Charlotte Hornets

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Wednesday, center Al Jefferson became the only Charlotte Bobcat who will ever be named All-NBA.

Jefferson used the occasion to discuss his future with the now-Charlotte Hornets.

“When we stay on the same page and do things right at the defensive end, we can be a great team. We lost a lot of games last year I think we should have won,” Jefferson said

Al Jefferson named 3rd-team All-NBA after the NBA announced he was third-team all-league.

“We can get better. You can’t be satisfied.”

It took Jefferson 10 seasons to be named All-NBA, finishing at center behind Joakim Noah and Dwight Howard. He has yet to be voted into the All-Star Game, though that figures to change next winter based on his productivity this past season. He averaged 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds and shot 51 percent from the field.

Jefferson signing with the Bobcats last July, combined with the hiring of coach Steve Clifford, changed this team’s fortunes. The Bobcats went 28-120 the two seasons prior to their arrival. This season the Bobcats went 43-39, reaching the playoffs for just the second time in the franchise’s first 10 seasons.

While the Bobcats were generous with their contract offer (over $13 million per season), Jefferson took a leap of faith in signing with a team that had no history of success.

“When I signed here, I had a feeling we’d fit into coach’s system,” Jefferson said at a news conference. “I was dedicated to improving myself at the defensive end. We’ve come a long way.

“For me, it’s important I’m not happy with just what I have done. In my meeting (with the front office after the season) I told them I don’t want to go backward.”

To that point, Jefferson says he’s begun doing this offseason what point guard Kemba Walker did with him a year ago: recruiting players to consider the Hornets’ pitch once free agency begins in July.

Long before the Bobcats could meet with Jefferson, Walker was lobbying him to sign in Charlotte. The two share the same agent, Jeff Schwartz, and Walker laid the groundwork last spring for Jefferson to visit Charlotte.

When Jefferson was asked Wednesday if he’s open to a similar role, Jefferson suggested he already has accepted it.

“I had guys last year come to me and say they could see themselves (signing) here,” Jefferson said. “I have guys calling me about how the coach is, (looking to) confirm how great coach Clifford is.”

Jefferson can opt out of his contract after next season and become an unrestricted free agent. But he certainly sent out all the signs he enjoys the players, the town and the Hornets franchise. The Hornets will have at least $13 million in salary-cap space in July to facilitate trades or free-agent signings to upgrade the roster.

Jefferson said he left his post-season meeting with management confident the Hornets are committed to improvement.

“They made it very clear we’re all on the same page – to get a lot better,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson said he was happy to see four or five of his teammates already working out at Time Warner Cable Arena on a regular basis. He had to take three weeks off after the season to rest the torn plantar fascia along his left foot.

Jefferson said he’s now pain-free and can start running on the treadmill this week. He could start some light basketball workouts next week.

Jefferson said attendance at these voluntary workouts is representative of the work culture Clifford has invoked.

“(Clifford) kind of reminds me of my grandmother (who) believed in tough love,” Jefferson said. “(He) believes in letting me know what I’m not doing but at the end of the day he’ll praise me …

“He has a way of motivating you, not just for you but the team and him, too.”

That ultimately led to the validation of being chosen All-NBA.

“I can sit here and say it doesn’t matter, but it does,” Jefferson said. “To get that kind of recognition at this time in my career, it means a lot.”

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Doug McDermott is he really the Hornets really need? Maybe but he is not my First Option.....



Oooops! Very Familiar Photo like a Retro!....

Just like Larry Bird huh?

[HeatFan201]

Charlotte Hornets unveil 2014-2015 season uniforms

Fresh!

swak na swak imu ava shoes ani!

[Blackbeard]

Doug McDermott is he really the Hornets really need? Maybe but he is not my First Option.....



Oooops! Very Familiar Photo like a Retro!....

Just like Larry Bird huh?

looks like a quirky porn movie lol.

[inxss4]

Pursuit of LeBron could be Charlotte

Charlotte is not going to attract a Major League Baseball team or host the Olympics or the Super Bowl. Those are fantasies, not possibilities.

But Charlotte could sign LeBron James.

Of course the Hornets are underdogs. I believe they’re accustomed to the role.

LeBron will opt out of his contract with the Miami Heat and on Tuesday become an unrestricted free agent. The move could be nothing more than a ploy to encourage the Heat to pack more talent around him. It will be a shock if LeBron leaves Miami. MyTopSportsbooks.com says the odds are 8-1 that LeBron stays.

Yet several teams will recruit him the way Kentucky’s John Calipari recruits high-school all-stars.

Why can’t Charlotte be one of them?

Four years ago LeBron said he was going to take his talents to South Beach.

This summer he could say he’s taking his talents to the New South, Charlotte’s South End neighborhood or, if he wants to live across the border, South Carolina.

If LeBron wants to retain his number, he won’t have to pay a teammate to give up No. 6. Only three players in Hornets’ history have worn 6 – Michael Holton, Nazr Mohammad and Tyson Chandler – and at the moment it is unclaimed.

After Steve Clifford talks to the media at Time Warner Cable Arena Monday about a rookie audition, I ask if LeBron would be a good fit for his team.

“Let’s put it this way,” Clifford, the head coach, says. “We could find minutes for him.”

