GT: CHA vs Cavs Today January 5th at 6PM

[MPM]

Salaun just legit passed it to Jerome

Granted, it was a nice pass. Next year he'll learn that passing to the other team is bad.

[luciano-davidwesley]

If you don't have the size to disrupt Jerome's shot you aren't long enough to be a lockdown defender. I'm looking in your direction Josh Green.

[wilson115]

Read on Twitter

[JDR720]

If you don't have the size to disrupt Jerome's shot you aren't long enough to be a lockdown defender. I'm looking in your direction Josh Green.

I don't get him at all. The worse thing is he's a good 3pt shooter... who hardly ever shoots. Like Thybulle or however you spell it, maybe it's an Australia thing.

[Diop]

If you don't have the size to disrupt Jerome's shot you aren't long enough to be a lockdown defender. I'm looking in your direction Josh Green.

I don't get him at all. The worse thing is he's a good 3pt shooter... who hardly ever shoots. Like Thybulle or however you spell it, maybe it's an Australia thing.

Thybulle aint Australian, its pretty hilarious he is allowed to play for the Boomers.

The Australian offspring of localised yanks do seem to be mainly athletic defenders first and foremost. eg. Simmons, Exum, Daniels, Green.

The aussies like Patty Mills, Gaze and Heal shot the **** out of the ball.

[MasterIchiro]

When Lee watched Nick Smith Jr. tonight did coach notice Smith Jr. scored 18 points?

Ever since Mann went down Lee has been desperate for bench scoring. And Mann has been out a long, long time.

So Smith Jr. is not a prospect but Salaün is?

Maybe there was some development plan for Nick Smith Jr. behind the scenes, in practice and with the Swarm?

Good to see Nick Smith Jr. make the most of his minutes (19 in all) while Micić hit the bench indefinitely after just 5.

Lee has let Cody Martin run offense. Salaün has been allowed to launch shots at league low accuracy. We are tanking so the losses don't cost like losses when a team is actually competing.

So what's the deal? If NSJ is gonna cost wins like the others, doesn't matter. You want to see if he has a future here. And before tonight you didn't give him the minutes to make the mistakes.

[Diop]

When Lee watched Nick Smith Jr. tonight did coach notice Smith Jr. scored 18 points?

Ever since Mann went down Lee has been desperate for bench scoring. And Mann has been out a long, long time.

So Smith Jr. is not a prospect but Salaün is?

Maybe there was some development plan for Nick Smith Jr. behind the scenes, in practice and with the Swarm?

Good to see Nick Smith Jr. make the most of his minutes (19 in all) while Micić hit the bench indefinitely after just 5.

Lee has let Cody Martin run offense. Salaün has been allowed to launch shots at league low accuracy. We are tanking so the losses don't cost like losses when a team is actually competing.

So what's the deal? If NSJ is gonna cost wins like the others, doesn't matter. You want to see if he has a future here. And before tonight you didn't give him the minutes to make the mistakes.

Read on Twitter

sounds like the development plan is there, he was just unlucky to have a list of players ahead of him. Injuries are the reason Salaun has gotten so much time, we're ridiculously thin at power forward. If Micic hadnt turned into a pumpkin and Mann got injured Smith would be stuck in g league.

[KembaWalker]

if you want to see an interesting coaching stat, just look at this. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/who-has-won-the-least-coaches-challenges-this-season

Unless you think the refs are exceptionally accurate against us. Of course most of the coaches you’d traditionally consider good are at the top so I’d assume there is something to it. This is a small thing but it’s one thing you can tangibly measure staffs against each other in an equal environment. Whoever is on challenge calling duty is probably pretty bad at his job, to no one’s surprise here I’m sure

Food for thought

[wilson115]

NSJ actually looked like he knew what he was doing out there, whatever he did in Greensboro the results look promising so far. Player development > playing time for playing time's sake.

Salaun also defended and hit the boards (9) with energy, and didn't let it get to him when his shot wasn't falling.

[EmpireFalls]

When Lee watched Nick Smith Jr. tonight did coach notice Smith Jr. scored 18 points?

Ever since Mann went down Lee has been desperate for bench scoring. And Mann has been out a long, long time.

So Smith Jr. is not a prospect but Salaün is?

Maybe there was some development plan for Nick Smith Jr. behind the scenes, in practice and with the Swarm?

Good to see Nick Smith Jr. make the most of his minutes (19 in all) while Micić hit the bench indefinitely after just 5.

Lee has let Cody Martin run offense. Salaün has been allowed to launch shots at league low accuracy. We are tanking so the losses don't cost like losses when a team is actually competing.

So what's the deal? If NSJ is gonna cost wins like the others, doesn't matter. You want to see if he has a future here. And before tonight you didn't give him the minutes to make the mistakes.

Read on Twitter

sounds like the development plan is there, he was just unlucky to have a list of players ahead of him. Injuries are the reason Salaun has gotten so much time, we're ridiculously thin at power forward. If Micic hadnt turned into a pumpkin and Mann got injured Smith would be stuck in g league.

