Hornets sign MCW

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

Kemba vouched for this guy and pushed the front office to sign him... The two instances of the front office following Kemba's personnel advice landed us Big Al and MCW. We should probably never listen to his roster suggestions again.

So where just gonna act like big AL didn't bring Hornets out of sh*t hole they were in and bring us to being a respectable team who competes for a playoff spot? you really think Walker would have resigned here if it wasn't for big al coming here and changing the culture and at least making them competitive? Not even a chance.

We aren't still in a sh*t hole and are a respectable team?

Signing Al was literally the worst thing that has happened to this franchise since I started following it (when Kemba was drafted).

We lost our 1st round pick that year, which we owed to Chicago, but with top 10 protection. We also seriously hampered MKG's development by throwing him in the shame corner all season. He actually looked super promising his rookie season, but then took a huge step backwards in his second year when Cliff took over and we signed Al.

Al was only good here for half a season in his first year, which resulted in getting swept in the first round by Miami in predictable fashion. He then immediately regressed to being absolutely awful (even worse than he normally was) and was a huge drag on the team for the rest of his tenure.

Hiring Clifford and signing Al sabotaged the rebuild we had going.

If MKG had been drafted by another team his trajectory might have been very different. Hard to say for sure though, given how he shoots.

MCW strikes me as different. Whatever is going on with him it looks a lot more mental and strength related than the fault of his mechanics.

[Joest2003]

Yes in the long run it was a bad move because we should have kept tanking for few more years but you gotta look at it through Jordan's view. How many more season after that 7 win season would the franchise lasted if they kept on tanking? There would have been like 2500 people at the games and Jordan would have been losing money every year. The big al signing and Hornet name change brought life back into this franchise. It's just unfortunate that none of our lottery picks have really panned out. We had multiple top 5 picks since 2011. None of them are all star level players.

[yosemiteben]

MCW strikes me as different. Whatever is going on with him it looks a lot more mental and strength related than the fault of his mechanics.

This is my view. Missing uncontested layups is strong evidence that he's got a mental block IMO.

[yosemiteben]

I also told you before the season started immediately after the signing that he has a history of missing layups throughout his career.

To correct the narrative here...

MCW FG% within ten feet by season (per NBA stats site):

2013-14 - 56.1%
2014-15 - 56.5%
2015-16 - 58.6%
2016-17 - 52.3%
2017-18 - 34.0%

A 20% drop in FG% within ten feet was not reasonably predictable based on MCW's career numbers.

[catch20two]

I also told you before the season started immediately after the signing that he has a history of missing layups throughout his career.

To correct the narrative here...

MCW FG% within ten feet by season (per NBA stats site):

2013-14 - 56.1%
2014-15 - 56.5%
2015-16 - 58.6%
2016-17 - 52.3%
2017-18 - 34.0%

A 20% drop in FG% within ten feet was not reasonably predictable based on MCW's career numbers.

Call me psychic then because I reasonably predicted that he’ll miss a ton of layups and have a bunch of jumpshots that aren’t even close to the rim. Honestly all you had to do was watch his games with his previous teams and you’d see this happen often. I’m never minding the percentages even tho he’s almost always shot horrifically inefficient.

[yosemiteben]

So is it safe to say that ignoring stats that conflict with our views is the safe approach for all players, or just some?

Because "I'm never minding the percentages" seems like a pretty bad way to analyze a player's efficiency.

[catch20two]

So is it safe to say that ignoring stats that conflict with our views is the safe approach for all players, or just some?

Eh I never said anything about percentages outside of the fact that I expected him to shoot sub-40% because he’s always been a inefficient player that try to force his way to the rim and shoot over smaller guards never minding the situation.

I just know that he miss a lot of layups and clank a lot of jumpers nowhere near the rim. You can’t say that I’m wrong about any of my assessments.

[yosemiteben]

He's been far, far worse this season than he's ever been.

Better to inquire as to why then to act like this is the sort of efficiency he's always had.

[catch20two]

This is my view. Missing uncontested layups is strong evidence that he's got a mental block IMO.

He’s always missed uncontested layups. Maybe not at this rate of embarrassment but it’s been a constant throughout his career. He just has poor touch.

I predicted that he’d shoot even more miserable with us because we generally don’t have a intricate offensive system that creates easy offense for our players. That’s been a ridicule of Clifford for a while. We’re like the only team in the league that barely shoot corner 3s.

[316Hornets]

MCW is done. His defense is there, but his offense is so bad man. Defenders give him 5 feet of space without a second thought. He airballs layups, jumpers, 3s, everything. I'm flabbergasted that we've held on for this long. I know our coaching staff likes defense, but come on man. This guy is the worst shooter I've ever seen.

[catch20two]

He's been far, far worse this season than he's ever been.

Better to inquire as to why then to act like this is the sort of efficiency he's always had.

The “why” is Clifford and our coaching system.

I guess we can’t forget to mention that he’s recovering from not surgery on one but both knees.

[catch20two]

MCW is done. His defense is there, but his offense is so bad man. Defenders give him 5 feet of space without a second thought. He airballs layups, jumpers, 3s, everything. I'm flabbergasted that we've held on for this long. I know our coaching staff likes defense, but come on man. This guy is the worst shooter I've ever seen.

Our coaching staff is incompetent. Did you witness how long they held onto giving Belinelli consistent and extended minutes last year despite poor defense and limited offense? That’s without mentioning the Maxiell span.

[yosemiteben]

He's been far, far worse this season than he's ever been.

Better to inquire as to why then to act like this is the sort of efficiency he's always had.

The “why” is Clifford and our coaching system.

I guess we can’t forget to mention that he’s recovering from not surgery on one but both knees.

