Hornets' Walker was 'nervous as hell' before Batum, Williams re-signed
The Charlotte Hornets had finally achieved some semblance of success with Kemba Walker as their point guard during the 2015-16 campaign, winning 48 games - the most victories for the franchise in 16 years - and coming within an eyelash of reaching the second round of the playoffs following a hard-fought, seven-game series with the Miami Heat.
Walker was hopeful the team would be able to carry over that momentum into this season, but with so many of the roster's key players eligible to leave in free agency over the summer, there was certainly cause for concern on his end.
"I was nervous as hell," Walker told NBA.com's David Aldridge. "I didn’t want to lose those guys. I knew we couldn’t pay everyone. I wish we could have gotten a lot of the guys back, but unfortunately, the way this business works is it can’t happen all the time. (Nicolas Batum) and (Marvin Williams) were high priority … I got a chance to go out to Dallas and be a part of Nic’s meeting. Me and MKG flew out. It was super cool. We got a chance to sit in the room and say a few words."
There were no doubt casualties along the way, with management being unable to keep everyone on board. Jeremy Lin took his talents to the Brooklyn Nets, Courtney Lee headed to the Big Apple to sign with the New York Knicks, and veteran Al Jefferson made his way to the Indiana Pacers.
Those aforementioned names were essentially complementary pieces to the team's core that will now all be donning Hornets colors for the foreseeable future.
"Me, Nic, MKG, and Marv and Cody (Zeller) now, we’re all kind of locked in for about the same amount of time," Walker said. "We are getting the opportunity to grow with each other. It’s a great start. We all love playing with each other. We know how to play with each other very well. We all know each other’s spots and how each other plays and things like that.
"As far as more pieces, I think we’re good right now. We’re going to grow. The best thing about it is how hard we all work. We work extremely hard. The guys around us, they see that. Hopefully over the years, whoever comes here to our team, they see how hard we work, and they follow."
Charlotte currently possesses an 8-5 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.