Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
Rick Bonnell tweeted that Marvin Williams‘ ankle, that he injured against the Utah Jazz during their road-trip, it still bothering him and that the team will monitor it closely. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at time running out for the Charlotte Hornets, Steve Clifford’s coaching style being outdated and the Queen City team making the right call regarding Kemba Walker.
The clock is ticking for Charlotte (TheCharlottePost.com)
"Although this Hornets team hasn’t been able to cobble together a significant success, Clifford believes there’s always an opportunity to turn things around. Finding that switch, however, is difficult, which means the clock is ticking on when to experiment."
We are almost two-thirds of the way through the 2017-18 season and the Hornets have still not figured things out. There was hope that after a slow start to the year, Nicolas Batum‘s return and the rest of the team getting healthy would be enough to spark the team back into playoff contention. It wasn’t and Charlotte is now running out of time as the all-star break draws near.
Unless the Hornets go on a remarkable run in the 25 games after the all-star break, they will be back in the draft lottery for the 12th time in the last 15 years. Based on their current form, a postseason berth is improbable. It’s clear that Charlotte needs a spark but it’s unclear where it could come from. Maybe it’s time for Steve Clifford to switch up the rotation.
Steve Clifford’s coaching style is outdated (HashtagBasketball.com)
"The point is, this team has too many shooters to be taking so few three-pointers. That’s on the coaching staff, plain and simple. There are other issues on offense, including a lack of creators and players that can finish at the rim. Of course, that’s more of a Rich Cho problem. But abandoning the three-pointer to the extent that Charlotte has fallen squarely on Clifford’s shoulders."
While I do think that Charlotte should be shooting more three’s and that Clifford’s scheme does need updating, I think the Hornets lack quality outside shooting threats. The fact of the matter is, only three players (Treveon Graham, Marvin Williams and Kemba Walker) are shooting over the league average of 36.1% from beyond the arc. That means that Jeremy Lamb, Frank Kaminsky and Nicolas Batum are all below average when it comes to their three-point shooting.
The limited shooting ability of Dwight Howard, Michael Carter-Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist doesn’t help. As for Charlotte’s three-point defense that was also pointed out in the article, that is what needs to be the focus for Coach Clifford. The Hornets’ perimeter defense has been abysmal this year and they are allowing their opponents to take and make too many three’s while not making enough themselves.
The Hornets made the right call regarding Kemba (iSportsWeb.com)
"Michael Jordan made the best possible decision by keeping Walker as the franchise player. It would have taken a miraculous offer for Charlotte to trade away a player who has meant so much to the city of Charlotte and its fans."
Next: The roller coaster that is the Charlotte Hornets
Charlotte did make the right call by not trading Walker and holding out for a larger return for their all-star point guard than they were being offered. Kemba’s importance to the Queen City goes far beyond just on the court. He is the heart and soul of Hornets’ basketball. When it’s all said and done, he will go down as the greatest player in team history. While giving him up to offload a bad contract or two might’ve been the best move going forward, it also would’ve devastated a majority of fans. In the end, the call was easy for the front office to make as they never really received a substantial trade offer from another team.