Charlotte Hornets: I’ll admit, I was wrong about Devonte’ Graham
Just seven games into the season, Charlotte Hornets guard Devonte’ Graham has given me a new perception of him as a player.
When I’m sitting on my couch watching the 2019-20 Charlotte Hornets, I find myself repeating the same sentence over and over again each game — “Man, Devonte’ Graham has gotten so much better.”.
His improvement has been one of the best stories thus far. His confidence appears to be off the charts, and he has some of that swagger back from his days at Kansas. The only questions he’s facing is if he can sustain this level of play throughout an entire season.
I’ve said many times, during his time in college and in the NBA, that Graham, to me, had high-level backup upside. I thought that if he developed the right way, he could be one of the better backup point guards in the league.
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Now, he’s already looking like one of the best backups just seven games into his second season. He’s off to a stellar start this season, and I don’t want to be quick to overreact, but I’m thinking Graham is legit. His 35 point outing against Indiana made me feel even more confident about that.
I was wrong. He’s more than just a high-level backup.
I don’t know if the Hornets will be able to make it work, but Graham is playing like a starter. Whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, though, he’s going to play a ton of minutes, and a lot of those minutes will be next to Terry Rozier.
Graham is averaging 17.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists, while shooting 43 percent overall and 47 percent from deep. He’s simply on fire from three-point range, but is also doing a good job of attacking the basket and finding the open teammate. He’s improved in pretty much every area of the game.
Simply put, Graham has been phenomenal for the Hornets throughout seven games. They have a 4-3 record, which has surprised a lot of people. Graham has a lot to do with all of those victories.
We knew that the opportunity would be there for the guards this season after Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb‘s departures, but I certainly wasn’t expecting Graham to be the one to grab it by the horns.
While Terry Rozier and Dwayne Bacon have stepped up, they’ve also been inconsistent. Aside from an off night against the Clippers, Graham has been a night-in-night-out force for the Charlotte Hornets, establishing himself not only as an NBA player, but as a foundational piece to the franchise moving forward.
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There’s still time to hop on the Devonte’ Graham train, people. I was quickly on board, and don’t plan on leaving any time soon. This kid can play.