Buzz City Beat is Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is out once again for the Charlotte Hornets with an excused absence as he attends to a personal matter. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the championship experience on the Hornets’ roster, Kemba Walker being the new Mike Conley and Dwight Howard continuing to impress with Charlotte.
Championship experience on Charlotte’s roster (HoopsHype.com)
"The Charlotte Hornets are the franchise with the most NCAA champions on it. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Jeremy Lamb, Kemba Walker and Marvin Williams all won titles while in school. Lamb and Walker did so on the same Connecticut team."
The Hornets have a combined five titles on their team with four NCAA championships from Kemba, Lamb, MKG and Williams and one Olympic Title from Dwight Howard. Charlotte does not have a single player on their roster that has won an NBA Championship in the past. Although, Dwight did play in the 2009 NBA Finals with the Orlando Magic where they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Frank Kaminsky and Marcus Paige each lost in the National Championship game during his senior years of college. Also, no player on Charlotte’s roster has won a World Cup or a EuroLeague Title. Interestingly enough, the Indiana Pacers have the only roster in the league without a single championship/title.
Kemba Walker is the new Mike Conley (TheRinger.com)
"Conley has been called underrated for so long that it’s become a cliché. Soon, we could be saying the same about Walker."
While I agree with the comparison in the aspect that Kemba is underrated, I think that Walker has already surpassed Conley in terms of who is the better player. The Hornets’ point guard has already made an all-star game and is en route to his second consecutive appearance while Mike has yet to make an all-star team in his career. Although there are arguably better guards in the West making it more difficult for Conley to reach that milestone.
Still, Kemba has continually averaged more points per game than Mike and has about the same number of assists per game. Going back to the original point, Walker is probably one of, if not, the most underrated players in the entire league. He hardly gets any national media attention despite being an all-star and being the face of the Charlotte Hornets. Maybe that will change this season.
Dwight Howard continues to impress with the Hornets (NBA.com)
"Dwight Howard’s value to the Charlotte Hornets has been on full display during the early stage of this season. It makes all of the eye-rolling from around the basketball world when the Hornets traded for him over the summer seem a bit premature."
Next: Jeremy Lamb has taken his game to the next level
Howard’s instant success under Steve Clifford hasn’t been all that surprising as the eight-time all-star big man has been a double-double machine throughout his NBA career. The real revelation has been how Dwight has returned to being a defensive anchor. The question is, can he sustain this level of play throughout the entire season? That remains to be seen but for the time being, he is arguably the team’s second best player.