Media Availability: Mitch Kupchak on Terry Rozier Trade | 1/23/24

Media Availability: Mitch Kupchak on Terry Rozier Trade | 1/23/24

Uh yes today you know we we made a trade uh Terry Rosier for Kyle lry and also the 27 first round pick protected and if it doesn’t convey in 27 it becomes unprotected in 28 uh before I open it up to questions I just feel I have to thank Terry you know

He he came to Charlotte four and a half years ago and we spoke this morning um but he made a great impact on this organization you know on the court and off the court uh this morning in my call with him he he thanked us for bringing him to Charlotte

And you know he indicated that he grew up you know on the court and off the court he feels he became more professional and better uh person I think we all know how involved he was in the community and of course you know on the court in

Particular this year you know he had he’s had his best year ever so um it was a bit of sweet phone call I’ll be honest um you know we brought him here on ass signning trade when kembo Walker went to Boston and there was a lot of

Unknown um yeah we felt good about it uh but you never know and it turned out to be um a good a good deal for us and and certainly as Terry indicated uh something that was very very good for him so thank you Terry uh good luck and

At this time I’ll open it up to questions hey M just uh you mentioned earlier um about Terry in the first round draft piic just wondering from your perspective um the cap space potentially will Kyle Lowry in the draft pick how does that help the franchise moving forward do you think Beyond a

Season yeah Terry had you know a couple years remaining on his contract and uh Kyle Lowry is an expiring contract so you know that money will be freed up it’s always good to be you know flexible you know financially um it will help us the summer and of course it’ll help us you

Know in the next couple of weeks to plan for the summer and Beyond just to know what our numbers are going to look like and the pick itself you know has incredible potential for upside um so you know we don’t know who that player may be you know several

Years out down the road but an asset that valuable can also become you know something that you can put into a trade and uh and make a deal so yes the financial part of it you know was a part of it uh but getting you know the pick uh was probably the most

Important part and then also do you expect to be active still the next two weeks here to figure out if you can move any more players for potential assets or to bring players back yeah yeah we will be uh this this is early right I mean I’m sure everybody

Or most people on this call you know weren’t expecting something this far out from the trade deadline so this is a little early and one of the benefits of having done something early is that um you’ve got more information now and you know we can look at opportunities

Knowing what we’ve just done right so yeah uh the trade deadline is still you know a week or so away and uh we will continue to be active obviously with Kyle’s Age and and being on a a team that has won 10 games at this point has

He expressed any interest um or or told you guys that he would want to buy out or see if you guys would want to find another trade for him or is that something that’s off the table well I I spoke to Kyle this morning and I know

Him a little bit so um you know we chatted and most of it was pleasantries right we went through the teams you know that he had been on and I think you know this might be his fifth you know NBA team so it’s nothing new to him you know

He’s been around the block um you know beyond that was not discussed you know what may be down the road or what may come down the road um you know we just did the deal you know a couple hours ago so we’ll be in touch with his representative and we’ll go from there

And then also to um obviously when you make a move like this it sends kind of a signal to a lot of fans that a rebuild may be coming do you see it more as a rebuild or as a kind of a retool situation well it’s definitely not a

Rebuild okay um you know we think we’ve got you know a foundation of of players in place um of course you know I’m not going to mention all the players but I’ll mention our two highest picks right it just makes sense you know Lamela ball and Brandon uh Miller so um but there

Are other players that that we’ve pegged as uh players that would be very difficult um to trade and like I said I don’t want mention all the names but uh we do feel that um and then we’ve got some veteran players right still under contract you know that are still I

Wouldn’t you know we drafted them four four years ago but but they’re not even 25 yet right so so we do have um I think a good group uh you know for various reasons you know most of all right the injury scenario this year uh we weren’t

Able to you know really see what kind of team we had or or reach whatever potential we thought we had and we had hoped that we would contend for one of those lower level playoff spots right that was our hope um you know never got a chance to put together a run and

That’s that’s not to say that you know we still don’t intend on trying to win games uh because we do um so um I wouldn’t call it a rebuild okay rebuild is in my opinion you know something where you start from scratch and you know you you know convert

