LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward give Hornets something they need ... but 23 turnovers?!
Gordon Hayward reminded himself just how new all this is — not just for him, but for all the other Charlotte Hornets.
That’s not an excuse for 23 turnovers, which is awful even for a first preseason game. However, it did provide some context to a 111-100 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Free agent Hayward and rookie LaMelo Ball are new components of huge importance. The team they joined hadn’t played in nine months and were a week into training camp. So what happened in the second and third quarters — “messiness and sloppiness” in the words of coach James Borrego — is fixable.
It’s imperative that happens because for the Hornets to sniff the playoffs, they can’t afford this scattered personality. As Borrego said, they must be a “possessions team,” as in value control of the ball because they won’t just bowl over opponents on talent.
That is a big ask: Borrego wants to up the pace — the Hornets were last in the NBA in possessions per game last season at 99.8 — without becoming frantic as they were in the second and third quarters, giving away the ball 12 times.
Guard Terry Rozier described this problem particularly well.
“I was always taught, ‘Play fast, but don’t hurry,’ ” Rozier said. “Play fast, play engaged, but you never want somebody to speed you up. I think they (the Raptors) sped us up, instead of us relaxing and spacing out the floor.
“We were too bunched-up and playing (overly) fast. We were passing the ball and they were deflecting. That’s what they do, that’s the type of team we’re trying to get to” be.
Some good for the Hornets
Understand, this wasn’t an awful first night in what was essentially a rehearsal. The Hornets started out great, shooting 71% in the first quarter to build as much as a 19-point lead.
There were certainly glimpses of why Ball was worthy of the No. 3 overall draft pick. The 6-foot-7 guard finished with 10 rebounds and four assists, playing 16 minutes off the bench. He also went scoreless, missing all five of his shots, and committed four turnovers.
Some of his passes were breathtaking:
▪ A blind toss behind his head to center Cody Zeller on a pick-and-roll.
▪ A one-handed length-of-court connection to center Bismack Biyombo for a transition basket.
▪ An across-the-lane, behind-the-back pass to Biyombo for a dunk.
There is obvious showmanship in Ball’s passing, but it’s not reckless. He draws defensive attention, knows where teammates are, and finds them. As Borrego said last week, you better have your head up and your hands ready, because Ball will send the ball your way.
Hayward’s game is less spectacular but very efficient. He made 4 of 8 shots for 11 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 20 minutes. One of those assists was a simple pass to Biyombo in the post, but it was set up by reading the defense off the dribble at mid-range. The Hornets didn’t have anyone last season with all those skills — dribbling, court vision and mid-range pull-ups — in Hayward’s proficiency.
‘Gassed’
It was an entertaining first eight minutes, when the Hornets built a 25-6 lead, but it also was as if they exhausted all their energy in a single quarter.
“I think we got gassed, to be honest. To play at this pace, you’ve got to be in shape, and we’re just not there yet,” Borrego said. “I felt us, in that second quarter, really run out of gas. But that’s no excuse.”
That’s the tone Ball set postgame, too.
“Not well,” he said, when asked to assess his performance. “Whenever we lose, I don’t rate my performance well.”
Ten-year veteran Hayward reminded that this is the purpose of the preseason: Expose glitches, so they can be fixed.
“Guys were jittery,” Hayward said. “Guys were anxious...”
Guys were new. Only time and repetition fix that.
