Hornets GET BULLIED By Magic | Charles Lee’s Lineup EXPERIMENT Fails | LaMelo Ball FINED $35K!
The Hornets get bullied by a desperate Orlando Magic team, highlighting a lack of physicality and “apocalyptic” defensive issues. We also examine LaMelo Ball’s $35,000 fine as a symptom of a larger maturity problem
Welcome to Locked On Hornets. The team has taken a second straight divisional rival beatdown, this time losing 123-107 to the Orlando Magic. This was a game where the Hornets knew they were the smaller, less physical team, and the desperate Magic took full advantage. Orlando bullied the Hornets at the rim, and the Hornets’ offense collapsed, giving up 29 points off turnovers.
We’ll spend time on the individual struggles, starting with LaMelo Ball. He was just fined $35,000 by the league for an obscene gesture, which points to a larger maturity and emotional control issue that the star continues to grapple with. Miles Bridges also had a difficult night, getting physically handled by Paolo Banchero and reverting to the poor step-back threes that Charles Lee has noted.
We also have to address the rookie wall. Kon Knueppel looked “largely ineffective” against Orlando’s length, and Sion James made some costly errors. Charles Lee’s decision to start three rookies is part of a larger experimentation with the lineups, but it’s fair to ask if this is hurting the team’s ability to find any rhythm. The one consistent bright spot remains Ryan Kalkbrenner, the “trash panda” who continues to be hyper-efficient, scoring 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Finally, we open the mailbag for a fan “Sicko Vent Session”
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42 Comments
It’s officially tank time!!!! Cam Boozer we coming for you
Why do the hornets only run a 2-3 zone on defence. No doubles or changes in sets on defence. Why does this team refuse to get taller players to combat other long teams in the league?
Why don’t they play LaMelo like Trae or steph on defence?
I watch the beginning of every hornet season wanting to cheer for this team but it’s so hard when they play like this.
I then go back to college ball where the Carolina’s dominate.
There are rook’s STARTING,so we will definitely see some mistakes and growing pains. Magic were flopping BAD tonight,the refs ate it up too. They are good enough to claw back from abysmal shooting,which I love but make too many mistakes to capitalize.
The hornets are just under sized. When a team doubles and triples the hirnets best player what is the next play? The hornets cant get thete offense flowing right cuz there just too under size. They need to use there draft picks and make some shit happen. The hornets are too injured and undersized to keep going like this.
Coaching decisions starting the 4th quarter
Trade Lamelo for Dylan Harper. I guarantee the Hornets will make the playoffs. Also the Spurs will 100% take that trade.
You have to bench Tre Mann. He plays like he got "next" at the park. No cohesiveness and less defense. And coach is not great.
Sexton should be getting 28 minutes with his efficiecy, Miles, Melo will come the lineup best this year was wo Miller.. is MELO, SEXTON, KNUEPPLE,MILES & KALK….FIRST OFF BENCH FOR NOW SION , THEN TIDJUANE REBOUNDS AND ACTIVITY, THEN MOUSSA,MANN BC STILL COMING OFF WHOLE YEAR THEN A JAW . INJURY….GIVE BRIDGES MORE DRIVES AND CORNER 3S, SEXTON WITH PACE, KK CAN SPREAD THE FLOOR.KALK PLAYED GREAT.YOU ONLY PLAY 9 MAN ROTATIONS MOST NBA TEAMS NOT 12.MANN GETS 14 MINUTES FOR NOW BAD D AND QUIT CHANGING LINEUPS. START SEXTON AND PLAY AT LEAST 28 MIN LOOK WHAT HE DOES IN 20 MIN 18 PTS 4 REB 2 ASTS.AND STOP CHANGING OUT PLAYERS SO MUCH.PLAY