2014-15 Season Player/Coach Evaluation

[BobsBuddy]

I realize there is just a couple games left this season and we have missed the playoffs...so thought I'd start this to evaluate each player and Coach Clifford ..Please feel free to post your thoughts and grade A-F.
Clifford...D.....Poor Rotations....After adding Williams,BROB,Lance and later Mo with Al,we should have at least matched last year.

Kemba....C-...After getting 12 mil a year Stats should be better not worse...Needs to average 8 assists per game and share ball more.
BROB......C+...Good Acquisition as Backup... Needs 5 assist per game and grade will rise.possible trade bait on draft day?
MO.........B+...Excellent move..If we can get for 2 years @ 6 mil sign as backup only.....Playing him with Kemba has failed.

Hendo.....B+....2015 PO....Did an above average job..But his salary money is better spent elsewhere..let him walk.
PJ..........C-....Can shoot 3s only/poor defender/too much baggage...Trade Him and Keep Daniels.
Daniels....B.......Complete player...Could be first backup...Need to find starter at SG.
Lance.....D......Stats,MPG/APG/RPG all down.(27 mil)?Not a starter ...Loner... Package with second round pick to move up in draft.
Maybe can move from 39 to 31 and pickup Robert Upshaw to replace Biz

MKG......A........2/3 point shots most improved in entire league, still lockdown defender..we need to build team around him.
JT.........B.......Good job fillin in at 2/3..much better than PJ...Attitude is now right..plays with heart similiar to MKG
Marvin.....B......Stats Good..Good 3 point shooter..plays defense well..Worth the Contract...Keeper

Cody.....C......Expected allot more this year,Needs more weight on upper body to protect against shoulder injury. Keep 1 more year.
Maxciel...A....Did what he was asked everytime on the floor. Keep and sign to 2 year contract
Vonleah...C.....Split time between him and Maxciel as Codys backup.

AL.......C-.....What a disappointment,Is now injury prone and should be backup..Try to draft Kaminsky or Turner at 9. Trade Al Now.
BIZ.......B.......RFA..Seems to be improving/Ball handling /FT%issues..Don't match offers...No takers sign him to 1 year deal.

[OmegaAtrocity]

Clifford: C-
He has poor rotations and cringe worthy offensive sets. Refuses to play young guys for guys like Maxiell. He is bumped up to C- because of how good we are at what he beats into our players heads (someone went into way more detail in some other thread)

Kemba: C
He had a fantastic January sandwiched with mediocre performances. He is what he is at this point, somewhere around the 15th best player at a loaded position.

Roberts: D
He does absolutely nothing well aside from free throw percentage. A ghost on the court.

Mo: B+
He came in and did a damn good job salvaging our season for a little while. He likes to get into chuck mode, but if he's the backup point/6th man like he should be, then I don't really have a problem with that. Kemba and Mo should never ever play together, but that's on Clifford not Mo.

Hendo: A
Commendable job by Gerald Henderson this season. He isn't starter material on a good team, but imagine the disaster of a team without him after Lance was horrible. I say we let him walk too, but props for a good season.

Lance: F
Truly a disaster.

PJ: C-
The only things he does is chuck and flop, hopefully he can in some way improve over the off season.

Daniels: Incomplete
He looked better against the Hawks last night than PJ has all season. Again, him not playing is on Clifford, but it's worth keeping him around for his salary next season.

MKG: A-
Nothing needs to be said, its A- because he missed a ton of games.

Jeff: D
Would be about a C before you factor in his arrest and suspension from earlier in the season. Another player that does nothing well, I hope he likes China.

Cody: B-
He was pretty damn good defensively, hopefully he can improve some more. But it appears we got a rotational player out of a horrific top of a draft class, so I'll take it.

Marv: C+
Would be a B- if he learned how to shoot a god damn 3 instead of having his feet on the line. He's pretty overpaid and overplayed, but that's not on him. Still, he's our best deep threat and he's very complacent to shoot 2 attempts per game.

Vonleh: Incomplete
He hasn't played enough for me to really have any opinion at all on him. Again, that's on Clifford.

Maxiell: A
Jason Maxiell gave 130% effort the whole time he was on the floor. He has serious limitations and should ideally be the 15th guy on your bench, but that's not on him.

Jefferson: D+
He gets the + because defenses still respected him enough to double him. His defense was worse than I ever thought possible, and he was frankly a super inefficient black hole on offense. Hopefully he opts out and moves on, but if not we have to bring him off the bench. He is a liability at this point in his career.

