Rookie Play, Highlights & Discussion

[Trey24]

Hornets had an ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL stretch of games from pretty much 1st of January to the all star break. It was a minor miracle that they were hovering around .500 at the break.

Schedule has been easier since. They overachiever a little, but the difference is obvious. Lamelo does impact winning, and there's no doubt in my mind that with a healthy Lamelo and Hayward, the Hornets would currently be 4th in the east.

But yes please compare records straight up with 0 context.

I think we were top 5 in pace with Lamelo and now we can't score more than 100 pts in a game at all. But yes Lamelo doesn't impact winning......... .......

Using straight up record to come to that conclusion is lazy. All of the advanced stats (which are overrated and overused) suggest that he DOES impact winning, eye test proves Hornets are in a totally different stratosphere ON COURT when Lamelo plays.

[GoBobs]

The best way to compare LaMelo and Edwards is to look at the stats on per 36 min to account in the difference in min played (31 for edwards, 28.6 for LaMelo) and then look at the ts% and the 3pt%.

Both players started slow and then got a lot better as the season went forward. Neither guy is a defensive standout at this point, but both can do some things on that end.

Edwards 21 pts 5 reb 3.1 ast 1.3 stl 2.4 turnovers, 50% ts 32% 3pt

LaMelo 20 pts 7.4 reb 7.7 ast 2 stl 3.5 turnovers, 56% ts 37.5% 3pt

LaMelo has an advantage in reb, ast, stl, ts% and 3pt%. Overall pts are very close, and blocks are about the same.

[TheZachAttack]

Hornets had an ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL stretch of games from pretty much 1st of January to the all star break. It was a minor miracle that they were hovering around .500 at the break.

Schedule has been easier since. They overachiever a little, but the difference is obvious. Lamelo does impact winning, and there's no doubt in my mind that with a healthy Lamelo and Hayward, the Hornets would currently be 4th in the east.

But yes please compare records straight up with 0 context.

I think we were top 5 in pace with Lamelo and now we can't score more than 100 pts in a game at all. But yes Lamelo doesn't impact winning......... .......

Using straight up record to come to that conclusion is lazy. All of the advanced stats (which are overrated and overused) suggest that he DOES impact winning, eye test proves Hornets are in a totally different stratosphere ON COURT when Lamelo plays.

You can do a lot of things and build nuance, but the fact of the matter is that the Hornets might play different but the totality of the result isn't meaningfully different at this point. It seems like Lamelo is an impactful player though, so we'll see going forward.

[TheZachAttack]

The best way to compare LaMelo and Edwards is to look at the stats on per 36 min to account in the difference in min played (31 for edwards, 28.6 for LaMelo) and then look at the ts% and the 3pt%.

Both players started slow and then got a lot better as the season went forward. Neither guy is a defensive standout at this point, but both can do some things on that end.

Edwards 21 pts 5 reb 3.1 ast 1.3 stl 2.4 turnovers, 50% ts 32% 3pt

LaMelo 20 pts 7.4 reb 7.7 ast 2 stl 3.5 turnovers, 56% ts 37.5% 3pt

LaMelo has an advantage in reb, ast, stl, ts% and 3pt%. Overall pts are very close, and blocks are about the same.

I don't think this is the most impactful way to compare the two players. It depends on how much you've been paying attention but Edwards has been a different player at different points this season. A lot of that has to do with having Towns in the lineup to pull opposing rim defenders away from the rim and a coach in Finch who can put players in the best spot to succeed. Edwards with those two things has been a very different player.

I think it's a fair comparision because Lamelo has played with a healthy and decently talented Hornets lineup. If you don't let Lamelo play with Hayward, Graham, and Rozier his stats might look different--which is essentially how Edwards started the season.

[Young gun 6]

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[MotownMadness]

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Can't even see half of them cause they're all on top of each other

[SNPA]

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This isn’t far to Tyrese. His defense takes such a hit because of the Kings being so terrible.

[GoBobs]

The best way to compare LaMelo and Edwards is to look at the stats on per 36 min to account in the difference in min played (31 for edwards, 28.6 for LaMelo) and then look at the ts% and the 3pt%.

Both players started slow and then got a lot better as the season went forward. Neither guy is a defensive standout at this point, but both can do some things on that end.

