Southeast Notes: Hernangomez, Mahinmi, Charlotte’s GM Search

Midseason Hornets acquisition Willy Hernangomez isn’t familiar enough with Charlotte’s way of business to see more action than the 5.3 minutes per game he’s been seeing since coming over from New York, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes.

Head coach Steve Clifford says that it’s not fair for either Hernangomez or the rest of his teammates to have him thrown him out on the court before he’s able to mesh with the rest of the players.

“[He] will play some, but it’s hard for the other guys [to function well] when he’s not up to speed,” Clifford said. “With younger players, you don’t just throw guys in there just to watch them. It’s not fair for them, and it’s not fair for other guys on the floor. The team has to be organized, and we’re not as organized with him.”

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

• After pursuing a larger role (and the inherently larger contract), Jonathon Simmons is getting his first taste of losing basketball. That’s made for a bit of an adjustment, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel writes. “I think he’s definitely tried to rally guys at certain times and make sure that we’re all understanding that it’s not acceptable to lose at the rate we’ve lost this year,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said. “But, at the same time, he hasn’t short-circuited, either. Sometimes guys short-circuit when they haven’t experienced losing like this. He’s been a team guy.“
• The Wizards will still owe Ian Mahinmi north of $31MM after this season, a troubling thought considering the way his usage has been trending over the course of the year. Mahimni’s playing time this season is down from last year and, as Candace Buckner of The Washington Post writes, he logged the first DNP-CD of the season over the weekend.
• The Hornets hope that their search for a general manager wraps up in early April, Katherine Peralta of The Charlotte Observer writes. “We’re going through an exhaustive process,” recently promoted team managing partner Curtis Polk said. “We started with quite a few names that we collected and put together a spreadsheet on these people and have been narrowing it down.“