Greensboro Swarm: The G-League Thread

[fatlever]

Shorter Jeremy lamb.... just what I always wanted in a lotto pick.

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[luciano-davidwesley]

Yeah I've got a feeling we horribly f***ed up the draft this year. Kai is absolutely hopeless and Bouknight seems like an inefficient, undersized chucker.

[BurrellFor3]

This board is brutal. You guys are giving up on our two first round picks after what, a couple garbage minutes for the hornets, and two full swarm games? You guys all knew that Kai was a project with huge upside, yet you all complain about that now. And Bouk has effortlessly (literally) dropped 33 and 27 with solid boards/assists/steals to go with that, and you guys just want to rip on the dude. How good can Bouk and Kai possibly look on an absolutely miserable Swarm team?? Because that certainly isn’t doing them any favors in looking any better, since no one wants to pass, or is incapable of distributing and running any sort of an offense. Give them time, they will be developed. Be happy the hornets are so loaded that the rooks can’t crack the rotation yet.

In the meantime, try and enjoy the holidays you grumpy bastards!

[wilson115]

https://www.nba.com/hornets/press-releases/hornets-announce-basketball-operations-promotions

Guess ole Buzz was telling it like it is after all.

JUL 22, 2021

LaMelo is the latest in what's been a pretty solid run of draft picks in the three-plus seasons Mitch has been in charge. What is the reason in your mind for the increased success?

Larry Jordan is our director of player personnel, so he’s the guy in charge of it. So Larry, I’ve got to give Larry a lot of credit for staying on top of the scouts.

https://www.si.com/nba/hornets/news/buzz-peterson-q-a-charlotte-hornets-assistant-gm-on-evaluating-talent

[Chapelchilla]

This board is brutal. You guys are giving up on our two first round picks after what, a couple garbage minutes for the hornets, and two full swarm games? You guys all knew that Kai was a project with huge upside, yet you all complain about that now. And Bouk has effortlessly (literally) dropped 33 and 27 with solid boards/assists/steals to go with that, and you guys just want to rip on the dude. How good can Bouk and Kai possibly look on an absolutely miserable Swarm team?? Because that certainly isn’t doing them any favors in looking any better, since no one wants to pass, or is incapable of distributing and running any sort of an offense. Give them time, they will be developed. Be happy the hornets are so loaded that the rooks can’t crack the rotation yet.

In the meantime, try and enjoy the holidays you grumpy bastards!

I agree, many posters on here wrote Miles Bridges off too. He is too stiff, no D, can't shoot, a wasted pick!
These guys are still kids with small frames and little professional coaching. Wait til year 3 and we will see if they can play regularly then. Otherwise we should just draft seniors who have already pretty much topped out and be happy with that.

[Liver_Pooty]

This board is brutal. You guys are giving up on our two first round picks after what, a couple garbage minutes for the hornets, and two full swarm games? You guys all knew that Kai was a project with huge upside, yet you all complain about that now. And Bouk has effortlessly (literally) dropped 33 and 27 with solid boards/assists/steals to go with that, and you guys just want to rip on the dude. How good can Bouk and Kai possibly look on an absolutely miserable Swarm team?? Because that certainly isn’t doing them any favors in looking any better, since no one wants to pass, or is incapable of distributing and running any sort of an offense. Give them time, they will be developed. Be happy the hornets are so loaded that the rooks can’t crack the rotation yet.

In the meantime, try and enjoy the holidays you grumpy bastards!

Lol. I certainly hope you aren't referring to me.

[fatlever]

bouk... is -27 in 2 games that were close.
he has a -16 net rtg and a putrid 90 ortg.
all with a 30 usage rate
if the ball aint moving, we know why.

between summer league, preseason and gleague have we won a game when bouk played heavy minutes?

just let him thor, kai and scott hang with the swarm all season. they can all go 0-30 together.

re-evaluate them next training camp

[fatlever]

my anger at our offseason moves has nothing to do with how excited i am about for core of melo, miles, gordon and terry.

