LaMelo Ball’s shot selection, James Bouknight’s rising contributions, and more, covered in this edition of the Hornets TSR Mailbag
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We are back again, lovely people. And we have a lot more to say about this young and exciting Charlotte Hornets team.
In the last 10 games, this team has an impressive 7-3 record, taking their overall record to 27-22, good for the 7th seed in the East.
The winning run of games makes it obvious that the team is doing a lot of things right. But, there is also a lot to improve on here, and it’s a bit more dire than you’d think.
And so, here we are, giving you 3 positives and 3 negatives from their play in their last 7 games.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
Positive: LaMelo Ball’s shot selection
Frankly, LaMelo Ball should have improved his shot selection far earlier than he eventually did. But we’ll take late over never on this one.
In the Hornets’ most recent game, which was against the Pacers, Melo shot an impressive 68.8% from the field. Before that, against the Raptors, he shot 50%. That alone was a major sign of improved shot selection, especially, since the man was coming off 3 straight games of shooting in the mid-30s, with the highest efficiency standing at just 35.3% during this stretch.
He has finally started to place an emphasis on set shots again, at least in situations where he has the time to do so. And in return, his efficiency has shot back up for the Charlotte Hornets.
Negative: Closeouts on the Perimeter
When the Hornets’ defense is set, they can be a pretty good defensive team. Heck, in that situation, even Mason Plumlee is decent as a rim protector. But when the team is pressed even a little, they have a habit of flailing too much.
In situations where there is a miscue by someone, the team has a habit of over helping, with at least 2 players leaving their possessions in their zone defense, leaving at least 2 men wide-open on the other team. And, when the ball is inevitably thrown to those men, the Hornets’ closeouts are less than spectacular.
Right now, Charlotte ranks a lowly 23 in the NBA, when it comes to Opponent Three-point Percentage, as teams shoot threes at a rate of 35.6% against them. The Hornets have to either stop over helping or be quicker on their closeouts.
If not, they will be losing a whole lot more games this season.
Positive: Kelly Oubre Jr. is back!
We won’t lie, the Charlotte Hornets have really missed their Tsunami Papi!
As many know, the man scored an incredible 39 points, while shooting 66.7% from beyond the arc. He shot 18 shots in the whole game, 15 of which were three-pointers.
The man almost had a 40-piece… on 18 shots. Dang.
It’s a good thing too, since in the 3 games before that, he was averaging 12.03% from beyond the arc. And for context here, he took a combined 23 three-point attempts during this stretch. Frankly, that right there is quite the shooting slump.
As things stand right now, after his game against the Pacers, that slump seems to have passed. And we really hope that is indeed the case because the Hornets really need him playing at his best.
When that happens, they’re a completely different animal.
Negative: The Charlotte Hornets need a backup center
We never thought we’d say this, but Mason Plumlee has actually been serviceable for the Hornets on the defensive end of the floor.
On offense, sure he makes some really smart plays for his teammates. But defensively, the man wasn’t exactly the best, which makes his recent improvement that much more surprising.
There’s just one problem here. When Plumlee goes to the bench, Miles Bridges becomes the backup center, and PJ Washington usually comes in to add a bit more size to the lineup.
We’ll be honest. The team definitely benefits on offense, essentially switching out a complete non-shooter, with a pretty good floor-spacer. But on defense, the size mismatch makes it far too easy for the other team to just score a bunch of points at the rim.
To give you a metaphor, it’s like the Hornets make a massive hole in the ship because there is treasure at the bottom of the ocean. Sure, you’re going to get closer to the treasure, but your ship will likely never return to the top.
The Hornets need to find a way to generate more offense without punching a hole in the ship. And a backup center would do wonders for that.
Positive: James Bouknight’s time has come
Hornets fans may feel like they have waited forever for this. But James Bouknight is finally seeing quality time on the court.
In the last two games especially, he has gotten 29, and 22 minutes on the court, scoring 18, and 13 points respectively during those outings.
To be honest, the man still has to work on his three-point shot a little bit, as he shot just 25% in both of his last 2 games. But his potential as an elite slasher is as bright as day.
If he can develop a shot, and improve on defense, Bouk could one day become a problem in this league, as a two-way player.
Negative: Iso-Ball without LaMelo Ball
When LaMelo Ball is on the court, everything seems to flow smoothly. Everyone gets easy buckets, the ball is moved quickly, and never sticks in anybody’s hands, and the offense almost never stagnates. Overall, the team’s attitude just seems to change.
When he is off though, the offense stagnates quite a bit. If there is someone having an incredible night, then everything works out fine for the team. Sure, that player plays iso-ball quite a bit, but hey, if it works, it works.
But, when there is no specific player having that kind of night, Terry Rozier and Miles Bridges seem to play iso-ball quite a bit, before the offense starts to stagnate, and Ball is put back in again.
The team needs to figure out how to play team basketball without LaMelo Ball on the floor. And to that end, perhaps putting Plumlee in specifically when Melo is out could be worth trying.
