LaMelephant: The LaMelo Ball Thread (#2)

[SWedd523]

Melo is not getting traded sorry guys.

We have a potential top 10 player. The problem is he has no talent around him. We aren't serious right now about making the playoffs. It's clear the direction of the team is to tank this season.

Let's see how the draft lottery shakes out. We are a Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper away from being a big deal again.

We also have assets to make a major trade. Be patient trust the process.

Had to double check and make sure this post wasn't from 11 Feb 24

or 11 Feb 23

Oh well, maybe next year

[Rich4114]

I am just tired of the conversation anytime LaMelo gets banged up it immediately turns into an overdramatic reaction of should we trade him? It is just old at this point.

This fanbase all together is too all over the place. Legit this guy will push LaMelo as a franchise player 1 minute, then want to trade him the moment we lose to the wizards.

Read on Twitter

Israel is one of the most cringiest, noisiest "Hornets twitter" people out there. Just go look at his post history and you'll see. He's a microcosm of what is a small, but very loud and bored portion of our fanbase on socials that are relentless with flip flop or ridiculous takes about this team, especially LaMelo.

You can clearly see in that photo (and watching it live) he got stepped on his injured ankle. I am sure it was sore afterwards. Now let's trade him because he didn't come back into a 20 point deficit against the Nets on the road in a season we're tanking in. Good plan.

[JustBuzzin]

I'm not sure if he's getting traded, but I do feel like this front office is listening to offers or at least discussing the possibility of trading him more than we probably realize - based on no evidence other than just My gut feeling. This front office and ownership didn't draft him nor were they the ones that handed him the big contract.
If they feel like it it's becoming increasingly difficult to envision build a winning team around the player that they can't depend on to stay healthy, they may want to at least see what's out there in terms of offers. Not saying I agree or disagree with this only that this is my opinion on what I think the front office is probably wrestling with.

As for playing him or not playing him when the seasons a lost cause, I'm not sure if that should be the focus of discussion here. I think most of us agree that if his ankle isn't close to 100 percent there's no reason to risk playing him this season. That will be the third season in a row where we've essentially post All-star breaking he probably plays very little since the season is over.

I think the bigger question is, does the front office believe his Ankle is becoming a chronic problem. Is he actually able to stay healthy? If for argument's sake we were in playoff contention would he be able to play through some level of pain? Or is he someone that just isn't going to play if he's not 100 per cent? Do they believe he is the type of player that's going to do everything off the court in order to give himself the best chance to be healthy for an entire season? Is his body capable of playing a full season plus playoffs? Do they believe that this is something that as he gets older and adds more strength what happens less and less? I think these are all very real and valid concerns that the front office is probably weighing internally very quietly.

I don't trust this new group if we being honest.

The Salaun pick was bad. They tried to trade core members of the team Mark. Then they apologized, but still fighting to get the deal to go through. Coach Lee hasn't exactly brought anything to the table besides a 3pt chucking offense. Our 2nd year player Miller looked like he got worse from his rookie season.

Nothing they have shown has given me any confidence to trust them making basketball decisions.

[Rich4114]

Melo is not getting traded sorry guys.

We have a potential top 10 player. The problem is he has no talent around him. We aren't serious right now about making the playoffs. It's clear the direction of the team is to tank this season.

Let's see how the draft lottery shakes out. We are a Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper away from being a big deal again.

We also have assets to make a major trade. Be patient trust the process.

Had to double check and make sure this post wasn't from 11 Feb 24

or 11 Feb 23

Oh well, maybe next year

In all seriousness, what would your plan be here? Trade LaMelo and fill out the roster with more DaQuan Jefferies until our future mid first rounders convey? Perhaps trade Miller too since he's hurt or do we get a few more ankle twists with him too before we're there? What about Mark, who has still played less % of his available games than LaMelo. LaMelo's not a winner though... well except for those two seasons we had actual NBA players around him despite ignoring the C position and backup PG position during his entire tenure.

Fanbase needs to check itself and be reasonable / less emotional. Not picking on you here, I just randomly picked this take because it's a copy paste of a few others I've seen by fans who are thinking emotionally and with frustration rather than rationally.

[KembaWalker]

Melo is not getting traded sorry guys.