CHESS LET THEM SUB AND YOU COUNTER.SION IS A DEFENDER AND CAN SCORE BUT NOT A STARTER YET 22 MIN A GAME 'TIJUANE 22 MIN REBOUNDS AND HUSTLE .SEXTON BALL MUST START WITH KK AND. MILES EVERY TIME MILES HITS A FEW HE SITS HIM RIDE THE HOT HAND. START KALK AND PLAY MOUSSA AS LINEUPS CHANGE. ALL STRTERS SHOULD PLAY 32+ MINUTES.DEFINE ROLES CHRLES LEE GOES 12 DEEP TOO EARLY.PLAY 9 UNTIL MILLER IS BACK THEN 10…GRANT COMES THEN A GAME CHANGER.SEXTON IS A HUSTLER TOO PLAY HIM 30 MIN AND MELO 34 MILES 34 KK 30 AND KALK 30 THATCWAS OUR LINEUP AGAINST WSHINGTON AND SUB PATTERN.WORKED GREAT.I HATE LEE DOESNT START 1ST QUARTER ALL STARTER FOR 9 MIN AT LEAST..THEN ALWAYS HAVE 2 TO 3 STARTERS ALL TIMES.TIDJAUNE GRABS BOARDS AND HITS SHOTS PLAYS 9 MIN.WTF. MILES NEED MORE THAN 12 SHOTS NOT LAMELO ONE FOOT 3S ANDS ITS THE COACHES FAULTD.PLAY CHESS DONT SUB UNTIL THECOTHER TEAM SO YOU CAN PREPARE MATCHUPS. AND END GAME WITH STARTERS SEXTON'MILES MELO'KALK AND SION OR KON BEST MATCHUP…BRING THEM TO CLOSE OUT THE LAST 6 TO 7 MIN.PERIOD GET W THE TIMES COACH LEE YOUR SUB PATTERNS SUCK AND TOO OFTEN..LEAN ON YOUR CORE TIL WE GET GRANT AND MILLER. GREEN AND CONNAUGHTON AND SOME PICK A PF OR C.
Start a petition to trade miles bridges
Sexton is the Best player with Miller'MILES IS THE HEART SHOULD HAVE KEPT DINWIDDIE OVER PAT C . TRADE VALUE AND PLAY..GET US A SERVICEABLE BIG 610 OR BIGGER AKA CAPELA OR KELDON JOHNSON OR GET PJ WASHINGTON BACK BUT TO ME THE COACH CH ANGES LINEUPS AND DOEST LET HIS STARTERS PLAY MOST THE 1ST. AND END GAMES.ANYTIME WE GET A PLAYER TWICE TONIGHT SEXTON MAKES SOME PLAYS PULLS HIM.3RD QUARTER MILES GETS 8 AND 2 REB IN LIKE 6 MIN PULLS HIM.CRAZY.HE NEEDS A NEW JOB.JOSH LONGSTAFF IS THE REAL COACH.IF HE DONT GET US 36 WINS IN THE EAST #10 PLAY IN HE BEEDS TO GO.NOT READY YET
Salaun was a wasted pick. The rookies are doing great. Need to start Moussa and Kalkbrenner together.
I keep telling people trade lamelo now
Charlotte looked really small vs Orlando… I rather watch the rookies play, more reps for them, they have a mature professional approach to the game, no goofie business like Miles and Lámelo, Miles is a liability on defensive and offensive efforts… Lámelo just needs to be surrounded by good players, he can not do this by himself, not sure if he will improve his efficiency and decision making.
Cool shacket big guy.
This comment section is roughhhhhhhh! I was at the game last night and the main problems i saw was the defense, bridges, and Charles" guidance councilor" Lee. Also the refs didn't help.
Is Austin Reaves better than LaMelo? He’s winning with no one.
I feel like once Brandon Miller is back. They would go back to playing hotpotato with the basketball again and running down the shot clock, maybe that's how you should run the offense in the first place. They need to replace or mix the iso scoring with cutting. Because everytime they iso, they're also trying to find the open man for spot up shooting but no one is ever open because no one is cutting and there's not enough ball movement.
Time to trade miles and or brandon
Either Lamelo or Sexton should be on the court at all times . When neither are in the lineup the offense just bogs down . On a side note I thought Liam played well . He’s a high IQ player . Needs more minutes .
Everybody just needs to calm down. It’s only Game 5, we are playing the rookies and testing the lineup.
Sooner or later, Miller, Green, and Williams will be back. For now, this is a priceless opportunity for Kon and the others to gain some real experience.
In the best case scenario, we make the play in this year. And next season, we will have four second year players ready to play some real basketball.