Everything you have into draft capital and you create you know gobs of cap room and you start taking in you know contracts to get picks and you know it could drag out you know years uh that’s not the case um I think it’s more of a case of

You know recognizing Where We Are this year going forward just looking at our timeline you know we had to be realistic we had to be realistic as to you know the kind of year uh that Terry was having and it’s hard you know it’s hard

To to make a deal like this you know when a guy has played as hard as he has on the court you know rarely does he miss a game um the the the kid every time he goes in for a layup he gets thr to the

Ground and he does a side flip or whatever and gets up and runs back down the court uh it’s hard to you know say goodbye to a player like that but these are hard decisions you make in professional sports and I know it’s a long-winded answer but I think I covered

A lot of bases thank you appreciate it I wonder uh two things and uh they’re both short so I’ll ask them together but one is uh did Terry push for this at all we know he he has a home in Miami and and perhaps this is going to be a really

Good situation for him and secondly how involved were your current owners in signing off on this slash pushing for this yeah Terry never came to me and uh said he said he wanted to be traded um truth be told I think every veteran you know as they approach 30 you

Know doesn’t want to go through a season where you know you’re not going to have an impact in the playoffs uh and I think if you asked him he would show great remorse in in leaving Charlotte and uh be very nostalgic at least he was this

Morning uh but I think you’d also say Hey listen I’m getting to be 30 years old and this is a chance for me to do something in the playoffs okay so I think that’s the way to answer that question and the second part of your question is of course uh yes right yeah

No of course the the the new owners Rick and Gabe uh were involved um you know I can’t do a deal like this you know whether it’s with you know the previous owner or with these owners you know they get to sign off on everything so they were

Involved and um you know as you might imagine right you know this is their first deal so you know a lot of energy and a lot of discussion um but yes they they were involved uh at the end of the day you know I get tasked with making these

Decisions and uh they did approve it thank you uh in terms of this move I know that you’d covered kind of the reasons behind it but you had always talked about uh the asset management being something that you guys wanted to be at least Forefront on uh and You’ also talked

About the fact that you would probably been beyond building in the draft I just wanted to know is that still your thinking and and do you feel like these assets could be combined for a bigger move say in the off season or somewhere down the

Road I think the answer is is yes they can be combined it you know there they’ll have to be some you know assessments of this team when the season ends and to really see where we are and how good we can be and how quickly we’ll get there um you know

As to you know using an asset like that and putting it in a deal getting a veteran player or holding on to it and drafting a player you know right now we don’t know and of course the financial flexibility you know that can apply to several you know different you know ways

To improve a team right make a trade it’s always helpful you know take in back take back assets get picks you know or in free agency um but it’s it’s too early to say right now but I think we are once again we’re we’re further down

The road than and and than we would be if we were rebuilding but I think we have a good group of young players that have experience I think some players that have shown even though they’re very young that their future is bright and then I also feel we have veterans you

Know that are on contract that are also valuable so um you know we’re further down the road that than a rebuild but this is clearly you know um a point where you we had to make a decision on where we stood just prior to the trade deadline and be

Realistic and a quick followup um in terms of Kyle I know you kind of answered a little bit to him before but I know you don’t want to necessarily give up your total leverage with the deadline being on the eth but do you guys kind of have a mutual understanding

In terms of his immediate future and I guess his longer term future beyond the rest of this season oh I don’t know yeah no no I don’t know certainly like like I said I I mean everybody you know Kyle’s you know quote unquote doesn’t fit the time the timeline of of what we’re

Trying to accomplish um now if he’s on the team he brings you know veteran leadership and he’d be good for the locker room so um that’s that’s not to say that just because he doesn’t fit the timeline he won’t be on this team uh there are

Things he does bring to the table but you know realistically right it’s a it’s a big expiring contract and we have another week to 10 days whatever to go through the trade deadline we have to look at the opportunities and there is going to be a possibility that that

Maybe there something comes up that we have to look at so I can’t discount that when you look at some of the reasons why you made this trade you talk about the the contract the the pick being but how much weight and consideration was given to his onc court pairing with lamelo and

