One of the issues i noticed watching was that Terry, as the lead guard with the non-Melo, non-Theo minutes reverts back to a Terry that we saw for a minute here, and in his term in BOS. The one that plays over his head heroesque. He’s being put in a bad situation IMO so i don’t blame him. But that is going to heavily limit how good we can be.
1 Like
Frustrating game to watch. Very disjointed and almost zero flow. I hear the calls for us to be tougher and don’t disagree necessarily, but at the same time, we weren’t really allowed to match their physicality. Whenever we tried to it was a foul, while they were allowed to body us up all night.
This game really highlighted some questionable personnel decisions. Seeing Duren go for 14 and 17 was tough. About as tough as watching Oubre drop 27 w/ 5 3s on the Bucks the other night. Would be nice to have both of them.
And not to beat a dead horse with the rotations, but I don’t quite understand why guys sit for such an extended period. Tonight Hayward was on, yet it felt like he sat forever before coming back in in the 4th. Terry also sat for a long stretch. Those two got us to almost even once they came back in but I think they were subbed back in too late. With as weak as our bench is we have to get our A team back on the floor sooner, especially when we’re down.
ESPN.com and NBA.com have Miller listed at 6’7" 200 on his profile page. I know the NBA officially went to barefoot measurements a few years back. I guess in the old days he’d be a solid 6’8". Maybe 6’9" was Alabama hype?
1 Like
I forgot about that barefoot thing.
Sure all players play in shoes, who knew so many played in 2 inch heels.
Guess make that wingspans & standing reach thing more important measure…as long as w/o huge fan hand gloves & heels.
Absolutely they did. Right from the tip. Pistons are a tougher team… period
260 million seems should be not first starter have to bench for Miller time, last starter subbed in during winning time.
Sure bad & stupid play concern,
Throw in. Working on rotation to cut into to Theo time as much as can & keep limited skilled playmakers on court as possible…extends bench time sometimes seem on bench forever.
With bad preseason, Mello still shaking off not playing rust.
Well one things for sure; you guys who were for bringing Biz back were spot on. Hopefully Mitch will right this one too
Yep, that’s exactly what happens. Of course, this is yet another knock on effect of not having invested in a backup PG …
Quick FYI, or maybe just FMI, just a quick look at our rookies and their NBA cold water shrinkage 
Nick Smith 6’5 at Arkansas, 6’2 NBA
Bailey 6’5 UCLA 6’3 NBA
Leaky 6’9 UNC, 6’6 NBA
I was heavily team Duren and ecstatic when we drafted him. So that game hurt a fair bit to watch. That said, I see this game as more of an anomaly and have faith that Mark will get back on track.
4 Likes
It’s one game, I wouldn’t decide Marks future over it
Mark is fine. He will be a part of our core for a while so I don’t think this is about Mark vs Duren. Of the two, I’d still rather have Mark because he’s got a broader set of skills imo. It’s just that we didn’t have to choose. We could’ve had both. The frustration comes from wasting that lottery pick, whether it was Duren or someone else we might’ve taken.
2 Likes
Last night proved we need a back up center for nights like last night when we get in foul trouble. I don’t know naybe bring Biz back or the rookie over from spain.
I was impressed with Miller last night he looks so ready for the NBA already. He gave away a foul for a push off that some people would call a rookie mistake but Gordon got called for the same.
Yes it was a disappointing defeat but 80 more games to
IDK but in person Miller is taller than PJ and just as tall as Thor pretty much So take that for what its worth.
Love Terry but thought the same last night. There was a time when Miller had just made a shot and u wax thinking this is the perfect time to get him going. But then the next few possessions were basically Terry playing isolation and not really looking for the shooters. That type of thing really hurts game flow even if he’s scoring.
1 Like
I’m sure I have to be the biggest defender this front office has in the world (at least on the Hornets planet ). I understand a lot of the moves/non-moves and picks even though I haven’t always agreed with them or in hind sight they turned out bad.
But One non-move I would criticize is not getting Wiseman or Bagley on this team when the opportunities were there. These are top 2 pick centers within the past 5 years, both 24 years or younger at a position we know takes time to develop. Either of them coulda been had for next to nothing and still have plenty of potential that could be tapped into. I mean it only took 5 2nd round picks for Wiseman and with all those 2nd rounders we got in the Duren trade (SMH) that would have been a perfect use for them. We could certainly use that size for depth right now.
So Wiseman was a DNP-CD last night and I read that they did not pick up his option for next year so he’ll be going into free agency. Also read that Monty is inclined to only play one of the two as backups so it looks like Wiseman is the odd man out. I wonder if there is a deal to be made where we could add him for a couple 2nd rounders.
Yeah, this 100%. I thought Bill Kennedy was supposed to be one of the better refs, though it was the other guy that was making more of the awful calls. It’s like the actual strong guys got the benefit of the doubt of being physical, but when any of the slender Hornets people tried to push back, we get called.
And their guards were literally riding every ball handler wherever they went.
I think part of the toughness question is that we’re looked at as a soft team. Our big names are either super skinny or injury prone, and other teams come in trying to intimidate with their physicality, but it’s good to see we don’t back down. But we need to bring that scrappy type toughness from the tip, to be the aggressors and let teams know that we don’t take that shit.
Also, the bigger lesson is the mental toughness aspect. Sometimes you just have shitty refs, or annoying players, or shots not falling. That’s when you mentally have to block out the noise, and focus on your job, plug away with technique and hard work, and not get caught up with any of the side nonsense. Can still end up winning games even while playing bad.
1 Like
I would also guess that a lack of physicality is what has them buried behind Duren so it presents a similar problem for us and leaves us in the same boat but that size and skill is worth a flyer especially when you need the depth.
No surprise, PJ s ‘short’ 6 6.5
Wild, Gordon 6’6.75 & Mello appears at least as tall.
But neither as wide w/ PJ huge wingspan.
I think we all agree Lamelo didn’t have a very good game, shot like 25% with 4 TOs. Dude still went 20/9/9. I can’t wait for those good days!