Impending free agent Willy Hernangomez 'loves' Charlotte
Rick Bonnell: What @Willy Hernangomez says on free-agency: “I love Charlotte, I love the group of guys we have. I want to be part of the young core that we have.”
Charlotte Hornets Rumors
Malik Monk: 😂😂😂 trippin
The Charlotte Hornets accept the NBA’s decision not to include them in the league’s restart. They won’t be so gracious if the league doesn’t tweak off-season rules. Facing nine months without games, coach James Borrego and general manager Mitch Kupchak publicly lobbied Monday for variances from the normal NBA offseason.
“It could be a major disadvantage,” Borrego said on a conference call with Charlotte media. “For me and our group, I can’t allow that to happen. We’ve got to move forward and find creative ways to push this thing forward.”
Typically, true group practices with coaches involved aren’t allowed in the NBA off-season beyond some limited gearing up for summer league. Borrego believes the Hornets and the seven other teams not going to Orlando should at least be allowed to practice in their home cities during the first month of the season restart.
“The amount of time they’re spending with their teams and their players as a unit, we believe we should have the same. That would level the playing field a little bit more,” Borrego said. “For me it’s more about the time that we have (to work with players and to scrimmage) — that it syncs with what (other teams are) getting in Orlando — and also the live play, which we don’t get a lot in the summer.”
Malik Monk reinstated from drug suspension
Rick Bonnell: Huge @hornets news: @AhmadMonk was reinstated from drug suspension during the NBA hiatus.
Rick Bonnell: .@hornets GM Mitch Kupchak and coach James Borrego will do their post-season media availability later this morning. Lots of open questions, including how they will navigate what looks like a 9-month break between games.
Hornets Sports & Entertainment released the following statement today regarding the team’s partnership with CPI: “Our chairman has been very clear about his thoughts surrounding the issues of racial equality, social justice and diversity. Hornets Sports & Entertainment shares these values. As a result, we believe it is appropriate at this time to end our partnership with CPI. We notified CPI CEO Ken Gill of our decision earlier today. Across our organization from our ownership, to our players, to our staff, we are fully committed to improving racial equality, social justice, diversity and access to education throughout our community.”
Rick Bonnell: BREAKING: @Charlotte Hornets end relationship with CPI Security, joining Panthers, NC State and South Carolina. Story coming.
Per the Observer, Jorge Millares, the leader of Queen City Unity, sent out a mass email to local groups and organizations in the Charlotte area about the need for action following Floyd’s death in police custody late last month. Millares, per the report, said he received positive reactions about his email from almost everyone, except from CPI Security CEO Ken Gill. “Please spend your time in a more productive way,” Gill told Millares in an email, via the Observer. “A better use of time, would be to focus on the black on black crime and senseless killing of our young men by other young men. Have a great day, Ken Gill.”
Most of the eight teams whose seasons have ended — including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota and New York — are pushing to engage in joint practices as ramp-ups for regional summer leagues in August, sources said. For example, the Pistons and Cavaliers have discussed the possibility of joint practices as a prelude to a mini-pod of games, sources said.
Rod Boone: Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading my Hornets coverage over the last two seasons. I am among the 46 staffers The Athletic laid off today. Thankful to be able to work at such a great place and collaborate with so many fantastic writers. The talent is second to none.
Michael Jordan knows money alone can’t solve racism, or barriers to upward mobility for the poor. But he hopes the pledge he and Jordan Brand made Friday — to donate $100 million over the next 10 years — helps start a conversation and a level of education that can finally end the ingrained racism the Charlotte Hornets owner says he’s seen all his life as an African American. “We have encountered racism to be somewhat acceptable in certain circles,” Jordan told The Observer. “We’ve got to understand at an early age (that can’t be tolerated). Education is such an important part” of societal change.
Amid the global outpouring of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand is pledging $100 million over the next 10 years to nationwide organizations “dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education.” “Black lives matter. This isn’t a controversial statement,” read a joint statement from Jordan and his company, which is a subsidiary of Nike.
