Dwayne Bacon needs a team to believe in him once again, even if it’s not the Hornets
It says so much about Dwayne Bacon’s trajectory that his bobblehead will be promoted at Sunday’s Charlotte Hornets game, but Bacon likely won’t be there.
The Hornets have won five of their last seven games entering Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Guard-forward Bacon started the Hornets’ first 10 games this season, then fell so far out of the rotation he’s been assigned to the G-League Greensboro Swarm the past five games.
So even as the Hornets hand out thousands of Bacon bobbleheads (a plastic strip of bacon with the player’s face superimposed), the trinket’s namesake is far removed from the team’s plans.
Coach James Borrego has said the Hornets haven’t given up on Bacon’s development. However, it’s certainly curious that after shooting guard Malik Monk was indefinitely suspended under the NBA’s anti-drug policy Wednesday, the Hornets didn’t choose to bring Bacon back from Greensboro.
“Bac could potentially be in the mix at some point,” Borrego said Wednesday.
Bacon becomes a free agent in July. He’s prepared for the strong possibility he’ll need to change teams.
“Maybe I’m not meant for this organization or maybe they don’t want me. I don’t know,” Bacon said before scoring 29 points for the Swarm in Friday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls’ G-League affiliate.
“I’m going to keep building my resume. It’s going to work out for me. I believe it’s going to work out somewhere. Maybe just not here.”
Borrego has said he needs to see more consistency on both defense and offense from Bacon. He lost his starting spot after some awful shooting (34 percent from the field and 26 percent from 3-point range), combined with the unanticipated ascension of Devonte Graham.
But what’s happened since far exceeds just being replaced as a starter. Bacon is now so outside the rotation that he’s behind two rookies, twins Cody and Caleb Martin. That’s some fall for a guy who in September epitomized the Hornets’ pivot to a youth movement.
Attitude
Bacon can’t manage circumstance. He can manage his attitude. He’s been classy and humble throughout the disappointments. He’s striking a balance between not playing the victim, while also not losing faith in himself. Friends, such as former Hornets All-Star Kemba Walker, frequently check in to keep his spirits up.
“This is my third (season) and second coach and never have I come in to work and complained,” Bacon said. “I could sit here and beat myself up every day. Say, ‘Well, I’m not good enough to play in this league.’ That’s where I found myself drifting to.”
That’s when he started lobbying Hornets management for a Swarm assignment. Playing in Greensboro was great for Bacon last season, platforming the strong performances in April that had Borrego viewing him as a starter. Bacon has never bought the perception by some pros that G-League assignments are punishment, as opposed to opportunity.
Even so, it’s uncommon for a third-year veteran to lobby so hard for a G-League assignment.
“I asked them a month before (the assignment) and they told me, “No, no, no,’” Bacon said. “I hadn’t been playing. I love this game and this (passion) is what got me here.”
Swarm general manager Cam Twiss said he loves having Bacon, not just for his talent, but for how Bacon makes such an effort to be one of the guys.
Bacon has had eye-popping games with the Swarm, scoring 51, 44 and 40 points in consecutive games. Swarm stats don’t trump what Hornets management thinks, but G-League games are frequently attended by NBA scouts: His performances don’t go unnoticed.
“Believe in me”
Bacon isn’t naive; he understands the high stakes for a rebuilding Hornets franchise and the dispassionate way Borrego and general manager Mitch Kupchak must evaluate performance and potential.
However, Bacon misses the sort of relationship he had with Leonard Hamilton while playing at Florida State.
“I put my trust in that man, and he got everything out of me,” Bacon said of playing for Hamilton in college.
“It’s the same situation up here: I just need a coaching staff that believes in me, believes I can play. It’s not that I don’t believe they think I can play (but) I don’t know what it is.”
Sounds like the beginning of the end for Bacon as a Hornet.
“I want a group of people who believe in me,” Bacon said. “Who give me a shot and trust me out there.”
This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Dwayne Bacon needs a team to believe in him once again, even if it’s not the Hornets."
