LaMelephant: The LaMelo Ball Thread (#2)

[GoBobs]

I just hope we get Flagg.


At least the excuses will stop about not putting talent around LaMelo. There is no reason if we stay healthy with a core of Melo/Miller/Flagg shouldn't be competing for a playoff spot in the weak East. Flagg has that all-around game he can fit on literally any team.

We not getting Flagg bro. Welcome to the Hornets. We are picking #6.

This is the era where having a bad record gives you the worst odds of having the #1 pick compared to other eras. The draft is rigged anyway, and the nba hates the south outside of FL.

We need to follow the OKC model. Take multiple shots, gather future draft picks every year.

Hoping to get the top pick is a recipe for dissapointment.

[Diop]

I just hope we get Flagg.


At least the excuses will stop about not putting talent around LaMelo. There is no reason if we stay healthy with a core of Melo/Miller/Flagg shouldn't be competing for a playoff spot in the weak East. Flagg has that all-around game he can fit on literally any team.

We not getting Flagg bro. Welcome to the Hornets. We are picking #6.

This is the era where having a bad record gives you the worst odds of having the #1 pick compared to other eras. The draft is rigged anyway, and the nba hates the south outside of FL.

We need to follow the OKC model. Take multiple shots, gather future draft picks every year.

Hoping to get the top pick is a recipe for dissapointment.

OKC got their best player by trading away Paul George. There is always a little bit of luck involved.

Unless you're Lakers and you always get superstars

[Diop]

Melo isn't getting traded unless he asks for one.

He's functionally untradeable at this point because no team is giving value for a guy who plays 56% of games, makes $38mil, and is collecting surgeries like Pokemon cards.

Only real solution is to add talent around (behind) him so the team isn't looking at a minimum 40 losses every year simply because he isn't available.

Real easy way to see if they're worth watching next year is if they go into the season with KJ Simpson and some 10 Day Contract as his backups

you just reminded me of Micic and how disappointing he was this year.

at the start of the year I thought we were set at Pg.

[Liver_Pooty]

I just hope we get Flagg.


At least the excuses will stop about not putting talent around LaMelo. There is no reason if we stay healthy with a core of Melo/Miller/Flagg shouldn't be competing for a playoff spot in the weak East. Flagg has that all-around game he can fit on literally any team.

We not getting Flagg bro. Welcome to the Hornets. We are picking #6.

This is the era where having a bad record gives you the worst odds of having the #1 pick compared to other eras. The draft is rigged anyway, and the nba hates the south outside of FL.

We need to follow the OKC model. Take multiple shots, gather future draft picks every year.

Hoping to get the top pick is a recipe for dissapointment.

OKC got their best player by trading away Paul George. There is always a little bit of luck involved.

Unless you're Lakers and you always get superstars

Or we could’ve just drafted this seasons MVP

[Diop]

We not getting Flagg bro. Welcome to the Hornets. We are picking #6.

This is the era where having a bad record gives you the worst odds of having the #1 pick compared to other eras. The draft is rigged anyway, and the nba hates the south outside of FL.

We need to follow the OKC model. Take multiple shots, gather future draft picks every year.

Hoping to get the top pick is a recipe for dissapointment.

OKC got their best player by trading away Paul George. There is always a little bit of luck involved.

Unless you're Lakers and you always get superstars

Or we could’ve just drafted this seasons MVP

we could have drafted Nikola Jokic as well with the PJ Hairston pick.
again there is some luck involved

[Liver_Pooty]

OKC got their best player by trading away Paul George. There is always a little bit of luck involved.

Unless you're Lakers and you always get superstars

Or we could’ve just drafted this seasons MVP

we could have drafted Nikola Jokic as well with the PJ Hairston pick.
again there is some luck involved

Well if I remember we did technically draft him then trade him. That’s worse. lol

[EmpireFalls]

Or we could’ve just drafted this seasons MVP

we could have drafted Nikola Jokic as well with the PJ Hairston pick.
again there is some luck involved

Well if I remember we did technically draft him then trade him. That’s worse. lol

Tbf, I am almost certain that Steve Clifford and the vaunted Charlotte Hornets development staff would not have developed SGA into an MVP level player. Look at what he did to Monk. Obviously he'd be an upgrade on Miles but I think we suck at player dev.