Specifically, Jordan Brand will increase its work in communities across the United States to provide access to education and opportunities for future generations, while also taking a more active role in supporting organizations that work to effect policy change in local government. “We must join forces with the community, government and civic leaders to create a lasting impact together,” Jordan Brand president Craig Williams said. “There is still more work for us to do to drive real impact for the Black Community. We embrace the responsibility.”
The Jordan Brand pledge came hours after Nike announced its own “Commitment to the Black Community,” an additional $40 million collective pledge to community organizations from the Nike, Jordan and Converse brands over the coming four years. “Systemic racism and the events that have unfolded across America over the past few weeks serve as an urgent reminder of the continued change needed in our society,” Nike president and CEO John Donahoe said in a statement.
Tim Reynolds: Adam Silver says it was Michael Jordan who insisted the NBA playoffs not be “gimmicky” and that the standard postseason comes as close to normal as possible.
Caleb Martin: We not anti-white We Pro EQUALITY
Several teams disappointed they can't play
Adrian Wojnarowski: There are several teams that are very disappointed that they can’t play not only because they want it to be a part of the NBA is restart… they want to feel like they’re still part of the league with everybody going to Orlando, but especially teams who are rebuilding and have younger rosters Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, they wanted to have their players in the gym, they want training camps.
Hornets owner Michael Jordan was outspoken on Friday’s call, advocating for player safety and not having players have to return for meaningless games following a four-plus month hiatus, sources said. The Hawks and Bulls ownership groups said on the call that they wanted to return, sources said, but several players and staffers throughout both organizations prefer not to.
Tales of Mr. Unseld’s toughness and selflessness are legion. His arthritic knees became so bad, he often skipped a week’s worth of practices, as well as pregame warmups, because he could tolerate the pain only for the two hours of game time. Once, he suited up just minutes after having 200 cubic centimeters of fluid drained from his left knee. “The most amazing thing to me is how effective he was with those bad knees,” teammate Mitch Kupchak told The Washington Post in 1996. “Any time he stepped on the floor, whether it was for practice or a game, he was in pain. It wasn’t comfortable for him, but he saw it as part of his job. He knew his teammates were watching him and if he didn’t do it, they might not do it. We always talk about leadership in sports, but you don’t designate yourself a leader. You just lead. That’s what Wes did.”
A point Cuban emphasizes is that all but two teams — the exceptions being the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors — would have a mathematical possibility of qualifying for the postseason under his proposal. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, the teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, are four games behind the 10th-place Charlotte Hornets. “It’s fair. It’s entertaining,” Cuban told ESPN.
25 May
Rick Bonnell: The @Charlotte Hornets will reopen their training facility for voluntary (and individual) workouts starting Tuesday. Like with all NBA teams, there will be major infection-control and social-distancing procedures in place. Story coming.
Marc Stein: The 11 NBA teams, entering the weekend, that had yet to fully open their practice facilities for voluntary player workouts: Celtics Nets Knicks 76ers Bulls Pistons Hornets Wizards Mavericks Spurs Warriors
John Hollinger: I expect Melton to get offers for the full midlevel exception; the only question is whether a rebuilding cap-room team like Atlanta, Charlotte or Detroit would have the stones to go beyond that. In either case, the Grizzlies are protected by the Arenas rule, meaning that the first two years of any offers sheet to Melton could only be for the MLE, but the money could potentially increase in subsequent years. The most likely endgame to me is him returning to Memphis on a lesser version of the Brooks deal — something on the order of three years, $30 million.
Back in 2015, Jordan joined France’s L’Equipe for an interview, and at the time, Jordan claimed that he could still beat the Charlotte players in one-on-one but didn’t want to hurt their confidence. Jordan was 52 years old at the time of the interview, and the Hornets’ roster included Kemba Walker and Nicolas Batum. As far as we know, those games never took place.
