Charlotte Hornets: Two unlikely heroes have carried the Greensboro Swarm
Two players who aren’t even in the Charlotte Hornets’ system have carried the Greensboro Swarm early in the G-League season.
The Greensboro Swarm are 3-4 through their first seven games. Jalen Jones and Charles Cooke are two players who have stood out for the Charlotte Hornets‘ G-League affiliate. The interesting thing is, neither of them is a part of the Hornets’ organization and they are both actually signed to New Orleans as the Pelicans’ two-way players.
Without a G-League team of their own, there isn’t anywhere for the New Orleans Pelicans to send their two-way players but because of the Flexible Transfer Rule, they are able to assign them to another NBA team’s G-League affiliate. Luckily for the Swarm, Jalen and Charles landed in Greensboro. Early in the season, they have been, by far, the best players for the Swarm.
As the Hornets’ two two-way players, Marcus Paige and Mangok Mathiang were expected to be the best players on Greensboro’s roster. While they have both been important early on, they haven’t matched the production of Jones and Cooke.
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In the four games that Jalen and Charles have been with the Swarm, the team has a 3-1 record. Compare that to the 0-3 record that they have without the two Pelicans’ players. Jones and Cooke are also leading Greensboro in scoring as they are combining to average more than 44 points per game.
Jones is a 6’7 small forward who went undrafted in 2016. After being waived by the Boston Celtics, he played last season with the Maine Red Claws where he was a G-League all-star, named to the G-League All-Rookie Team, and named to the All-NBA G-League Third Team. He earned a two-way deal with New Orleans. The 24-year old is now averaging 25.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 2.3 APG while shooting 50.7% from the field. Even though he’s not a great outside shooting, Jalen uses his strength and athleticism to attack the basket at will.
As for Cooke, he is a 6’6 undrafted rookie who played for James Maddison and Dayton in college. He is second on the Swarm in scoring with 19.5 PPG, third in rebounding at 6.8 RPG, second in steals with 1.8 per game and tied for first in blocks at 0.8. Charles has managed to shoot 53.7% from the field, 28.6% from three and 76.2% from the free throw line.
In a 109-90 win over Raptors 905, Jones (36) and Cooke (34) combined for 70 points on 55.8% (24-43) shooting. Jalen has scored more than 19 points in every game this season while Charles has put up more than 14 in each outing.
(Here’s highlights from Charles Cooke’s 34-point performance)
Looking at the rest of Greensboro’s roster, no other player is averaging more than 13.4 points per game. Marcus Paige and Mangok Mathiang have been somewhat underwhelming in their first seasons with the Swarm.
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Based on the first seven games of the year, the Greensboro Swarm better hope that Jalen Jones and Charles Cooke will spend most of the G-League or they may find W’s hard to come by. While other players could step up when these two players re-join their parent club, that hasn’t been the case so far. One thing that is clear is that the Charlotte Hornets’ G-League affiliate is much better with Jones and Cooke on the floor.