The Charlotte Hornets are teetering. They’ve gone 1-6 over their past seven games and have begun to slide back toward irrelevancy — again — in the Eastern Conference.
It’s time to shake things up.
It’s time to start LaMelo Ball.
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This might seem counter-intuitive, and the Hornets apparently have no plans to do it. It’s true that Devonte Graham has actually been playing better as the starting point guard recently and Ball, the Charlotte rookie and the NBA’s No. 3 overall draft pick in 2020, has come down off that triple-double peak he reached Jan. 9.
But what’s happening now for the Hornets, as a team, isn’t working.
Starting Ball at point guard after he’s come off the bench for the first 18 games of his NBA career may allow the Hornets’ first unit to stop getting so far behind in first quarters. And in the meantime, Graham would be a heck of a sixth man.
In the fourth quarter, you simply play whichever one of those guys is playing better, with Terry Rozier at shooting guard. If they’re both playing great, go with a three-guard lineup. And if none of that works, then do something else.
Ball don’t lie, as the saying goes, and in this case, a couple of NBA starts for LaMelo doesn’t mean he then gets to start the final 54 games. If starting the rookie leads to some blowout losses, then it’s back to the bench.
But Charlotte has to try something new, something more radical than not playing the Martin twins or starting Cody Zeller over Bismack Biyombo (two moves that Charlotte coach James Borrego made Wednesday night in the Hornets’ latest loss).
The Hornets have played a quarter of their 72-game season. They are 7-11, which after Wednesday night’s 116-106 loss to Indiana placed them in a tie for 11th in the Eastern Conference.
The good news this season is that the Hornets clearly have an established No. 1 player again, as they once did when Kemba Walker was around. New acquisition Gordon Hayward has been playing at an all-star caliber, averaging 23.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
“He’s been everything we could have imagined and more,” Borrego said.
Other NBA teams know that, though, and are determined to take away Hayward and make other Hornets players try to beat them. The Pacers will undoubtedly do that again Friday night at Spectrum Center since it worked so well for them Wednesday. Hayward scored a modest 16 points Wednesday, including just 4 in the second half, while grinding through another 40 minutes (too many, really, but that’s another story).
“The way he’s playing, teams are going to tilt their defense toward him,” Borrego said of Hayward. “You know that. He knows that. … We can’t rely on Gordon every single night to carry us for 35-40 points. Other people have to step up.”
What does that have to do with Ball? A lot.
Of all the players on the roster, the 19-year-old Ball has the most untapped potential. Hayward, who has played with and against every NBA star, said Thursday of Ball: “He has that ‘it’ factor. He seems to have the same type of feel as a Russ (Westbrook), as a Luka (Doncic), where they’re just around the ball. They somehow get around the ball to make plays, to get rebounds, to just be in the right spot at the right time.”
Start Ball on Friday night and maybe Charlotte won’t be down 17 at the end of the first quarter, as it was Wednesday.
It’s no sure cure. Ball played the second half that first quarter Wednesday off the bench and didn’t do much. I know plus-minus is a stat dependent on a number of factors, but Ball was a horrendous minus-24 on Wednesday. Every time he came in, the Pacers immediately went on a scoring spree. It wasn’t all his fault, but it’s also no secret that he’s no defensive stopper.
However, Ball is a playmaker, and he does some things in that capacity that Graham can’t do and won’t ever do. Ball’s defense is getting a little better and, really, what do the Hornets have to lose? A few more games?
You don’t even have to alter playing time significantly. Graham played 35 minutes Wednesday night and Ball played 22. Get those numbers closer to even, but it’s not like you suddenly don’t use Graham at all. Graham is a better pure shooter than Ball and also has a better grasp of what Borrego wants defensively.
Still, this is a results-oriented business, and the Hornets’ results haven’t been good for the past two weeks.
Borrego said Thursday afternoon he has no plans for any more starting lineup changes, citing the need to incorporate the returning-from-injury Zeller back into the starting group first.
“I’ve got to get a sample size out of that group now,” Borrego said, referring to the current starting five of Hayward-Zeller-Graham-Rozier-P.J. Washington. “Let’s see what happens out of the starting unit for the next few games. Obviously, if I need to make a change there, I will.”
I’ve been critical of Ball in the past, and in fact wanted Charlotte to trade up and draft James Wiseman at No. 2 instead of Ball at No. 3. But that’s history, and this is where the Hornets are now. They have a talented rookie who’s playing better than I thought he would and who needs to learn. And they have a team that’s faltering.
Put that rookie in the starting lineup, at least for a couple of games. I’d do it immediately, but Borrego should at least do it soon.
Give it a look. See how it goes. Ball is going to need to start eventually.
Why not now?
