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Monday, November 6, 2000
Hornets put their money on Mashburn
Associated Press
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jamal Mashburn only needed four games to
convince the Charlotte Hornets they want him for the long haul.
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Mashburn, acquired in a nine-player trade with the Miami Heat in
the offseason, signed a contract extension Monday.
Neither side would reveal the terms of the deal, but Mashburn
said it was worth the maximum Charlotte could offer. The most the
Hornets could give him was a six-year deal worth $54.3 million.
Mashburn, who would have been a free agent at the end of this
season, could have tested the market and possibly received the NBA
maximum contract of $86.5 million over seven years.
He said money was never an issue.
"I didn't want to break the bank -- that's not the type of
person I am," Mashburn said. "I mean, it's not necessary for me
to have all the money. It's important for me to be happy and be
comfortable. You can make $11 million in one year and not be happy
and not have a good group of players around you."
In Charlotte's first four games this season, Mashburn averaged a
team-high 19.5 points while helping the Hornets jump out to a 3-1
start. He had 30 points and eight rebounds in the Hornets' victory
over the Heat on Friday night.
"After a few days, talking to the coaches and talking to the
owners, we knew that we wanted Jamal," Hornets vice president Bob
Bass said. "We knew he was the type of player that -- with the
skills he has and the character he has and what he could bring to a
franchise -- this is a type of player we wanted to commit to."
The Hornets now have the core of their team signed through the
2002-03 season. Derrick Coleman, Elden Campbell, David Wesley and
P.J. Brown -- another player acquired in the Heat trade -- are all
signed through that season and the Hornets hold the option on Baron
Davis for that year.
"Signing Mash was the right thing to do," Charlotte coach Paul
Silas said. "It gives us a nucleus for at least three years, maybe
longer, if we're able to do this with some of the other guys."
That's a rarity for Charlotte, which has had a different look
almost every season because of its inability -- or unwillingness -- to keep free agents.
Stars like Alonzo Mourning, Vlade Divac, Eddie Jones and Glen
Rice all either left via free agency or were traded before they
became free agents so Charlotte could get compensation.
In their 13 seasons, the Hornets have only re-signed three of
their free agents.
"It's so nice not to have to go through another year like
that," Silas said. "Now I know I am assured of some nice, quiet
summers."
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