The prodigal son has returned. According to reports, the Charlotte Hornets have signed Mason Plumlee to a one year deal worth the veteran minimum for a player of Plumlee’s tenure.
Plumlee probably isn’t the name everyone had at the top of their wish list, but he does meet a few important criteria:
- He went to Duke
- He is coming from the Suns
Fits the description of most of the Hornets recent acquisitions.
But for real, it’s not a bad signing. Before levying heavy criticism on the move, it’s important to remember that this the player the Hornets got. That does not mean he was plan A or even plan B. A lot of centers went off the market in the opening hours of free agency, and it’s very possible that the Hornets had targets in that bunch that they could not win over.
Plumlee isn’t the worst get though. He’s a smart, tough player. That’s the new Hornets DNA that we’ve talked about. While he doesn’t have the prototypical rim protecting attributes of a center, he’s good positionally and a very good rebounder on both sides of the ball. On offense, he can handle running a lot of action at the high post and in dribble handoffs.
If you want to look at it another way, if you look at Plumlee and Jusuf Nurkic as a relative wash, the Hornets turned Cody Martin and Vasilije Micic into Collin Sexton and a first round pick while keeping the center rotation at the same level for significantly less salary.
He’s another cog in a team that is becoming increasingly versatile. It’s a team full of players that can dribble and pass with a fair few that can shoot too. We’ll see what that looks like on the floor come October.
And again, Plumlee’s pact is for the veteran minimum. This is closer to a Taj Gibson replacement than a Mark Williams replacement.