[Liver_Pooty]

we could have drafted Nikola Jokic as well with the PJ Hairston pick.
again there is some luck involved

Well if I remember we did technically draft him then trade him. That’s worse. lol

Tbf, I am almost certain that Steve Clifford and the vaunted Charlotte Hornets development staff would not have developed SGA into an MVP level player. Look at what he did to Monk. Obviously he'd be an upgrade on Miles but I think we suck at player dev.

Monk didn’t take basketball serious here. Maybe his last year he tried. He liked the white powder too much. Glad he got it together to be a good role player

[Rich4114]

I hear you. fair point. Situations are different.
but... We're all already talking about multiple surgeries on lamelo's foot, one that already has metal screws inserted into it. sigh.
And another summer where he spends the summer doing physical therapy and rehab rather than adding strength and potentially adding other parts to his game.

Shams said he was going to have a normal complete offseason. Not sure how unless the surgeries are truly minimal as hell, but that’s what he said.

"normal" Is semantics. I'm not saying he's going to be sidelined all summer. how soon after the surgeries will he be able to start? they mentioned full recovery within four to six weeks. But I don't necessarily think that means in 4 to 6 weeks he's going to be playing 5 on 5 basketball, not that there's anything to play. How long is he going to be stuck doing physical therapy? How does having wrist surgery impact his ability to lift weights and shoot the ball this summer? how will Having ankle surgery impact his ability to add muscle to his legs and strengthen those ankles?

also, He has never really been someone who seems to heal and recover quicker than average. So it's possible that this lingers on more than four to six weeks. What if there's still pain and discomfort after 4 to 6 weeks? Then what?

I don't see any way that this is a "normal complete offseason" for him. It's going to be an off season of therapy and rehab.

Whole reason he likely has to have something done to his wrist is because he came back too soon after he broke it to begin with

[Rich4114]

Just want to point out that before we lost Grant and Tre for good, LaMelo averaged 31.1ppg, 6.9apg, 5.4reb, 43%/35.6% until that injury at the very end of the Heat game we should've won but Cody threw.

We were 6-12 then. This was without Mark Williams and maybe half of those games without Miles. Those are nearly SGA stats, whose team is pushing 70 wins. I'm with JMAC on this one. I just don't know how you blanket statement LaMelo health concerns and ignore the fact that this roster was so thin, injured and bad that even an MVP start to the season couldn't get us better than half way to .500 basketball.

LaMelo hasn't even had the surgery yet, he's been at the last two games with the team. Would it have been better if we just let him finish out a season in which we're trying to not fall in lottery odds to NOLA so we can say he played 57 games instead? What about all of the back to backs he sat out for "soreness"? You think he would've sat those out if we weren't tanking? LaMelo easily could've played 65 games this season which would've been right on par with what we'd all want to see.

Are there injury concerns? Of course there are. But if you're not going to look at the full context and just view it black and white then yes, go ahead and trade him for future 2031 picks and come back to me when he is an all star regular for the Clippers or Magic.

[JustBuzzin]

Bro did you just compare LaMelo to SGA for a 18 game sample?

This is what gets me. Yeah the stats are great, but we didn't win many games. Sure you can blame injuries, but Melo is also part of that problem as well. You can't compare him to SGA who is the likely MVP.

You guys want to ignore his only issue which is his ability to healthy! Nobody on here is questioning his game. He's a good player when he plays. The problem is he doesn't play enough games. We aren't going to win a lot of games if our best player is only on the floor for half a season.

[GoBobs]

We won't get something better back in a trade.

We wont' get a better player in free agency.

Outside of fanbase and front office impatience, it makes zero sense to trade LaMelo.

If you want to save 40 million, how about trading Nurkic, Josh Green, and Okogie.