We have a potential top 10 player. The problem is he has no talent around him. We aren't serious right now about making the playoffs. It's clear the direction of the team is to tank this season.

Let's see how the draft lottery shakes out. We are a Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper away from being a big deal again.

We also have assets to make a major trade. Be patient trust the process.

Had to double check and make sure this post wasn't from 11 Feb 24

or 11 Feb 23

Oh well, maybe next year

In all seriousness, what would your plan be here? Trade LaMelo and fill out the roster with more DaQuan Jefferies until our future mid first rounders convey?

as opposed to the current reality which is sitting on perpetually hurt LaMelo, fill out the roster with more Elfrid Paytons until the draft hopefully saves us

im not seeing how thats better

[SWedd523]

Melo is not getting traded sorry guys.

We have a potential top 10 player. The problem is he has no talent around him. We aren't serious right now about making the playoffs. It's clear the direction of the team is to tank this season.

Let's see how the draft lottery shakes out. We are a Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper away from being a big deal again.

We also have assets to make a major trade. Be patient trust the process.

Had to double check and make sure this post wasn't from 11 Feb 24

or 11 Feb 23

Oh well, maybe next year

In all seriousness, what would your plan be here? Trade LaMelo and fill out the roster with more DaQuan Jefferies until our future mid first rounders convey? Perhaps trade Miller too since he's hurt or do we get a few more ankle twists with him too before we're there? What about Mark, who has still played less % of his available games than LaMelo. LaMelo's not a winner though... well except for those two seasons we had actual NBA players around him despite ignoring the C position and backup PG position during his entire tenure.

Fanbase needs to check itself and be reasonable / less emotional. Not picking on you here, I just randomly picked this take because it's a copy paste of a few others I've seen by fans who are thinking emotionally and with frustration rather than rationally.

Whole lot to unpack here, with literally none of it being anything remotely close to anything I've been saying but I guess I'm the one being emotional.........


I'm not going to sit here and continue to rehash the same argument over and over again. Just scroll back through the thread. it hasnt changed.

One side keeps saying be patient, it'll improve. the other side keeps saying, yeah but it's not improving. And the circle continues.

I think continuing to do the same thing again and again and again with no results is, well, not working out too great.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say a 5 year career where he's been available for 57% of games (and I expect that to drop even more soon) isn't a reliable way to move forward.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say three straight years of ankle injuries is a massive **** clue that there's a chronic issue and pretending otherwise is head-in-sand-ism.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say Melo hasn't proven to be a reliable cornerstone and hinging all your hopes on his health is a bad idea.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say the FO needs to be looking very hard and how they proceed because the odds are very much in the favor of this iteration of "team building" experiment failing before it even started.


You tell me, do they sit him for the rest of the year so he can "rest his ailing ankle", for yet another season, in the hopes that next year will totally be the year where things get right

or keep playing patty cake with the lineup on a nightly basis so he can constantly reaggrevate it every time somebody breathes on him too hard?

I don't think it matters. the team sucks either way.

[fatlever]

I think realistically this team needs to start trying to win in spite of melo. And if he's healthy great and if not we're going to win without him. Kind of like how Memphis has done with ja. They're a good team without him, they're a great team with him.

For 3 years we've kind of seen the team give up once he gets injured and look towards the next season. As if to say well if he's not healthy we can't compete so we're just going to shut it down. Now clearly this season there was a lot more going on than just him being hurt. And I guess you could say that about last year with Mark being out with the back injury in the year before that with Miles being out with the suspension. Obviously a horrible string of bad luck. But I don't think as a franchise we can just continue to sit back and wait for All of the Stars to align before we decide to try to compete.

I'm not sure what that plan looks like but I guarantee you that the front office is looking at every different possibility going forward. And some of those possibilities probably include Trading lamelo.

Today on lockded Hornets they made a good point that this summer during the draft of free agency we can't rule out particular prospects because maybe they take the ball out of his hands. That was part of the rationale for not drafting scoot. Hindsight is still a bit early to tell if that was the right decision. Last year it looked like a no-brainer that drafting Miller was the right call. But now with Miller's wrist injury and Scoot finally playing better who knows what this looks like 2 years from now. But regardless, we can't think like that going forward. If we have a chance to draft. sign or trade for a starting caliber point guard you do it. plus taking the ball out of his hands some letting him play off the ball more is probably a good way to protect him from future entries and extend his career.

