Exclusive: Hornets’ owners on roster, arena renovations, building ‘something special’

This had been in the works for a while.

Michael Jordan’s decision to sell a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets, which became official on Thursday when the franchise announced the transaction was complete, didn’t just happen overnight. This wasn’t something that cropped up within the past few months.

Instead, Jordan’s agreement to offer up the Hornets’ controlling reins to a new ownership group spearheaded by Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin stems from a conversation the Hall of Famer initiated last summer.

“The way he has dealt with us in this process — he told us a year ago, ‘You two guys are the right guys to buy the business,’ ” Schnall told The Observer on Thursday. “You are basketball guys. I believe you can do this, and I want you to do this.’

“And he stuck to his word. He was committed. That’s when we started down this path.”

It’s a meal Schnall and Plotkin will surely never forget.

“We had dinner with Michael in August last year and that’s when he said, ‘Hey, you guys should do this,’ ” Schnall, 54, said. “And in that conversation, trusting Michael like we do, he meant it. And we got it done.”

Now, Schnall and Plotkin are co-chairmen of Hornets Sports Entertainment and will rotate the franchise’s governorship every five years, with Schnall taking the lead for the first half-decade. Jordan is staying on as a minority owner and will also serve as alternate governor.

Having Jordan still on board brings a smile to the faces of Schnall and Plotkin, 44, who spoke to The Observer exclusively about a number of topics during their first true day on the job as the organization’s chief decision-makers. The two discussed how they plan to make the Hornets a perennial winner, the importance of improving the overall game experience for fans, their thoughts on the team’s current roster and more:

Roderick Boone: Rick, how will your time with the Hawks and the expertise you gained in Atlanta mesh with things here in Charlotte with the Hornets?

Rick Schnall: I think being in and around the NBA for eight years, watching how owners make decisions, how general managers make decisions, how the CBA works, how trades work, how you build a roster. And I’m a business builder as a living, and I take all that in to think about and work with Gabe, and the rest of the group on how do you build a team? What’s the strategy for building a team over the long term, and create success over the long term?

Obviously, I wasn’t making the decisions in Atlanta, but I was in the room. And we went through a rebuild. We made a decision to break it down. We won 60 games. We went from 60 to 48 to 44 maybe, and we made a decision to break it down and start all over again. So, I went through an entire rebuild on the basketball side. We drafted Trae Young, we traded to get more picks, we accumulated picks and we got to the Eastern Conference Finals. Now you can debate if we did everything right. I don’t think we did. But we did a lot of things right. We had the right idea at that time.

And so that thought process, to think about what is your team, what are the assets, what are the liabilities and what do you need to build a great team for the long term, and when do you make that decision? I think we troughed at 23 wins and got back up to a legitimate contender. So, I will use all that experience. And then on the business side, I went through an arena renovation. I went through a practice facility build, and we went from a team that was (getting) $180 million in revenue and losing money to a very profitable and successful franchise.

I think all of that is information and Gabe and I spent a lot of time talking about it. Now that we are in the position of making those decisions or helping make those decisions, what are the right decisions to make at different times in order to try to build a sustainably successful franchise. And that’s what we are trying to do. We are not trying to win the title in one year and then be terrible two years later. Like any sustainable business, how do we build something that is a contender year-in and year-out.

RB: How can you get that interest level back to where it was years ago when the Hornets were the hottest ticket in town and people looked forward to the games because they were like events?

Gabe Plotkin: I think it’s multiple things. But from the pure fan perspective, the arena renovation is going to be a really big deal. And how we kind of deliver upon that and the experience our fans have when they come here is really important. Right now, I don’t think it’s where it needs to be, and we have the ability to change quite a bit over the next couple of years. Obviously, it really comes down to winning basketball games. You are always trying to win basketball games, but I think more importantly, (it’s about) having a cohesive strategy and being able to communicate what that strategy is. Right now we are at a point with a lot of young talented players. It’s a really young basketball team. And so for us, it’s about developing these guys, and growing with these guys and finding ways to just be aggressive and looking for opportunities to get better.

When you start delivering on the basketball court … There’s different types of success, but I think one of the most exciting parts — and Rick went through it — is when you are young, the core is getting better, the core is going to be around a lot and you have this runway. And we’ll see how this season plays out and how that looks. But certainly we have a lot of young talent on this roster, and if guys start making that step, I think you can have a scenario where you have a much improved experience from a fan perspective combined with a much better basketball team.

RB: What are your thoughts on the roster and how it currently stands?