If somebody wants to accuse Clifford of tampering, the coach was: (A) smiling; (B) smiling impossibly large in a manner that suggests sarcasm; and (C) nobody has ever tampered sarcastically.

Of course LeBron would be a great fit. In Charlotte he’d play with a true point guard and a true center, and he’d play for an owner who uniquely understands the challenges the best player in a sport must face. The owner, newly declared a billionaire, says he wants to sign a star free-agent.

LeBron would be surrounded by relatively young talent that, after Thursday’s draft, will become younger. Nobody has the pedigree of Miami’s Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh. But their bodies are healthier.

I doubt the Hornets have the money to sign LeBron and bring back power forward Josh McRoberts. But if they did, they would have two of the top-passing forwards in the sport. That ball would move.

To make the signing work, LeBron would forgive McRoberts for the inadvertent hack to the neck in game two of the 2013-14 playoffs.

LeBron would forgive Michael for the occasional digs.

Michael would forgive LeBron for daring to challenge his status as the greatest player of all time, and for glaring at him during a dunk in Game 3 of the playoffs.

And Cam Newton would have to forgive LeBron for supplanting him as Charlotte’s top celebrity athlete – if Newton believes LeBron is a bigger celebrity.

LeBron’s Heat made the NBA Finals four straight seasons and won the championship twice.

Yet LeBron will forever be criticized for joining Wade and Bosh, two established stars, instead of going off on his own.

In Charlotte, there would be no such criticism.

Instead of joining a juggernaut, LeBron could start one.

Read more here: Pursuit of LeBron James could be Charlotte Hornets’, and city’s, Super Bowl | CharlotteObserver.com

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NOAH VONLEH.......!!!!!!! WOW!!!! HOPE THIS GUY help MJ's team!

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24th pick....SHABAZZ NAPIER! WOW! grabeha ani! good pick........

[jEiiWhO08]

24th pick....SHABAZZ NAPIER! WOW! grabeha ani! good pick........

Traded to Heat for the 26th pick which is Hairston and 55th pick.

[inxss4]

Traded to Heat for the 26th pick which is Hairston and 55th pick.

Yup it's confirmed nah........Vonleh pray for your game Bro.........

[inxss4]

Hornets rookie Hairston to appear in court on assault charges

Posted Jul 7, 2014 1:41 PM - Updated Jul 7, 2014 6:57 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Charlotte Hornets rookie guard P.J. Hairston is scheduled to appear in Durham County Court next month on misdemeanor charges of assault and battery following an altercation at a pickup basketball game on Sunday.

Paul Sherwin, the public information officer for the Durham County Sheriff's Office, said Hairston, 21, was issued a summons on Monday but will not be arrested.
Hairston practiced with the Hornets on Monday, but did not talk to the media. He issued a statement through the team apologizing to the organization and its fans for "creating a distraction."
"As this is now a legal matter, I cannot comment on the situation any further," Hairston said. "I am truly sorry for any embarrassment that I have caused."
The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Hairston's court date is Aug. 8.
"If two people get into a fight in North Carolina and there is no serious injury and is not witnessed by an officer, our hands are tied," Sherwin said. "We don't charge people in (unwitnessed) fistfights. They have to file a report with the magistrate office."
Kentrell Barkley, a 6-5, 190-pound 17-year-old senior at North Durham High School, said in court documents Hairston "punched him twice in the head" during a heated basketball game at the Durham YMCA.
Barkley's guardian Rich Phillips told The Associated Press that Barkley has a knot on his forehead from one punch. He said Barkley was also punched in the neck.
Phillips said he has not hired an attorney and the incident isn't about money.
"This is about doing the right thing and Kentrell feeling like he was violated," Phillips said. Hairston "did this kid wrong. Kentrell is 17 years old and what happened just isn't right."
Phillips' son, Vince, said he was at the Durham YMCA shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday when the game began to get heated. He said Hairston became annoyed after his team had lost several games in a row to Barkley's team.
Vince Phillips said Hairston dribbled down the court with his left hand and punched Barkley with his other in the head before driving to the basket.
"That's when KB came up to him and said, `What'd you do that for?"' Phillips said. "Then P.J. cocks his arm back and hits KB in the neck."
The two were quickly separated before Barkley could retaliate, according to Phillips. He said Hairston left the gymnasium before police arrived.
Barkley, a regular at the Durham YMCA, agreed with his friend's account of the story.
"It took me by surprise," Barkley said. "It wasn't like me and P.J. had any beef with each other."
Vince Phillips' account of the incident differs from that of Hairston's agent Juan Morrow, who said late Sunday night there was a shoving match between the two players and Barkley "took a swing at P.J. and P.J. swung back."
Earlier Monday Hairston said on Twitter, "Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see."

The Hornets released a statement late Sunday night saying they were aware of the situation and looking into the matter.
Forrest Perry, the executive director of the Durham YMCA, declined to comment on the altercation "In an effort to respect the privacy of the parties involved."
Hairston was North Carolina's leading scorer as a sophomore in 2013 but did not play last year. He missed the first 10 games while the school worked to resolve eligibility questions for receiving improper benefits. The school decided in December it would not seek reinstatement from the NCAA for Hairston, thus ending his college career.
Hairston, the 26th overall pick in last month's NBA draft, played last season for the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League.