But if the front office's plan for next year is to just cross their fingers in Hope next year is the year that he's finally healthy and that's when we'll start trying to compete, then I can already tell you next year is going to be just like this one.

[Rich4114]

Had to double check and make sure this post wasn't from 11 Feb 24

or 11 Feb 23

Oh well, maybe next year

In all seriousness, what would your plan be here? Trade LaMelo and fill out the roster with more DaQuan Jefferies until our future mid first rounders convey? Perhaps trade Miller too since he's hurt or do we get a few more ankle twists with him too before we're there? What about Mark, who has still played less % of his available games than LaMelo. LaMelo's not a winner though... well except for those two seasons we had actual NBA players around him despite ignoring the C position and backup PG position during his entire tenure.

Fanbase needs to check itself and be reasonable / less emotional. Not picking on you here, I just randomly picked this take because it's a copy paste of a few others I've seen by fans who are thinking emotionally and with frustration rather than rationally.

Whole lot to unpack here, with literally none of it being anything remotely close to anything I've been saying but I guess I'm the one being emotional.........


I'm not going to sit here and continue to rehash the same argument over and over again. Just scroll back through the thread. it hasnt changed.

One side keeps saying be patient, it'll improve. the other side keeps saying, yeah but it's not improving. And the circle continues.

I think continuing to do the same thing again and again and again with no results is, well, not working out too great.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say a 5 year career where he's been available for 57% of games (and I expect that to drop even more soon) isn't a reliable way to move forward.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say three straight years of ankle injuries is a massive **** clue that there's a chronic issue and pretending otherwise is head-in-sand-ism.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say Melo hasn't proven to be a reliable cornerstone and hinging all your hopes on his health is a bad idea.

I don't think it's a hard stretch to say the FO needs to be looking very hard and how they proceed because the odds are very much in the favor of this iteration of "team building" experiment failing before it even started.


You tell me, do they sit him for the rest of the year so he can "rest his ailing ankle", for yet another season, in the hopes that next year will totally be the year where things get right

or keep playing patty cake with the lineup on a nightly basis so he can constantly reaggrevate it every time somebody breathes on him too hard?

I don't think it matters. the team sucks either way.

I mean, his ailing ankle isn't the one he hurt last season and the season before. It's an ankle sprain from 2 weeks ago that I'm sure is still sore (thus, ankle soreness). Would you rather plan for one 23 year old to carry a roster of mostly non-NBA players to a winning record and the playoffs or... and here me out... maybe try assembling a team around him? I mean look no further than the Pistons. What did Cade's career look like until they swapped out guys like Killian Hayes for Malik Beasly? Mavs are getting ROASTED for selling a guy who just took them to the finals and is 25 with at least a decade in front of him of star-quality basketball in all likelihood. Do you envy Dallas right now? I don't.

You could say we've been doing the same thing for 5 years, but like... we haven't. This org chose major transitions after LaMelo Ball's SECOND year. Moved on from a coach that had back to back play-in appearances and what I'd consider building blocks of successful seasons only to revert back to an old head coach who already failed with a more talented roster and I won't rehash the rest we all already know. How about we try to build a team around him first before we say we're tired of doing the same thing with the same player? Should we just... never try that with a player like this?

[SWedd523]

You continue to put words in my mouth and it's making it tiresome to even continue the conversation

I've clearly been a proponent of build a roster instead of punting season after season.

I've been saying exactly what fats just posted. Build a team, stop relying on him to be the heart and soul, and if he's available then he's available. I'm tired of being one Melo injury away from "welp, time to pack it on in folks, there goes the season."

[fatlever]

10th ankle injury for melo in his career per lockedon

[JustBuzzin]

LaAnkle Ball

[Rich4114]

10th ankle injury for melo in his career per lockedon

Are we counting every time he's got ankle soreness as an ankle injury? Like often times, the last one is still the first one. He has had one ankle injury this year and it's minor. He has had one calf injury this year and it's minor.

