 2, 2017.
Rick Bonnell: The @Charlotte Hornets now have an open two-way spot, along with rookie J.P. Macura, who showed some flashes in summer league.
Charlotte Hornets President of Basketball Operations & General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced today that the team has signed guard Jaylen Barford and forwards Zach Smith and Isaiah Wilkins to the team’s training camp roster. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. In two years at Arkansas, the 6-3 Barford averaged 15.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 28.3 minutes per game in 71 contests. An undrafted free agent, Barford recorded averages of 17.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 35 games as a senior in 2017-18. The Jackson, Tennessee, native finished the season amongst the SEC leaders in the following categories: field goals made (first, 224), points scored (third, 628), points per game (third, 17.9), three-point field goals (fourth, 87) and field goal percentage (sixth, .470). As a junior, he averaged 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
The dots don’t connect in a straight line, but Howard has been the common thread through all of the drama. And the shocking trade to Brooklyn — and subsequent scuttle about him not being well liked in the Hornets’ locker room — provoked Howard enough to reach out to Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak and new coach James Borrego for an explanation. “I didn’t see any signs. I wouldn’t think after having a really good season a team would be like, ‘OK, let’s trade you.’ That really caught me off-guard. That’s why I said in the press conference, the Hornets stung me,” Howard said. “I asked Mitch and I asked the coach: What did I do? Was it something in the locker room that I did? And Mitch said, ‘No, it had nothing to do with the locker room. It has nothing to do with you as a person. We just felt like we wanted to go in this direction as a team.’ I asked him, ‘If this is the truth, you need to come out and say this stuff, because people are thinking it’s because I did something in the locker room or acted a certain type of way.’ And I’m like, ‘This is not who I am.’”