FOX Sports Southeast (FSSE), exclusive regional broadcaster of the Charlotte Hornets, today announced that it will televise Hornets Classics, a series featuring memorable games from the franchise’s history, dating back to 1989. The series will begin this Friday, May 15 at 8 p.m. ET and continue every Friday and Sunday night through the end of May.
Roland Lazenby: But I held no delusion that I would be interviewed for this docu-series 22 years later or that any of the original interview footage with me would actually make the show. Yet it was also obvious that my work (along with the fine work of so many people covering the Bulls back then) had heavily influenced the production. That’s why it has been so nice and generous for Jason Hehir, the director, to take the time to publicly acknowledge my work. That can’t have pleased MJ. But the great success of Hehir’s work, beyond all of the narrative story-telling, has been his effort to encourage Jordan and his people toward a frank telling of his own story. After all, let’s be clear. This is MJ’s life, his story. It is he who has made all of this possible.
Roland Lazenby: One person who is not a fan of it is Michael himself. He has been cordial enough in and around it. When I decided to do the project, I went to him immediately and told him about it. He spoke briefly to me but I could sense that he was leery. When the book came out, the PR staff of his Charlotte Hornets treated me extremely well. In fact, I’ve always been kind of a secondary, almost unimportant, figure working around NBA teams, often occupying remote press seats (but having the same interview access as other representatives of large media corporations). So I was taken aback after the book came out when the Hornets PR staff assigned me preferred seating at a home game and afterward Jordan awkwardly shook my hand. Since then, however, Jordan’s top assistant has made it clear just how displeased MJ was with me.
Roland Lazenby: When the book came out, the PR staff of his Charlotte Hornets treated me extremely well. In fact, I’ve always been kind of a secondary, almost unimportant, figure working around NBA teams, often occupying remote press seats (but having the same interview access as other representatives of large media corporations). So I was taken aback after the book came out when the Hornets PR staff assigned me preferred seating at a home game and afterward Jordan awkwardly shook my hand. Since then, however, Jordan’s top assistant has made it clear just how displeased MJ was with me.
The Charlotte Hornets have no immediate plans to open their training facility, as the NBA begins allowing players to return to practice gyms and weight rooms. “At this time, our practice facility and our offices will remain closed as we continue to monitor the current situation,” the Hornets said in a prepared statement Friday. “Moving forward, we will continue to evaluate this on a week-by-week basis.”
It’s unclear whether the Hornets could get permission from the state to reopen the training facility, part of Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte, since it would serve only the players and would be under strict NBA protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As further evidence that Gantt bears no ill will towards Jordan: he’s helping to line Jordan’s pockets. Gantt’s a season ticket holder for the Charlotte Hornets, the NBA team owned by Jordan. “That,” he says with a laugh, “ought to tell you something.”
Bismack Biyombo’s latest initiative comes at a time of great need. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, his foundation has donated more around $1 million in supplies to hospitals and clinics, in the form of 10,000 face masks, 780 hazmat suits and medical beds, among other equipment.
While Biyombo’s annual trip might be canceled this summer, he’s in constant communication with those in the DRC as he looks to help the country to the best of his ability. “If I can work this hard for my life, for my career to be better, then I can put this much energy into helping those in the Congo,” Biyombo says. “We’re gonna keep putting out our effort and coming up with solutions. And I think we’re gonna get there.”
Biyombo doesn’t want to squander the opportunity he’s earned. As an example, those who know him well speak to his diligence in the weight room and focus on nutrition. Adcock says the nine-year NBA veteran is always working on a diet of some kind. He often requests food substitutions or orders unlisted items at restaurants. “All he eats is plants. Plants and fruits,” his teammate Cody Zeller adds. “I’m like, How do you have enough energy to play in games. But he’s crazy strong.”
Former Kentucky Wildcat PJ Washington got some ink during the quarantine. The Charlotte Hornets forward added an entire left arm sleeve with the theme “bet on me.” The NBA Tattoos Instagram account explains the sleeve and everything the artwork features. Mark Johnson put the sleeve together with Washington during a private session.
