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Official 2020-2021 Charlotte Hornets Thread - Welcome to the LaGordo Era

Last night was pretty much the perfect game for this season. All the young guys played extremely hard the full game, Monk went for 20/8/5, Rozier had 33, Miles and PJ and Graham all played reasonably well, but we still lost to Memphis on a great shot by Ja Morant at the buzzer to preserve our hopeful draft status. The young core is really fun to watch and play hard all game despite not having a ton of manpower.

There is going to be a lot of pressure to hit a home run on this draft pick, but if we can get a top tier player the other young pieces will be in place around him and also with a shit ton of cap room over the next two offseasons. Given how the last two drafts have gone, I'm cautiously optimistic that they could actually make a good selection.

Remind me the last time a top quality FA chose to play in Charlotte?
 
Lance Stephenson was a pretty hot signing for about one game. It was all downhill after that banked in 3.
 
I bet Zeller won’t cry after losing in the playoffs like that fraud Embiid
 
Solid write-up on Devonte Graham's early season performance in The Ringer's article on early surprises:

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/...-malcolm-brogdon-brandon-ingram-nba-surprises

Perhaps the most notable line:

Five players rank in the top 10 in the NBA in both total assists and total 3-point makes: Harden, Lillard, Trae Young, Kyrie Irving ... and Graham. And he’s putting that valuable pair together efficiently, drilling his triples at a 42.2 percent clip while posting a 2.58-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio that ranks 11th best among players who use at least 20 percent of their team’s offensive possessions.
 
Fantastic comeback capped by a buzzerbeater by Monk from a few feet behind the 3pt line. One of the most fun games at the Hive in years, this team is really fun to watch. Graham with another double double with 18 and 10, Monk had 19, Rozier I think 18. Cody Martin was fantastic again, all over the floor for hustle plays and played great D on multiple positions. 4th quarter lineup for the comeback and win was a little surprising - Graham, Monk, Martin, Marvin, Zeller. Bridges and Washington both had meh nights, so it was good to see the rest of the team rise up around them.
 
Holy crap they did it again! 9th 3-pointer of the night for Devonte Graham wins it with 2.1 seconds left in New York.
 
Just crazy. This is one of the most fun teams I've watched in any sport. They never quit and keep moving the ball for good shots, and Graham is making a case for an All-Star season. Washington outplayed Barrett tonight and Monk had another good game.

This was Batum's first game since the opener. The bad: he basically took all of Cody Martin's minutes. The good: With this group he is basically the 5th offensive option whenever he is on the floor. Ignoring his contract (which is tough to do), that is clearly his best role. He had 9 boards, 6 assists, and played strong D while only making one shot. I'm not sure I like him stunting Martin's growth, but if that is the specific role then Batum is more suited for it at the moment.
 
Maybe Batum can work himself into a trade if he starts hitting shots.
 
Got steamrolled on the road by the Raptors last night. We kept it close through the first half and had the lead with a few minutes to go in the 2nd quarter, and went in to halftime only down 4. Then the wheels came off in the 3rd quarter, a la the TWolves game, and ended up losing by 30+.

Granted to lose by that magnitude the players obviously didn't play well, but I also put a lot of the blame on Borrego. With Batum out, we had several large comebacks because he threw the young guys out and they played their balls off. Last night we went from down 4 to down 20+ with a lineup including Batum, Biyombo, Marvin on the floor. Those guys are not going to give the same effort that the young guys do when facing that snowball. Neither Martin nor Bacon saw the floor until the end of the 4th. If we are going to ride the youth movement, he can't have long stretches with the old guys (sans Kemba) out there together, we have years of evidence showing how that will play out.
 
That would be ideal. Have a winnable homestand coming up though. It is fun watching this young core of PJ Washington, Devonte, and Miles. I think they can be really good and are better than the cores of some teams that actively tanked and got higher picks. PJ is that dude.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have never hated a "good" player as much as Terry Rozier. He has to have the lowest bball IQ of anyone in the NBA, which is really hard to do when he admittedly plays as hard as he does. But a good portion of his shots are mindbogglingly stupid. It is like he has never been coached by anyone at any level. If he just stuck to taking catch and shoot 3s or getting out in transition he would be pretty decent, but any shot he takes in a halfcourt offense other than a set 3 is bound for complete disaster usually resulting in an uncontested break for the other team. I've never seen a player give up so many points to the other team via his own offense.
 
Stomped the Warriors last night, it was never really close. Devonte hit 10 3s, tying the franchise record held by Kemba. It is amazing how good he is at this point, hopefully he'll get serious All Star consideration. The Hornets get ripped a lot for personnel decisions, but these last two draft classes have been spectacular.
 
 
Two really strong wins in a row, beating the Bullets at home and coming back from down 20 to beat the Nets on the road. Devonte Graham has been playing out of his mind. Had 40 against the Nets, including two huge dagger threes.

Only 3 players in NBA history have made more than 100 threes through the first 27 games of the season - Steph Curry (twice), James Harden (twice), and Devonte Graham.

It seems ridiculous to say that he is on Kemba's level, but he is right there. Fantastic scoring, and better assists and defense than Kemba played. If the season ended today he would be a lock for Most Improved Player and a likely All-Star. All from a second round pick. Combined with Bridges and Washington this is a really strong young core - fuck tanking.

Also, due to injuries to Marvin's knee and Batum's vagina, MKG has found his way out of Borrego's doghouse and into the lineup. It is easy to forget how damn good he is. In 19 minutes last night he had 11 points, 7 boards, and played the best D out of any Hornet this season. They have a lineup of Graham, Cody Martin, Bridges, Washington, and MKG that is insanely effective. Three scorers, two lock down and great help defenders, and rebounding from every position. I'm sure they are playing him to audition him for a trade before the deadline, but goddamn they are effective when he is on the floor. And he is still only 26. Hopefully they keep rolling with him in the lineup and I would love to re-sign him after this year to a more team-friendly deal.
 
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