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Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets in no man’s land, NBA league pass rankings

By Jerry Stephens

CHARLOTTE, USA - MARCH 06: Super Hugo of Charlotte Hornets entertains during during the NBA match between Indiana Pacers vs Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum arena in Charlotte, United States on March 06, 2017. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, USA - MARCH 06: Super Hugo of Charlotte Hornets entertains during during the NBA match between Indiana Pacers vs Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum arena in Charlotte, United States on March 06, 2017. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) /
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Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.

Since Bob Weiss left the team, Steve Clifford is looking for a replacement assistant coach this summer. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the Charlotte Hornets being in No Man’s Land, where the team stands in league pass rankings and the Kemba Walker vs Kyrie Irving debate.

Are the Hornets in no man’s land? (FadeAwayWorld.com)

"While the Hornets are no longer bad, they’ve got quite a ways to go if they want to be truly good. They may quickly find out that being stuck in the middle isn’t as comfortable as they probably thought it would be."

It’s been said many times before that Charlotte’s stuck in mediocrity. Even with the additions the team made to get better this offseason, they are arguably still in the middle of the pack. Unless the Hornets make the jump to consistently challenge for a top-four seed and get past the first round of the playoffs, they will continue to be in No Man’s Land.

With that being said, they are in a much better spot than they were just a few years ago when they won only seven games in 2011-12. It will be interesting to see if Steve Clifford’s team can take the next step and win their first postseason series in over a decade. For now, they are still being considered as a team stuck in the middle of a weak Eastern Conference. Although, they probably aren’t that far off from the elite in Toronto and Washington.

NBA league pass rankings (CBSsports.com)

"The Hornets are usually drama free, but Dwight Howard changes that. Charlotte took a risk on a player who has been known to blow everything up when he’s unhappy. If it works out, the Hornets could reach new heights. They shoot a lot of 3-pointers, play great defense, and Kemba Walker is a blast."

Charlotte is the 12th most interesting/entertaining team to watch on league pass heading into this season. That’s ahead of the Boston Celtics, the Golden State Warriors, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers. The top three is made up of the Bucks (#1), the 76ers (#2) and the Pelicans (#3).

Kemba alone is reason enough to watch the Hornets as he is a one man show almost every game. Throw Dwight Howard and Malik Monk into the mix and things get that much more intriguing for the Queen City team. Charlotte also plays in plenty of close games which will be enjoyable for the average fan.

Kemba Walker is better than Kyrie Irving (Rotoden.com)

"Kyrie has him beat handily in isolation offense, but other than that, Kemba is either better than or essentially tied with Kyrie in every other category, other than cut offense. We see that Kyrie registered negatively in the majority of defensive categories. Other than off-screen defense, Kemba blows Kyrie out of the water."

Next: Will Dwight have a career resurgence in Charlotte?

Taking a closer look at their offensive and defensive numbers is pretty eye-opening. This article argues that Kyrie is only perceived as better than Kemba because of his national attention. Irving is a great player but at the very least, he and Walker are level in terms of production.

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