Buzz City Beat is Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the latest news and stories from around the web about the Charlotte Hornets.
Hornets’ owner Michael Jordan praises Kemba Walker after the all-star point guard broke Dell Curry‘s all-time franchise scoring record. (Twitter/ @Hornets) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the positives in the Charlotte Hornets‘ disappointing season, LeBron James congratulating Kemba Walker and Steve Clifford reaching out to Cleveland Cavaliers‘ head coach Tyronn Lue.
Finding positives in Charlotte’s lost season (HashtagBasketball.com)
"Late-season record breaking, Kemba Walker’s continued brilliance, Michael Carter-Williams‘ 1-year deal, Jeremy Lamb emerges, Dwight Howard‘s play – and personality, and Malik Monk is coming."
The 2017-18 campaign has been an extremely disappointing one for the Hornets. They will finish under .500 for the third consecutive season and miss the playoffs for the 12th time in the last 15 years. Although there have been many negative, there have also been a few positives including Kemba breaking a number of franchise records.
MCW’s one-year deal is a positive because it means that Charlotte can re-tool with a new backup point guard who will hopefully be more effective next season. Jeremy Lamb has also taken the next step in his development and is now a legit sixth man in the NBA. It’s also worth noting that Dwight Howard has not hurt the locker room like he has at his past stops in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles and Orlando. To add to Malik Monk’s eventual breakout, fellow rookie Dwayne Bacon is an exciting prospect as well.
LeBron James congratulates Kemba Walker (Instagram.com)
"Huge Congrats to my G!! An amazing accomplishment bro! All-Time leading scorer in franchise history. #SHEESH. We ain’t any suppose to be here and look at what you just did. Congrats again man!"
Not only did LeBron congratulate Kemba on the court after the game was over but he also took time to share an Instagram post praising Walker. When the game ended, the two embraced and James said in a post-game interview that, “I told him (Kemba) I know he wants to do bigger things with this franchise. I know the competitor that he is. Moments like this you can never take for granted. For him to be the all-time leading scorer in franchise history, that’s a pretty remarkable feat.”
Walker’s teammate also congratulated him on social media including Jeremy Lamb, Nicolas Batum, Willy Hernangomez and Dwight Howard. It’s incredible to see Kemba take down a record that has stood since 1998. Even though it came in a pretty one-sided loss to LeBron James and the Cavs, it was still history.
Steve Clifford reaches out to Cavs’ head coach Ty Lue (Cleveland.com)
"Hornets coach Steve Clifford reached out to Tyronn Lue when he heard health issues were temporarily knocking Lue from his job. Clifford said Lue “was positive in that he’s feeling better and didn’t seem to think that it was going to be” a long time before he returned."
Coach Clifford knows all too well about health issues related to being the head coach of an NBA team as he missed 21 games this season due to headaches. Ty Lue is the latest coach to miss time after he was having chest pains. It’s not an easy job but it’s good to see that Steve Clifford reached out to his counterpart.
Next: Charlotte's best-kept secret
The Charlotte Hornets’ head coach was an assistant with Orlando and Houston when Tyronn played for the Magic and Rockets so the two have at least somewhat of a relationship. Hopefully, Lue can regain his full health and return to the Cavs’ sideline sooner rather than later.