Hornets GM: 'We're Pretty Close' to Being a Playoff Team

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Baby Steps. That's the title of a book written by Dr. Leo Marvin, a fictional psychiatrist from the 1991 hit film, What About Bob? played by Richard Dreyfuss.

In the movie, Dreyfuss helps his patient, Bob Wiley, played by Bill Murray, overcome his army of fears and anxieties but ends up losing his mind in the process when Bob invades his family vacation.

Believe it or not, you can actually purchase a copy of the book, authored by Joel Silverman.

Baby Steps is also also a financial how-to guide written by millionaire, Dave Ramsey, helping people pay off their debt, save money, invest, and give.

It's also my adopted label for the rebuilding plan of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets.

Baby Steps.

Slow, steady progress that will manifest positive long-term results.

General manager Mitch Kupchak has made it abundantly clear that the organization will center its efforts on drafting and developing, rather than "throwing the bag" so to speak at the feet of top-tier free agents on a yearly basis. Some teams can afford to go that route, but for the Hornets, it's just not feasible.

This doesn't imply that Kupchak is unwilling to offer a substantial amount of money to a player. In fact, he did such the thing earlier this month when the team signed LaMelo Ball to a standard rookie max contract extension worth up to as much as $260M. It just means the organization isn't going to sling money around as if there's an endless supply.

With Ball locked into a long-term deal, in addition to the return of Miles Bridges, and the selection of Brandon Miller in the 2023 NBA Draft, Kupchak believes they are inching closer to contention.

"I think we're pretty close to being a playoff team," he said Wednesday afternoon. "I'm not necessarily feeling that we have to add a lot more talent. I think the talent is in the system. We're not the oldest team, so perhaps you look for a veteran to give some more leadership. But I think the talent that we need to get to where we want to go is here."

The Hornets GM mentioned the idea of adding a veteran backup ball-handler, which duh when you look at the current make-up of the roster. Aside from that, though, the roster appears to be set in the minds of those in the front office. They'll still have to make a decision on P.J. Washington, who is a restricted free agent, but once that is made it will be rather quiet on the roster front.

Prior to the injury-riddled 2022-23 season, the Hornets were making progress along their Baby Steps journey. Sure, they were blown out in each of their two appearances of the Play-In Tournament and that's nothing to write home about, I get it. But the core of the team displayed a lot of growth and by reaching the Play-In, proved they were already on the doorstep of ending that playoff drought that began following the 2016 season.

In some ways, last season may have helped Charlotte stumble a couple steps ahead in the process by landing a top pick in the draft and selecting a dynamic 6'9" scorer, who can also handle the rock.

The core is here. LaMelo. Brandon. Miles (?), Mark. The average age of the group is 21.7 years. They're only getting started and that's why Kupchak continues to reiterate why taking this thing slow and not getting ahead of themselves is critical.

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