[luciano-davidwesley]

This board is brutal. You guys are giving up on our two first round picks after what, a couple garbage minutes for the hornets, and two full swarm games? You guys all knew that Kai was a project with huge upside, yet you all complain about that now. And Bouk has effortlessly (literally) dropped 33 and 27 with solid boards/assists/steals to go with that, and you guys just want to rip on the dude. How good can Bouk and Kai possibly look on an absolutely miserable Swarm team?? Because that certainly isn’t doing them any favors in looking any better, since no one wants to pass, or is incapable of distributing and running any sort of an offense. Give them time, they will be developed. Be happy the hornets are so loaded that the rooks can’t crack the rotation yet.

In the meantime, try and enjoy the holidays you grumpy bastards!

Respect for your last sentence haha but for the record I was never on board with either pick, particularly Kai Jones who was always a "but if he learns to play basketball he'll be great" type pick with some sexy dunks on the highlight reel. He's just simply an awful player that I don't see turning it around. I sure hope I'm wrong though.

I didn't HATE the Bouknight pick, was a bit underwhelmed moreso. I just thought Moses Moody and Jalen Johnson were more talented players that were available.

For a sophomore college player Bouknight's not very refined or NBA ready by the looks of things. I'd give him more leeway if he hadn't already played college ball for two seasons.

The good news is its still very early and hopefully this post ages horribly but I have no doubt a little buyers remorse is kicking in with Mitch at the moment and if he had his time over we would have gone in a different direction on draft night.

[JDR720]

LiAngelo has the best +/- on the team. + 5.8

Kai is at -17, Thor is at -8 and Bouknight is at -14. Carey is at -14. Lewis is at -3. Arnold is at 0.

https://stats.gleague.nba.com/team/1612709922/onoffcourt-traditional/?sort=PLUS_MINUS&dir=1

I'd still like to give LiAngelo a shot on the NBA team eventually. He just needs to figure out defense to be a respectable 3&D player. He plays hard and seems to be smart, I think he can do it. Arnold can be a 3pt specialist. Thor and Scottie can be 3&D players, Thor specifically can probably be a pretty high-end 3&D player.

And that brings me to why I'm not a fan of Bouknight and Kai.

Kai needs to figure out how to play basketball. He can't just run and dunk in the NBA, his defense is terrible and he's weak. He has no clear role on an NBA team. Bouknight puts up points, but he doesn't do anything else that leads to wins. He'll either be a good 6th man type or just another undersized scoring SG. Those players grow on trees.

They have high ceilings, especially Kai, but their floors are Monk & Vonleh levels bad.

[BigSlam]

LiAngelo is trash.

If we didn't already have Twin #1 in the top team I could see a role there for Scottie Lewis, but with Twin #1 already occupying that "hustle" role I'm not sure how Lewis would fit in.

And I think Kai has a much brighter future than Bouk does.

[wilson115]

So Dean wasn't too far off-the-mark then.

14. James Bouknight, 6’5 SG, UConn

And for such a high volume scorer, Bouknight seems better scoring off ball than with the ball, where his handle is somewhat limited and he is prone to playing out of control at times. Consequently, he averaged a poor 1.8 assists vs 2.8 turnovers as a 20 year old sophomore who turns 21 in September, and he may be unreliable as an on ball player in the NBA.

This makes him difficult to unpack, as he can still be useful as an off ball scorer who can space the floor, create in a pinch, and attack closeouts while not being a disaster on defense. But it is difficult to see where his upside to justify his #6 overall slot in the current mock comes from without his creation ability panning out, which seems like a dicey proposition right now.

45. Kai Jones, 6’11 PF, Texas

The problem is that he does not do big man things well, as he rebounds like a wing and protects the rim like a PF. He can’t be played at center defensively, and the traces of perimeter ability are not enough if he needs to be played as an oversized and underskilled wing.

https://deanondraft.com/2021/07/29/2021-final-big-board/

[BigSlam]

"Schofield goes down, looks like he might have slipped".

"Nope, looks like Jones might have hit him in the *stomach".

* = If by "stomach" you mean "balls..."

[Liver_Pooty]

"Schofield goes down, looks like he might have slipped".

"Nope, looks like Jones might have hit him in the *stomach".