GB: I think it will be a competitive team. When you look at the Eastern Conference, it’s pretty powerful at the top of the conference and there’s a bunch of teams somewhere in the middle parts where I think we can compete within. And we’ll see how that plays out. I think there are really a lot of good parts on the roster. Really, we liked what we saw out of Brandon (Miller) at summer league. His shot wasn’t falling, but that is not something that we are really worried about. He’s got great mechanics, he’s got a great release, he shot the ball incredibly well at Alabama.

And we just signed LaMelo (Ball) to the max. And he was playing great basketball last year before he got injured. Usually that third, fourth year is an inflection year and we just didn’t get to see it from him because he wasn’t really on the court. And we were just speaking with Mark Williams. When he came into the starting lineup, there was a palpable difference on how this team defended. Being a part of this team for the last four or five years, there’s been no rim protection.

And so to anchor yourself with a really high basketball IQ player on the back end of your defense, who can alter shots and shoot the basketball a little bit and rim run, that’s really important. The pieces are all there. We’ll see how Miles (Bridges) looks as he comes back. He was great the last season we had him, and there are other young parts that can elevate. And, of course, you have Gordon (Hayward) and Terry (Rozier), who are kind of consummate professionals. There’s a lot of pieces. They’re young and we think they will continue to develop.

RB: During the press conference, you guys said you believe Charlotte can be a top 10-15 NBA market. How much do you want to show fans and prove to them that you really do want to get this turned around in the right direction?

RS: We wouldn’t do this if we didn’t intend to win. I don’t like to say we are just fans. We have a plan, and we have a plan to win. We have a plan to do it sustainable. There is a good young core of players here. This team has had a lot of early draft picks. LaMelo Ball was the third pick in the draft, Brandon Miller was the second pick in the draft, Mark Williams was (15th). Miles Bridges obviously as well. PJ (Washington), if PJ comes back. So, we’ve got a lot of first-round talent. We have some that hasn’t developed as much as the team had hoped thus far.

But there’s a lot of good young talent, there’s vets on this team. Obviously, the rooster is set for this year. We have two open roster spots. Maybe there’s some additional pieces. But our job is to help our basketball ops guys evaluate what our potential is this year. And Gabe mentioned this in the press conference: we know we are not winning the championship this year. Let’s be realistic.

So, what we are trying to do is build for a championship-contending team over the next several years. Are these the right young pieces to do it? And what do we need to add to do it? And we will be aggressive in making those decisions

RB: How much do you want to bring a championship here to Charlotte to help Michael Jordan see things through as a minority owner now? Also, how has being around the Hornets as long as each of you have going to assist your vision here?

RS: We definitely want to see it through for Michael and see a championship, but we are going to run it on our own way. And there was some bad luck here. A lot of things didn’t work out like I said out there (at the press conference). The team was on the right path two years ago and the combination of Miles and the injuries set the team back significantly. And we think strategically you have to plan for the long term. It’s not just who’s the best player at the moment for whatever reason, and I think we will be very strategic in how we do it.

It would be unbelievable to deliver it, not only for us, for (the media), for the team, for the city. But if Michael saw us … and hopefully we can do it with some of these players that he helped put on the team. Because we have such great respect for Michael as a person.

GP: Yeah, the relationship with Michael has been great. He’s been a great partner. I think he still has a great passion for this team and this city. One thing that is clear, though: This is our team, and I think he’s made that clear. And I think he’s excited to watch this team grow and the direction that we take it. But it’s on us to start to make improvements and reposition this team for success.

RS: We can’t screw this up. You have an opportunity to take on one of the 30 teams in a city like this? We’ve got to get this right and we have a unique set of capabilities, around building businesses. We have a great ownership group. The intellect that we bring together, the basketball knowledge — I mean it’s not Michael Jordan basketball knowledge. There’s a different kind of basketball knowledge. But I think we’ve got the combination of business skills, business-building skills, basketball skills to do something really special.

And it was a good question out there (at press conference). ‘Why the heck are you two guys doing this together?’ Why would want to do it alone? Isn’t this about the fun part of doing together? And are you going to celebrate it together? That’s why we are doing it. We want to hang out together and go to games and talk about it. I’ve been in partnerships all my life.

For 27 years, I’ve been in a partnership. (Gabe’s) ideas are going to help me be better, and my ideas are going to help him be better. That’s how these things go, and if we trust and listen to each other, it’ll be a great set of outcomes.

I’ve watched all 30 teams. I know all 30 owners. We have a chance to do something special here.