Hornets 1st 10 Games (4-6)

[yosemiteben]

It's fun for Melo and Mann to be shooting lights out, but we are taking some really tough shots and we're gonna be in a world of hurt if they stop falling.

On the season, we rank 4th in unassisted 3FGM and 2nd in unassisted 2FGM. Interesting BOS is also ranked similar to there, so maybe this is a scheme thing. We rank 27th in percentage of points in the paint (BOS is 30th), and we rank 30th in fast break points (maybe attributable to our league worst defense). Just for comparison sake, BOS is ranked 20th in fast break points.

What that tells me is we play a lot of ISO ball, and we are not scoring in the paint or on fast breaks. We also are ranked 26th in turnover rate, so we don't do a good job of taking care of the ball. In light of that, it is pretty incredible that our ORTG is 6th.

I'm very curious to see if we can sustain this offensive performance or if instead the wheels are going to fall off as teams get wise to our tendencies.

ETA: An encouraging stat on our defense is that we are ranked 7th in 3PT% allowed at 33%, despite playing 4 games against teams that are borderline top 10 in 3PT%.

[fatlever]

I agree it's probably unrealistic to expect that lamelo continues to shoot threes and overall score at the percentages he's doing now.

It's pretty shocking that we are 30th and fast break points. That should never happen on a team with lamelo and miles. Like you said that is a lot to do with our inability to stop any team from scoring right now. The lack of points in the paint is absolutely not surprising considering half of our shot attempts, with the ball never making it inside the three-point arc.

The team desperately needs more mechanisms designed to get the ball into the paint, whether that's on rim pressure from dribble drives, any form whatsoever of a low post scoring option, or a roll man.

It would be nice if miles had any sort of post presence whatsoever. We could get him switched on smaller to player and let him bully his way to the basket. This is something that PJ actually did really well. PJ also operated well in that half space as a connector in a much better fashion the miles has ever been able to do.

But obviously more than anything we've got to figure out how to get stops on the defensive end. There's zero rim protection and there's zero point of attack defense outside of whoever green and Cody are defending. Even when Nick gets blocks it's an overrated stat because he chases blocks at the expense of literally everything else you want your Center to be doing.

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[HornetJail]

my prediction of 3-7 with wins over Toronto, Houston, and Detroit are looking spot on, and I'll be excited for just that given we've had so many injuries already. I'd be surprised with any wins vs MIN, IND, PHI, but you can always be a threat to steal one shooting as hot as Melo has been. Would be thrilled to get any of those three, but I'm not counting on it. Detroit is Detroit. that should be easy money

[yosemiteben]

Encouraging development - in our last 3 games, our DRB% is ranked 5th in the league. Our ORB% has come back to earth, ranked 23rd overall.

Will be interesting to see how we play against IND. With Maxey being out, that PHI game looks like it should be a gift. Finishing .500 in this stretch is definitely a possibility.

[MasterIchiro]

I just can't believe we are approaching a .500 record down our starting center who really changes the dynamic on defense when he plays.

We have the star power to stay relevant.

It will be interesting to see if we become buyers at the deadline. Nothing crazy, but something that fits the culture and moves the needle.

[yosemiteben]

Read on Twitter

Truly remarkable and very encouraging

[Bassman]

Read on Twitter

Truly remarkable and very encouraging

That is surprising/shocking given the circumstances, but, it’s a small sample size. One thing about the NBA; teams adjust defensively pretty quickly. What worked two weeks ago gets game planned and taken away. We will need the others to get healthy soon, or we will all be here lamenting our limitations. Must get mark actually playing someday. Miles will help but he may need to be on the trading block near the deadline.

[HornetJail]

Read on Twitter

Truly remarkable and very encouraging

re: DRB% it's worth noting that Indy was a bad rebounding team last year (Myles Turner isn't much of a board man), Detroit played our game without Duren, and the Celtics offense is so perimeter oriented they took 65% of their shots from 3, so there isn't always someone in the paint. That explains 3 of the 4 games. Minnesota was the only team we faced that really poses a serious rebounding problem for us, and while they didn't actually do it, they killed us in most other areas of the game, and it looks like the 3rd stringers pulled the rebounding stats closer than they were. I wouldn't consider this anything.

The Sixers with Drummond will be a real test of our team rebounding tomorrow.

[yosemiteben]

Read on Twitter

Truly remarkable and very encouraging

re: DRB% it's worth noting that Indy was a bad rebounding team last year (Myles Turner isn't much of a board man), Detroit played our game without Duren, and the Celtics offense is so perimeter oriented they took 65% of their shots from 3, so there isn't always someone in the paint. That explains 3 of the 4 games. Minnesota was the only team we faced that really poses a serious rebounding problem for us, and while they didn't actually do it, they killed us in most other areas of the game, and it looks like the 3rd stringers pulled the rebounding stats closer than they were. I wouldn't consider this anything.

The Sixers with Drummond will be a real test of our team rebounding tomorrow.

DET posted a 32.6% DRB% their last game, which if sustained over a whole season would be top 5.