* = If by "stomach" you mean "balls..."

Does Kai already have 3 fouls? Trying to keep up with both.

[BigSlam]

"Schofield goes down, looks like he might have slipped".

"Nope, looks like Jones might have hit him in the *stomach".

* = If by "stomach" you mean "balls..."

Does Kai already have 3 fouls? Trying to keep up with both.

Ya - his last one was a bad one.

Trailed the play, came down the middle, received the pass and drove but used his off arm to fend off the defender when he drove and spun. It was really sloppy and you could see it coming a mile away.

Bouk has looked much better tonight though. Although he still has a hard time beating defenders off the dribble.

[Roll Tide 09]

LiAngelo has the best +/- on the team. + 5.8

Kai is at -17, Thor is at -8 and Bouknight is at -14. Carey is at -14. Lewis is at -3. Arnold is at 0.

https://stats.gleague.nba.com/team/1612709922/onoffcourt-traditional/?sort=PLUS_MINUS&dir=1

I'd still like to give LiAngelo a shot on the NBA team eventually. He just needs to figure out defense to be a respectable 3&D player. He plays hard and seems to be smart, I think he can do it. Arnold can be a 3pt specialist. Thor and Scottie can be 3&D players, Thor specifically can probably be a pretty high-end 3&D player.

And that brings me to why I'm not a fan of Bouknight and Kai.

Kai needs to figure out how to play basketball. He can't just run and dunk in the NBA, his defense is terrible and he's weak. He has no clear role on an NBA team. Bouknight puts up points, but he doesn't do anything else that leads to wins. He'll either be a good 6th man type or just another undersized scoring SG. Those players grow on trees.

They have high ceilings, especially Kai, but their floors are Monk & Vonleh levels bad.

LiAngelo needs to shadow Cody Martin…and then he’ll crack the rotation with ease.


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[BigSlam]

"Schofield goes down, looks like he might have slipped".

"Nope, looks like Jones might have hit him in the *stomach".

* = If by "stomach" you mean "balls..."

Does Kai already have 3 fouls? Trying to keep up with both.

...Bouk has looked much better tonight though. Although he still has a hard time beating defenders off the dribble.

Just as I posted this Bouk made a terrible, lazy looking drive where he couldn't beat his much, much bigger and slower defender off the dribble so Bouk just floated right going away from the hoop and launched some ugly looking sweeping hook layp up hook shot looking thing that makes Plumdog's hook shots look like prime Hakeem.

[Liver_Pooty]

Does Kai already have 3 fouls? Trying to keep up with both.

...Bouk has looked much better tonight though. Although he still has a hard time beating defenders off the dribble.

Just as I posted this Bouk made a terrible, lazy looking drive where he couldn't beat his much, much bigger and slower defender off the dribble so Bouk just floated right going away from the hoop and launched some ugly looking sweeping hook layp up hook shot looking thing that makes Plumdog's hook shots look like prime Hakeem.

Does Kai look like he's gained any mass?

[BigSlam]

...Bouk has looked much better tonight though. Although he still has a hard time beating defenders off the dribble.

Just as I posted this Bouk made a terrible, lazy looking drive where he couldn't beat his much, much bigger and slower defender off the dribble so Bouk just floated right going away from the hoop and launched some ugly looking sweeping hook layp up hook shot looking thing that makes Plumdog's hook shots look like prime Hakeem.

Does Kai look like he's gained any mass?

Arms look more defined.

Legs are still toothpicks though.

Sure can get up in a hurry though. I've watched every Swarm game this year and in every game, at least once, Kai will catch the ball in the paint and explodes up through traffic and dunks hard. He's not scared to finish in traffic - and can do it super quickly.

Something I'm not sure the modern Hornets have ever had in a player.

[BigSlam]

What a crazy game.

Familiar outcome though: Swarm lost.

*And lost after being down by 2pts and Bouknight not being able to beat his man one on one, from the top of the arc, with 16 secs left on the clock, on a iso, trying to take him off the dribble but not being able to, evaporating the clock while he was trying to do something (but not being able to do anything) and his defender stripping the ball from him.....easily,