How Montrezl Harrell’s arrival via mid-season trade benefits the Charlotte Hornets
As the NBA trade deadline kicked into high gear Thursday, there was initially an anticlimactic feel to it for the Charlotte Hornets’ faithful.
Most observers knew the Hornets needed a jolt from a meaningful addition to correct one of the roster’s main flaws — the lack of an inside presence. Remember, this was still the very same team that was floundering on a six-game losing skid and in a tailspin, tumbling down the Eastern Conference standings. They had tangible playoff expectations, which were dangling well within reach just weeks ago when they were a fingernail away from sixth place.
So, general manager Mitch Kupchak had little choice but to develop a trade Thursday, coming up with a move that could give them some help — provided he didn’t tear apart the puzzle he’s assembling with the Hornets.
Kupchak had to be torn, given the trade wasn’t on his radar even a few weeks ago when the Hornets were at their peak. Watching a suddenly thin roster be overworked, keeping the Hornets limping into the All-Star break in a week, changed all that. Just beating the NBA’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, the Hornets acquired Montrezl Harrell from Washington for Ish Smith, Vernon Carey Jr. and a second-round pick.
“Originally at the beginning of the season we talked about what are our goals — which I thought we were a little bit ahead of ourselves — which was to get into the playoffs,” Kupchak said Friday. “That still remains one of our goals. I think we could have just stayed pat. But look the injury situation (and) our schedule is favorable in terms of home games, but they are really, really good teams. So I think this will also give us a little boost and hopefully push us toward the goal that we had at the beginning of the season.”
All the positive energy that’s accumulated throughout the season up to this point was — and still is — in jeopardy. Some fans were ready to check out, frustrated the team wasn’t wheeling and dealing like so many others throughout the league in a week highlighted by a powerhouse trade between Philadelphia and Brooklyn, with James Harden going to the 76ers and Ben Simmons headed to New York.
Optics can go a long way with a fan base, and with the growing number of Hornets season ticket holders,, the team want some bang for its buck. Going out and getting Harrell, a gritty, 6-foot-7 power forward and center, is a sign they can be buyers if need be. Harrell being a native of Tarboro, N.C., doesn’t hurt, either. One of the first things Kupchak told him during their initial phone conversation Thursday was, “Welcome home.”
But he should give the Hornets something they’ve sorely lacked at times.
“Effort and energy for sure,” Terry Rozier told the Observer. “That’s always been ‘Trez. The toughness. He’ll bring the toughness to our team. The crowd is going to love him. He’s going to pump up the crowd. From his first day coming in, you are going to see a difference. So it’s going to be huge in that respect.”
The move to bring Harrell on board has a deeper effect.
By sending the veteran Smith back to his old stomping grounds, it clears roster space and rotational minutes for rookie James Bouknight. He’s expected to see a significant increase in his playing time, especially with Gordon Hayward out for a while. Bouknight can’t develop riding the bench and this allows him to get that on-the-job training he so desperately wanted.
Besides providing Bouknight with more minutes, the trade frees up another roster spot that can be used strategically over the coming weeks if the Hornets want to go the buyout route and add someone who’s been waived.
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing is this: It gives the Hornets a free peek. Harrell will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer and he’s the type of player they were missing. He could be a good, cost-effective option and the Hornets now have an up-close view of how he fits.
This will be an important offseason for Kupchak & Co., and sampling the market during the deadline allowed the Hornets to see just how much their core is coveted around the league.
“All of our young players, there was a lot of interest,” Kupchak said. “It was really eye-popping to me, some of the interest in some of our players. And some of them because they are young, and some of them because they’ve been productive. Some of them maybe because they don’t get paid a lot. So there’s a lot of factors.
“And I’d like to believe it’s because they are all young, promising players. And all of the players, of course there’s interest when you are looking at big pieces. But there was a lot of interest in our young players.”
With Harrell on board, the same can still be said about the team in general. And that’s a good thing for the Hornets.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 4:16 PM.
