Official Charlotte Hornets Thread: Bouknight and Jones join the Party.

[Supersuavesky]

More like

 

Ball/Smith

Rozier/Boukinight

Hayward/Oubre

Bridges/Washington

Plumlee/Carrey

[Supersuavesky]

This was indeed the first starting lineup we've tried.

[Kampfgeist]

19 gms in sitting at 11-8 and the 5th seed.  Most gms played in NBA and statistically toughest schedule so far and just started another stretch playing 15 of 21 gms on the road.   
 

Ball is borderline All-NBA and definite All-Star.  Bridges is playing for the All-Star roster and at least heading MIP lists.  Hayward is steady as they come. Rozier is just now rounding into form, bench players like Cody Martin have surprised with their improvement to JAG lvl and our centers are taking the world by storm…..just kidding….they’re a dumpster fire.   
 

Unique for a Hornets team to #1 legitimately be in contention for a top 6 Playoff spot and #2 have a deep enough team that two 1st rnd picks Bouknight and Kai Jones can’t even sniff minutes unless for the Greensboro Swarm.   
 

#Encouraged 

 

[Supersuavesky]

My only complaint is if Bouknight and Jones were planned to be in the swarm why not use one of those first to help facilitate a move for a center? 

[Kampfgeist]

45 games in - 25-20 record - currently sitting 7th in East but just 4 gms out of 1st (not happening) 2 gms out of 4th and 1.5 out of 5th or 6th seed to be locked into playoffs without facing play-in game(s).     Hornets looking to be in a solid position to make a big run at that 5th/6th seed if not finishing even higher.   They've already played the most road games of any team in the NBA, having played 9 more games on the road than at home - setting up a very favorable last 37 gms of season.  They've also already gone on two extended West Coast trips and Covid has worked it's way through everyone on the team at this point (maybe with exception of Hayward?) so hopefully we can avoid the H&S protocols through remainder of year.   With Cody Martin, McDaniels, and Oubre all stepping up their play this year and PJ Washington at least providing solid contributions when healthy, they are deep and talented.    Bouknight is deserving of minutes but just can't break the 8-9 man rotation Borrego is sticking too and it's hard to find fault in that - JT Thor banging on that door too.

I'm concerned that Miles Bridges is 7th in the NBA in minutes/gm at 36.13 and Hayward is 38th at 33.18 -- that's entirely too many minutes for them.   Oubre is at 94th at 28.11 minutes and he and McDaniels could each alleviate some of the burden by a minute or two.    Even getting Bouknight or Thor a limited 4-5 minutes/game could alleviate the burden.

[Supersuavesky]

So Borrego is gone after not making the playoffs again. Surprising but I do understand it.

 

I still blame roster construction more than him. 

[fraziafraze07]

1 hour ago, Supersuavesky said:

So Borrego is gone after not making the playoffs again. Surprising but I do understand it.

 

I still blame roster construction more than him. 

Roster certainly has its flaws, but you have to produce results. And even with deficiencies in rim protection, for example, I still feel the roster is good enough to have made the playoffs.  Despite improving by 10 games each of the past 2 seasons (23 wins to 33 wins to 43 wins), you simply can't get the doors blown off like they did in the play-in game two years in a row.  Sure, you could say to not put so much weight on only two games, but when the stakes are high you have to have your squad prepared for the game and make the necessary in-game moves to give the team a chance to win. And by losing by so much each time, it's clear he isn't that guy.  It's not good enough to mold a team into a borderline playoff team.  We need a guy who can get us over the hump and make us a consistent contender.  

[Kampfgeist]

Just confirming that I checked and the Charlotte Hornets are still an NBA franchise.

 

...and that ends the Hornets chat for another year...