A New Day in Charlotte

[yosemiteben]

We are the most injured team.

Teams like Portland and Memphis would like a word.

[yosemiteben]

what happens to all that space in the arena thats currently the practice court?

They're about to kick off a $250 million renovation of the stadium, I'm sure they'll find some way to put it to use.

[yosemiteben]

Read on Twitter

[SWedd523]

Biggest Con job in the league is Cliff convincing folks he's a good coach because he's a good guy (or something)

[vorbis]

bottom line is the team can do better. keep Clifford around the organization, sure. he's a good coach. but no reason for the team to settle for a good coach at this point, with the roster and team at the crossroads, needing to bank a few playoffs pushes.

[Bassman]

This will be the first great test of new ownership. Do you retain a proven below average good guy coach, or aquire an impactful difference maker?

[MasterIchiro]

Only one team has 3 players averaging 20 PPG. That's the Boston Celtics. Tatum, Brown, KP.

I can't count the Grizz with Ja out and JJJ inheriting touches and points. But when healthy, the trio of those 2 with Bane is a serious team.

LaMelo - 23.9
Miles - 21.4
Brandon - 17

Can the Hornets join the Celtics and maybe the Grizzlies as the only teams that suit up three 20 point scorers next season?

Health has been missing but the talent is there.

Mark wouldn't need touches. The 2024 lottery pick won't be expected to excel on offense right away like Miller did.

Not even the 1st overall pick is going to have a better season on offense than our 3rd option (Miller-LaMelo-Miles, 1-2-3).

Defense has Mark, Grant, Martin. Missing a wing defender.

[MasterIchiro]

Put differently, i think scoring is covered.

(health permitting)

[JMAC3]

Put differently, i think scoring is covered.

(health permitting)

I think a more interesting exercise instead of just counting 20 pt scorers, would be to look at how many ppg do their top 3 players average together.

For example the Thunder have 1 guy who is a 20 pt scorer, but combined their top 3 scorers average 66.5 ppg.
Knicks top 3 average 67 ppg
Suns average 71.9 ppg
Lakers 68.2

So Charlotte big 3 averaging 62.3 isn't really all that out of the norm, especially since LaMelo missed time so assuming all three played more together some of those points are going to get cannibalized by others.

[Braggins]

HALLELUJAH

Read on Twitter

[vorbis]

this is really the most amicable path to what's clearly best for the franchise. a new voice at head coach, perhaps a young coach with ambition and a keen perspective on the modern NBA and its trends, and Clifford still a part of things with good relationships throughout the building, offering his support, which still has value.

[Braggins]

I'm glad he is gone as coach, but I honestly don't want him in the front office either and suspect he will be actively bad in that role as well.

People always bring up the Monk/Mitchell thing, but over the course of his career his talent evaluation ability has been terrible.

Spoiler:

remember right after the Monk/Mitchell draft he convinced the front office to trade for old Dwight Howard and proceeded to giving him a bunch of post isos and let him shoot midrange shots

He has an old school mindset/approach and clearly isn't in tune with the modern game. He was already excessively old school when he first came into the league and the game hadn't evolved nearly to the extent that it has now. I don't see any reason the team should have him involved with the front office.

[fatlever]

I think Clifford's Talent about evaluation more than just wanting Mitchell over monk. Pretty sure that he advocated for Booker over anyone in that draft. I got tells me he was also one of the leading voices for Miller over scoop this summer. And given the way he immediately exiled bouknight, I have to figure that he would have been on the correct side of that draft decision as well, probably the same for Kai jones.

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[MasterIchiro]

Young coach plus young core (LaMelo, Miller, Mark, Miles, 2024 lottery pick) is the right move.

These players lost so many games under Clifford, granted through injuries, but you know he just kept repeating the same principles/strategies. And while the clubhouse did not speak up (we generally have a respectful clubhouse), you just know some of these guys were itching to try something new at times.

The players learned under Clifford. But they've seen every last lesson, and overall the formula (especially on offense) didn't work. Hard to recover buy-in after 2 years of dysfunction on that end.

This is the same guy who buried Monk beneath MCW and propped up MKG/Thor over scorers as well. He preaches defense in an era where offense wins. Can't ignore defense though. 2 years of teaching on that end is plenty. The tank is empty. The players are ready to move on and have a fresh start.

The fans will see a boost next season similar to the infusion of bench stability acquired at the deadline.

[LofJ]

Clifford has a good eye for character, more than he does talent. That's a useful skill to have in a front office role.

[EmpireFalls]

I think Clifford's Talent about evaluation more than just wanting Mitchell over monk. Pretty sure that he advocated for Booker over anyone in that draft. I got tells me he was also one of the leading voices for Miller over scoop this summer. And given the way he immediately exiled bouknight, I have to figure that he would have been on the correct side of that draft decision as well, probably the same for Kai jones.

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Him and Mitch know ball on a deeper level. They may not be able to be in the weeds anymore but I’m confident they will help us with high first round picks.

[fatlever]

Clifford has a good eye for character, more than he does talent. That's a useful skill to have in a front office role.

I think that's a good point and possibly one of Mitch's blind spots as a gm.

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[SWedd523]

Yes LAWD

[fatlever]

i feel like next year there will be a windowless room in the basement of the arena where cliff, mitch and buzz sit around a desk mumbling about staplers, milton style.

[MasterIchiro]

I'm comfortable with Clifford joining the front office. Aside from Kupchak, everyone is very young. Experience/perspective balances a young front office.

Coaching reflects a synthesis of scouting players on your team and other teams, and knowing their strengths/weaknesses and how those fit with strategies on both ends. Scouting is nowhere close to as advanced as coaching which is why coaches make more money than scouts. I think our scouting was effective enough to secure a young core (LaMelo, Miller, Miles, Mark). We just need to see how they perform if healthy. We haven't seen that yet. And we turned the Rozier and Hayward contracts into a new bench. We haven't seen how the new bench will augment the young core, under a new coach.

We are in good shape, pretty insulated from Clifford lighting off a stink bomb in the front office.

Now if we trade Nick Smith Jr. for Pat Beverly because defense defense defense, I may reconsider my stance.

Cliff is a solid addition to the decision-making body of the front office. And so is Mitch Kupchack.