[KembaWalker]

i dont get why people make blanket statements backed up with 5 years of consistent evidence across 3 coaches and 2 front offices when we have a whole 18 game November sample size of LaMelo going 6-12 with good numbers

jokes aside, again not saying we NEED to trade LaMelo at all costs
it just seems like, and I think this is the pivot everyone here is making whether theyll admit it or not is that LaMelo is not/should not be the focal point of the team build going forward. If we want to be a very good team, we have to be a team that can pretty good without LaMelo playing and very good when LaMelo is playing and hope that he's available enough to make us very good fairly often.

its just, to me, if we already have a team that is pretty good without LaMelo then they shouldn't be afraid to be flexible about exploring whether LaMelo is the best player (or collection of players?) to be that pretty good->very good extra jump

[JMAC3]

Bro did you just compare LaMelo to SGA for a 18 game sample?

This is what gets me. Yeah the stats are great, but we didn't win many games. Sure you can blame injuries, but Melo is also part of that problem as well. You can't compare him to SGA who is the likely MVP.

You guys want to ignore his only issue which is his ability to healthy! Nobody on here is questioning his game. He's a good player when he plays. The problem is he doesn't play enough games. We aren't going to win a lot of games if our best player is only on the floor for half a season.

I think what is getting directly mentioned or hinted at here is that yeah LaMelo misses games, but the team isn't good enough to even live in a universe where it makes sense to push LaMelo to play 60 games. If LaMelo was on Knicks or Thunder, he probably plays more games this year because those teams matter and would have won without LaMelo if he missed 15-20 games. So when he is healthy there is no reason to rest him on back to backs or shut him down early when you have a full playoff schedule ahead of you.

If LaMelo misses 15-20 games for us we go 2-18 during that stretch and the season is over. We should not be this dependent on him playing to be competitive. We are probably at the point where moving forward LaMelo goal is to play 65 regular season games, so the team goal or front office goal should be to build a team around him that can have success when LaMelo misses 15 games, so that when he is healthy we are still in the playoff race.

You can make fun of me all you want but if we were 35-40 right now, fighting for playin spots LaMelo wouldn't have been shut down for minor surgeries. but when you are 19-56 who cares if he plays or not that last 2 weeks of the year.

[KembaWalker]

Bro did you just compare LaMelo to SGA for a 18 game sample?

This is what gets me. Yeah the stats are great, but we didn't win many games. Sure you can blame injuries, but Melo is also part of that problem as well. You can't compare him to SGA who is the likely MVP.

You guys want to ignore his only issue which is his ability to healthy! Nobody on here is questioning his game. He's a good player when he plays. The problem is he doesn't play enough games. We aren't going to win a lot of games if our best player is only on the floor for half a season.

I think what is getting directly mentioned or hinted at here is that yeah LaMelo misses games, but the team isn't good enough to even live in a universe where it makes sense to push LaMelo to play 60 games. If LaMelo was on Knicks or Thunder, he probably plays more games this year because those teams matter and would have won without LaMelo if he missed 15-20 games. So when he is healthy there is no reason to rest him on back to backs or shut him down early when you have a full playoff schedule ahead of you.

If LaMelo misses 15-20 games for us we go 2-18 during that stretch and the season is over. We should not be this dependent on him playing to be competitive. We are probably at the point where moving forward LaMelo goal is to play 65 regular season games, so the team goal or front office goal should be to build a team around him that can have success when LaMelo misses 15 games, so that when he is healthy we are still in the playoff race.

You can make fun of me all you want but if we were 35-40 right now, fighting for playin spots LaMelo wouldn't have been shut down for minor surgeries. but when you are 19-56 who cares if he plays or not that last 2 weeks of the year.

its not even the amount of games that is the most concerning part, its that he's playing in pain and its very obviously been affecting him for months now. no team is gonna be good with LaMelo playing like he has been the last 2 months

you push him on b2bs cause the games "matter" and the pain and risk of significant injury just increases along with it, and his play will most likely continue to decline.

LaMelo wouldn't survive to the AS break playing on the Knicks under Thibs

[JustBuzzin]

Bro did you just compare LaMelo to SGA for a 18 game sample?

