Charlotte GM Mitch Kupchak fears Hornets rebuild may fall a year behind schedule
A full season of development missed.
Maybe 1 1/2 seasons missed.
That is how Charlotte Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak described the competitive disadvantage his team feels for not being part of the NBA’s restart and not allowed to practice as a group this summer.
The Hornets last played March 11. Next season won’t start before at least December, and the NBA could push that back all the way to March 2021. Meanwhile, the eight teams not part of the restart are restricted to individual player workouts.
“We’re trying to keep them, as best we can, interested,” Kupchak told The Observer. “Just imagine that all you can do is take jump shots for five months. That’s all you’re allowed to do. That’s going to get boring. It’s hard to keep their interest.”
The NBA brought 22 of the 30 franchises to Disney’s campus near Orlando, Fla., for its season restart and playoffs. Kupchak believes the practice and game time other developing teams got by being part of the restart is worth at least an extra season of experience for those young players.
“All those young players got to Orlando and started practicing. It was almost like their second year,’ Kupchak said.
“If nothing comes about for us, and we start our season in December or whatever, when our players step on the court that will become the beginning of their second season. For the teams in Orlando, when they step back on their court, it will be basically the feeling of a third season.”
The NBA and the players union have explored ways to get the eight teams not in the restart some practice or scrimmage time, but no agreement has been reached. Union executive director Michele Roberts has insisted that any offseason work by those eight teams must have safety provisions comparable to Disney to be approved in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Observer reported that the league made progress on a plan to at least let teams practice within their own facilities, but no announcement has come. Kupchak said there is a weekly NBA meeting of the 30 general managers, and separate meeting for the eight GMs not part of the restart.
Committed to a rebuild, the Hornets devoted nearly half last season’s game time to six players in their first or second NBA seasons. Those players could go nine months or more without any group activities at the Hornets’ training facility in Spectrum Center.
“It’s been an almost insurmountable challenge over the last four or five months to continue to get players to come in on a regular basis, and stay motivated and not lose interest under the present conditions,” Kupchak said. “It’s a major blow to our development and progress as a team in transition.
“To think that it may continue for another three or four months really makes me pause and wonder: ‘Are we falling a year behind schedule? A year and a half behind schedule?’”
Kupchak said there has been good attendance at the training facility, despite how little the players and coaches can do under the NBA’s current rules.
“We’re hopeful that there will still be some structure coming our way. But it’s been tough,” Kupchak said. “Our young guys understand that health-and-safety is No. 1. But as a young person with a game like basketball that you love to play, it’s hard. They want to work, they want to get better.”
