The Charlotte Hornets are going to need more scoring punch if they want to return to the playoffs next season. The Hornets, who finished 16th in the league in Points Per Game (104.9 ppg), are unlikely to get a solid contributor off the free agency market since they are over the cap limit ($103.9 million in guaranteed salaries for next season) after signing Kemba Walker to extension and committing a max contract to Nicolas Batum last summer. Fortunately for Michael Jordan-owned franchise, there is still another way to acquire veteran contributors, and that’s through a trade.
Consistent scorer in Chandler
Nuggets blog writer Ryan Blackburn SB Nation suggests a potential trade that would work for both Denver and Charlotte. In his trade proposal, the Hornets will acquire serviceable veteran Wilson Chandler while the Nuggets get their defensive stopper in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
While Charlotte saw its defensive ranking fell off the clip last season (13th in the league at 104.7 points allowed per game), the real problem lies on their offense. With Walker and Batum only the pure creators on the offensive end of the floor, the Hornets were unable to play a steady source of points outside their top-2 players. The inability of Marvin Williams, Frank Kaminsky and Cody Zeller to become an elite-level three-point shooting made things worse for the Hornets.
Chandler could change the whole dynamics for the Hornets because of his respectable 33.7 percent clip from the 3-point line. Aside from spotting up outside the rainbow territory, Chandler can score in various ways either as a spot up shooter or a penetrator – a skill set that Kidd-Gilchrist had not shown regularly throughout his tenure in Charlotte.
Nuggets need stopper like Kidd-Gilchrist
On the other hand, the former no.2 overall pick could become a vital cog for the Nuggets, who were a top-3 ballclub in points per game (3rd at 111.7 ppg), assists (2nd at 25.3 apg) and rebounding (2nd at 46.4 rpg) but third to last in points allowed per game (27th at 111.2 points ).
In a team that badly needs a defensive stopper, there’s no doubt that Kidd-Gilchrist is the right for the job.
He may never become a knock-down shooter for the rest of his NBA career, but Kidd-Gilchrist will continue to be serviceable in the league because of his outstanding perimeter defense. The Nuggets entered this offseason with their free agency plan focused on boosting up their defense. However, with so many teams trying to upgrade their defense as well, trading Chandler ($11.2 million for next year) for Kidd-Gilchrist ($13 million) looks to be a pretty solid move.
