Miles Bridges and Jalen McDaniels give Hornets something they haven’t had in a long time
There was not a day last season when the Charlotte Hornets had legitimate NBA depth.
That day has come.
Obviously, the Hornets got better at the top of their roster with free agent Gordon Hayward and rookie LaMelo Ball. But those acquisitions have the side value of pushing talent into the second unit in a way that changes this team’s look.
Miles Bridges is a much better energy-guy power forward than a starting small forward. As either a starter or sixth man, Ball is all kinds of trouble for an opponent in transition. And Monday, Jalen McDaniels created the sort of complication a coach likes when he scored 15 points in 15 minutes, hitting all three of his 3-pointers.
Shooting guard Malik Monk started just one of his first 191 games with the Hornets. So he knows something about Charlotte’s bench.
“Coach usually runs about seven players,” in his rotation, Monk said. “Now, I think we can go all 10 — five in and five out.”
That might be an overreach, in that it’s tough to distribute 240 minutes among 10 players, and give each one enough playing time to be in rhythm. But that doesn’t invalidate Monk’s point: Coach James Borrego has choices now that didn’t exist before.
“It complicates it for me,” Borrego said following a 112-109 preseason loss to the Toronto Raptors. “But that’s a good problem to have as a coach.”
Real competition
Borrego said before last season that he’d lean toward youth in all close playing-time decisions, and he was true to that. By the end of last season, rookies Cody and Caleb Martin and McDaniels were in the rotation. But they were playing in March as much because there was nothing to lose by experimenting, rather than because they were legit rotation players.
Now, with Hayward at small forward and Ball at point guard, Borrego has real options. Bridges spent his first two seasons miscast as a small forward. That’s not to say he can’t play that position, it’s just not optimal. What he’s doing now — coming off the bench as a small-ball power forward — could be much more valuable than what he was before.
“He’s been special,” Borrego said of Bridges. “This is the best I’ve seen Miles mentally, physically. He understands his role on this team. I’m extremely proud of him.”
Bridges scored just two points Monday, but he had six rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes. There is a frenetic energy and defensive intensity about him that sets a standard for teammates.
‘I belong out there.’
McDaniels is a revelation. He was the 52nd of 60 players chosen in the 2019 draft and spent most of last season with the G-League Greensboro Swarm.
He was painfully skinny, almost frail, when he arrived in Charlotte at 6-foot-10 and 185 pounds. Since then, he’s gained about 20 pounds of bulk. He has also demonstrated a surprising touch outside the 3-point line.
He is evolving toward a “3-and-D” role: A defender at either forward spot with the shooting range to create spacing.
“I feel like I just belong out there. I know what to do, I know what to expect,” McDaniels said. “I feel like I’m not timid anymore. Like ‘You’re here for a reason.’ Sitting back and realizing, ‘You must be good.’ ”
One of the biggest agendas when Borrego and general manager Mitch Kupchak took over basketball operations in the spring of 2018 was upgrading the development program. Borrego got permission to add a development specialist, Nick Friedman, who worked intensely with McDaniels and the Martin twins last season.
Even if those three guys end up nothing more than reliable reserves, that’s an improvement on the Hornets’ development efforts in the past.
Hornets have true choices
Last season, the Hornets had four players — Devonte Graham, Terry Rozier, Bridges and P.J. Washington — average more than 30 minutes per game. That was grueling, and it wasn’t good competitively that there was such a wide gap between starters and reserves.
For the first time in Charlotte, Borrego has true choices. That is both insurance, should a starter get hurt, and consequence, should a starter get complacent.
A second unit that includes Bridges, Monk, Ball, McDaniels and the Martin twins is entirely different from what a second five looked like before.
“It’s going to be very competitive,” Borrego said. “You have to earn minutes.”
It’s been a long time since that was so about a Hornets roster.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 8:59 AM.
