Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets’ Playoff Excitement, Clifford to Lose Job?
Welcome to Buzz City Beat, Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the best articles from around the web about the Charlotte Hornets.
The Charlotte Hornets will attempt to bounce back from a recent loss as they host the Chicago Bulls. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the team’s excitement level as an eighth seed, Steve Clifford might be close to losing his job and Frank Kaminsky bashes selection committee.
Hornets an Exciting Eighth Seed? (FanRagSports.com)
"Maybe Michael Jordan will give us another internet gem, but there’s not much else to see here besides Kemba Walker. The Hornets are just kind of sad."
In terms of excitement, Charlotte ranks seventh out of eight total teams vying for a final playoff spot in both conferences. They ranked behind the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat in the East but they did manage to beat out the Chicago Bulls. The explanation for the team being ranked so low is actually spot on.
Outside of Kemba, the Hornets haven’t had many forms of excitement this season. For that reason, it would be hard to justify them as an exciting eighth seed. While most Charlotte fans have enjoyed watching Walker this year, most casual fans haven’t seen much of the team. Truth be told, they were a much more exciting team last season.
Clifford on the Verge of Losing His Job? (BleacherReport.com)
"Clifford, though, has long been lauded for making the most of an uninspiring hand. That hasn’t quite been the case in the Queen City, though His Airness could be hard-pressed to justify not only firing a quality coach, but eating the two years left on Clifford’s extension while searching for someone else to pay."
Steve Clifford is on a cool hot seat but a hot seat nonetheless. While he might not be fired at the end of the season, you could see a reason being made as to why the Hornets should move on. Despite the numerous injuries the team has faced this year, a lot of players have underperformed and that may be a result of Clifford’s coaching style or system.
If Charlotte struggles for the first half of next season, Michael Jordan will be more inclined to fire Cliff. While the team has made strides, they have regressed a bit this year. More regression will lead to him losing his job but maybe this season is an outlier and things will turn back around next year.
Kaminsky Bashes Selection Committee (Sports.Yahoo.com)
"Charlotte Hornets forward Frank Kaminsky hasn’t worn a Wisconsin uniform in two years, but he is still passionate about the Badgers and often comments about his former teammates on social media."
Next: It's Time to Bench Brian Roberts
Kaminsky was not happy with Wisconsin being named an eight seed. Frank even went as far to say that he would submit an application to be on the selection committee. The former national player of the year in 2015 obviously wants more for his alma mater and while there were a number of bad seedings in this year’s tournament, Wisconsin as an eight seed isn’t that egregious.