Last year, he landed on his surgically repaired w/ hardware ankle and was on-off after he came back. Was that one injury or 3?

[Chapelchilla]

Call me crazy but I think that the fact that we have been tanking has a lot to do with his availability. The other night he got a likely minor boo boo and they pull him with a quickness in a road game we want to lose. They only trot him out there occasionally to keep the fans buying tickets in hopes he will play (mostly weekend home games) and to stay fit/work on his game against live opponents.
If all this continues next year when we are no longer as incentivized to lose as many games as possible I will think differently.

[KembaWalker]

Call me crazy but I think that the fact that we have been tanking has a lot to do with his availability. The other night he got a likely minor boo boo and they pull him with a quickness in a road game we want to lose. They only trot him out there occasionally to keep the fans buying tickets in hopes he will play (mostly weekend home games) and to stay fit/work on his game against live opponents.
If all this continues next year when we are no longer as incentivized to lose as many games as possible I will think differently.

if not then definitely the next year after that when they are really trying to win. next year is just a get right year after this disastrous injury year

[fatlever]

Call me crazy but I think that the fact that we have been tanking has a lot to do with his availability. The other night he got a likely minor boo boo and they pull him with a quickness in a road game we want to lose. They only trot him out there occasionally to keep the fans buying tickets in hopes he will play (mostly weekend home games) and to stay fit/work on his game against live opponents.
If all this continues next year when we are no longer as incentivized to lose as many games as possible I will think differently.

I certainly hope you are correct. There's no doubt that our record has played a part in holding him out of games the past three years. What we don't know yet is... How chronic these injuries really are? what's his pain threshold for playing through them, If there's no concern of damage. If we were in a serious playoff push or in a playoff series would he be able to play?

There's also a little bit of the chicken and egg scenario. Are we tanking because lamelo keeps missing games? Or does lamelo keep missing games because we're tanking?

What happens next year when he sprains his ankle on November 15th?

[Chapelchilla]

Call me crazy but I think that the fact that we have been tanking has a lot to do with his availability. The other night he got a likely minor boo boo and they pull him with a quickness in a road game we want to lose. They only trot him out there occasionally to keep the fans buying tickets in hopes he will play (mostly weekend home games) and to stay fit/work on his game against live opponents.
If all this continues next year when we are no longer as incentivized to lose as many games as possible I will think differently.

if not then definitely the next year after that when they are really trying to win. next year is just a get right year after this disastrous injury year

If that happens - You will be here to troll I am sure!

[KembaWalker]

Call me crazy but I think that the fact that we have been tanking has a lot to do with his availability. The other night he got a likely minor boo boo and they pull him with a quickness in a road game we want to lose. They only trot him out there occasionally to keep the fans buying tickets in hopes he will play (mostly weekend home games) and to stay fit/work on his game against live opponents.
If all this continues next year when we are no longer as incentivized to lose as many games as possible I will think differently.

if not then definitely the next year after that when they are really trying to win. next year is just a get right year after this disastrous injury year

If that happens - You will be here to troll I am sure!

I’m just getting ahead of the talking points for next year. I mean just realistically looking at this team the way it is right now, stacking up the same old injuries and losing half a season and full offseason of development for Brandon combined with taking on Nurkic dead money and trying to flip Mark for the future there’s 0 reason to expect health or a winning team next year lol. We’ll be watching Dybantsa and the team seems to be ok with that

[SWedd523]

What happens next year when he sprains his ankle on November 15th?

Folks in here will trot out old faithful:


Let's just shut him down
Tank for X star
Let them get healthy
Next year will be the year they get serious
Just have patience


I think I got most of the highlights

[JustBuzzin]

What happens next year when he sprains his ankle on November 15th?

Folks in here will trot out old faithful:


Let's just shut him down
Tank for X star
Let them get healthy
Next year will be the year they get serious
Just have patience


I think I got most of the highlights

Buzz Buzz MF's!

[Braggins]

Theoretically they should be able to tread water next season if LaMelo sprains his ankle. This is assuming that Miller, Grant, and Mann, arent all out for the season and Mark Williams isnt away from the team.

The end of their bench next season should also be filled with actual NBA players (unless the front office really are clowns), so the situation might not be as dire as it currently is if they have multiple guys go down.