Charlotte Hornets roundup: Assistant coaches, 2021 media days

The Charlotte Hornets have had an interesting week with NBA training camp beginning shortly. There’s a good bit of news to get through.

Charlotte Hornets sign Xavier Sneed

The Charlotte Hornets filled their final roster spot this week, signing Xavier Sneed to a training camp contract. Sneed appeared in four games for the Hornets’ Summer League team in Las Vegas this past August. He averaged six points on splits of 47-percent from the field and 46-percent from three.

Signing Sneed likely eliminates the possibility of LiAngelo Ball being added to the training camp roster. Ball was better than expected in Vegas, but really isn’t that worthy of mention when it comes to determining 15-man roster spots.

There are 20 players on the Hornets training camp roster, that will be trimmed to 15 (plus two 2-way contracts) before the season starts.

Charlotte Hornets hire multiple coaches

The Hornets hired a new assistant coach, adding to James Borrego’s staff. Norm Richardson, the hire, has been a G-League assistant for the past few years. Additionally, the Greensboro Swarm have a new head coach. Jordan Surenkamp was the Hornets’ lead video coordinator last season.

On the surface, these don’t mean much. However, if the team wants to continue to pride themselves on player development, these two hires could be key towards proving that.

Charlotte Observer hires Rod Boone as Hornets reporter

The Charlotte Observer had big shoes to fill following the passing of longtime Hornets reporter Rick Bonnell. Rod Boone, formerly of The Athletic and Sports Illustrated, has been covering the team for several years now. He’s an excellent addition, and will be a great source for Hornets news this season and moving forward.

LaMelo Ball still isn’t going to be wearing the number 1 jersey

LaMelo ball added these to his Instagram story the other day – our guy is down bad 🙁

Eventually, we’ll see Ball switch to the number one jersey – well, at least that’s what I think will happen. Seems like that won’t happen this season, though.

Charlotte Hornets internal media day(s)

There usually isn’t much to get from each internal media day for NBA teams, but it usually produces some really nice and visually appeasing pictures – and that was once again the case this year. Huge props to the Hornets digital team.

Gordon Hayward looks great (and uninjured) in this image. He also is the least cool of the entire 20-man training camp roster.

And it’s not really even lose. 2nd-least cool is Mason Plumlee, who possesses significantly more swag than Hayward.