Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak Talks Trade Deadline + Future Plans
If the team accomplished what they wanted to at the trade deadline
"The trade deadline is something you don't spend a lot of time on. And then an hour before the deadline you have to make decisions and decide what you want to do. You start the season with an open mind and I don't want to get too far off the beaten track here but the beginning of our season and almost a third of the way through...and once again I'm not blaming injuries but we could not get a good lineup on the court and get a good feel for what our team looks like. And the last 20-25 games we've dug such a big hole for ourselves that you do kind of have to in midstream make decisions that maybe you thought you might not have to make back in September. In short, we accomplished pretty much what we hoped to accomplish going into the trade deadline. I didn't know until the last day that we would be able to get those two deals done. One of the teams, we did have prior conversations with. The other team not really. It kind of just came around. But it was something we were working on."
The decision to move off of Mason Plumlee
"With the development of our young players, probably most specifically our bigs, Mark [Williams] and Nick [Richards]. I think Kai [Jones] is playing well with the G-League. But the development of them - a little bit quicker than we thought and our position as a team, it became pretty obvious. Mason, a veteran, an unrestricted free agent. Wants to win at this stage in his career. Probably the best thing for him and probably the best thing for us was to make a move and clean up the roster a little bit and give our young players a chance to play, develop, and grow."
What the goal was at the deadline
"There was a lot in motion. Both players that got traded were going to be unrestricted free agents in the summer. So that's something to be considered. You don't know what their value is going to be. They're both having great years. You don't know what the market is going to look like. We have a bunch of other players that are also going to be free agents. Something I learned, you can't pay everybody. And these are hard decisions, especially Jalen [McDaniels]. We drafted him in the 50s, spent two and a half years developing him. The injuries gave him extended playing time, which he took advantage of to his credit. He is also having a great year and it's at the right time. That was a factor. The other factor is, where is the team? Where is the future? As good as Mason has been with us, this last year in particular, our future is not with Mason Plumlee. Our future is going to be with our younger players. So that part's simple. With Jalen it's a little more complicated. He did get the opportunity because of injured players. Next year I'm hoping that our players, in particular, Gordon [Hayward], is not injured. If Gordon isn't injured this year then Jalen is not going to start 15-20 games and play that many minutes. And if you like the players coming up, maybe a JT [Thor], maybe a Bryce [McGowens], then you got to say okay, the market is going to be such and such this summer, we've got these guys coming up. We hate to lose Jalen, but once again, you can't keep everybody."
If they can continue building or if the team needs to start over from scratch
"This is one of those years that you really can't look at it and say, well, this is who we are so let's plan accordingly. I'm not sure this year really shows where this team is and it's growth. And maybe I'm wrong. But a lot of the stuff that this team and the organizations has had to deal with this year, doesn't always happen every year. They're unique situations. We've got to be careful not to overreact."
If he just didn't want to pay Jalen McDaniels in free agency
"No, well that’s not the case. It’s a factor, right, he was not a restricted free agent he was unrestricted. We could have matched any offer this summer, and because he’s unrestricted, I’m just guessing right. He’s from the West Coast, maybe it’s the same money and he would prefer to play on the West coast, you don’t have control. It’s not solely about paying a player, there are other factors. When I got to CLT we had x4 player contracts that all went out 3-4 years, it made it difficult to navigate and get through the first 2-23 years to ween ourselves away from those contracts. We have to be careful we don’t put ourselves back in that situation. Is Jalen a starter? If Gordon comes back, we are looking at a very good-looking draft pick. I can’t brag on it right as it’s an indication of our record, but we are looking at a lottery pick. What if we draft a player that’s a wing player, what if it’s the top pick in the country and you’ve just made a huge commitment to a player that even if Gordon is back, won’t be a starter and might not play. What if you bring in a rookie who might not play who is the 3rd, 4th or 5th pick or whatever. Those are all factors, it wasn’t an easy decision, right."
If he is in Paris to see Victor Wembanyama
"No, I can’t say that, but I can say that I am in Paris and I’m not looking at beautiful Paris, I’m at the airport looking at an Air France plane land on the runway from my hotel room."
If interest in keeping P.J. Washington played a factor in parting with McDaniels
"Yes, absolutely a factor. As I mentioned, we have PJ as a free agent, Kelly is a free agen, Nick is a free agent. We have multiple players that our free agents. You know, they’re tough decisions, you have to be careful that if you are going to really load up on a player it’s the right player. I do expect Jalen to get better and I don’t know, maybe 2-3 years down the road I’ll look at it and say “I wish I had signed him”. Like I said, it’s a tough decision, we do feel we have some players in the system that could with playing time could even equal coming off the bench like what Jalen did this year. Maybe not immediately, but maybe within a year they can do it."
If there was an option to trade Terry Rozier/Gordon Hayward or if the plan was to always stick with them
"Well, it’s never that clear-cut that you decide to stick with a group of players, you always listen. Obviously, I’m not going to speculate about teams that may or may not have called about those two players. There’s always a surprise or two leading up to the deadline, but we knew pretty much leading up to it that it wasn’t a direction we were going to go. As I mentioned a little bit earlier, we have to be careful not to assume that what happened this year is a fair representation of where this team really is. What I’m saying is, if we were healthy this year and our team was intact and we had the season we were having right now, you know something, maybe you would look to make a big move. We didn’t feel the way this season played out to date was something that we had to react quickly on. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes you need to be a little bit patient and see how things play out."
If the Miles Bridges situation impacted how the team handled free agency/trade deadline
Okay, well I can’t get into the Miles Bridges situation. Miles pleaded in October, everybody knows what happened, right. The NBA is conducting an NBA is conducting an investigation, I don’t know when the investigation is going to end. When the investigation ends we will have more situation and we will go from there. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what kind of impact that had on our team this year.
Being $30M under the CAP with only 8 players on the roster in offseason
"We are in a good spot financially; we haven’t put ourselves in a situation where we’re locked in. If you are locked in you want to be in a situation which you’re 100% sure about, we’re in a good spot financially. Yes, on paper we’re projected to have CAP room, but players have CAP charges. Even though you’re under the CAP, you’re not really under the CAP. I think I’ve said it a bunch of times, I don’t think I look at ourselves as a team that hoards CAP room so we can go into the free agent market to pursue free agents. We did that a couple of years ago and we ended up landing a big free agent, but I don’t think that’s something we can bank on as a small market team, I just don’t. The way we’re going to get better is through the draft, through player development and if we get lucky through a few savvy trades. Every now and then you might be able to get into the free agent market and get a player and I’m hopeful down the road a little bit that we can become a VERY attractive team even as a small market and maybe we can get a big fish. But Right now I don’t think that’s how we can look at it. I think what is more important is our assets, our draft assets. I think we have x5 draft assets this year alone, then we have a bunch down the road. I think that’s important, I think financial flexibility is important, so you could draft right players or trade for the right players and have the flexibility to sign them, that’s where it gets a little tough as you have to make tough decisions, so we’re in a good spot. We are a small market team, we have to look at the world a little differently."
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