Are y’all regretting the hiring of Charles Lee yet? I haven’t watched many games but it seems some of you are down on him.
Get VAR it’s so much better than dumb refs
Would I like for LaMelo to be more efficient? Stop committing dumb fouls? Bad turnovers? Play better defense? Yes. I’m sure they’ve been working on all those things and maybe Coach Lee felt like this was the last straw to get him to be better. Not sure I agree with it, but he’s the coach. But, it better work or he could risk losing LaMelo and maybe the other players. Because it’s for certain, even a blind man can see that the hornets are better offensively with LaMelo on the floor.
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If this sends a message to the team that there’s an expectation of disciplined play and that everyone will be held accountable without exception, then the long term benefit will greatly exceed the loss of one game. But I do wonder if that message could have been sent by benching him for several minutes, but re-inserting him into the line up. Lamelo has played at an all-NBA level this season and the good has far outweighed the bad. There are areas for improvement to be sure, but handling a star player in this fashion does carry some risk. Lee is probably also on a little bit more solid ground if he doesn’t draw a tech in the latter stages of a game that we lose by a point.
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I was all pissed off about Lamelo getting benched until I remembered the game that Kobe was benched in the 4th quarter because Sasha Vujacic got hot.
Oh wait thats right, no coach in the WHOLE WORLD has that type of logic
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I still like him as a coach… and I do, in a way, what he demands of the players. That said, I still think it was a stupid decision. Sure, I wish he’d stop with the dumb fouls, but….
Melo needs to grow up both on and off the court. If this helps, I am all for it. He doesn’t play like a leader. He makes a bunch of long range shots and that is the majority of his points. Is he really talented, absolutely. However, he has so much room for improvement and needs a large scale attitude change if he really wants to be the type of star that gets a statue in the front of the arena.
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Agreed. Lee is holding him to a level of accountability that I haven’t seen the Hornets hold him to before. And that can absolutely have huge dividends down the road for not just LaMelo, but for the whole org. Lee came in talking about setting up a culture, a Hornets DNA.
I can’t image all the constant, silly, and avoidable mistakes Melo makes are in the DNA Lee is looking for. The rest of what he brings? I’d bet Lee is pretty happy with that. But playing time is about the only lever a modern coach has to pull to influence on court performance, so here we are.
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I’ll add a caveat, is that Melo is averaging a career high free throws this year. So he is getting to the basket and drawing fouls more often.
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Good point, and in fairness I think we do have to acknowledge the ways in which his game has evolved. He’s definitely not just solely settling for 3s. He’s attacking the basket a lot more and while still far from automatic, is finishing better around the rim than he ever has. His game has definitely taken a positive step forward this season, despite some occasional lapses such as the ones we saw last night.
I think I’m okay with the Melo benching. Was it good strategy for winning that particular game, no - but this is a seed planted early in the growing season to hopefully blossom into a better, stronger, winning culture down the line.
Charles Lee is not a dumb human being. But establishing credibility and accountability, especially early on in his tenure, can add that gravitas and strength to his voice and direction. Stars do not get special treatment (see the Embiid shitshow). Everyone is now on notice that coach means what he says.
Now I don’t think he can play this card much, if at all again, but pointing out the carelessness that was on display, and especially the dumb reactionary fouls, when it was clearly emphasized multiple times that he can’t keep getting in foul trouble - this is basically letting the kid burn himself on the stove to finally learn his lesson instead of continuously trying to tell him or show him how hot fire is.
And I think Melo will be fine, there is good infrastructure here. Kemba being the close voice will absolutely help talk things through, and I know Lee is big on communication, they will definitely go over everything.
Watching tough love at another family’s home can be uncomfortable, but is understandable when there is a reason or lesson to be learned.
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Could not love this post more. It’s entirely my view on it and couldn’t have said it nearly as well.
What it reminds me of as a model - and of course, it takes both parties for this to work, is how SAS operated. That Duncan was very open to being coached, and very eager to take his medicine set the tone for the entire team. When any role player saw Duncan eat the rath of Pop for-cause, they realized they sure as hell would have to accept getting called to the mat too.
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What exactly did Lamelo do wrong in the game the other night other than an open court frustration foul? Genuinely wondering if we watched the same game.
I disagreed with the benching at the time and disagree with it just as much now. There are other ways to prove your point than embarrassing your star player out in the open for everyone to see, all while looking like shit on the court and unable to get the W. We don’t need to and can’t afford to have people in Lamelo’s ear trying to influence him being elsewhere, and the LAST thing we should do is give them content for that conversation.
Tre Mann and Lamelo have played well together this season, no reason that they couldn’t have played together down the stretch.
Winnable games have to be won at all costs for this roster. It was dumb all around for a guy that I agree seems smart.
I’m not saying it was necessarily one thing on the court, or even something we may have noticed at all on the broadcast. The obvious thing for the immediate reaction was the unnecessary take foul, but the team was very careless early on, I think there were like 15 turnovers in the first half, blowing defensive assignments, being in disarray. Which goes on the point guard, for better or worse.
Since I’m giving Lee the full benefit of the doubt for the start of his tenure (and the requisite learning curve), I know teams do extensive film sessions, and I’m sure their are several points of emphasis that Lee probably asks of Melo, especially as the star and leader of the team.
Melo’s been playing great so far, definitely all-star level. So maybe its a combination of things that he needs to learn to be more accountable for, maybe its continuing to make these silly reactionary fouls and getting himself disqualified; while he’s much improved defensively, maybe coach noticed him not hustling back on defense every possession, or not playing the right rotation or defensive responsibility; maybe he’s taking too many adventurous shots rather than probing the defense or attacking the paint; maybe he’s looking to be flashy rather than taking the efficient, boring play. A lot of things we probably won’t notice watching as fans, but things coaches are highly attuned to and expect.
Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s been shown on the film and talked about, and the sloppiness, shot selection, turnovers, etc. in this game maybe turned this into a teaching point. But again, I don’t think this is something Lee can do often with Melo. I do like he’s not an in your face, yell at the players kind of coach. But I guess we’ll see how they respond going forward.
I don’t dislike the benching. Sometimes you have to be shown that the game is bigger than you. Some on here are bashing Lee as a coach but this team is nothing like it was ever before since Kemba days. He has them playing and actually caring about defense. Melo is a professional, he came back last night and proved that. I’m trusting the process and hoping that we can reap the benefits soon.
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