Jeremy Lamb is silently having a career year for the Charlotte Hornets as he continues to grow into an all-around player.
With the injury to Nicolas Batum, Jeremy Lamb has emerged as a reliable scorer for the Charlotte Hornets. He looks to be making the leap and taking the next step forward in his development as an NBA player. He’s shown glimpses of great play in the past with the team but his athleticism, shooting, length and offensive ability are all finally coming together at once.
Lamb is finally looking like the type of player that the Oklahoma City Thunder hoped he would be when they acquired him as part of the James Harden trade. Jeremy was a key piece in that deal and OKC probably thought they could develop him into a sixth man.
After only three years of limited playing time alongside Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, the Thunder cut ties with the former lottery pick in exchange for only Luke Ridnour, who was later waived, and a 2016 second round pick that OKC later traded to the Denver Nuggets for Randy Foye.
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At that point, it was clear that the Thunder had all but gave up on Lamb. Considering that he only averaged 7.0 points in 148 appearances for the team, it’s easy to see why they wanted to move him. Luckily for Charlotte, they were able to get a young player who had been buried on the bench in Oklahoma and not given a real opportunity.
After only two regular season games with the Hornets, the team saw enough in Lemba to sign him to a three-year, $21 million extension that many saw as overpaying a player who had not yet proven himself. Now it turns out that Charlotte’s investment is paying off and that $7 million a year looks like a steal when you look at the rest of the NBA.
Since arriving in the Queen City in 2015, Jeremy has gotten better each season. He’s upped his scoring, rebounds, assists and shooting numbers. Although he’s had his struggles and been benched on more than one occasion under Steve Clifford, Lamb looks to have finally figured things out.
The entire coaching staff and his teammates have raved about the work that the 25-year old has put in over the summer. It’s showing off on the court as Jeremy is putting career-highs across the board and averaging 18.1 points per game, 5.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 48.3% from the field and 45.5% from three.
Lamb was inserted into the starting lineup and given an extended role when Batum went down with a major left elbow injury. He’s now rewarding Coach Clifford’s trust by not only filling in admirably for Nicolas but arguably being Charlotte’s second or third best player on almost every night.
Jeremy is second on the team in scoring, second in assists and third in rebounds while being their best three-point shooter. He’s also scored 15+ points in every game this season and has already set a new career-high with 27 points in a game against the San Antonio Spurs. But he’s doing more than just scoring as he also set a new career-high with seven assists versus the Orlando Magic.
Through only nine games, he’s already tied a career-high for the season with three games of over 20+ points.
If not for Lamb’s surprising heroics, the Hornets would be in a world of hurt and most definitely worse off than their current record. His outstanding play has flown under the radar and gone mostly unnoticed outside of Charlotte. It’s also worth noting that the once defensive liability is second on the team in defensive win shares behind only Dwight Howard. Although he isn’t anywhere near a defensive stopper, he is actually committing himself on that end of the court.
Once Nic Batum returns, it will be interesting to see how Lamb is used. Based on his production, Jeremy’s earned a key role in the rotation and Steve Clifford should be more than willing to give that to him whether it be in the starting lineup or off of the bench.
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If he keeps up this level of play, Lamb may demand more minutes or even possibly a starting role with the team going forward. Jeremy is still young and has plenty of room left to grow. He had loads of potential coming out of college and even though it’s taken a few years for him to fully realize it, there’s still a chance that he could be a near 20 points per game scorer at some point in his NBA career.