Basketball is Here - Game 1 of Pre-season on Monday

[fatlever]

I fear Clifford has a Dwight Howard sized blind-spot in his coaching philosophy

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

I think we all knew that this was likely from the Big Al days.

It's still possible that injures force him into doing something different, whether that's bringing Dwight off the bench or starting someone other than MKG.

[fatlever]

Frank needs to delete this move from his repertoire

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[WestCoastBadger]

I fear Clifford has a Dwight Howard sized blind-spot in his coaching philosophy

I've only been a casual fan for the past two seasons as I followed my fellow Badger, Kaminsky, into the NBA. But, one thing about the Hornets always sticks out to me. I just don't see Clifford as a very good coach overall. Defensively I think he has shown to be pretty damn good. But, it is a different story when it comes to watching the Hornets with the ball in their hands. I don't think the free-flowing, fast-paced offense of this era fits Clifford very well. It seems like he is trying to implement something he just doesn't have a grasp of or the real desire or ability to teach. To me, he appears to be much more comfortable and proficient utilizing an old school big man centric offense. It showed with Jefferson on the team and I think bringing Howard to the team shows it again. There is good talent on the team. The Hornets have speed and shooting and playmaking all over the floor. But I just can't see Clifford using it properly. He has instilled good defense in the current players but the team needs a coaching upgrade at this point to take the next step.

Hornets fans seem to be so firm in supporting the coach. Does no one else see this? Admittedly I don't get to watch all the time being in CA. Am I missing something? I think the team has gotten as far as they can without a coaching change. This isn't a strange concept. The Warriors were loaded with talent and had defense drilled into them by Mark Jackson. But, it took a next step coach to bring their offense talent to the fore and excel in the league. They would have never reached their potential with Jackson at the helm.

[yosemiteben]

I'll give Cliff two more preseason games before I say Dwight won't work.

[Mystical Apples]

Thought you guys looked good outside of Howard. Just don't pass him the ball and it could work out. Zeller is obviously the better option and hopefully the addition can save him some.

And tricky defensive coverages against 5's with perimeter skills, like the noticeable difference when Horford slid up. In that way Miami and Charlotte are in somewhat similar situations -- guessing the best lineup combinations for both will exclude their starting center, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if minutes are distributed accordingly.

Difference being Miami has versatile size/length everywhere 1-3...... no pressure MCW.

[Bassman]

Agree it will take some games to see how Dwight meshes with this team. My biggest concern is with hyphen. MKG is just not progressing. I know it's one game, and he deserves more time in. But I think he's hit his ceiling. He doesn't fit in the starting group. Prefer we get Monk or Lamb up to speed quick to start with Batum sliding to the 3. MKG can bring his talents to the reserves, pairing with Cody and whomever to hold the fort until the scorers return.

[Braggins]

I'm hoping that the defensive potential of our starting lineup with Howard + MKG will mitigate the offensive issues. I feel like that starting lineup should play top 5 level defense. I also expect them to play bottom 15 level offense, but hopefully its closer to to the 15-20 range than being outright terrible.

I'm also hoping that at some point in his tenure here that Howard realizes that this is definitely his last chance to get his **** together, or else his next contract is going to be a near minimum level deal to be a backup, or possibly just a big body bench scrub. If he still can't get it through his head at this point that he isn't a low post scorer and he should just be a screener/roller then his career is pretty much dead.

[Braggins]

Agree it will take some games to see how Dwight meshes with this team. My biggest concern is with hyphen. MKG is just not progressing. I know it's one game, and he deserves more time in. But I think he's hit his ceiling. He doesn't fit in the starting group. Prefer we get Monk or Lamb up to speed quick to start with Batum sliding to the 3. MKG can bring his talents to the reserves, pairing with Cody and whomever to hold the fort until the scorers return.

I often find myself wondering whether that stretch of games he had in the Jeremy Lin season was just a mirage, or if our 80's minded coaching staff may have somewhat sabotaged his career by letting him play and re-injure his obviously not fully healed shoulder (hes looked like a completely different player since the 2nd shoulder injury). It still irritates me that coaching staff and front office put him at risk like that just to make a run for a low playoff seed. Yes, I know it worked and we went on pretty miraculous run and ended up winning 48 games, but was it really worth it if that injury actually is a significant factor in MKG never reaching his potential?

[catch20two]

Where’s the Lamb highlights?

[Radu_Hornets]

Frank needs to delete this move from his repertoire

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I mean, he can do it, but he needs to be closer to the basket.
Actually I think he believed he was closer to the basket when he started his shooting motion.

[geraldwallace]

It's only preseason. It's only preseason. It's only preseason...

[caliban]

Thought you guys looked good outside of Howard. Just don't pass him the ball and it could work out. Zeller is obviously the better option and hopefully the addition can save him some.

And tricky defensive coverages against 5's with perimeter skills, like the noticeable difference when Horford slid up. In that way Miami and Charlotte are in somewhat similar situations -- guessing the best lineup combinations for both will exclude their starting center, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if minutes are distributed accordingly.

Difference being Miami has versatile size/length everywhere 1-3...... no pressure MCW.

Yea it will be interesting to see what happen with MIA's Center position going forward as well as yours. Spo is obviously well versed in 5 out offenses already and hedging bigs has been a staple until Whiteside.

With the defensive similarities of the teams I saw something a bit surprising yesterday on the other side on the floor when scrolling through b-r in a break. Heat has the highest %3PA rate from the corner which I was aware of but that CHO was last was very strange to me considering Clifford being good at numerical defensive priorities.

[amcoolio]

Not worried, it was clear they didn't plan anything and Howard+Kaminsky were trying new things

What was more concerning is Marvin Williams looks as useless as ever and MKG still has trouble finishing. We are going to need to sort out that 3-4 position before the playoffs.

Crunch time its looking like Kaminsky will be in instead of Marvin and Lamb or Monk in instead of MKG (and sometimes Zeller in for Dwight depending on matchup). But we can't get off to terrible starts again becuase MKG/Marvin both offer ZERO offense.

[Mystical Apples]

Thought you guys looked good outside of Howard. Just don't pass him the ball and it could work out. Zeller is obviously the better option and hopefully the addition can save him some.

And tricky defensive coverages against 5's with perimeter skills, like the noticeable difference when Horford slid up. In that way Miami and Charlotte are in somewhat similar situations -- guessing the best lineup combinations for both will exclude their starting center, which isn't necessarily a bad thing if minutes are distributed accordingly.

Difference being Miami has versatile size/length everywhere 1-3...... no pressure MCW.

Yea it will be interesting to see what happen with MIA's Center position going forward as well as yours. Spo is obviously well versed in 5 out offenses already and hedging bigs has been a staple until Whiteside.

With the defensive similarities of the teams I saw something a bit surprising yesterday on the other side on the floor when scrolling through b-r in a break. Heat has the highest %3PA rate from the corner which I was aware of but that CHO was last was very strange to me considering Clifford being good at numerical defensive priorities.

Guessing the primary reasons for the 3PAr differential is a combination of Charlotte's DREB by committee philosophy, offensive transition (frequency + efficiency), and halfcourt playmaking generation. The Hornets movement offense is surprisingly efficient but almost none is predicated on 1-v-1 playmaking. And whereas Miami's attacking wings force help off the corners (or transition cross-matches), CHA has MKG cutting off the corner.

Really, I think the correlation is wing/frontcourt attackers forcing defensive rotations without needing a screener. And of course corner shooters.