These 3 players have the Charlotte Hornets on an upswing. Here’s why.
It’s striking how fast trajectory can change in the NBA.
Thursday, the Charlotte Hornets were a team that had lost six of their last seven games. Their defense was fading, center was a weakness and coach James Borrego was churning through rotations.
By Sunday morning, the Hornets had beaten two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Cody Zeller was excelling at center and rookie LaMelo Ball again looked like a budding star.
They are tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference, at 9-11. What did we learn about these guys? Four thoughts:
Cody Zeller made a difference
It’s no secret the Hornets’ starting unit has had some poor starts. This team expends a lot of energy trying to overcome early deficits.
Having to play Bismack Biyombo so much, while Zeller was injured for a month, was a significant weakness. Biyombo with the four starters (Devonte Graham, Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward and P.J. Washington) created deficits (minus-8.6 points per 100 possessions.)
Zeller with those same starters results in plus-10.3 points per 100 possessions. He has 29 rebounds over his last two games.
Zeller isn’t a great NBA center, but he’s solid at both ends, while Biyombo is a liability offensively. Re-signing Biyombo was a good call, as a reserve and mentor to young players. Starting and playing 27 minutes per game was a stretch.
Biyombo has gone from 6 minutes to 9 minutes to no minutes in the past three games. He’s not out of the plan entirely, but Borrego’s pecking order sure looks like Zeller, P.J. Washington/small-ball and then Biyombo.
LaMelo Ball’s ascension
Borrego did rookie LaMelo Ball a favor in the long run by sitting him against the Chicago Bulls, when Ball turned the ball over five times in 17 minutes.
Coaching — even coaching prodigies — means setting up guardrails: Holding players accountable for things that lose games. Reminding Ball that precision matters just as much as inventiveness is Borrego’s job. Saturday’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks illustrates as much.
Ball finished with 27 points and nine assists. He committed one turnover in 31 minutes. Ball is going to throw away the ball some; it’s inevitable in the risk-reward balance of his fearless passing. But the easy scoring chances created have to exceed the live-ball turnovers, and that hasn’t always been the case over Ball’s first 20 games.
If Ball is playing starter-like minutes — he enters Monday’s game averaging 25 — I don’t know if it matters all that much whether he starts this season or enters the game five minutes in.
Malik Monk minutes were overdue
Malik Monk scored a career-high 18 points against the Bucks in 23 minutes off the bench. I think he’s been the most under-utilized player on Charlotte’s roster this season.
There are circumstances: Monk missed training camp while in isolation following a positive COVID-19 test. Also, there is more depth at the wing positions this season than Borrego had last season.
However, a team hurting for scorers had a scorer of lottery-pick quality who hardly played. It was baffling Borrego never provided much of an answer as to why.
Monk getting minutes previously going to the Martin twins and Jalen McDaniels makes sense. In his three consecutive game appearances, the Hornets were ninth in offensive efficiency (1.14 points per possession), compared to 20th for the season (1.06 per possession). That’s not coincidental to Monk playing.
Monk must be held accountable for his defense, just like Ball must be for turnovers. But playing Monk was such an obvious fix to what has troubled the Hornets, I don’t know why it took so long.
Making 3s makes everything easier
The Hornets have been a poor shooting team by just about every measure the past two seasons. There’s a nudge toward improvement of late.
Charlotte is 13th in 3-point percentage (36.6%), boosted heavily by the past three games: They are 50 of 119 (42%) in those games, fifth in the NBA that span.
Playing Monk has been a factor; he is 6 of 13 from 3 in those three games. Others hitting at a high clip: Terry Rozier (11 of 23), P.J. Washington (6 of 10) and Miles Bridges (5 of 11).
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 12:28 PM with the headline "These 3 players have the Charlotte Hornets on an upswing. Here’s why.."
