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"Baggage" overstates it, but it's not an exaggeration to suggest some maturity issues -- probably not uncommon among NBA rookies, but ones that certainly hold him back for a guy who wasn't a top 5, franchise-altering caliber of pick.
 
Viet Vet said:
At UConn:
1) Evading Responsibility
2) Interfering with Police
3) Driving Without a License
4) Driving too fast for Conditions
5) Driving Another's Car Without Permission (oops, my bad, she "forgot" that she gave him "permission").

6) Verbal altercation with Hornets coach after logging fourteen, yes 14, seconds in a loss to the Miami Heat.

7) Classy (not) behavior on the sideline in UConn's victory over Xavier at Gampel.
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That's not baggage, you're describing maturity issues. Some get there faster than others. He could just need a mentor, especially now with the money he's making and of course the 'fame'.

Nonetheless this has nothing to do with his basketball skills. Give him time, a lot of us have been there.
 
husky429 said:
This is NOTHING in terms of NBA baggage. Literally nothing.
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husky429 said:
You do realize they both played their sophomore season 25+ years ago, right?
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To think that James doesn't already have NBA baggage is similar to living under a rock.

How often does a player get kicked off the bench to the lockeroom by the head coach for basically insubordination. Gee, just what every team needs. Let’s pretend that has no impact on trade value or next contract. And being a 1st round lottery pick and not stepping foot on the court for a month at this stage of the season - is let’s pretend a nothing to see here event.

I guess we have to put what happened in Vegas aside, because it was in Vegas, it was early in his professional career and what happens there stays in Vegas.

The Gampel fiasco was during All Star Break, but if you don’t understand that as someone spiraling out of control, then you are either delusional or lack maturity yourself.

If you don’t think he needs to turn the page and stop being a headache and start doing things the right way. You are no friend or alley of his.

I pray he starts on a better path very soon.
 
Palatine said:
On the other hand, he is making over 4 million dollars this year.
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Poor guy - just an awful decision by him. Move on.

If things don't end well in Charlotte, then he will be one of those "random" free agent, or afterthought players included in a bigger trade that turn into a steal.
 
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Viet Vet said:
At UConn:
1) Evading Responsibility
2) Interfering with Police
3) Driving Without a License
4) Driving too fast for Conditions
5) Driving Another's Car Without Permission (oops, my bad, she "forgot" that she gave him "permission").

6) Verbal altercation with Hornets coach after logging fourteen, yes 14, seconds in a loss to the Miami Heat.

7) Classy (not) behavior on the sideline in UConn's victory over Xavier at Gampel.
Expand ...
You forgot :
Ran with scissors
Drank out of the carton
Mixed recycling with trash
Probably lied (very immature for a 19 year old)
Walked on your lawn

Unknowing victim of hot take.
 
As I said on Draft night, to much criticism on this board, the Hornets are a terrible organization and this was arguably the worst possible landing spot for James. Lamelo Ball's talent outshines their overall incompetence. If he doesn't get out of there this offseason his career is very much in jeopardy. When he's actually been allowed to play, he's been great. But the team hasn't played him many minutes and even when they do, they get taken away so he can't even get to improve on his shortcomings. I'm not going to go through the stats again, but out of all the teams he could have been drafted to, their first round picks have gotten substantially more playing time.

Also, as for you Bouk haters who say he deserves this, has baggage, should have stayed one more year -- you're entitled to your opinion but it is the wrong opinion.

Once again, the silence from the Pro-Hornets crowd on this board is deafening.
 
Brogan said:
he's off to a similar start that jeremy lamb was, who didn't play over 20 minutes a game until his 6th season and still has banked over 50 million in career earnings
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The Thunder won 60 his first season in OKC. The Hornets are a middling .500 team. Completely different situations. Plus, he averaged 19.7 minutes in year 2 but those .3 min doesn't quite fit your argument.
 
I used to work in real estate here in Miami and had a few benchwarmers on the Heat as clients. I was shocked when one of them wanted to buy a home and his budget was very low, his handler explained to me his salary was something like $150k. Jump to 2022 and that guy makes at least another zero with the same job (a quick Google suggest $1mil is basically the bottom for all but a couple outliers). Changes everything.

If James stood to make $200k I would have said he was nuts to leave but $4mil? Bye, good luck! Hopefully he's got good support, one big challenge for the younger guys is they are surrounded by older guys with lots of money and I've seen with some of them blowing all their money trying to keep up, trying to party at that level, etc.

This ain't the '90s or even the '00s anymore, for good or ill the world and basketball has changed.
 
Goodness this topic has been pounded to death - god bless those that can keep thinking about it.
 
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ThabeetDown said:
The Thunder won 60 his first season in OKC. The Hornets are a middling .500 team. Completely different situations. Plus, he averaged 19.7 minutes in year 2 but those .3 min doesn't quite fit your argument.
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nah was just illustrating that it took him 6 years to become a starter. something james still has 5 years left to accomplish.
 
To the take your short term money and run crowd. Andre Drummond has made $133 million and counting. So while $4 million is a start it’s hardly aspirational. If you have James’ best interest at heart, as Chief does, you would take a longer term view. Built a solid foundation and do the things necessary to get a good second contract, since that’s where the big money can be made.
 
