The Charlotte Hornets outdid themselves on Thursday night time. Within the midst of 2-14 run between the common season and NBA Cup the group headed to Washington on an evening the place there have been no excuses. Charlotte’s core gamers have been all wholesome directly after being injures sporadically all through the season, and the Hornets have been coming off a few days relaxation. Now was the time to get issues again on monitor.
They misplaced 113-110. The Wizards, now 5-23 on the season have two of their wins towards the Hornets. It’s not simply shedding to a nasty group that has damaged Hornets followers, however the completely nonsensical manner they play basketball which has everybody questioning what the hell went incorrect with this group. How is Charlotte failing so spectacularly when LaMelo Ball is among the many NBA’s finest in factors and assists, producing 48.2 points-per-game by himself? How is that this group one way or the other worse when Brandon Miller is scoring extra? How are the Hornets struggling now their bigs are wholesome?
The most important lingering query: How is that this Hornets group so godawful after hiring Charles Lee as head coach, a universally hailed hiring when the Celtics assistant agreed to come back to Charlotte after the NBA Finals?
It comes down to 3 large components.
No. 1: Charlotte’s quantity shooters are capturing poorly
No matter how enjoyable LaMelo Ball is to look at as a consequence of his distinctive play model and large quantity, he’s been extraordinarily inefficient this season. Ball is capturing 34.6% from three when the league-average is 36%, and he’s jacking them up at a charge of 13.0 per recreation. In the meantime his true capturing plus is 97, whereas the league common is 100.
This would possibly look like small variations, however when the Hornets’ finest participant is much less environment friendly than the league common it doesn’t matter what sort of uncooked numbers he places up. That is compounded by the truth that Brandon Miller can be struggling, capturing 35.2% from three, and 40% from two.
Ball and Miller are combining for twenty-four 3PA per recreation, and over 43 FGA per recreation. That sort of prolific utilization paired with woeful inefficiency is a nasty recipe, and also you see the identical story all the way in which down the roster.
No. 2: Charles Lee has this group taking part in on “vibes,” in all of the incorrect methods
Probably the most astonishing facet of Charles Lee’s teaching is how free he permits his gamers to play. On paper you would possibly suppose this can be a good factor, however on a younger Hornets roster that already didn’t cope effectively with self-discipline it’s introduced out everybody’s worst traits.
Ball performs on an island for a majority of possessions. Positive, he’ll nonetheless move and he’s averaging 7.4 assists, however this can be a drop from the final two years the place he averaged over 8.0 per recreation. Now Ball sees himself as the first scorer on the group, and that’s led to a number of ill-advised pictures. He’s but to essentially gel with Brandon Miller (or totally belief him), and it exhibits.
In the meantime everybody else on the periphery performs nevertheless the hell they really feel prefer it. There’s no stable plan in place round rookie Tidjane Salaun, who confirmed some promising early flashes — however now he likes to run across the arc and jack up threes, that are solely falling at a 30.3% charge.
We’re left with an enormous number of rotations, however finally at any level it’s 5 people taking part in basketball with no cohesiveness or teamwork. It’s devolved Charlotte into a complete mess.
No. 3: There’s no clear offensive id for this group
There’s nothing inherently incorrect with a ball-dominant level guard. Heck, the Thunder are doing simply that with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The core distinction is that Oklahoma Metropolis has a transparent plan round SGA, whereas the Hornets don’t have anything after LaMelo.
Watching the Thunder play it’s clear that all the pieces flows by means of SGA on possessions, however with Jalen Williams having the ability to function as a second level when wanted to unencumber the off-ball motion of the group’s main scorer. From there they stretch the perimeter and feed issues into Chet Holmgren or Isaiah Hartenstein.
The Hornets, then again, have Ball as their main level guard. Numerous the time he’ll jack up a 3, or drive with a floater. They’ll generally work and it’s superb, or they received’t. If Ball will get stonewalled he’ll move out to Brandon Miller who will shoot a 3. They’ll generally work and it’s superb, or they received’t. If these don’t occur he’ll move to Miles Bridges, who will shoot a 3 and possibly received’t work.
There’s little-to-no work being achieved inside, which is partly a product of the bigs deliver harm lots this yr — however even now Mark Williams and Nick Richards are again they’re not getting used sufficient. This makes for probably the most woeful offensive groups within the NBA, rating twenty eighth in factors scored and twenty fourth in tempo — regardless of having a prolific 30+ scorer in Ball.
That is an terrible season for the Hornets
Because it stands the Hornets are on tempo for a 19-63 document on the yr — which might be Charlotte’s worst for the reason that 2012-13 BOBCATS. That group completed with 21 wins with Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson being the group’s high scorers.
What makes this so irritating is that that is probably the most proficient roster Charlotte has had in years, and nothing is coming collectively. Whereas the group is preaching endurance followers are watching all the pieces slip away, whereas different struggling organizations just like the Pistons and Spurs are ascending.
Maybe the plan at this level is to tank for Cooper Flagg, however which may not even save this group. The Hornets aren’t the worst group within the NBA, however they’re simply probably the most pathetic.
