Buzz City Beat: MKG returns to practice, Who is the Charlotte Hornets rival?
Buzz City Beat is Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the best article from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
Through the first two games of the regular season, Kemba Walker is leading the league with 12.5 free throw attempts per game. (NBA.com) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at Michael Kidd-Gilchrist returning to practice, who the Charlotte Hornets‘ real rival is and 10 things you didn’t know about Dwight Howard.
MKG returns to practice (NumberFire.com)
"Kidd-Gilchrist is back with the team after tending to a family matter to open the year, but head coach Steve Clifford wants him to work on his conditioning before making his season debut."
After missing 12 days with an excused absence, Kidd-Gilchrist is back with the team. Although he has returned to practice, MKG is still not ready to immediately return to the starting lineup for Charlotte. Michael will miss the Hornets’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 23rd but there’s a good chance he will be back sooner rather than later and the game against the Denver Nuggets on October 25th could be his debut.
Steve Clifford’s side has missed their starting small forward so far this season. Dwayne Bacon has filled in admirably in the starting lineup but without their best individual perimeter defender, the defense has struggled a bit. It’s a good sign for the team that MKG is back practicing.
Who is the Hornets’ real rival? (Strawpoll.com)
"Which team would you say is the Charlotte Hornets rival? The Miami Heat? The New Orleans Pelicans? The Atlanta Hawks? Or the Orlando Magic?"
Each of these teams has a case to be Charlotte’s rival. The Heat, Hawks and Magic are all in the Southeast Division while New Orleans is the city that got the original Hornets’ franchise back in 2002. The poll ranks Miami as the Queen City team’s main rival followed by the Pelicans, Atlanta then Orlando.
In reality, the Hornets may not have an actual “rival.” They have teams they are competitive against within their division but you don’t get the sense of a real rivalry. If I had to pick one team as their current rival, it would be Miami because of the epic seven-game first-round playoff series in 2016.
10 things you may not know about Howard (Twitter/ @HoopsHype)
Next: Four things the Hornets and Panthers have in common
The good: Dwight has grabbed more rebounds than any other player in the last 15 years, has led the league in boards more times (5) than Bill Russell (4) and averages better numbers across the board in the playoffs than he does in the regular season. The Bad: Howard averages two turnovers for each assist. The Interesting: he wants to be a farmer after retiring from the NBA.