Charlotte’s newly re-signed point guard has a nice stroke and a “clutch” reputation, but he’s a career 31.8 percent shooter from deep struggling badly this season. Note Stephen Curry barely guarding Walker. That’s Gerald Henderson squeezing a pass to Jefferson on a left-side pick-and-roll. Charlotte’s offense is in clogged toilet mode, leaving Jefferson and the team’s ball handlers to navigate a thicket of bodies just to approach the dotted line:
Opposing defenses know that Stephenson won’t pull from deep, and they’ve taken an extra step or so away from him when he doesn’t have the ball. He’s clanking almost every pull-up jumper on the pick-and-roll, which means that when Stephenson can’t get all the way to the cup, he’s a borderline liability. He passes up open 3s, choosing instead to whip out an array of fancy crossovers and behind-the-back jobs that go nowhere. Stephenson’s drive-and-dish game has opened up good looks for teammates, but his shooting issues have outweighed his bursts of productive creativity. He’s shooting just 37 percent overall and a ghastly 7-of-38 from deep. Charlotte ranks 27th in points per 100 possessions, and Stephenson has been a train wreck. Stephenson didn’t promise to solve Charlotte’s fatal spacing issues, but with Indiana he was an average 3-point shooter and a bullying rim attacker on the pick-and-roll. The 2013-14 version of that offense didn’t really have a third leg - a creative off-the-dribble threat waiting on the weak side when smart defenses snuffed out the good stuff. The Hornets viewed Stephenson as a dose of perimeter dynamism for a plodding offense built around Walker’s pick-and-roll work and Professor Al’s post-up trickery.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS ROSTER 2014 2015 FREE
Free agents signed this past offseason can’t be traded until December 15, and few would be surprised if the Hornets make and take calls on Lance Stephenson ahead of that trigger date. The Hornets are searching for upgrades on the wing and at power forward, per those sources, and they are willing to talk turkey on basically anyone other than Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson.
The Hornets have been aggressive making trade calls, according to sources across the league. Things will get better, even with Charlotte’s bricky offense and a once-stout defense that has sprung gaping holes in all the wrong places.Ģ.
But the Hornets have played the second-toughest schedule of any Eastern Conference team, with a four-game West Coast road trip and a bunch of home dates against Western Conference heavyweights already in the rearview. Any roster sitting at 4-14 would be toast in the West, save for the very unique situation in which an injury-depleted contender reincorporates two of the league’s 10 best players. But fans who expected a leap forward upon the return of the teal can take solace in two things:ġ.
0 kommentar(er)