This is what gets me. Yeah the stats are great, but we didn't win many games. Sure you can blame injuries, but Melo is also part of that problem as well. You can't compare him to SGA who is the likely MVP.

You guys want to ignore his only issue which is his ability to healthy! Nobody on here is questioning his game. He's a good player when he plays. The problem is he doesn't play enough games. We aren't going to win a lot of games if our best player is only on the floor for half a season.

I think what is getting directly mentioned or hinted at here is that yeah LaMelo misses games, but the team isn't good enough to even live in a universe where it makes sense to push LaMelo to play 60 games. If LaMelo was on Knicks or Thunder, he probably plays more games this year because those teams matter and would have won without LaMelo if he missed 15-20 games. So when he is healthy there is no reason to rest him on back to backs or shut him down early when you have a full playoff schedule ahead of you.

If LaMelo misses 15-20 games for us we go 2-18 during that stretch and the season is over. We should not be this dependent on him playing to be competitive. We are probably at the point where moving forward LaMelo goal is to play 65 regular season games, so the team goal or front office goal should be to build a team around him that can have success when LaMelo misses 15 games, so that when he is healthy we are still in the playoff race.

You can make fun of me all you want but if we were 35-40 right now, fighting for playin spots LaMelo wouldn't have been shut down for minor surgeries. but when you are 19-56 who cares if he plays or not that last 2 weeks of the year.

My question to you is do you have any faith in this new ownership and front office to put talent around LaMelo?

If you don't then why are we wasting time. They already tried to trade Mark for a older rookie and a future 1st. Doesn't seem like a team who's trying to win anytime soon.

If we in rebuild mode that's fine, just don't complain about the talent around LaMelo when you know the goal is to rebuild.

[JustBuzzin]

Kemba is 100% correct.

Melo was playing hurt later in the season which is why his play dropped off significantly during that time. The entire ball family has had serious health issues. I think Gelo the only one who has stayed healthy for the most part. Not a good sign imo.

[JMAC3]

Kemba is 100% correct.

Melo was playing hurt later in the season which is why his play dropped off significantly during that time. The entire ball family has had serious health issues. I think Gelo the only one who has stayed healthy for the most part. Not a good sign imo.

Yeah, I would still take "hurt Melo" playing like ass over any other player on this team lol. He is 50th in Vorp, 50th in EPM while playing terrible according to most of you. I mean who are we comparing LaMelo to that he is such an awful player? When he is still carrying the team when he does play.

11th best offensive EPM in the league while playing hurt, shooting terrible.

[KembaWalker]

Kemba is 100% correct.

Melo was playing hurt later in the season which is why his play dropped off significantly during that time. The entire ball family has had serious health issues. I think Gelo the only one who has stayed healthy for the most part. Not a good sign imo.

Yeah, I would still take "hurt Melo" playing like ass over any other player on this team lol. He is 50th in Vorp, 50th in EPM while playing terrible according to most of you. I mean who are we comparing LaMelo to that he is such an awful player? When he is still carrying the team when he does play.

11th best offensive EPM in the league while playing hurt, shooting terrible.

unfortunately the games that actually do "matter" are at the end of the year in a very condensed time frame with all the accumulated injuries and wear+tear present, and you don't get an averaged out version of the player from when they are fresh during Oct-Dec

[Rich4114]

Bro did you just compare LaMelo to SGA for a 18 game sample?

This is what gets me. Yeah the stats are great, but we didn't win many games. Sure you can blame injuries, but Melo is also part of that problem as well. You can't compare him to SGA who is the likely MVP.

You guys want to ignore his only issue which is his ability to healthy! Nobody on here is questioning his game. He's a good player when he plays. The problem is he doesn't play enough games. We aren't going to win a lot of games if our best player is only on the floor for half a season.

OK maybe I should be more clear since my point didn't seem to land. LaMelo, playing the best basketball of his career averaging over 30ppg and putting up MVP caliber numbers across 18 games got us a 6-12 record.

Are you really just going to look at that and be like "yeah but he obviously didn't do enough"? If that is the conclusion you're coming to, then there is no point in me further explaining.