Biz: B-
I'm not as high on Biz as most Hornets fans, but he looked so much better than Jefferson all season. Hopefully we can sign him to a decent contract this summer, something like 4/28 is about all I'd go. I like him, but he's never going to be anything more than a good backup/spot starter imo.

Front office: C-
The rebrand went well, but that was a no brainer. Off season acquisitions all ended up poorly. Sigh, I fear they will blame this season on injuries and nothing more.

[Liver_Pooty]

Clifford: C-
He has poor rotations and cringe worthy offensive sets. Refuses to play young guys for guys like Maxiell. He is bumped up to C- because of how good we are at what he beats into our players heads (someone went into way more detail in some other thread)

Kemba: C
He had a fantastic January sandwiched with mediocre performances. He is what he is at this point, somewhere around the 15th best player at a loaded position.

Roberts: D
He does absolutely nothing well aside from free throw percentage. A ghost on the court.

Mo: B+
He came in and did a damn good job salvaging our season for a little while. He likes to get into chuck mode, but if he's the backup point/6th man like he should be, then I don't really have a problem with that. Kemba and Mo should never ever play together, but that's on Clifford not Mo.

Hendo: A
Commendable job by Gerald Henderson this season. He isn't starter material on a good team, but imagine the disaster of a team without him after Lance was horrible. I say we let him walk too, but props for a good season.

Lance: F
Truly a disaster.

PJ: C-
The only things he does is chuck and flop, hopefully he can in some way improve over the off season.

Daniels: Incomplete
He looked better against the Hawks last night than PJ has all season. Again, him not playing is on Clifford, but it's worth keeping him around for his salary next season.

MKG: A-
Nothing needs to be said, its A- because he missed a ton of games.

Jeff: D
Would be about a C before you factor in his arrest and suspension from earlier in the season. Another player that does nothing well, I hope he likes China.

Cody: B-
He was pretty damn good defensively, hopefully he can improve some more. But it appears we got a rotational player out of a horrific top of a draft class, so I'll take it.

Marv: C+
Would be a B- if he learned how to shoot a god damn 3 instead of having his feet on the line. He's pretty overpaid and overplayed, but that's not on him. Still, he's our best deep threat and he's very complacent to shoot 2 attempts per game.

Vonleh: Incomplete
He hasn't played enough for me to really have any opinion at all on him. Again, that's on Clifford.

Maxiell: A
Jason Maxiell gave 130% effort the whole time he was on the floor. He has serious limitations and should ideally be the 15th guy on your bench, but that's not on him.

Jefferson: D+
He gets the + because defenses still respected him enough to double him. His defense was worse than I ever thought possible, and he was frankly a super inefficient black hole on offense. Hopefully he opts out and moves on, but if not we have to bring him off the bench. He is a liability at this point in his career.

Biz: B-
I'm not as high on Biz as most Hornets fans, but he looked so much better than Jefferson all season. Hopefully we can sign him to a decent contract this summer, something like 4/28 is about all I'd go. I like him, but he's never going to be anything more than a good backup/spot starter imo.

Front office: C-
The rebrand went well, but that was a no brainer. Off season acquisitions all ended up poorly. Sigh, I fear they will blame this season on injuries and nothing more.

I can't give Henderson an A, probably a B, but other then that I can agree with everything else.

[OmegaAtrocity]

I can't give Henderson an A, probably a B, but other then that I can agree with everything else.

That's understandable, I just think Hendo has done a good job. Maybe I'm over grading him, but I really like the job he's done this season.

[JDR720]

MKG- A, our MVP and has made the most noticeable improvements of the core.
Kemba- C+, he needs to find out how to shoot above 40%
Rob- C-. had some good moments but he has been bad for the most part
Mo- B+, our best backup PG in a while in a slump recently but has been good overall.
Gerald- B, really bad start but has been good playing contract year Hendo
PJ- C-, rookie has had both good moments and bad moments
Daniels- Incomplete, hasn't played enough
Lance- F-, horrible at everything
Max- D+, pretty horrible but has had some good games
Biz- B, he is better than Al
Cody- B, pretty good had some slumps but overall he is solid
Al- D-, horrible defense as usual but even his offense sucks this year.
Vonleh- incomplete
JT- D, he sucks and was suspended for a month or two.
Marv- C+, he is overpaid but he has been decent

Clifford- D+, his offense is broke and his rotations/adjustments suck.

as far as who to keep, keep everyone on rookie deals, Kemba and Biz. let everyone else go.

