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The Charlotte Hornets just drafted Frank Kaminsky! Great fit! Michael Jordan got the guy he wanted! One thing, though: One time Kaminsky had some not-so-nice things to say about Charlotte.
When Kaminsky was explaining his decision to return to college for his senior season, he contrasted the pro game and the college game, saying he found his situation at Wisconsin to be more exciting. So, he demonstrated that a lot of NBA teams play in front of dismal crowds -- singling out Charlotte.
"I am at the pinnacle of my basketball career, at least in my eyes," he wrote. "I know the NBA has their crazy fans and all, but ... there are games when teams like the Bobcats get hardly any fans, and it looks flat-out boring."
"At the Kohl Center, we play in front of nearly 17,000 fans every single time we step onto the court. When we travel, we play in front of sellout crowds who absolutely hate us."
Kaminsky has since apparently edited his blog post to remove any references to Charlotte.
As Pablo Torre of ESPN pointed out, his teammates joked about this:
As forward Duje Dukan, Kaminsky's road roommate, told him, "Well, now you're not going to get drafted by the Bobcats."
Technically, he didn't get drafted by the Bobcats -- he got drafted by the Hornets -- but its the same team and fan base he was talking about. It seems like he was just using a random NBA team as an example rather than expressing distinct distaste for everything Charlotte-related, but, well, not the greatest start!
(h/t to Torre for reminding everybody of this story tonight.)