Even though they’ve been productive it necessarily hasn’t resulted in wins yeah I wouldn’t say there’s there’s been a lot of discussion you know they seem to me to have played pretty well together right um they’ve they’ve both had great success and um from a productivity point

Of view they’ve you know both put up you know career numbers every year so I’m not that wasn’t really a big part of this um you know and sometimes even if it were there sometimes there’s not much you can do about it right but but that

Was not a focus no this deal obviously creates some cat flexibility in the summer um there would also be opportunities maybe also to take on salaries for draft picks which would maybe eat into that sum of flexibility in the summer is is that something that you think could happen or is that cap

Flexibility created a real priority for the franchise yeah that that that can absolutely happen the new CBA changed the bout rules teams in the second a cannot sign players on the buyout Market how has that changed her approach to the buyout Market uh this this season yeah I don’t want to get

Technical they can um but not if they’re making you know more than the league average when they’re waved right so that’s that’s a little technical but but your point is well taken that not everybody uh that gets waved will be eligible for a buyou um or go to a team everybody can

Get a buyout but the number of teams that would be limited um would be limited that that player can go to you know if you’re as you mentioned you know once again you know with the first and second apron right so um you know not so much a consideration

For us I think you know Representatives that that have players that they’re veterans they’re waved and they they make more than the league average I think it may limit their options but but overall it’s uh going to be good for the bio market so I don’t think uh there’ll

Be a lot of pressure or as much pressure and as years pass on on teams to you know agree to buy outs right because the options are going to be limited that these players can go to you know I I know you talked about you the rebuild

You don’t like to call it that at all would it make sense though to to consider moving some of the veteran players um Gordon miles uh that are that are about to become free agents and how many guys would you consider that are just untradeable on your roster at this

Point clearly you know we we’ve talked about players that I can’t see a scenario that we would move uh and Beyond The Players I mentioned I think there are another three or four players maybe even more than that that you know we like right um so I can’t

Discount you know the fact that you know we’re a team that’s trying to build that can sustain something going forward and that we won’t look for opportunity and um you we will do that and we value our players you know every player a little different than than the

Player next to them and that’s something that we will can keep in internal and uh we’ll look for opportunities and if there’s something out there we’ll look to do it it’s as simple it’s as simple as that Mitch again sorry for these suitcase questions but a a double

Question here and one is I know you don’t want to call it a rebuild so I wonder if you had one word that you might call it instead um if there was if there was a word that comes to mind and secondly um I wonder you me you had some

Good memories there Rosier and and just his sheer toughness which I think all of us would agree on on how tough he is um and I wonder if you had one particular memory of Terry in a game or whatever in these four and a half years where you

Were like oh my gosh that’s amazing you know a fond memory like yeah um well I think you know I don’t have anything in front of me right I I think there was a game in Cleveland you know several years ago it was where he’s from and he just

Had a ridiculous game it might have be even three years ago I don’t remember um in terms of the one word you know you know I don’t have one word okay like I said a rebuild is when you you know you start with a bunch of veterans and the team

That’s not going anywhere and you just decide to scrap it all and start from scratch okay clearly you know where where where down the road from that so I don’t know what the word would be but I would not use the word rebuild and I think you would agree we’re further on

Down the road than that what the word is I don’t know back on Kyle for a second so are could we expect Kyle to play in a game sometime this week or is that going to be kind of just something you guys wait to see and when you guys talk

Again you know he’s got to uh report he’s got to pass the physical it’s going to take a couple of days yeah um yeah I can’t say that that that’s something that we would you know look to accomplish right away it may be that we wait to see what happens out of respect

Right you know to him and what he’s accomplished in this league maybe we wait to see and have the trade deadline pass and you know rather than have him relocate and you know start something that that may or may not take place right so I think that’s probably what

We’ll do but um don’t know for sure but that seems to make the most sense

Hornets General Manager Mitch Kupchak speaks to the media after the Hornets organization acquired a 2027 first-round draft pick and guard Kyle Lowry from the Miami Heat in exchange for Terry Rozier.

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