Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
Dwight Howard tweeted that he is now “addicted” to Bojangles. (Twitter/ @DwightHoward) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we preview Steve Clifford’s return against the Washington Wizards while also looking at the Charlotte Hornets‘ midseason grade and Nicolas Batum wanting to stay involved in the offense.
Charlotte’s midseason grade (BleacherReport.com)
"GRADE: Incomplete. If the grade had to go in the book right now, it’d be an “F.” The Charlotte Hornets are comfortably out of the playoff picture, headed for the luxury tax, devoid of up-and-coming talent (What happened to you, Malik Monk?) and securely locked into a roster of veterans who are either overpaid or compensated at market value."
The Hornets’ “Incomplete” grade is due in large part to injuries and the belief that they can turn things around in the second half of the season. An “F” grade would’ve been understandable because of how poorly the team has performed through the first half of the 2017-18 campaign. Charlotte is probably the most underachieving team in the NBA so far this year.
Still, with Steve Clifford returning, Cody Zeller and the rest of the roster finally getting healthy, the Hornets have a shot to make a second-half push to the playoffs. Having the easiest strength of schedule to close out the season should also help. Making it back to the postseason should give them a good grade at the end of the year.
Hornets vs Wizards prediction/ Clifford’s return (HeroSports.com/ ESPN.com)
"The Washington Wizards (25-19) go on the road to take on the Charlotte Hornets(17-25). These two teams will meet up for the first time since November 22nd 2017, a 129-124 Charlotte victory. / Clifford returns to the sideline Wednesday, the start of a five-game homestand for the struggling Hornets (17-25)."
After missing the past 21 games with health issues, Steve Clifford is set to return and take over the head coaching duties for Charlotte. The Hornets went 9-12 under associate head coach Stephen Silas. Clifford’s return should give a boost to the team when they host John Wall, Bradley Beal and Washington.
Kemba Walker and company will be in for a tough test against the fifth-seeded Wizards. Charlotte has a bit of momentum on their side as they have won four of their last six games and have a 6-4 record in their last 10 which equals that of Washington. Since the Hornets won last time out vs the Wizards at home, I think that they will get the job done once again this time out and pull off the upset.
Nic Batum wants to stay involved in offense (Twitter/ @LockedOnHornets)
"Nic Batum on his role in the offense under Silas as we close in on the return of Steve Clifford. “I just want to stay involved on offense…that’s why they brought me here.”"
Next: Determining Nic Batum's trade value
For someone who is supposed to be the second option on offense, Nicolas has done a poor job of staying involved on that end of the floor this season. He’s only averaging 10.4 PPG which is fifth on the team and is only putting up 10.0 FGA per game which ranks fourth on the team. If Batum wants to be involved, he needs to be more aggressive and get back to scoring 15 PPG like he did last year.