NBA Twitter is a hotbed of opinions. In this series, we’ll take a look at controversial sports takes. Up first, is a James Harden-worthy eye roll from @Jakuzzii, notable Kyle Kuzma and Los Angeles Laker super fan. So the premise is this, would a prime Michael Jordan and a prime Shaquille O’Neal make the Charlotte Hornets, as currently rostered, a title contender?
Here is the tweet:
My dumbass friend just said “put prime shaq and prime Mj on today’s hornets and they winning a championship” please tell this man to get the fuck outta here
— ???????? ???? (@Jakuzzzii) September 23, 2019
At first glance, this question is an absolute no-brainer. Of course, a prime Michael Jordan and a prime Shaquille O’Neal make the Charlotte Hornets a title contender! Are you kidding? It’s MJ and Shaq in their primes! Two of the most dominate players paired up together!
Yet when digging deeper, there was a small, but loud minority harping that a lack of depth, or talent around those two players would ultimately be their downfall. Many have predicted the Hornets to be the worst team this season. So would two legends in their prime be enough to overcome the odds? Let’s take a closer look.
The Hornets Starting Lineup
Point Guard – Terry Rozier. After the departure of Kemba Walker, Rozier became the Hornets big get in the offseason, signing a 3-year, $58M contract. Although Rozier has not been a full-time starter during his 4-year career, it’s safe to say he’d be penciled in as the starting point guard.
Shooting Guard – Michael Jordan. There’s not really anything to put here. Jordan is arguably the greatest player of all time, of course, he is starting.
Small Forward – Nicolas Batum. One of the knocks on the Hornets has been how badly they have overpaid most of their players. Batum is a quality starter in this league and has been for some time, even though he is grossly overpaid.
Power Forward – Marvin Williams. Like Batum, Williams has been around the league for a while and know’s his role. Williams is not a prolific rebounder or defender for his position. However, he shoots well enough to spread the floor and can hit the three. His adequacies would quickly be nullified when starting alongside one of the fiercest big men of all time.
Center – Shaq. Again, no debate here.
Having two players who are the greatest at their position during their era in your starting lineup can help make up any deficiencies the other three may or may not have. This starting five could and would go toe-to-toe with any other starting five in the league, no doubt.
Is There Depth on The Bench?
One of the main arguments that were made regarding this hypothetical is that the Hornets have no depth. What is overlooked though is that when you add two starters, in MJ and Shaq, it means you are pushing two players projected to start now to the bench. Even in this proposal, the Hornets bench isn’t the strongest in the NBA, but they do have options.
The bench would be led by youngsters, Malik Monk, and Miles Bridges, picked 11th and 12th in back to backdrafts. Neither has necessarily done much to wow the NBA world just yet, but both are solid developing players. If Monk could make the jump that his per-36 numbers suggest he could, he would easily be slotted in as their 6th-man option.
Also on the wing would be former 2nd overall pick, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. He hasn’t panned out the way his draft spot would suggest, but he’s a good defender with position versatility. Rounding out the bench frontcourt would be Bismack Biyombo and Cody Zeller. Both players have experience starting and are solid rebounders.
Clearly the bench would not be the strongest among NBA teams, but adding two starters who would project to play 35-40 minutes a night would go a long way in helping balance out the current roster.
The Conclusion
Entering this season, the NBA has moved away from a “Big 3” and towards teams being led by two stars with good team depth. Prime Michael Jordan and prime Shaq would hand down be the best duo in the NBA. These two would average a combined 65 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 blocks, and 3 steals a game.
The biggest question mark surrounding this team in the modern NBA would be 3-point shooting. No one currently rostered is an elite 3-point shooter. You could argue that Michael Jordan would figure it out, and he probably would, but he’s a career .327 3-point shooter.
The other question mark would be who else would step up who could create their own shot? Maybe you wouldn’t need this as much with Jordan being able to dominate match-ups one-on-one, and Shaq being able to bully his way around the paint, but in the NBA today teams place importance on multiple facilitators and shot-creators. You would hope that Malik Monk would take a leap forward and be the offensive threat he was in college.
So would the 2019-2020 Charlotte Hornets be title contenders with a prime Michael Jordan and a prime Shaquille O’Neal? Absolutely. Every team has uncertainties entering the season, and if this scenario came to life, every team would be scrambling thinking about how they would guard both Jordan and O’Neal. With a prime MJ and Shaq, you could pull three people from the crowd each night and their team would still be competitive.