Edwards 21 pts 5 reb 3.1 ast 1.3 stl 2.4 turnovers, 50% ts 32% 3pt


LaMelo 20 pts 7.4 reb 7.7 ast 2 stl 3.5 turnovers, 56% ts 37.5% 3pt

LaMelo has an advantage in reb, ast, stl, ts% and 3pt%. Overall pts are very close, and blocks are about the same.

I don't think this is the most impactful way to compare the two players. It depends on how much you've been paying attention but Edwards has been a different player at different points this season. A lot of that has to do with having Towns in the lineup to pull opposing rim defenders away from the rim and a coach in Finch who can put players in the best spot to succeed. Edwards with those two things has been a very different player.

I think it's a fair comparision because Lamelo has played with a healthy and decently talented Hornets lineup. If you don't let Lamelo play with Hayward, Graham, and Rozier his stats might look different--which is essentially how Edwards started the season.

Even if you just look at Edwards after all star stats 23 pts 4.8 reb 2.9 ast 1.5 stls 43% from the floor 34% from three

Very good stats for a 19 yr old rookie. It is good scoring volume on average efficiency.

LaMelo is good scoring volume, better efficiency than Edwards, elite rebounding for a guard and elite passing. He is in a different class than Edwards.

[_AIJ_]

The hate on edwards is unreal. Have you seen the Wolves roster compared to the kings and hornets? Either you guys dont know **** or just plain haters

[GSP]

Payton Pritchard will have the last laugh.......

[KIRAG]

Payton Pritchard will have the last laugh.......

P Rabbit should definitely be at least in the 2nd NBA All Rookie

[Trey24]

The hate on edwards is unreal. Have you seen the Wolves roster compared to the kings and hornets? Either you guys dont know **** or just plain haters

Role player-wise, you guys are pretty talent bare, but KAT alone makes it so Edwards has a much easier life than otherwise..

Big difference between a bad roster and a roster with little talent. You guys have a bad roster, but have many talented players at the top.

Also, I don't hear anymore of the totally and completely baseless Chris Finch hate. Anthony Edwards has him to thank as much as himself for his improved play.

I like Edwards a ton, I haven't seen many people saying anything really that negative about him since his second half surge. With that being said, if Lamelo comes back and picks up where he left off, and the Hornets secure a playoff spot, Lamelo will be ROY.

Finally, Edwards has been the garbage time king this season. There are many games where he would have an atrocious game, then get to play the 4th against end of bench guys and get more respectable numbers in otherwise meaningless minutes. Ball has had no garbage time minutes to speak of. All of his stats are impacting wins and losses.

Edwards has been the second best rook this season, although his longevity should be praised. Lamelo didn't miss a game until his wrist injury.

[Roll Tide 09]

Anthony Edwards will be a great player...probably a Star, but this year belongs to LaMelo Ball. Period.

[Big J]

The best ability is availability, and Lamelo has missed too many games. Ant has passed him at this point.

[theGreatRC]

Lamelo has consistently done it all year while healthy, Ant has picked up his game big time after a slow start. I think if Melo can pick up where he left off, he wins it unless Ant does something insane to end the year to keep that in the voter's minds (maybe something like X games in a row of blah blah stats)

Both will be great players.

[Klomp]

I know we all wish we could see him put up these performances in wins against good teams and more specifically good defenses, but this will have to do for now....

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[peZt]

Just too big, too strong, too fast. How can anyone watch this and think "meh"? Sure he is not the most efficient player, not the best defender. But he's also a 19 year old rookie. What do people expect? But the glimpses he shows display absolute superstar potential. Give him a couple of years and it's over.
I like LaMelo equally. Two superstars. Great draft, and people said it was trash

[Klomp]

I like LaMelo equally. Two superstars. Great draft, and people said it was trash

To be fair, even trash drafts can produce good players. 2013 still produced Giannis.

But yes, people seemed to be pretty wrong about this class as a whole.

[life_saver]

I have been fairly critical of Ant's efficiency previously but he has significantly improved in that aspect over the season. He still takes some needless pull-up 3's but he has definitely cut down number of bad shots he takes. His EFG% has been 50% since Finch took over (across 28 games). His EFG% before Finch was around 44%. Another noticeable change is him getting to FT line more often...he used to have only 2 FTA per game...since Finch took over, he is averaging 5FTA per game.

[Klomp]

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