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Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets’ Mid-Season Review, Clifford’s Playing Career

By Jerry Stephens

Oct 10, 2014; Greenville, SC, USA; The new Charlotte Hornets logo on the back of the warm ups prior to the game against the Washington Wizards at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2014; Greenville, SC, USA; The new Charlotte Hornets logo on the back of the warm ups prior to the game against the Washington Wizards at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Buzz City Beat is your daily dose of the latest and greatest articles from around the internet about the Charlotte Hornets.

We here at Swarm and Sting have compiled the newest and best pieces surrounding the Charlotte Hornets. The team is coming off of a disappointing loss to the Philadephia 76ers which resulted in their fourth straight defeat. In this edition, we look at the Hornets’ mid-season review, Steve Clifford’s playing career, and how Charlotte relies heavily on Kemba Walker.

Hornets’ Mid-Season Review

“This team has been as streaky as streaky gets. After the 8-3 start, they lost four in a row, then won six of eight, then lost four in a row, then won three in a row and then lost five of eight. The only real pattern has been losing close games to the league’s best teams. They are 0-6 combined against Cleveland/Toronto/Boston. They have yet to beat a team in the top four in the West (although, so far, that’s a small sample size).” (CharlotteObserver.com)

Poor defense is hard to fix, surprising offense, injuries, and no consistency has been the story of Charlotte for the first half of the 2016-17 NBA season. It has been great at times but so far it has been a disappointing year for the team. There’s still time for them to turn things around but they have a lot to fix going forward.

Clifford’s Playing Career

“The Hornets’ coach averaged 3.1 points per game at UMaine-Farmington, a D-III school, from 1979-1983. Despite the lack of scoring, he was the team’s captain for his final two seasons.” (Complex.com)

Complex ranked all 30 NBA coaches by their playing career and Hornets’ head coach, Steve Clifford, came in dead last. It isn’t surprising considering he played at a Division 3 school and only scored 3.1 PPG but it is still pretty crazy that he came in at number 30. I don’t think Coach Clifford will care too much because it helped propel him into a coaching career.

Charlotte Relies Heavily on Kemba

“We’re like most teams; you need your best players” to be consistently great, said coach Steve Clifford. “It’s not fair to (Walker), and he’s delivered night after night after night. “We are reliant on him in order to play at a high level; which he’s done.” (CharlotteObserver.com)

Next: Hornets' Defense Slowly Declining Each Season

There is no doubt that Kemba is the Charlotte Hornets’ best player. They also need him to play great if they want to win games and contend for the postseason. The only problem with that is that they rely too heavily on him at times. The team doesn’t have a reliable secondary scorer and if Walker is having an off-day so far this year, you can chalk up a loss for them. That reliance needs to change and other players must step up on a nightly basis.

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