[HornetJail]

MKG: A-
Biz: B
Cody: B
Kemba: B-
Mo: B-
Gerald: B-
Marvin: C
PJ: C-
Al: D+
Lance: D
Taylor: D
Maxiell: D
Roberts: D
Daniels: inc
Vonleh: inc

Clifford: C

[catch20two]

Everyone get a C, D, or F except for MKG and Biz for making some improvements whom I'll give both a B.

[fatlever]

Edit: I will be serious... hang on.

First grade is relative to the league / Second grade is relative to my expectations of each person coming into the season.

Cho: D/D
Clifford: D/F

Kemba: C/D (except December, A)
Jefferson: C/F
Henderson: C/C
MKG: B/A
Zeller: C/C
Marvin: D/D
Lance: F/F
Hairston: F/F
Roberts: F/D
Mo: C/B
Biyombo: C/B
Taylor: F/F
Max: F/C
Vonleh: F/F
Neal: F/F
Daniels: ?

regarding the 1st grade, MKG was really our only player that I would have considered better than average for his position compared to his peers.

regarding the 2nd grade, my expectations would be for a player to preform equal to my expectations of them, which would always start at a C for everyone. In that sense, only MKG, Biz, Max and Mo were better this year than I expected. Everyone else was either as I expected or worse.

[Liver_Pooty]

Cho: F
Clifford: F

Kemba: D (except December, A)
Jefferson: F
Henderson: D
MKG: B
Zeller: D
Marvin: F
Lance: F
Hairston: F
Roberts: F
Mo: D
Biyombo: D
Taylor: F
Max: F
Vonleh: F
Neal: F
Daniels: ?

Lol. I like it.

[fatlever]

Cho: F
Clifford: F

Kemba: D (except December, A)
Jefferson: F
Henderson: D
MKG: B
Zeller: D
Marvin: F
Lance: F
Hairston: F
Roberts: F
Mo: D
Biyombo: D
Taylor: F
Max: F
Vonleh: F
Neal: F
Daniels: ?

Lol. I like it.

I mean, really, they all deserve Fs. But I had to re-do it based on two grades, vs peers and vs my expectations. For example, Max sucked, but he was better than I expected.

[Liver_Pooty]

Not sure if this is the right thread for it, but Scott Fowler wrote a little piece today.

If I am the Hornets, I keep Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as integral pieces for the long term. But everyone else is expendable. This is a team that can’t shoot, can’t score, can’t draft well and can’t stay healthy.

If I am Michael Jordan, I give coach Steve Clifford and general manager Rich Cho one more chance to get it right. But both men should be in serious jeopardy if the Hornets slide in the wrong direction again.

I would draft a center with the first-round pick – Al Jefferson’s body is breaking down. I would find some actual shooters. And I would try to forget this lost season.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports ... rylink=cpy

[Liver_Pooty]

I think its hilarious that the Observer has to have someone that doesn't directly cover the team call out Clifford and Cho because Bonnell is too big of a pussy to do so himself.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Yeah, Fowler is certainly better than Bonnell, but it seems like all these guys are a bit out of touch.

"I would draft a center."

It's...not that simple.

[Liver_Pooty]

Yeah, Fowler is certainly better than Bonnell, but it seems like all these guys are a bit out of touch.

"I would draft a center."

It's...not that simple.

He should at least attach a name to it. If he would have mentioned Jakob Poeltl from Utah that would have been been miles better then just saying " id draft a center, blah blah"

[Eoghan]

MKG: A
The improvement on offense greatly exceeded my expectations, the defense nosedived in his absence again, and he's just about making Clifford look like a good coach with his lock down ability.

Biz: B-
He's actually shown some huge improvement and I'd grade him higher except he needs to play with a chip on his shoulder. Clifford's mandate of just rebound, defend and provide energy is stumping his offensive development. It's a (can't)catch 22 with Biz because he needs to be force-fed touches but you know it's going to be a train wreck early and often so it never happens.

Cody: B
The jumper seemed more consistent which is key but the added bulk really helped solidify him as a PF, without losing much if any quickness. Much improved defensive awareness. Also needs a chip on his shoulder.

Kemba: C-
I gotta be tough on Kemba. His supporting cast isn't ideal but he desperately needs to improve court vision and setting up teammates. One month of greatness doesn't override a season of mediocre to terrible inefficient shooting.

Mo: B-
He's a journeyman for a reason but was a good acquisition.

