Official Charlotte Hornets Offseason Thread - Biz back, Monk out, stocking up on TP

Figured it was time to kick off the new thread for another season of mostly talking to myself.

The preseason started last night with a loss to the new-look Celtics. The starting lineup was Kemba, Batum, MKG, Marvin, and Dawight. From a score standpoint that lineup kept it close or lead against the Celtics' starting 5, but I didn't like the way it looked. As I mentioned on the offseason thread, MKG and Dawight on the floor together for extended minutes just kills the offense. I think one of them needs to go to the bench. MKG and Cody just compliment each other so much better. That said, their defense and rebounding was strong. It just puts so much scoring pressure on Batum and Marv, neither of whom are big-time scorers, and seemed to be conducive for Dawight hijacking the offense in iso situations.

The big disappointment to me was that the second unit got fucking torched by the Celtics 2nd unit of Shane Larkin and some no-name Euros. We rolled out Stone (MCW hurt I think), Monk, Lamb, Frank, and Cody, which to me is a pretty strong second unit. But they were off shooting and got abused on defense. They lost the game after the starters had left the game with it pretty close or maybe the lead. Bacon played with the 3rd team and looked decent.

Just a preseason game, but Clifford has a lot to work on.

The bench went on a 15-0 run in the first half...


Frank and Dwight were trying to outdo each other in horrific performances. 11 turnovers, looked like they hadn't touched a basketball all summer

Got a win last night against the Pistons, Monk went off for 19. I still think for lineup balance he should be in the starting 5 with Kemba, MKG, Marvin, and Dawight. Let Batum play with the second unit to defend, facilitate, and add some occasional scoring. But I know that is tough to have a max contract guy playing on the second unit.

Nic Batum tore a ligament in his elbow. Needs surgery, done for the season.

Money well spent

Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me. Though reports now are 8-12 weeks.

2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:

Got a win last night against the Pistons, Monk went off for 19. I still think for lineup balance he should be in the starting 5 with Kemba, MKG, Marvin, and Dawight. Let Batum play with the second unit to defend, facilitate, and add some occasional scoring. But I know that is tough to have a max contract guy playing on the second unit.

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Did you have something to do with Batum's injury?

Absolutely. Yesterday morning I bought a group package of 50+ tickets for the OKC game in January. Batum was diagnosed shortly thereafter.

Batum allegedly does not need surgery.

Monk went for 19 in a loss to the Heat last night. He was chucking as Kemba and Lamb didn't play in the second half and MKG didn't play at all for personal reasons. That's what we drafted him for, so keep firing.

I can't decide if Howard is done, or finished

He looked pretty good last night when he actually wanted to play, but he was also clearly dogging it a few times and seemed visibly pissed when Frank was missing shot after shot.

Monk, on the other hand, is filthy. He takes some bad shots and will certainly hijack the offense from time to time, but dude can flat out score. He had 21 last night and looked like the best player on the floor at times. It might just be due to the MCW injury, but he is clearly playing as the lead guard on the second unit. I'm assuming that will be his role for the season, as Lamb sat out last night and Bacon went into the starting lineup so as to leave Monk coming off the bench. With both Monk and Zeller on the second unit, the bench is going to be a huge advantage over most other teams. Those are two high-quality starters who will be playing against backups.

Bacon looks like a definite rotation guy, as all aspects of his game are solid. He can shoot the 3, get to the basket, handle a little, rebound, and play strong defense. Kemba has not been great this preseason, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

The odd man out seems to be Frank. He was really, really good last season as a small-ball 5 with the second unit when the injuries to the 5s hit, but (barring injury) he can't play that role with both Howard and Zeller both needing major minutes. That leaves him at the 4, where he struggles defensively and does not have much of an advantage offensively, especially if his outside shot is not falling. I don't see them moving him unless they are sure Howard will work out, but who knows when that will be known with any certainty. So in the meantime, that means he needs to play the second unit 4, which means MKG really needs to play there as well because both Monk and Frank on the floor together is a problem defensively.

So, until Batum gets back, I think the lineups need to break out like:

Kemba - MCW/Paige
Lamb - Monk
Bacon - MKG
Marv - Frank
Howard - Zeller

I think it is more of a 9-man rotation than 10 until MCW is fully healthy, but I guess we'll see.

Good break down. I'd really like to see Zeller subbing both for Howard and Marvin. Zeller appears to have improved a ton outside the post, and showed off some nice handles last night that I don't remember seeing look as smooth as they did. He and Howard could probably play well together for a bigger look, and then go Zeller/Marvin for a quicker/better shooting lineup. As an added bonus, Frank will play less. I hated that pick at the time, and I hate how right I was.

Bacon starting over MKG would be a huge surprise to me, even with your rationale.

As much as I've hated past draft picks, Monk/Bacon seems like it could quickly turn into the best draft the franchise has had in a longgggg time.

Monk brought the ball up and handled it for a large portion of his playing time last night. Because of his size, they are probably going to run him as a lead guard a lot, so I wonder how much time he is going to get with Kemba.

wakelaw13 said:

Good break down. I'd really like to see Zeller subbing both for Howard and Marvin. Zeller appears to have improved a ton outside the post, and showed off some nice handles last night that I don't remember seeing look as smooth as they did. He and Howard could probably play well together for a bigger look, and then go Zeller/Marvin for a quicker/better shooting lineup. As an added bonus, Frank will play less. I hated that pick at the time, and I hate how right I was.

Bacon starting over MKG would be a huge surprise to me, even with your rationale.

As much as I've hated past draft picks, Monk/Bacon seems like it could quickly turn into the best draft the franchise has had in a longgggg time.

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Yeah I liked that Howard/Zeller combo that they ran for a few minutes last night. Defensively it worked for sure in the post, but it is the anti-current NBA. We'll see if Clifford uses it much in the regular season, I could see it working against teams who want to play small-ball but don't have GSW or CLE talent to pull it off.

myDeaconmyhand said:

Monk brought the ball up and handled it for a large portion of his playing time last night. Because of his size, they are probably going to run him as a lead guard a lot, so I wonder how much time he is going to get with Kemba.

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I think they'll probably both be in at crunch time, but yeah I don't think they'll be on the floor together much early in the game. Similar to how Clifford played Kemba and Lin 2 years ago.

Monk already looks like he can fill the Lin role we were missing so badly last season. I wanted us to go full tank for him when Cody went down, still can't believe we got him

Does anyone know if the Hornets are on TV in the triangle tonight? I can't find a listing anywhere on the Spectrum guide for their game.

fox sportssoutheast

We have FOX Sports Carolinas (what the Hurricanes normally are on), and Time Warner/Spectrum would normally put the Hornets games on one of their "Special Events" channels (324/325/326) last year, but I didn't see anything listing a Hornets game tonight. Oh well, looks like I didn't miss much beyond the Tobias Harris show in the 1st quarter.