So why is everyone being so critical?
The full beard is a good look, go Doug!!
Miles bridges is ass, Tidjane is not an nba player. Trade them both for a bag of chips who cares
I dont really think this one was on Lee. Its hard to put out lineups that work when your vets are playing terribly and you have to rely on rookies to do things the right way. Tre and Miles need to step up for this team to win anything.
Haven’t been here in a while, as I’m up all night following Phoenix, where they sure are glad they were able to get Mark!
We need to trade Miles Bridges and some picks for Jarace Walker and trade Josh Green, Mason Plumlee and Tre Mann for Taylor Hendricks, please basketball gods!!!
The Hornets have earned a bad reputation around the NBA, damn near filler at this point.. Refs treat them fair and accordingly.. These persons in stripes seem to resent Melo's approach to the game, and they are not going to do him any favors.. Half-ass defense & piss poor shot selection!!??🤷🏾♂️.. Brandon Miller's absence is solid evidence that Melo can't be the best player on the team and that team still win..
Man this feels like coaching and emotional issues. Too much of a variance in performance. Tre Mann looks depressed
What an absolute 💩 show
had the hornets on a +13.5 SPREAD BLEW IT ALL in the 4th 13 unanswered points !!! HOW!?? The hornets is how they suck!!
We are too small. And some key guys like Mann and Miles are playing poorly. Brandon out has really hurt in these 2 losses.
Guys, Brandon is fine. He will be back soon.
Too much iso ball. We really need to take a page from Indiana play book and realize Melo isn't luka and Miles isn't Jayson Tatum. Run actual plays to get shots. Kon had one shot by halftime and is shooting the best so far this season. That should never happen. Relying too much on Melo and Bridges is not going to get you wins.
I dont understand the Charles Lee hate. Think he's experiementing and working through a very fluid situation. Coming from Phoenix with clear bad coaching, I dont think this is it. Poor shot selection and bad defense is killing us. Namely Bridges and Mann.
We also really struggle to get 2 feet in the paint. Many possessions end up in hoisted 3'd with guards running a 3rd grade 8 formaion across the top of the key. Long rebounds lead to transition 3's. Not a bad team but need to clean up quite a bit.
Disappointed in Lamelos impatience When his shot isn’t falling. I was encouraged by his earlier defensive efforts and the whole locker room leadership thing but it seems like it doesn’t take much to derail that. We need him to get some perspective. It’s a long season! Don’t give up this early on smart play!
@LockedOnHornets , the lesson to learn from this game is “unnecessary fouling equals both free possessions to score additional points and free throws” for the opponent ; also , Kon Knueppel is not just a “spot three point shooter” ; he needs plays where he can use his “midrange shooting” capability.
@LockedOnHornets , Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Demar Derozan the only “nba players” “allowed” to take “midrange shots” compared to “low percentage three pointers” in high volume ? “🎪
Yeah we could’ve been in the game it’s just when your star in Lamelo starts stringing some shots together our terrible coach like to sub him out and watch us go back down 10-15 points. FIRE CHARLES LEE!!!!!
I’d like to see KJ get some of Tre’s minutes. Just to see what we have.
Observations the past couple of games. Starting the rookies will be a good thing as long as they stop deferring to LaMelo. Too much one on one with Ball who is an inefficient finisher at the rim. Need some early scripted looks for Kon to get him going early on. Tijane needs some extended time in Greensboro where he can get some really individual coaching. His game is not as far along as McNeely so those minutes should go to Liam. Liam should be the first off the bench for Miles. Orlando has far better positional talent than the Hornets. I would love to see Liam get meaningful minutes especially until others like Tre get their games together. They need to give Liam more time especially while Brandon, Grant and Josh are out.
Orlando won 47 games last year and only got better. Calm down on Coach Lee, my goodness. Having to start 3 rookies against last year's eastern conference 5th seed. And, folks giving up. 76ers with Embid is one of the best teams in the league. Coach Spolestra in Miami is already top 15 per other coaches all time. Miami is good and could be a somewhat surprising team this season.
Look, beat the wizards, didn't at all last season. They swept us, must take the small wins with a young team. Especially this early in the season.
Kalkbrenner looking like a steal so far.