Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets need a new head coach, Dennis Schroder calls out Dwight
Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
After defeating the Atlanta Hawks behind a season-high 33 points from Dwight Howard and a triple-double from Nicolas Batum, the Charlotte Hornets‘ playoff chances jumped from under 1% to 2%. (FiveThirtyEight.com) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at Charlotte needing to replace Steve Clifford, Dennis Schroder‘s comments about Dwight Howard and who the Hornets select in the latest NBA mock draft.
Charlotte needs a change, including head coach (CharlottePost.com)
"Start the clock on bringing a close to the Steve Clifford era in Charlotte. The Hornets head coach hasn’t been shown the door yet, but if owner Michael Jordan is looking out for his franchise, those office keys should be jingling. This team has gone stagnant over two seasons despite tweaks and overly optimistic promises of reaching playoff form."
In his five seasons with the Hornets, Steve Clifford has a record of only 190-207 and is on pace to finish with yet another sub .500 record this year which will mark the third time in five seasons. Although Charlotte’s been to the playoffs twice under Clifford, the last two seasons have been disappointing, to say the least. They’ve severely underperformed and he took responsibility for not getting his players ready to play.
If the players aren’t fighting for their coach, it may be time for a new voice in the locker room. While he’s had success with the Hornets, it may be time to finally move on from the Clifford-era in Charlotte. Bringing a new coach in could help turn things around and get this team back into the postseason. Although, with his contract running through the 2018-19 season, there’s a good chance that MJ keeps him around for at least one more year.
Dennis Schroder calls out Dwight Howard (Twitter/ @KLChouinard)
"Dennis Schroder on Dwight Howard: “He plays always great against his former team. Credit to him too, but that’s like four games each year, you know? Houston, LA, us. I think he’s always giving his best there but the others games he .”"
The Hawks’ point guard took a shot at the Hornets’ center after they played each other. It is worth noting that Dwight has played significantly better against his former teams this season than versus the rest of the league. He is a + against the Los Angeles Lakers, Hawks, Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets while being a combined -36 versus the other 25 NBA teams.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence since Atlanta and Orlando have been really bad this year but it’s interesting nonetheless. Howard is clearly out for revenge when he plays against the Hawks as he said that he wanted to “kill” them earlier this season. (SLAMOnline.com) He is averaging 22.7 PPG, 13.5 RPG and 2.5 BPG in four games vs ATL during the 2017-18 season.
NCAA Tournament mock draft (BleacherReport.com)
"9. Chicago Bulls: Mikal Bridges (Villanova, SF, Junior) – 10. Charlotte Hornets: Miles Bridges (Michigan State, SF/PF, Sophomore) – 11. Los Angeles Clippers (via Detroit Pistons): Kevin Knox (Kentucky, SF/PF, Freshman)"
Next: 5 draft prospects to watch for in the NCAA Tournament
If Mikal Bridges is off the board when Charlotte picks and it’s between Miles and Kevin, I think think that the Hornets should go with Knox over Bridges. The Kentucky prospect is a year younger with arguably more upside. The problem with Bridges is that at 6’7, 230 he is seen as a bit of a tweener at the NBA level. While I think he will be a good NBA player, I think the better pick for the team is Knox as he has great size at 6’9 and could play at either forward position.