Brogan said:
nah was just illustrating that it took him 6 years to become a starter. something james still has 5 years left to accomplish.
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It truly is remarkable what Lamb has been able to accomplish $-wise so in that sense his career is very successful.
 
Viet Vet said:
1) Evading Responsibility
2) Interfering with Police
3) Driving Without a License
4) Driving too fast for Conditions
5) Driving Another's Car Without Permission (oops, my bad, she "forgot" that she gave him "permission").

6) Verbal altercation with Hornets coach after logging fourteen, yes 14, seconds in a loss to the Miami Heat.

7) Classy (not) behavior on the sideline in UConn's victory over Xavier at Gampel.
Expand ...
8) baseball cap worn facing backwards
 
Chief00 said:
My prayers are with James that he can turn the page and be the best that he can be. It’s been a very difficult pro career for James, starting in the Vegas when MJ had to intervene during the summer league.
Not everyone needs it, but as Chief advised a year ago, James would have benefited from another year of college and maturity before starting his pro journey. Unfortunately, he got involved with inexperienced advisors who thought it was all about taking the short term money on the table rather than building a solid long term foundation and very lucrative career.
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Maybe the best path for him to gain maturity was to struggle in the NBA.

Failure can be a good foundation for success. It inspires introspection.
 
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Viet Vet said:
At UConn:
1) Evading Responsibility
2) Interfering with Police
3) Driving Without a License
4) Driving too fast for Conditions
5) Driving Another's Car Without Permission (oops, my bad, she "forgot" that she gave him "permission").

6) Verbal altercation with Hornets coach after logging fourteen, yes 14, seconds in a loss to the Miami Heat.

7) Classy (not) behavior on the sideline in UConn's victory over Xavier at Gampel.
Expand ...
8) Skrewed your GF when you wasn't looking. And no, you're not bitter!
 
pj said:
Maybe the best path for him to gain maturity was to struggle in the NBA.

Failure can be a good foundation for success. It inspires introspection.
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We are seeing how that works. To me it was like having a HS student skip a grade to start earning money a year earlier. What those who support such adventures don’t calculate is the irreversible damage that can do. Sometimes maturing takes time, it needs to slowly soak in. But, then you have the inexperienced handlers cheered on by the strike it rich overnight crowd, pushing someone out so far out on a limb, they may never recover. Experience by definition takes time. Patience is often needed. What’s the rush?
 
Chief00 said:
We are seeing how that works. To me it was like having a HS student skip a grade to start earning money a year earlier. What those who support such adventures don’t calculate is the irreversible damage that can do. Sometimes maturing takes time, it needs to slowly soak in. But, then you have the inexperienced handlers cheered on by the strike it rich overnight crowd, pushing someone out so far out on a limb, they may never recover. Experience by definition takes time. Patience is often needed. What’s the rush?
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Maybe James is like wine and time in the cask is what he needed. But it's also possible that another year in college would have only delayed the experiences he needs. Being big man on campus for another year might give a proud young man an even bigger head. Alternatively struggling in the pros might make a proud young man bitter, and bitterness can disable effort.

It all comes down to James and his character. If he has good character he will learn from every experience and grow in maturity wherever he is. A bad character will fail no matter what path he takes. In the middle characters, where some paths lead to success and some to failure, only those close to him can judge what experiences he most needs. God is closest of all; hopefully James has some faith and consults Him.
 
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My son is a huge Hornets fan and we watch most games. They are loaded in backcourt and Borrego prefers vets.

I will say this - there was a little stretch where he got run and he looked really, really good. Showed the ability to get shots off easily and outside shooting looked improved as well. Just looked so comfortable, and oozed potential.

Hoping he gets traded as Rozier Ball is a great backcourt. Hornets are a really fun team to watch, it’s too bad Borrego Has such a hard on for vets.
 
Chief00 said:
To think that James doesn't already have NBA baggage is similar to living under a rock.

How often does a player get kicked off the bench to the lockeroom by the head coach for basically insubordination. Gee, just what every team needs. Let’s pretend that has no impact on trade value or next contract. And being a 1st round lottery pick and not stepping foot on the court for a month at this stage of the season - is let’s pretend a nothing to see here event.

I guess we have to put what happened in Vegas aside, because it was in Vegas, it was early in his professional career and what happens there stays in Vegas.

The Gampel fiasco was during All Star Break, but if you don’t understand that as someone spiraling out of control, then you are either delusional or lack maturity yourself.

If you don’t think he needs to turn the page and stop being a headache and start doing things the right way. You are no friend or alley of his.

I pray he starts on a better path very soon.
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Gotta ask @Chief00 since you’ve brought it up on multiple posts… what happened in Vegas?
 
rip7774 said:
My son is a huge Hornets fan and we watch most games. They are loaded in backcourt and Borrego prefers vets.

I will say this - there was a little stretch where he got run and he looked really, really good. Showed the ability to get shots off easily and outside shooting looked improved as well. Just looked so comfortable, and oozed potential.

Hoping he gets traded as Rozier Ball is a great backcourt. Hornets are a really fun team to watch, it’s too bad Borrego Has such a hard on for vets.
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They are not loaded in the back court. They are a barely a .500 NBA team. Bouk is better than most of the stuff on the Hornets.
 
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