Micic has been a pumpkin since the day he stepped foot in Charlotte

Seth Curry getting any minutes at all over NSJ in a clear tanking year is arguably even worse

There is absolutely zero case for either of those two ever playing over NSJ again. One can actually be a difference maker in the future of the franchise. The other two cannot.

Unfortunately for Nick though it isn’t just them.

Coach Lee would prefer playing Wong and Jeffries heavy minutes while NSJ rots on the bench. Colour me skeptical on his “player development plan”

[MasterIchiro]

I don't understand how the Mann injury for NSJ is any different than the Grant injury has been for Salaün?

It should result in equal opportunity.

NSJ's max minutes have been 19 while Salaün averages 19.

Lee is running a 3PT system and Salaün was drafted with a heavy investment on his 3 ball and he's had a green light.

Salaün is 28.7% on threes in his season/career.

After last night's prison release, NSJ is 41.2% on the season and 42.8% on his career.

Is that not what Lee preaches?

They are separated by a whopping 1 year 4 months. Nick Smith Jr. is just 20.

I'm happy for NSJ he didn't let Clifford destroy his confidence. Last year at the trade deadline after leading rookies in three-point efficiency, NSJ was yanked from the stage, demoted to GB, and Clifford ran 2/3 of: Thor/Poku/Bertans, three dudes no longer with the team. Poku was treated like a ballhandling guard.

[MasterIchiro]

I think it boils down to this organizational obsession with "more size in the lineup". Funny this prison release happens when the Hornets faced the NBA's most successful dinky backcourt. It's almost like given opportunity, small players can contribute to big win totals.

[MasterIchiro]

I hope we get to see a backcourt of Mann/NSJ this year.

[Diop]

I’m worried about Mann and his back

[Braggins]

They are shooting a ton of 3s but it doesn't seem like they are actually utilizing the 3pt shot to open up driving lanes and shots at the rim, which is the entire point of taking a lot of 3pt shots. It seems like they are just individuals chucking 3s with no cohesiveness or strategy beyond shooting 3s for the sake of it.

A lineup of LaMelo/Green/Miller/Bridges/Mark should be taking a lot of 3s and they should have no issue at all spreading teams out to soften up their defense. Its only been two games with this group, so hopefully they just need time and reps to build cohesiveness, but if they continue to struggle like this now that theyre healthy that is a bad sign for Lee.

[Braggins]

Richards is looking like a 3rd stringer again. Its not a big deal because hes paid like a 3rd stringer and its good to have a decent 3rd string center, but idk why Diabate isn't with the main team right now. He looks like he should be given a chance at the primary backup minutes with the healthy squad.

[MasterIchiro]

Richards is looking like a 3rd stringer again. Its not a big deal because hes paid like a 3rd stringer and its good to have a decent 3rd string center, but idk why Diabate isn't with the main team right now. He looks like he should be given a chance at the primary backup minutes with the healthy squad.

The Hornets are gaming the next contract to Diabaté. If they keep him from a certain target number of NBA games per CBA (unsure about the number) he qualifies as a 2-way contract restricted free agent, or as a repeat 2-way contract for next season.

[HornetJail]

Richards is looking like a 3rd stringer again. Its not a big deal because hes paid like a 3rd stringer and its good to have a decent 3rd string center, but idk why Diabate isn't with the main team right now. He looks like he should be given a chance at the primary backup minutes with the healthy squad.

The Hornets are gaming the next contract to Diabaté. If they keep him from a certain target number of NBA games per CBA (unsure about the number) he qualifies as a 2-way contract restricted free agent, or as a repeat 2-way contract for next season.

if we do that with Moose, he should tell us to eat **** in the offseason

this would be a better move to make with Simpson or Wong

[MasterIchiro]

Richards is looking like a 3rd stringer again. Its not a big deal because hes paid like a 3rd stringer and its good to have a decent 3rd string center, but idk why Diabate isn't with the main team right now. He looks like he should be given a chance at the primary backup minutes with the healthy squad.

The Hornets are gaming the next contract to Diabaté. If they keep him from a certain target number of NBA games per CBA (unsure about the number) he qualifies as a 2-way contract restricted free agent, or as a repeat 2-way contract for next season.

if we do that with Moose, he should tell us to eat **** in the offseason

this would be a better move to make with Simpson or Wong

Moussa can't tell us that. Like with Maledon, we had matching rights. But nobody offered. Had they offered, the rules grant us the option to control the destiny of the player.

[JMAC3]

Cavs are just really good, we didn't play our best game but that game would have won vs a decent number of opponents.

Jarrett Allen just doesn't miss, a few were too easy but he had the magic touch vs us.

If we had played this group vs Detroit or Chicago or Washington we probably win 2/3. So yeah maybe we are tanking that hard that we only allow the team to play full strength vs the best team in basketball.