Charlotte Hornets need to trade either Jeremy Lamb or Marco Belinelli

With two offensive-minded backup shooting guards on their roster, the Charlotte Hornets may need to make a decision and move either Lamb or Belinelli.

The Charlotte Hornets have a bit of a predicament with two similar players in Jeremy Lamb and Marco Belinelli on their roster. While both are serviceable backups, they should make a choice to commit to one. A trade would not only clear up some cap space but it would also clear up the team’s rotation.

Looking at Charlotte’s current squad, they have two quality shooting guards in Lamb and Belinelli but they don’t have a true small forward to play behind Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. BaselineBuzz.com brought up this issue in a recent article: “Marco Belinelli and Jeremy Lamb are largely redundant. Both are strictly twos and neither have the physical profile or defensive ability to guard potent, big wings.” A true small forward off the bench would be a great addition.

The Hornets don’t have many holes on their roster aside from the backup point guard spot. Their starting five is set for the future with Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, MKG, Marvin Williams and Cody Zeller all signed through the 2018-19 season. (Spotrac.com) With the starting unit locked up, the only place left to improve is the bench so that is where Rich Cho must focus on this summer.

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Jeremy is scheduled to make $7 million next season while Marco is set $6.6 million in the final year of his current contract. Trading one of them would give Charlotte some flexibility when it comes to their cap space as they are already set to be over the salary cap next year. Although, a trade wouldn’t necessarily have to be a salary dump as they could instead get a backup point guard or small forward in return whose contract matches up.

Deciding which player to move is the real question.

Although Lamb is the much younger player at only 24-years old (soon to be 25) compared to Belinelli who is 31, the numbers would say that the Italian had the better season last year. If you look at Steve Clifford’s rotation, he relied more heavily on Marco while Jeremy has fallen out of the rotation multiple times during his short tenure in Buzz City.

2016-17 stats:

Lamb – 62 G, 18.4 MPG, 9.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.2 APG, 46% FG/ 28.1% 3P/ 85.3% FT

Belinelli – 74 G, 24 MPG, 10.5 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, 42.9% FG/ 36% 3P/ 89.3% FT

The veteran might have had the upper hand when looking at the basic stats but by looking at the per 36 numbers, Jeremy was clearly the better player. While it is unclear how much better the UCONN product would’ve played if he was given more minutes, maybe that is enough of a reason for Clifford to trust him more going forward.

Both Marco and Jeremy have their downfalls on the defensive end. Lamb is the more athletic player but Belinelli has the advantage when it comes to shooting three’s. It all depends on what the team values more.

If it were up to me, I would trade the Italy international. Lamb is still young and can be a quality player for years to come while Marco is nearing the end of his playing career. Although Jeremy has never been able to put it all together through his first five years in the league, he did average a career-high in points, rebounds and field goal percentage this past season.

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While the Charlotte Hornets could keep both and manage, it would be smart to move one of them. It makes sense financially and roster-wise. Rich Cho should be making calls and seeing what the trade market is like for Lamb and Belinelli and what they could possibly get in return this offseason. The team could also package them to help facilitate a deal with multiple players or picks.

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