5 thoughts on the Charlotte Hornets’ 6-6 start

Five thoughts on the Charlotte Hornets in the midst of the longest (seven-game) homestand in franchise history:

Progress for rookie Frank Kaminsky

Fans have asked why rookie lottery pick Kaminsky hasn’t played more, and that is understandable. The past two games, with wing P.J. Hairston out with a quadriceps contusion, coach Steve Clifford has done some rotation-juggling and Kaminsky has received additional minutes.

Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets, with power forward Cody Zeller in foul trouble, Kaminsky played 23 minutes off the bench and reached double-figures scoring (11 points off 4-of-6 shooting) for the first time in an NBA game.

Clifford never forgot about Kaminsky. But power forward is by far the Hornets’ deepest position. Marvin Williams has had as good a season as any Hornet and Zeller is the first big man off the bench. Clifford has said Kaminsky’s minutes will increase as the season progresses. Wednesday reinforced that.

Hairston’s role

It was interesting to hear Clifford say Wednesday he sees Hairston as his best perimeter defender in the absence of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

I get asked constantly why Hairston starts when Jeremy Lamb and Jeremy Lin seem like better offensive options. It’s all about defense and trying to avoid Nic Batum constantly having to guard the other team’s primary scorer.

The tumble-down effect of Hairston’s absence Wednesday was reflected in Nets forward Thaddeus Young scoring 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Williams spent most of the game guarding Brooklyn’s Joe Johnson, and no other Hornets power forward was athletic enough to match up with Young. Had Hairston been available to guard Johnson, Williams would have spent most of the Nets’ game guarding Young.

A break from travel

The Hornets won’t be on the road again until December 4 when they fly to Chicago. That will allow Clifford to practice the team more than they have the past two weeks, when they were constantly flying in and out of town.

Friday’s home date against the Philadelphia 76ers completes a span of seven games in 11 days. Practices have been minimal of late, with the coaches teaching mostly off video sessions and game-day walkthroughs. That is about to change to a more conventional off-day schedule.

A tighter rotation

Clifford has limited his playing rotation to nine players the past two games. That is effectively a bench of Kaminsky, Lin, Lamb and center Spencer Hawes. That will move back to 10 when Hairston is available to play, which likely won’t happen before Monday against the Sacramento Kings.

Ten is the maximum number of players Clifford is comfortable using. It has always been his philosophy that if you play more than nine or 10, players don’t get enough minutes to get into a rhythm.

Batum’s next contract

With Batum scoring 20 or more points in four of the past five games, it’s fair to say the June trade with the Portland Trail Blazers has worked out extremely well.

Batum would become an unrestricted free agent in July, coinciding with the spike in NBA salary caps resulting from the NBA’s new national television contracts.

The Hornets can offer Batum an extension now, but such a deal would be based on raises off his current salary of about $11.8 million. To offer Batum something more lucrative, the Hornets would have to wait until the summer once Batum becomes unrestricted.

 

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 2:50 PM with the headline "5 thoughts on the Charlotte Hornets’ 6-6 start."