See, this is much more productive than acting like MCW is replicating past performance and just talking about how terrible he is. You may be surprised to learn that MCW's career average within ten feet (excluding this season) is roughly equal to Lamb's % in that range this season. It's serviceable.

The issue with blaming Cliff though is that now you're basically saying Cliff is making MCW miss uncontested layups. I don't see that argument as being very strong. The issue doesn't seem to be that we have a terrible system and so he can't get open shots.

I think it is far more likely that he is struggling because he missed extended time and joined a new team that desperately needs him to play well, and he's psyching himself out.

[catch20two]

He's been far, far worse this season than he's ever been.

Better to inquire as to why then to act like this is the sort of efficiency he's always had.

The “why” is Clifford and our coaching system.

I guess we can’t forget to mention that he’s recovering from not surgery on one but both knees.

See, this is much more productive than acting like MCW is replicating past performance and just talking about how terrible he is. You may be surprised to learn that MCW's career average within ten feet (excluding this season) is roughly equal to Lamb's % in that range this season. It's serviceable.

The issue with blaming Cliff though is that now you're basically saying Cliff is making MCW miss uncontested layups. I don't see that argument as being very strong. The issue doesn't seem to be that we have a terrible system and so he can't get open shots.

I think it is far more likely that he is struggling because he missed extended time and joined a new team that desperately needs him to play well, and he's psyching himself out.

No. You’re not reading thoroughly. I’m saying that Clifford’s system is rather easy to predict for opponents and doesn’t create easy offense. In theory that may very well take away more clean looks for MCW at the rim that he can convert on occasionally.

MCW has ALWAYS missed easy and/or uncontested layups. Just not at this bad of a rate. MCW has ALWAYS been a inefficient player.

[yosemiteben]

So MCW is missing open layups. Also Cliff's system doesn't create easy offense. I assume those open layups don't count as easy offense?

I mean if you ignore stats, then you can make the argument that he has always been a poor finisher. You kind of disqualify yourself from the conversation if you make the disclaimer that you're ignoring percentages though.

[catch20two]

So MCW is missing open layups. Also Cliff's system doesn't create easy offense. I assume those open layups don't count as easy offense?

I mean if you ignore stats, then you can make the argument that he has always been a poor finisher. You kind of disqualify yourself from the conversation if you make the disclaimer that you're ignoring percentages though.

No no no. See once again you’re not reading thoroughly. You’re formulating your own plot.

I said that MCW always have missed open layups. I never put a percentage on that. However I did put a prediction on his overall efficiency to likely be less than 40% with us due to his track record combined with Clifford’s predictable and stagnant offensive system in the modern NBA.

[catch20two]

MCW could make each and every last one of his uncontested layups on the season and still have sub-40% shooting. You see?

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

https://thesixersense.com/2017/03/27/whatever-happened-to-former-philadelphia-76ers-michael-carter-williams/
"While I do wish Michael Carter-Williams well, as he seems like a good guy who has been dealt a poor hand, it’s nearly impossible to think that the team would be better off now, or in five years with MCW as its point guard."

https://www.brewhoop.com/2015/4/8/8352641/michael-carter-williams-bad-habits-shooting-efficiency-turnovers
"I really liked Michael Carter-Williams’ game. I pictured him coming to Milwaukee and re-energizing the Bucks with great facilitating and defense, and not having to shoot as much anymore since he now has teammates who are actual NBA basketball players.

The second thing I anticipated was finally getting to watch Milwaukee’s offense ran by a true, pass-first point guard. They may not win as many games, but Carter-Williams should have time to get accustomed to his teammates and really mature into a Jason Kidd-esque assist machine who makes his fellow Bucks better.

MCW hasn’t been that. And that’s a serious problem."

https://behindthebuckpass.com/2015/03/24/smh-mcw-whats-wrong-bucks-point-guard/
"Still, it's discouraging to see the two key stats we're watching, usage rate and assist percentage, hold steady (in terms of USG%) and actually decrease (in the case of AST%) since moving from the 76ers to the Bucks. According to Basketball-Reference.com, MCW is using roughly 25.6% of the Bucks' possessions , the highest on the team, but his 46.1 TS% is the lowest among all the regular rotation players by a pretty wide margin."

https://hoopshabit.com/2016/10/17/chicago-bulls-whats-wrong-with-michael-carter-williams/
"The reason teams go off him so soon is sadly obvious, but there is something that can be done to fix this. Right around the time Carter-Willams came into the league was when spacing and three-point shooting really took off."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2672558-bucher-buzz-mcw-thinks-hes-better-than-he-is-faces-last-shot-with-bulls

[catch20two]

Been trash.

[Eoghan]

Kemba vouched for this guy and pushed the front office to sign him... The two instances of the front office following Kemba's personnel advice landed us Big Al and MCW. We should probably never listen to his roster suggestions again.

So where just gonna act like big AL didn't bring Hornets out of sh*t hole they were in and bring us to being a respectable team who competes for a playoff spot? you really think Walker would have resigned here if it wasn't for big al coming here and changing the culture and at least making them competitive? Not even a chance.

We aren't still in a sh*t hole and are a respectable team?

Signing Al was literally the worst thing that has happened to this franchise since I started following it (when Kemba was drafted).

We lost our 1st round pick that year, which we owed to Chicago, but with top 10 protection. We also seriously hampered MKG's development by throwing him in the shame corner all season. He actually looked super promising his rookie season, but then took a huge step backwards in his second year when Cliff took over and we signed Al.

Al was only good here for half a season in his first year, which resulted in getting swept in the first round by Miami in predictable fashion. He then immediately regressed to being absolutely awful (even worse than he normally was) and was a huge drag on the team for the rest of his tenure.

Hiring Clifford and signing Al sabotaged the rebuild we had going.