Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets interviewed Jay Larranaga, stock watch
Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
The Charlotte Hornets are reportedly set to interview San Antonio Spurs‘ assistant Ettore Messina. (Twitter/ @BoscoGiorgio98) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at Charlotte’s meeting with Jay Larranaga, where the stock is for the team and the Hornets’ bounce-back potential for next season.
Hornets interview Celtics’ assistant Jay Larranaga (Sports.Yahoo.com)
"Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga has interviewed for the Charlotte Hornets‘ head coaching opening, Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports reported on Celtics Pregame Live Thursday night."
The 42-year old started his coaching career in 2008 with the Ireland men’s national basketball team. Jay is the son of Jim Larranaga who is the head coach of the University of Miami’s men’s basketball team. He’s been with Boston since 2012 and was interviewed to replace Doc Rivers before they decided to hire Brad Stevens.
The Celtics’ top assistant was born in Charlotte, North Carolina which is his main link to the Queen City. His only other prior coaching experiences include stints with the Erie BayHawks of the G-League from 2010-12 and the Ukraine national basketball team from 2013-15 as an assistant.
Charlotte stock watch (HashtagBasketball.com)
"Malik Monk – Stock: Down. There’s been plenty written on this site about Malik Monk and his hugely frustrating lack of playing time, so this section can be pretty short. To keep it simple: Monk went from being one of the most exciting prospects in the draft to what was basically an afterthought"
While Monk did have a strong finish to the season, most of his rookie year was spent on the bench and for that reason alone, his stock fell. His inefficient shooting and shaky defense caused his stock to fall rapidly at the beginning of the campaign. The good news is that Malik did regain some of his lost stock and the hype surrounding him came back after scoring 16+ points in his final five games.
Steve Clifford, Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Cody Zeller and Michael Carter-Williams all saw their stock trend downward after disappointing seasons. Kemba Walker was among the players whose stock went up including Dwight Howard, Jeremy Lamb, Frank Kaminsky and Treveon Graham. I would argue that both Willy Hernangomez and Dwayne Bacon‘s stock went up as well.
Hornets’ turnaround potential (BleacherReport.com)
"But the Hornets are due for a turnaround simply because they underachieved so massively during the 2017-18 season. Only the Mavs had a bigger discrepancy between actual and expected wins. Even if they play exactly the same way going forward, they should make substantial strides and re-insert themselves into the Eastern Conference playoff race."
B/R gives Charlotte the 10th best turnaround potential of any NBA team for next season. Only the Knicks, the Nets, the Grizzlies, the Bulls, the Magic, the Mavericks, the Suns, the Lakers and the Hawks are projected to have a bigger bounce-back than the Hornets in 2018-19. If they keep the roster together, it isn’t out of the question for the Queen City team to get back to the playoffs.
Next: Monk 2017-18 season grade
After two straight 36-46 seasons, Charlotte desperately needs a bounce-back year and to finish above .500. A new general manager, head coach and a few players should be enough to do the trick. Although, if they decide to rebuild, then there will be far more losses than wins.