4 burning questions for the next Hornets coach, including how best to use Malik Monk

The Charlotte Hornets have a whole new basketball operation. But that new staff inherits most of an old roster full of pre-existing issues.

New general manager Mitch Kupchak fired head coach Steve Clifford April 13, and much of the basketball support staff – from medical personnel to strength-and-conditioning specialists – were also let go.

However, the vast majority of the players who went 36-46 are still under guaranteed contract. Kupchak is scheduled to start interviewing candidates to replace Clifford this week, including San Antonio Spurs lead assistant Ettore Messina, who oversaw the Spurs in playoff games while Gregg Popovich mourned the death of his wife, Erin.

With 11 players under guaranteed contracts for the 2018-19 season, including six making $12 million or more, it will be hugely difficult for Kupchak to make over the roster on the quick. So whoever replaces Clifford will likely have to make the best of the current player mix.

With that in mind, here are some burning questions sure to come up in those job interviews.

How to blend Kemba Walker and Malik Monk?

Walker is a two-time All-Star point guard, having completed his seventh NBA season. Monk was the 11th overall pick in the 2017 draft. Monk played limited minutes until the last six games of the season, after the Hornets were eliminated from playoff contention. In those six games, he averaged 19.8 points on 47 percent shooting and 4.2 assists.

However, for Monk's entire rookie season, there were counter-indicators: notably, a net minus-12.2 net rating for the season when he was on or off the court for the Hornets. All rookies struggle with the huge adjustment from college to NBA basketball, and Monk turned pro at 19 after a single season at Kentucky. However, his performance defensively and as a ball handler in November and December pushed him out of the rotation for long stretches.

The key question going forward: How best to use Monk’s gift for scoring relative to Walker’s strengths and weaknesses? Walker is one of the smaller starting point guards in the NBA at 6-1. Can he be paired effectively with Monk, who at 6-3 is small for a shooting guard and who isn’t particularly long-limbed or strong for his position?

The Portland Trail Blazers were swept 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs by the lower-seeded New Orleans Pelicans. The Blazers' backcourt is their strength, but starting guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum both being 6-3 certainly appeared to hinder Portland against the Pelicans’ bigger, brawnier guards.

Would Walker and Monk be so dynamic offensively that the next coach could live with this obvious size disadvantage versus most NBA backcourts? If not, then can Monk evolve into an effective enough point guard to have impact at both guard spots off the bench?

How to draw the best from Dwight Howard?

Statistically, center Howard had a fine 14th season, averaging 17.4 points, 12.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. But those numbers didn’t tell the whole story.

Howard led the NBA in technical fouls with 17. He committed more than 50 offensive fouls and eight defensive three-second violations, both hovering at the peak of those categories.

What Howard had always done best – rebounding and rim protection – he still excels at this late in his career. But as age has reduced his athleticism, the NBA has evolved toward more offensively versatile big men, who can score all over the court. Opponents constantly place Howard in high pick-and-rolls that force him to guard big men with shooting range, such as Karl-Anthony Towns or Joel Embiid, outside the lane.

Also, Howard isn’t so efficient posting up that teams have to constantly double-team him with the ball. He still shoots a high field-goal percentage, but that doesn’t always translate to efficient team offense, particularly since it’s always an option to foul a player who shoots 57 percent from the free-throw line.

The next coach won’t have the long history with Howard that Clifford did, from their time together in Orlando and Los Angeles. Managing Howard is a big part of this job, with him making about $24 million next season.

How to resurrect Nic Batum?

Here’s your odd stat of the day: Batum, the Hornets’ starting shooting guard last season, was an exact zero in net rating for the 64 games he played (and started) last season. In other words, in the 1,975 minutes Batum played, the Hornets neither outscored, nor were outscored by, their opponents.

That’s certainly not the impact you expect from a player who is owed about $75 million guaranteed over the next three seasons. It’s not Batum’s fault if the Hornets overpaid for his services when he signed a five-year, $120 million contract. But it’s certainly the next coach’s problem to figure out how he can more positively impact the bottom line.

Circumstance hurt Batum’s performance last season: He tore a ligament in his left elbow in the preseason that not only cost him the first 12 games of the regular season but impeded his blending with Howard offensively. Walker might be this team’s point guard, but Batum is the Hornets’ top ball-mover and facilitator. He and Howard didn’t click, and that was a season-long issue.

Batum was generally worse statistically, reduced in points, rebounds and assists, but here’s a telling one: His free-throw attempts plummeted from a foul shot for every 9.2 minutes in 2016-17 to one for every 15.2 minutes in 2017-18. To me, that says two things: He had the ball a lot less last season (reducing his playmaking), and opponents were less fearful of him breaking them down (hence, less fouling).

However he is used — shooting guard or small forward, starter or reserve – Batum is far too skilled to repeat as having so little impact.

How to fix shot selection?

The three most efficient places to score on a basketball court: the foul line, the rim and the 3-point line. The least efficient place to score: the guarded 2-point shot.

Last season's Hornets led the NBA in free throws (27 per game), but otherwise, their shot selection wasn’t particularly efficient. They took the ninth-most 2-point shots in a 30-team league yet were 27th in 2-point percentage at 48.7 percent. That would seemingly lead to a lot of close losses, which was the Hornets' pattern in missing the playoffs the past two seasons.

Part of that issue is starting a small forward in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who made no 3's last season and attempted only two. While Kidd-Gilchrist made 69 percent of his shots within 3 feet of the rim, his field-goal percentage fell dramatically from beyond there to well below .500 between 3 feet and the 3-point line.

The next coach must decide how much Kidd-Gilchrist’s defense makes up for that shooting deficiency, as far as how much and when he plays. Also, how others’ 3-point percentage (Batum, Monk, Jeremy Lamb and Dwayne Bacon) will affect their playing time going forward.

This story was originally published April 22, 2018 at 10:50 PM with the headline "4 burning questions for the next Hornets coach, including how best to use Malik Monk."