"Dunc'd On" Organization Rankings- Hornets Tumble Down List

Every year NBA analysts Nate Duncan and John Hollinger rank all 30 franchises taking into account ownership, spending power, front office decisions, medical staff and several other factors. As you might expect, this year's rankings were not kind to the Charlotte Hornets who ranked dead last (30th) by both Duncan and Hollinger. Duncan admitted that last year had moved Charlotte up into the early 20s and had hope they were moving in the right direction, but that positivity has seemingly eroded away.

Some of the key reasons put forward by Hollinger and Duncan were the imperfect 2021 draft which included selecting Bouknight and trading a future 1st for Kai Jones. Duncan also made comment to the "Cheap" nature of the franchise, as well as the Atkinson/D'Antoni/Clifford coaching fiasco this past summer. They did both at least agree the Bridges situation was out of the Hornets control and didn't dock them for that. They gave some praise to the LaMelo pick, but decided not to give too much credit as the way the draft played out it was the obvious choice.

The unsuccessful Gordon Hayward "Overpay", paired with the stretch and waive of Batum was also a key driver for their lowly rank. The recent injury social media fracas from Robyn Hayward was also mentioned, pointing to a concerning culture in terms of injury management. Hollinger described the Hornets as one of the "Least active teams" in the Kupchak era in terms of trades era, but did praise the team's success in drafting in the 2nd round.

Overall, the pair agreed the Hornets were a team that had lacked a clear vision for several years. Not moving Kemba Walker before free agency combined with a relentless pursuit of the 8th seed has left the team in the NBA's no-mans land. They both did agree that the announcers (Shout out Eric Collins) logo and colors for the team are up there with some of the best in the league, so at least fans can cling onto that.

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