Mitch Kupchak's interview with Bally Sports: What did he have to say?

Last week, Ashley ShahAhmadi sat down with Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak to discuss a wide variety of topics as the season begins to ramp up. They touched on the tumultuous offseason, expectations for the 2022-23 season, and everything in between. Here are a few quotes from Kupchak's interview and what they mean for the Hornets going forward.

On the offseason as a whole

"Every postseason, preseason, summer, they're all different...they never go the way you think they're going to go. This offseason there were a couple of bumps in the road."

"We had a great draft. We were able to sign Cody Martin. We went to Vegas I thought we saw great progress in our young players...players lived in Charlotte and continued to come into this building every day in August and September."

Internal improvement is the only thing the Hornets have to hold their hat on when it comes to making a leap this year (more on that later), and it seems like the team was committed to making that happen. 

On Miles Bridges

"Once that’s sorted out (his legal situation) and there’s a resolution, we’ll all take a deep breath, huddle up with ownership, and figure out what that next step is”

Well, here we are. On Thursday, Miles Bridges' court case was resolved and Hornets are aware of the verdict. Now, the ball is in their court to figure out what happens next. Bridges avoided jail time, but will be on probation for three years.

The Hornets still have the rights to Miles Bridges, and if he returns to the team, he will still need to serve any punishment given to him by the NBA which would come from the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Charlotte is in no rush to make a decision, and they're probably still in that deep breath and huddling up period, but Bridges' basketball future is currently in their hands and it seems like a decision on that will come in the near future.

On Steve Clifford

"I couldn't be happier with what Steve Clifford has done to date."

“Steve has done a great job coming in and establishing relationship with the players…Building a common rapport. He’s done a great job of being very honest…Players appreciate that. His work during the offseason was great. He’s got great energy and great enthusiasm…I’m happy to have him back, I really am.”

There has to be a little bit of awkwardness in this relationship...right? Five days after Kupchak was hired as the General Manager in Charlotte he fired Steve Clifford. This offseason, Kupchak and the Hornets agreed to a deal with Kenny Atkinson for him to be the next head coach of the franchise. Obviously, Atkinson walked away from that agreement and the Hornets moved on to re-hiring Clifford. 

It was a weird game of musical chairs that has ended with Clifford having one of thirty seats on an NBA bench that are some of the most coveted in sports.

Clifford is a solid NBA coach and he has the team playing above expectations thus far in the season. The team's biggest problem, injuries, is one he can't control, but it is also something that Kupchak touched on in this interview.

On Injuries

“You can never really blame injuries on anything, a big part of this league, and every team has to deal with it...If you’re gonna blame injuries then your team probably isn’t as deep as you thought it was. You should be able to withstand several injuries every year.”

At the time of this interview, LaMelo Ball was the only Hornets' rotation player that was scheduled to miss time due to an injury. Since then, Charlotte's bench has almost as many guys in street clothes as it does in uniform. Along with Ball, Terry Rozier, Cody Martin, and Gordon Hayward have all missed games due to injury, and the lack of depth is decimating the Hornets.

Dennis Smith Jr. has come out gangbusters in 2022, but he was meant to come off the bench and relieve Ball and Rozier, not carry a massive workload on his shoulders.

Theo Maledon is a decent depth piece, but he wasn't expected to be playing 15+ minutes a game.

James Bouknight oozes potential, but he's also not ready to be a featured player in an NBA rotation quite yet.

The Hornets weathered the storm of injuries for a few weeks with wins over the Warriors, Hawks, and Spurs, but their recent performances are highlighting their lack of depth. Ball and Rozier and both dealing with ankle sprains of differing severities, and the Hornets desperately need their star guards back on the floor.

Like Kupchak said, every team has to deal with injuries and adversity, but winning games is easier when your team is healthy and Charlotte is feeling that crunch right now.

On expecations:

“Last year we were 43-39, I don’t think anyone would expect us to go backwards. I would expect us to be better than 43-39. Does that get you in the playoffs? Does that get you out of the play in tournament? I don’t know. The east is better this year than last year. I think our record should approach…we should exceed what we did last year.”

"Our goal every year is to advance, and if we could get into the playoffs, yeah that’s a good thing but that’s not where it ends. We’d like to advance in the playoffs."

Feels like some bold claims, no? Fan sentiment felt like it was leaning more towards the tanking realm instead of the competing realm, but those who were hoping for a competitive team should cling to these Kupchak statements.

Unfortunately, the hopes of improvement haven't unfolded thus far. Charlotte is sitting at 3-5 while this is being written, with two games against 2022 playoff teams (Memphis and Brooklyn) this weekend. Also, in what way is this team better than the 2021-22 version? Other than hoping for some internal improvement (which has come from Nick Richards), Kupchak and the front office did nothing to improve the roster.

 Both 2022 draft picks have (rightfully) been sent to Greensboro. 

Neither 2021 draft pick is making an impact on the court.

The only new free agent signing from this summer was Dennis Smith Jr.

I know that the Miles Bridges situation sent the entire offseason plan in flux, but it feels like the general manager is speaking out of both sides of his mouth when he's expecting an improvement in record, but he's not spending money to bring in players to improve the team.