Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
Even though the Charlotte Hornets defeated the New York Knicks, here is why Stephen Silas shortening the rotation isn’t the right move. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at Dwight Howard calling out his teammates, why Malik Monk was benched and Wisconsin retiring Frank Kaminsky‘s jersey.
Howard calls out Hornets’ teammates (CharlotteObserver.com)
"Charlotte Hornets center Dwight Howard wants teammates to “stop looking like we’re defeated already.”"
Dwight called out his teammates for holding their heads down before games. It looks like Howard’s words may have worked because the team looked much improved against the Knicks. He also added that they’ve got to “get out of our own heads and go for a win.” Hopefully, this is the motivation and accountability they needed to turn things around this season.
The eight-time all-star made it a point to say that he isn’t making excuses for their poor play. Luckily for Charlotte, there is still plenty of time left in the season for them to go on a run and get back into the playoff picture. Playing with confidence can make a big difference so we’ll see if this sparks a change in the team going forward because it seems like that the players-only meeting with Michael Jordan didn’t work the way they had hoped.
Malik Monk benched because of poor defense (LarryBrownSports.com)
"Marc Berman of the New York Post reported on Monday that Monk has been pulled from the Hornets rotation due to his poor defensive play."
Before Stephen Silas took the reigns of the Hornets, Steve Clifford also benched Malik in favor of Michael Carter-Williams because of “defensive issues.” It looks like more of the same is happening to Monk under Silas. After a pretty promising start to his rookie season where he scored double-figures in five of his first 11 games, he has yet to record a double-digit scoring game since November 11th.
My only problem with Charlotte benching Monk is that they knew he was a defensive liability when they drafted him but took him anyway because of his offensive upside. If they wanted a lockdown defender, they should’ve gone with Donovan Mitchell. We’ll see if Malik can get out of the doghouse anytime soon. If not, he will most likely ride the bench for the remainder of the season.
Wisconsin to retire Frank Kaminsky’s jersey (WSAW.com)
"Feb. 15 will be officially named “Frank Kaminsky Night” in Madison. The 2015 consensus National Player of the Year will be in attendance for the Badgers’ men’s basketball game against Purdue and the University of the Wisconsin will officially retire his No. 44 jersey during a halftime ceremony."
Next: Three trades the Hornets must make
This is a huge honor for Kaminsky who played four seasons at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Frank is well deserving of having his #44 jersey retired as he led the Badgers to two consecutive Final Four appearances and took home the John R. Wooden Award, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, the Big-10 Player of the Year title and was named not only a consensus first-team All-American but also the National College Player of the Year. He is a Wisconsin legend for what he did during his four years at the school.