Charlotte Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak moving to adviser role

Charlotte Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak moving to adviser role

What’s up and welcome to the Sam Dracula Channel a Charlotte Hornets fan Channel my name is Sam and the Charlotte Hornets have made some news on Super Bowl Monday which is weird the NBA has to really stop doing stuff around the Super Bowl like they got to move the trade down

Line for instance like it’s crazy like the NBA doesn’t get the love it deserves during the stretch in the day after the Super Bowl nuts it’s like the equivalent of dropping news on a Friday afternoon when you kind of want to have it buried but this is good news though for the

Charlotte Hornets according to wge Mitch cup is stepping down to become an organizational adviser clearing the way for the franchise to begin an immediate search for a new head of basketball operations W continues among several League Executives expected to be considered in the process langon from uh New Orleans Peterson from Brooklyn ganzy

From Cleveland Elton bran from Philly and others this feels like this was going to happen sooner or later there’s a a mention from Rod Boon in The Observer article saying that this was the understanding anyway going into the year year and this is from the ESPN article that ws wrote uh there’s an

Expectation that the new owners will hire a new top basketball executive prior to the end of the regular season so we shouldn’t have to wait terribly long this is massive for a lot of reasons right new ownership it seemed like a matter of time before Personnel in the front office changed right you

Buy a team why would you keep everybody involved especially when things aren’t going well right like they have been in Charlotte you know when MJ sold his majority stake in the team right around draft time I think it was the week of the draft it seemed impossible to bring

In a new front office during not even only not even during a draft cycle but during the draft right anyone in a job is busy and I’m assume the Hornets are going to take a risk on a first timer to be the GM right so the timing of it was

Horrible for Mitch cup to be replaced then the owners prioritized in getting the deal done before the season ends is a beautiful thing it means we can hit the ground running hopefully please get involved with some tampering everybody in the league tampers I want my Hornets to get involved in some tampering all

Right I’m a Hornets fan I’ll give up a second round pick if it means Landing a solid free agent in free agency please let’s tamper just a little bit not that crazy just a little tampering would go a long way this is from hornets.com from the owner quoting saying as Mitch near

The end of his contract we agreed that now was the right time to begin the search in order to put the organization in the best position for the upcoming off season I love it these new guys killing it killing it killing it killing it killing it killing it it took a while

It took a while but A+ so far I’m here for it I like these new guys a lot so this video is about Mitch cup Che but you can’t talk about the the guy at the top without talking about the guy on the floor and that guy being Steve Clifford

Right whomever gets hired as the new head of basketball operations I’m assuming will want their head coach in place Steve Clifford is on a it has a team option for next year it feels like this is where it’s heading where that option will be declined and Clifford

Will I think we have a new role within the organization like Mitch Steve Clifford has a ton of experience he’s super well respected and uh and liked to around the league he knows basketball and you know a new GM is one going to want to inherit a coach right so I think

Clifford can go back to being a consultant like he was for the Nets before he rejoined the Hornets two years ago now going back to the main man Mitch cup check right this man uh joined us in 2018 right before that he pretty much had a Hall of Fame type career with the

Los Angeles Lakers right I’ll forever respect Mitch cup for not trading Kobe when Kobe publicly demanded a trade right and then later on pulling off one of the greatest trades in NBA history up until that point acquiring PA Gasol now that his tenure is done as GM as head of

Basketball operations for the Hornets you can look back at his tenure here with some highlights like a lot of good highlights and some low lights we’re going to go through all of them as fast as possible all right we’re going to speedrun this 2018 hired fire Steve

Clifford a rip hired James bgo that was a w until it wasn’t right drafted SJ and traded him for Miles Bridges that’s a rip I really wish we had SGA right now you know what I mean they also left the draft with Devonte Graham out the second round incredible selection a month later

Traded Dwight for some stuff you know nothing like back breaking or franchise breaking in uh in July 2018 right they signed Tony Parker right uh they they got some draft picks that later turned into Cody Martin which we’ll talk about later that team won 39 games I I would kill for that right

Now you know what I mean that’s that first team Mitch’s first year here was a 39 win team moving on to the summer of 2019 when I started this channel okay Kemba left which we’ll talk about in a second but they selected PJ Washington with the 12th pick in the draft in the

2019 draft but we could have also had Tyler herro who went right after PJ he went 13th hero went 13th and PJ went 12th hero here with SGA now it wouldn’t you know it wouldn’t really work that way you don’t know how the records would

Shake out but the idea of having SGA and tahiro not terrible you know what I mean the wha ifs aside leaving the draft with one first round pick and two second round picks and all three are NBA players that’s incredible that’s an incredible amount of of draft selection

And Player Development right this is where we really saw how the Greensboro effect the Greensboro g-league experience can go when you look at Cody and jaylen’s development specifically it’s not on the screen right now but you can put Caleb Martin into this mix too when you talk about

The the g-league development from like during the Mitch cjack era all right now let’s talk about Kemba right signing trade with kembell walker uh arguably the franchise’s greatest player right in a signing trade getting Terry R here back in the deal kembell his career went downhill quickly like Charlotte

