Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets Rebounding Strategy, Roy Hibbert is Useless
Welcome to Buzz City Beat, Swarm and Sting’s daily roundup of the best Charlotte Hornets’ stories from around the web.
Buzz City Beat is your daily destination for the latest and best news from around the internet about the Charlotte Hornets. The team’s coming off of a disappointing loss to the Chicago Bulls in a game where Jimmy Butler dropped 52 points. In this edition, we look at the Hornets’ rebound by committee strategy, the useless Roy Hibbert, and Kemba Walker is an all-star. Period.
Hornets are Rebounding by Committee
“The Hornets are an interesting case. Charlotte’s three main rotational bigs (Cody Zeller, Marvin Williams and Frank Kaminsky) all have defensive rebounding percentages lower than 18.0 percent, but a focused effort on collective rebounding has made all of the difference. Nicolas Batum, Jeremy Lamb and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are examples of wings who boast an impressive knack for rebounding the ball. According to my percentile tables, the median defensive rebound percentage for a wing player was about 12.0 percent in the 2015-16 NBA season, a mark that Batum, Lamb and Kidd-Gilchrist all exceed by a significant margin.” (FanSided.com)
It is not a coincidence that the Hornets are the top defensive rebounding team in the league. Steve Clifford’s side commits to team rebounding better than any other team in the NBA. While they might not have the best individual rebounders, all five players on the court crash the boards in order to get the job done. If Charlotte relied on one big man to grab all the rebounds, they would not be as successful as they currently are.
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Roy Hibbert is Useless
“Roy Hibbert started at center with Cody Zeller dealing with a concussion, but had just six points, zero rebounds and zero blocks in 22 minutes. He looks done and the fact this is all he could manage with a start and so many minutes is very concerning. Maybe he’ll get hot if Zeller continues to miss games, but the outlook for that actually happening (Hibbert getting hot) is not good.” (RotoWorld.com)
Hibbert is 7’2 and he did not record one rebound in over 20 minutes against the Bulls. Even point guard, Ramon Sessions, grabbed one in 16 minutes. Roy may continue to start with Zeller out but it is clear that he is nowhere near the all-star that he once was a few seasons ago. If Hibbert is not going to rebound or block shots then he is of no use to the Hornets.
Kemba Walker is an All-Star. Period.
“His case to become a first-time All-Star this season appears to be rock solid on paper. As the voting by fans and coaches has shown in the past, having a great stat line doesn’t always matter. He was one of the top snubs in last year’s voting and had a case to earn a spot in the game two seasons ago.
With All-Star voting open until January 16, it remains to be seen if Walker will ultimately get the nod. While his status for that game is unclear, Walker still remains extremely vital to the Hornets’ success this season. It’s clear that he is the team’s most valuable player and their success hinges on how well he can perform.” (BasketballInsiders.com)
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Until we know for sure that Walker is in the All-Star game, every media outlet will talk about his case to make the team. After being snubbed last year, there is the fear that he may miss out once again this season. As the year goes on, it has become clear that many support Kemba’s bid and a number of writers believe that he will be selected to his first all-star game.