Hornets @ Heat : Preseason game 1.

[Diop]

Clifford did say he isn't worrying about playing groups tonight, he is still messing around looking at lineups.

this is the time to do it, hopefully he learns what works

[vorbis]

that was definitely a preseason game

[wilson115]

Guess we're left to pick up the positives again.

[amcoolio]

We know backup PG is a problem so there should be a plan to get it done by committee. Any time LaMelo is out, Rozier and Hayward should be in and the PF should be Miles or PJ rather than Thor.

Seeing a lineup of Frank N./Smith Jr/B.Miller/Thor/Richards reminds me that I don't believe in Clifford as a coach.

The plan should have been to select f'ing Scoot Henderson

[Liver_Pooty]

We know backup PG is a problem so there should be a plan to get it done by committee. Any time LaMelo is out, Rozier and Hayward should be in and the PF should be Miles or PJ rather than Thor.

Seeing a lineup of Frank N./Smith Jr/B.Miller/Thor/Richards reminds me that I don't believe in Clifford as a coach.

The plan should have been to select f'ing Scoot Henderson

I'll pass on the guard who can't shoot and always take the defensive wing who can.

[Bassman]

Enjoyed watching this game, despite snorting at some of these guys for making moronic decisions. Starters looked good together in the second half. LaMelo was very good on offense, still not much of a defender (probably never will be good at that). Gordon was smooth and mid season ready. Mark had some awkward flashes but was strong and a bit better overall than last year’s final stretch. PJ was typical PJ, good overall but you just keep wanting more from him. Terry is just Terry…decent, sometimes good. Miller had real flashes, some rookie bungles, but shows elements of being a quality player. Richards a strong backup 5 that makes Center a non issue.

Frank N was horrible. Couldn’t shoot but never stopped trying, and really wasn’t a good distributor or defender. Thought Nick Jr played better than we saw him in SL…would play him ahead of Frank based on tonight’s work. Thor was OK, nice pair of 3’s, but needs to keep showing better execution on all the other stuff. The others were below average to embarrassing.

[fatlever]

backup pg is a massive, massive problem, with no solution on the roster
1st unit was fine
between summer league and tonight, miller has yet to play a single minute with an nba level point guard

[LofJ]

When Miles gets back I really hope Clifford is smart enough to pull Hayward early to let him lead the bench.

Throwing Miller, Thor, Richards, etc. out there with no one capable of running an offense is straight up dumb. It's ridiculous that Mitch had all off-season to bring in a legitimate backup PG but decided not to do anything substantive to address it.

The organization should know by now that Clifford isn't a clever tactician. If he was he'd know that Rozier plays a lot better as an off-guard and that the best option currently on the roster to play the role of backup point guard is Hayward. He's the best we've got, and it makes tactical sense too because reducing his minutes and letting him play against other team's bench players will help keep him healthy throughout the season. He'd be a better version of last year's Brogdon.

[fatlever]

RJ Hunter, skinny, one dimensional chucker combo guard..... let's repeat it again.... MITCH HAS A TYPE!

Can somebody just tell Mitch to give up on these types already????

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[LofJ]

LaMelo is a damn good player.

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[Hornet Mania]

I thought the guys looked good last night, all things considered. Plenty to be happy about:

-Melo looks all the way back, possibly ready to take another leap
-Mark is still looking like a defensive beast, between him and Nick we have a super solid C duo
-Miller looked better in a more structured, although still no PG around, environment
-Nick Smith Jr showed some nice flashes
-Thor hitting lots of 3s. If that keeps up he'll make himself a lot of money

On the negative side, Frank is really bad. We basically don't have a backup PG, so if Melo goes down we're right back to the gutter. Without Melo in the game our offense looked totally hopeless, that has to be addressed if the team wants to seriously make a push.

[luciano-davidwesley]

I think Maledon and Hayward should be able to provide sufficient playmaking off the bench. We can always trade for a backup PG before the trade deadline if we are decent.

I also honestly think we could have done worse this offseason than Ish Smith. I thought he was sneaky solid here backing up LaMelo.

[KembaWalker]

How did we not just sign Kemba. Vet, not a moron, would give the fans something to be happy about for once. Kemba with no knees is better than those guys I saw yesterday