Welcome to Charlotte Vasilije Micic

[SWedd523]

Yeah but he drinks

[Braggins]

They also have a rookie head coach who is very young. Growing pains shouldn't be surprising this season, but luckily growing pains actually dont necessarily contradict their ideal outcome for this season (improve substantially + keep their pick).

[MasterIchiro]

No big deal. Micic is just owed 15 million dollars.

If the goal is to spend more to reduce his negative impact, then the coach is not holding the player(s) accountable. The GM is.

Free Nick Smith Jr.

Youre not wrong about Micic, but I just don't think its the end of the world.

This team very likely doesn't have it in them to win a playoff series this season even if everything broke right. In order to get to that level this year they would need to trade significant draft capital to improve the roster, and remember that any move like that made with the intention of making the playoffs this season basically has an added tax of them losing a lottery pick this season (which they also currently can't trade). Even if you want to accelerate the timeline, it still makes more sense to do it after this season when they will also ideally have a valuable lottery pick added to their collection of assets that can be traded.

I would just relax and enjoy that LaMelo is cooking and your guy Tre Mann has been a lot of fun. I think they are nearing the end of the rebuild phase, but it doesn't make sense to try to go all in now. All the incentives are for them to hold off until this offseason before entering the next phase of the process.

I agree it's not the end of the world because the coach can take action using a system of rewards (minutes for NSJ) and punishments (benching of 15 million dollars).

Money has something to do with inaction. So, I highly doubt they throw good money (DSJ) at bad money (Micic). They hope for him to work it out and recover some contract value. It's a negative contract right now.

Still, the players are watching, and Micic did not train/condition this offseason. It's the reason he looks like a completely different player from the one acquired last deadline. He may also have attitude problems, and drinking problems. How much rope will Lee give him? He watched preseason. He watched these 3 games. Down to 10 minutes last night vs 15 min average through 3 games. So, Lee is taking notice and managing minutes accordingly, possibly.

Free NSJ. Not the end of the world if NSJ doesn't play but worth seeing if he has some future here. We know Micic does not.

[MasterIchiro]

And I'm completely comfortable losing if the losses today are sacrificed for the development of prospects who could have a future here.

I know NSJ is not ready (far from it). He played like a train wreck in preseason. But he has strong work ethic.

I prefer to lose with young players who still have room to grow/upside instead of known commodities like Micic.

I'm not asking for an upgrade to Micic which would generate more wins (and surely require additional investments). I'm saying I am okay taking a step backwards in this instance, which conflicts with the narrative here.

[fatlever]

nsj isnt a point guard, though. might as well develop Simpson.

[MasterIchiro]

nsj isnt a point guard, though. might as well develop Simpson.

NSJ would not be the PG2 if he inherits all of his minutes from Micic.

Mann would bring the ball up the court. You can call Tre a combo guard if it makes you feel better.

If Mann can bring the ball up the court without a turnover and without pounding the living daylights out of the shot clock, it's an upgrade to PG2.

[yosemiteben]

Still, the players are watching, and Micic did not train/condition this offseason. It's the reason he looks like a completely different player from the one acquired last deadline.

You know he looked pretty damn good playing in the Olympics right? You've repeated this narrative about him not doing anything in the off-season, not sure why.

He may also have attitude problems, and drinking problems.

Speculating that he has a drinking problem seems wildly irresponsible to me.

[MasterIchiro]

Where you lose is with NSJ's error rate alongside Mann.

But really, NSJ, mistakes and all, gonna have a hard time matching Micic in negatives through those minutes.

[MasterIchiro]

Still, the players are watching, and Micic did not train/condition this offseason. It's the reason he looks like a completely different player from the one acquired last deadline.

You know he looked pretty damn good playing in the Olympics right? You've repeated this narrative about him not doing anything in the off-season, not sure why.

He may also have attitude problems, and drinking problems.

Speculating that he has a drinking problem seems wildly irresponsible to me.

Okay. Sorry if I offended any irresponsible alcoholics out there.

[fatlever]

6 weeks between end of olympics and training camp. hardly enough time to just forget how to play. theres more to it.

[fatlever]

doesnt change fact that if he's bad fit for scheme or roster we need to move on. he's unplayable right now. but, nsj isnt the answer.

[KembaWalker]

He might have more airballs than makes so far

Apparently per Reddit there was an unfriendly exchange between Lee and Micic as he was getting pulled for the last time. I didn’t see it live but it wouldn’t surprise me. Hopefully Peterson uses the few days break we have to find a replacement

just to follow up on this because i had a free moment to actually sit at my PC, i clipped the aforementioned interaction between Micic and Lee and I think I'm gonna blow the fake news whistle on reddit

looks like a nothingburger to me. he's probably slightly agitated about getting subbed out after 2 minutes but what struggling pro athlete wouldnt be

https://streamable.com/if9grf

sorry for the crappy quality not sure why its only partial screen, probably because im going back and forth from a 4k monitor to a 1080p monitor

[yosemiteben]

Wasn't aware that anyone was saying there was an event between the two last game, but yeah if it was supposed to happen during that exchange it seems very clear that someone is exaggerating.

[KembaWalker]

Wasn't aware that anyone was saying there was an event between the two last game, but yeah if it was supposed to happen during that exchange it seems very clear that someone is exaggerating.

yeah problem is people are going to see that comment and not follow up (especially because you could only see it on the heat cast) and amplify the micic hate even more. dudes gettin killed on social media rn. not that he might not deserve it

[SWedd523]

doesnt change fact that if he's bad fit for scheme or roster we need to move on. he's unplayable right now. but, nsj isnt the answer.

I wonder if he's not a good fit culturally.

Bunch of young, social media generation kids running and jumping around, with their broccoli haircuts and tik tok dances.

No wonder he's been driven to become a raging alcoholic (allegedly)

[Braggins]

I was just joking about the drinking stuff because of those funny videos of the Serbian Olympic team getting drunk after they got eliminated. I assumed if anything he probably just wants to play for a contender (or with Jokic) and never bothered to get in shape or give effort.

[fatlever]

how hornets fans see micic right now

[Braggins]

Watch on YouTube

[JDR720]

He doesn't fit the system because Lee doesn't know how to use/want to use playmaking PG's. In Boston and the Bucks, their PG"s were never the main ballhandlers. LaMelo is obviously the main ballhandler, but he's *only* averaging 7.3 assists, the lowest since his rookie year. He's also almost averaging 6 TO's.

Micic is best as a driver/passer. But we don't really do that.

Our system is bomb three's and isolation play. Micic isn't good at either of those things.

[Diop]

yeah I think it's definitely a scheme thing.

I remember watching Micic last year when he was playing "better". He was very aggressive with the ball, liked driving into the defense to make them commit then try to create something. Now if no one is moving to get open, that ends up being a forced bad shot or a turnover.

doesn't change the fact that we need something different at backup point guard