[yosemiteben]

Our DRB% last game was 81.3%, which would lead the league if we sustained it for a full year. I think we need to move off any narrative that our lack of center depth has anything to do with our ability to control the defensive boards.

Stats in our last 4 games (so since Nick went out):

(1) DRTG is second in the league

(2) 10th in opponent 3PT%

(3) 15th in opponent points in the paint

(4) 1st in DRB%

We have had a top tier defense and are absolutely not hemorrhaging points in the paint or defensive boards without both Nick and Mark. This narrative that we are dying without a center does not appear to me to have any statistical support.

[KembaWalker]

Our DRB% last game was 81.3%, which would lead the league if we sustained it for a full year. I think we need to move off any narrative that our lack of center depth has anything to do with our ability to control the defensive boards.

Stats in our last 4 games (so since Nick went out):

(1) DRTG is second in the league

(2) 10th in opponent 3PT%

(3) 15th in opponent points in the paint

(4) 1st in DRB%

We have had a top tier defense and are absolutely not hemorrhaging points in the paint or defensive boards without both Nick and Mark. This narrative that we are dying without a center does not appear to me to have any statistical support.

we are dying without a center on offense not defense. we have nobody that can set a screen and even if they manage to set a good screen theres 0 downside to just switching anyway because theres nobody that can punish a mismatch in the paint. Kyle Lowry could shut down our front court in the paint if he had to

[fatlever]

Our DRB% last game was 81.3%, which would lead the league if we sustained it for a full year. I think we need to move off any narrative that our lack of center depth has anything to do with our ability to control the defensive boards.

Stats in our last 4 games (so since Nick went out):

(1) DRTG is second in the league

(2) 10th in opponent 3PT%

(3) 15th in opponent points in the paint

(4) 1st in DRB%

We have had a top tier defense and are absolutely not hemorrhaging points in the paint or defensive boards without both Nick and Mark. This narrative that we are dying without a center does not appear to me to have any statistical support.

The difference in defensive rebounding and defensive awareness and defensive positioning between Nick and diabate is pretty obvious from my eyeballs. And obviously Grant Williams is a much better defender on that end despite his lack of size.

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[yosemiteben]

we are dying without a center on offense not defense. we have nobody that can set a screen and even if they manage to set a good screen theres 0 downside to just switching anyway because theres nobody that can punish a mismatch in the paint.

We are averaging only 2 less screen assists in the month of November than we did in the month of October, and we rank 2nd in the league in screen assists in the month of November.

Not sure I buy this narrative.

[KembaWalker]

we are dying without a center on offense not defense. we have nobody that can set a screen and even if they manage to set a good screen theres 0 downside to just switching anyway because theres nobody that can punish a mismatch in the paint.

We are averaging only 2 less screen assists in the month of November than we did in the month of October, and we rank 2nd in the league in screen assists in the month of November.

Not sure I buy this narrative.

thats because LaMelo (and less so Miller and Tre) is launching it off every garbage screen he gets and hitting them because: A. he's incredibly good at insanely difficult shots even if the screen barely gives him any space to work with B: there is no secondary option to these screens because we have no roll man, no lob man, and no paint mismatch, not because there are good screens being set

i have no idea what screen assists have to do with good screens. seems like a "watch the actual game" moment to me

[yosemiteben]

we are dying without a center on offense not defense. we have nobody that can set a screen and even if they manage to set a good screen theres 0 downside to just switching anyway because theres nobody that can punish a mismatch in the paint.

We are averaging only 2 less screen assists in the month of November than we did in the month of October, and we rank 2nd in the league in screen assists in the month of November.

Not sure I buy this narrative.

thats because LaMelo (and less so Miller and Tre) is launching it off every garbage screen he gets and hitting them because: A. he's incredibly good at insanely difficult shots even if the screen barely gives him any space to work with B: there is no secondary option to these screens because we have no roll man, no lob man, and no paint mismatch, not because there are good screens being set

i have no idea what screen assists have to do with good screens. seems like a "watch the actual game" moment to me

Screen assists are points created off screen actions. I don't know a better way to assess quality of screens. I don't agree that anywhere close to a main problem with our offense is the quality of the screens being set.

We also are averaging more points in the paint since Nick has been hurt than we did before.

The counter to the narrative of screens not creating lobs / dives is that we are often playing 5 out, so our guys are turning the corner to an open lane.

I think we are seriously underestimating how much value Grant is unlocking offensively when he plays the 5. He sets solid screens, moves the ball, but also spreads the floor.

Salaun also sets solid screens and spaces, his shots just haven't been falling yet. That'll come around and then he'll also force bigs out onto the perimeter.

[KembaWalker]

yeah Diabate is a guy that you throw in when you've tried everything else and the team isnt responding. pure energy. he's way too limited to be rotation guy on a good team. still the best center on our roster rn lol

[yosemiteben]

Incredible stat from Schuhmann's latest power ranking:

Over these last three games, Charlotte has outscored opponents by 45 points (26.2 per 100 possessions) in Cody Martin’s 87 minutes.