Definitely made the right deal here um saying goodbye to Kemba giving Kemba a chance to compete on a good team right Charlotte was was tanking pretty much and roier was meant to lead the charge for the rebuild the Hornets went super young going into the year won 23 games

Uh this was the the covid shortened year so who knows maybe they would have gone on a run and been 500 you never know or just under 500 you never know this draft right here the 2020 just draft in off season in general is so cursed for

Pretty much every team that just had limited access to guys because we you just couldn’t work them out or couldn’t visit with them like you would if it wasn’t a pandemic if there wasn’t a pandemic going on right but Charlotte lucked out right we didn’t miss with the

Third pick when a lot of teams did Miss with their uh lottery picks Lela boss select the third overall right Vernon carry in the second round rip Grant rer drafted in the second round Rip but Nick Richards traded for in the second round uh from the Pelicans so that that’s a w

They left the draft with lamelo rer Vernon Carrey and Nick Richards Richards lamelo dubs Carrey rer rips also shout out Nate daring Gordon Hayward signed four years $120 million not great didn’t work out that was an L that’s a l March 25th this is the deadline deal just because it’s a

Weird it was a weird year because uh again the start of the year so the the trade deadline went into March but uh yeah Brad watermaker my guy right we Hornets had an injury crisis in the in the back court soccer right it’s not new if you’re new if you’re a new Hornets

Fan the uh injuries in the back court are not a new thing and they ended up having to trade for Brad wanam maker uh as an as an emergency backup so that being said let’s move on uh That season ended 33 and 39 10th in the Eastern

Conference the 21 draft comes we leave the draft with James book Knight Kai Jones Scotty Lewis and JT Thor shout out to JT Thor for holding it down for the draft class you know me book Knight gone Kai Jones gone Scotty Lewis broke his leg right before summer league two

Seasons ago we haven’t seen him since it’s a problem it’s a problem let’s forget this draft could ever happen you know in hindsight the move would be would have been to have selected uh shenon this was the offseason that the Hornets lost Malik Monk and Devonte

Graham right you had lamelo you have ter roir No need no need for those guys to stick around right so Devonte was was signed and traded away for a protecor first pick which would later become a lottery pick thanks to the Pelicans making the playoffs shout out to them um

More on that pick later right but that’s the big takeaway from from this whole thing you know getting that pick back getting involved in in a three- team deal right is Smith signed Kelly UB signed in that off season as well D’Angelo rip right let’s move on though

Let’s move on to the deadline where the Hornets were looking like this is a year man this was a real year for the Hornets right things were trending positively for the first time at a long time best year by far under the cup check era they

Had to make a move to fortify things right so they moved ver Cary they moved ish Smith and acquired uh mantes harell I didn’t mention it earlier but plumbley was involved in the in the JT Thor trade so we had plumbley and Herold in the front Court during this run at times it

Was very interesting and uh actually refreshing to see two qualified real NBA players occupy the front court for the Hornets it it was it was a tough time it was a tough run up to the stage was also the year where flirting with Isaiah Thomas just keep signing him signing him

Signing my 10-day contracts but he finally got a deal and I liked Isaiah for the year we ended the year 43 and 39 10th in Easter Conference in the playing game I didn’t mention this before because it’s it’s pain and suffering but this was the second time in a row back

To back playing disasters right La this past season and then this season I don’t think this is in this on this page but that was the last year of of bgo Steve Clifford returns in 2022 fired in 2018 returns in 2022 right going into the draft the Hornets had two first round

Picks 13th and 15th 13th pick was ours 15th pick came from New Orleans and the signning trade for Devonte Graham and again going back to Mitch cup it’s important to acknowledge because these deals from previous years play can play out in the future and it wasn’t just a

One time thing getting what they got for Devonte at the time sucked getting it back a year later getting a first- round pick back a year later was great problem is we end up with dur and Mark Williams and traded dur now D’s awesome Mark Williams hasn’t played in a long ass

Time I have concerns we’ll see how this plays out uh I like Mark Williams upside but I have real concerns about his back so hopefully it works out hopefully it works out Mark Williams has all the talent in the world to be a really good NBA player I just have concerns Mitch

Flips dur for a pick that became Nick Smith and Amari Bailey and some other pieces right we’ll see what happens with those young guys and future picks as it plays out right we also left the draft for Bryce McGaw take it right we resigned Cody to an extension and just

Had a look I don’t think it’s on here but they also extended Nick Richards last year as well so let’s fast forward to later that season right we’re up against the trade deadline Mason plumley’s move to the Clippers you know we get Reggie Jackson back who’s immediately bought out right we get we

Get some second round picks as part of the thing you know we mov jayen McDaniels who’s who’s going to be an unded free agent I believe that summer anyway you know it just made no sense to keep him if he wasn’t going to stick around when he had all the options to