Gerald: D+
He actually put up decent numbers and played solid defense. He even flirted with taking short threes this year. Still plays like it's 1984. I pray he opts out even though I'd like him off the bench. I just know he'd find his way starting and doom us to mediocrity.

Marvin: D+
Dude got paid $14 M to make a three or two a game and suck at defense. Finished the season strong but was a ghost too much this season and the contract kills me.

PJ: Incomplete
Same PJ I've watched since high school. Minutes were too inconsistent to really grade him.

Al: F
We all knew this was coming but this season I'm actually objectively stating he's awful. Injury-prone Al is barely an NBA player.

Lance: F
I'm a Lance advocate but there's no denying how terrible he was. Maybe the injury bug got him, maybe bitchy resting face upset the locker room, I don't know but he knows and we know that this season was a catastrophic failure. Kemba and him mix like oil and water.

Taylor: F+
He was awful and he committed domestic abuse but on the bright side he seems rehabbed of his Achilles injury. That's something I guess.

Maxiell: D-
Was actually decent for an undersized center that thought he was going to rock a suit all year. Seemingly got fatter with more playing time earns his low marks.

Roberts: C
Not that bad but he's a bit player. Team was too big a mess for him to play his bit.

Daniels: inc

Vonleh: inc

Clifford: F
No, no, no. **** anybody that gives this guy anything higher than an F. Made the same mind boggling mistakes he did as a "rookie", played weird motivational mind games with players, constantly says one thing but does the other "small ball doesn't win." Couldn't substitute the right players if you drew him a map. Goes to the same barber as Rick Bonnell. I don't care if the players like him, they liked Mark Jackson's megalomaniacal ass too. Homeless man's Van Gundy ball sucks.

[JDR720]

Bonnell had an article today where he talked about the draft, he mentioned Hezonja and our need for shooting.

and i saw he retweeted Shams Charania (RealGMs NBA insider), i wonder if he has ever read this forum. maybe where he found Hezonja lol


Rick, if your reading this you get an F

[amcoolio]

I gotta agree with BrotherDave, I don't see how you can give Clifford anything higher than an F. He didn't adapt his system all year long and instead just tried to plug players into his system that didn't fit. His plan going into the season seriously was to plug in Marvin Williams in McRoberts' spot from last year's offense and make no changes. Seriously?

The Maxiell over Vonleh and Biz thing made no sense either. Vonleh and Biz were clearly superior the moment they set foot on the court. In turn, Clifford has damaged the values of Vonleh and Biz in terms of potential trades by making them look incompetent.

Our players have the lowest value of just about any team in the league besides the Knicks. Our players have horrible stats and we missed the playoffs pretty comfortably. That falls on Clifford. If we aren't going to make the playoffs, then our players need to at least appear competent statistically so they have at least some value. I really doubt Kemba fetches anything other than a late round pick, even if that. Look what the Suns gave away for Brandon Knight, I would take that in a heartbeat


I guess there is one positive, no one will overpay Biz now hopefully so we can resign him on a 4 year cheap deal.

[catch20two]

Not sure if this is the right thread for it, but Scott Fowler wrote a little piece today.

If I am the Hornets, I keep Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as integral pieces for the long term. But everyone else is expendable. This is a team that can’t shoot, can’t score, can’t draft well and can’t stay healthy.

If I am Michael Jordan, I give coach Steve Clifford and general manager Rich Cho one more chance to get it right. But both men should be in serious jeopardy if the Hornets slide in the wrong direction again.

I would draft a center with the first-round pick – Al Jefferson’s body is breaking down. I would find some actual shooters. And I would try to forget this lost season.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports ... rylink=cpy

That Fowler guy is a smart man. He hit the nail on the coffin of this dead team. Except that Kemba part, trade him for Ish Smith while we still can.

[fatlever]

Bonnell had an article today where he talked about the draft, he mentioned Hezonja and our need for shooting.

and i saw he retweeted Shams Charania (RealGMs NBA insider), i wonder if he has ever read this forum. maybe where he found Hezonja lol


Rick, if your reading this you get an F

I am positive rick knows realgm and this forum. anyone in the business of covering the NBA should be very aware of this site and the forums or else they should be fired. That being said, I am also positive that he isnt the type to spend any time reading forums.Hhe is old school and probably views this has just a bunch of misinformed, internet warriors, overreacted to everything that happens with the team. The only real information and discussion happens in the print, by trained journalists.

[fatlever]

That Fowler guy is a smart man. He hit the nail on the coffin of this dead team. Except that Kemba part, trade him for Ish Smith while we still can.

your act is very disappointing.