Hornets guard Dwayne Bacon knows he’ll find his way back because he’s free of his ego
Bitter, angry, mopey.
Dwayne Bacon could be all those things, considering how his Charlotte Hornets season has gone. He’s intent on being none of those things. He can’t control his circumstance, but he can control his response.
“I have never lost my mind,” Bacon said Monday ahead of the game against the Phoenix Suns.
“It’s not as if I don’t think my season is going to turn around. You just have to stay in the gym. We’ve got 60 more games. Do I think I’ll get another opportunity? Yes. And if I don’t, I’ll still keep working.”
This was early afternoon, 90 minutes after the Hornets’ shootaround was over. Bacon was the last player still in the Spectrum Center’s practice gym.
“I was the last one out of the gym today. I’m not playing, and that’s what I’ve got to do. Put up extra shots. Because, Lord willing, if I get put in the game I’ve got to hit that shot that I just took upstairs.”
It’s been rocky. Bacon came into the preseason with huge expectations based on his finish to last season. He was installed as a starter and that lasted 10 games.
He scored 22 points in the season-opener against the Chicago Bulls and 25 six games later against the Warriors. But in general, he was inefficient offensively and inconsistent defensively. A sore right knee caused him to miss back-to-back games mid-November, and since then he’s all but disappeared from the rotation.
Bacon didn’t play at all in three of the Hornets’ last five games. In the other two, he totaled 34 minutes and shot 1-of-11 from the field.
What must Bacon do to get back in the rotation?
“Maintaining his aggressiveness on both sides of the floor,” coach James Borrego said. “Attacking the paint consistently. Running with pace and urgency. And defensively, be more disruptive, more physical, more impactful.”
Borrego has conveyed to Bacon the flaws that must be addressed. He also recognizes the receptiveness and lack of ego with which Bacon has processed this demotion.
“Every young kid wants to play. Every young kid on our roster believes he should be playing,” Borrego said. “The players who make it in this league have the perspective of getting over themselves and being part of something bigger. He’s getting over himself. There’s a recognition on his part he’s got to do more and do better.”
Perspective
Bacon, a second-round pick in 2017, has the emotional tools for this. He started his first NBA game as a rookie, filling in for an injured Nic Batum. He bounced in and out of the rotation, spending much of his second season with the G-League Greenboro Swarm.
Bacon saw time with the Swarm not as an insult, but an opportunity, and has often said young NBA players need to stop viewing G-League assignments as “punishment.” When he came back from Greensboro last spring, he was among the Hornets’ top players the last 20 games in a run that nearly qualified for a playoff spot.
That platformed him to be a starter in the youth movement Borrego has overseen. But he has shot poorly (32 percent from the field), and other young players — particularly Devonte Graham, who replaced him in the starting lineup — ate into his minutes.
Bacon said he’d be a horrible teammate if he resented Graham for his ascension.
“I’m very excited for Devonte. I pray for him that happens all season,” Bacon said. “There is nothing for me to complain about. I would look at myself as selfish if I come in every day saying, ‘Well, why am I not playing?’ I may think that in my head, but at the end of the day, this is about the team. If we win a game, that’s us. If we lose a game, that’s us. That is what it’s about for me.”
Stakes
There are clear stakes in the near term for how Bacon performs. His rookie contract ends after this season and there’s an option to make him a $2 million qualifying offer to restrict his free-agency. General manager Mitch Kupchak told the Observer in September his priority in the summer of 2020 will be re-signing young talent and mentioned Bacon specifically as an example.
It’s common these days for player-personnel scouts from other teams to ask about Bacon as a future free agent. But that matters only to the extent he frees himself from his funk.
“I think I have the perfect mindset to play 15 years in the NBA, because I can accept every obstacle and I’m always going to be ready. I don’t come with ego,” Bacon said. “I’m the same guy every day: I smile like I just scored 30 points. When you have an ego in this sport, you won’t get far. If I came in here all mad, thinking ‘Oh, you guys are playing and I’m not,’ that’s just selfish of me.
“I know this is going to come around.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Hornets guard Dwayne Bacon knows he’ll find his way back because he’s free of his ego."