And at that time I thought Jaylen could have been something really special in the NBA still probably can it’s not over for him but I I think moving on from him was was a good idea it was a good idea and trading makon allowed you know

Cleared the way for Mark Williams to to start and play more instead of you know going back and forth between here and Greensboro yeah they acquired maai luk this this whole this whole situation sucked this this season sucked Hornets finished the season 27 and 55 14th in

The NBA end up with a second pick in the draft thanks to the lottery balls and we select Brandon Miller my guy also leave the draft with Nick Smith Jr in the first round Amari Bailey and uh individual named James Nai who doesn’t play for Barcelona all right that that’s

Being stashed over there so we’ll see how that works out I I didn’t like to look at him in summer leue but we’ll see how that plays out but Brandon Miller excellent draft pick Nick Smith Jr still early but shows some real positive signs uh from a scoring point of view especially Mari

Bailey haven’t seen much of him and then OB like I mentioned Naji doesn’t even play for the team that we drafted him from in Barcelona so not included in here really is the miles Bridges back and forth back and forth back and forth we’re going into this next season it’s

Going to be the third offseason row where Miles Bridges is going to be the main focus and uh it sucks so less said about that the better going into this year which would become Mitch’s last season madon brought back right Frankie smokes signed right Ed suar signed right

Smith signed this whole B situation going into the season we’re currently in was so terrible so so terrible and then but when you have things like this what they’ve done from January 23rd to now has been exceptionally competent genuinely these new owners are cooking I didn’t even mention this La during this

Cycle during this I don’t have the exact date hold on I’m gone too far back where’s it at yeah where where’s it at where’s it at where’s it at during this stage MJ sold his majority stake in the team so again that’s not that’s not a

Cup check thing it’s a hornet thing but that happened around here too so from this point I don’t say from this point on from this point on where the new owners when 2024 ticked over things have been going very well for the Hornets like up top not going

Well on the court per se but just everything else though I think thumbs up I made three videos on Deadline day uh it’s on the channel go check them out if you haven’t already so I’m not going to go into depth on these deals but I will

Say I went to the uh the the Grizzlies game on Saturday night and that’s where I got this from and boy that was fun I know it’s just the Grizzlies but man this team feels alive it feels like confident it feels real like this feels like an actual professional team now uh

And it hasn’t at all this year like last night’s win was amazing the energy in the building was awesome and it feels great it feels great and I hope it continues uh the rest of the year not that you know we’re not going to make the playoffs or anything like that I’m

Not saying that at all but things have gotten better objectively have improved moving PJ and Gordon Hayward w w trades the roier Washington and Hayward deals what a way to go out these are his people he brought these guys in and he got more value for them in return on

Their exits on his exit W Mitch W Mitch so we’ll see what happens next um I’ve been talking about this on stream here and on bleach report follow me on Twitter by the way I do live streams for Bleach report um I’ll tweet out the link when I do them so

Link in the description at Sam Dracula I’ve been mentioning It Here There and Everywhere that the Hornet should be tanking not for a player but for a GM and Coach right this situation today is better than it was on January 22nd by far the cap situation is healthier and

The draft Capital situation is healthier right Mitch cup set has set up this this this the GM job the head of basketball operations job to be a better job a more attractive job and opportunity for the new guy than it would have been which means I think you got you get a better

Like better selection of candidates because if you have if you’re if you’re a GM and you’re coming into this situation from before the rier deal right it’s like oh my God I got I got to gotta deal this guy I got to deal this

Guy I got to deal this guy gota deal you most of the work is done the work isn’t finished entirety look at H got a long way to go I don’t what I mean job’s not it’s not a readymade job but this job today is much better than it was January

22nd before the rier deal happened yeah and I don’t think that’s an accident I don’t think that’s an accident I think Mitch has really set up the next person to for success and again made the job more attractive for top tier person talent and whoever comes in next

Hopefully will have the keys to and and the resources to build their vision of what this franchise should be on Court and we’ll see how that impacts the coaching staff later on I’m going leave you on two things first thing I need you to like And subscribe I appreciate we

Just got over 6,000 subscribers thank you so much I appreciate it second thing and more importantly these new owners are cooking I’ve been Sam you’ve been great peace Yeah

– Charlotte Hornets Fan Channel –

Twitter: https://twitter.com/samdracula
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samdracula704
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samdracula704
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/ZaUwny9HaQ

Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5hN7Ae69ZbVbGRjaVkLDXA/join

Email: SamDraculaBiz@gmail.com
#CharlotteHornets #MitchKupchak #NBA

0:00 INTRO
0:27 MITCH KUPCHAK OUT
2:41 WHAT HAPPENS WITH HEAD COACH STEVE CLIFFORD
3:29 MITCH KUPCHAK HORNETS HISTORY
4:06 2018-2019 SEASON
4:46 2019-2020 SEASON
6:21 2020-2021 SEASON
7:49 2021-2022 SEASON
9:56 2022-2023 SEASON
12:00 2023-2024 SEASON
15:09 NEW OWNERS COOKING

By: Sam Dracula