DECEMBER 24: The Hornets anticipate that Zeller will miss four to six weeks of action following a surgery today on his fractured left hand, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
DECEMBER 23: The Hornets have announced that starting center Cody Zeller fractured his left hand during Charlotte’s 2020/21 season opener, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
Bonnell says the severity of the fracture, and thus the amount of time Zeller could miss, is unclear. The 28-year-old out of Indiana averaged 11.1 PPG and 7.1 RPG on 52.4% field goal shooting during the 2019/20 season. He injured his hand in the second half of an eventual 121-114 loss to the Cavaliers.
An extended loss of games for Zeller could lead to more run for rookie bigs Vernon Carey Jr., the No. 32 pick out of Duke, and Nick Richards, the No. 42 pick out of Kentucky. Bonnell expects Bismack Biyombo to replace Zeller as the Hornets’ starting center.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Charlotte is among a small quantity of clubs with an open roster spot still available.
[RELATED: 2020/21 NBA Roster Counts]
There are several veteran big men still on the free agent market, including Dewayne Dedmon, Taj Gibson, and Kyle O’Quinn.
I feel bad for him, but good Cavs win!
Crap! This is BS
Everyone had already virtually handed LaMelo the ROY. Game 1 = 0 points, 1 board, 3 dimes. Several other rookies looked good though including Patrick Williams and Isaac Okoro.
I know it is only one game, but it’s pretty telling that LaMelo was really outplayed by Graham.
Whatever it’s his first NBa game EVER. Your entitled to a quick take but it is not substantial for analysis…anyway that’s my opinion take it or leave it. I didnt watch the game. Thought Wiseman looked very good…and Paydon Protchard played some good defense. Once he settles down he might actually play meanfongudl minutes for the Boston celtics
Well, I’m not getting paid for substantial analysis, so you won’t be getting that from me. As the wise mother of an early developed girl would say, “Never give it away for free.”
Although I did specifically point out that “I know it is only one game” so. Plus it was the first NBA game EVER for every rookie not just Ball.
That being said, I was surprised that Tyrese Haliburton got as many minutes as he did for the Kings. Especially with Hield and Fox both playing as much as they did. He played pretty well too. Sacramento might do well with a small lineup.
I don’t think that it’s a big deal that we waited until after the first game of the season to hand ROY on a platter to James Wiseman, who seemed terrifyingly good. Like, Lebron/Giannis level good at that age. Ball will be an afterthought to Wisemans surefire HOF career.
I think you are forgetting just how long it took Giannis to acclimate to the NBA. He was not viewed as a superstar until the end of the 2017 season. His first few years were good, not great.
When you are outplayed by a 18PPG/6APG guard is just plain embarrassing, he should just retire, as no one has ever done so, right? SMH!!!
As usual you have missed the point just so you can try to look down on me. The point was not that Graham was a bad player. The point was that if Graham outplays him significantly, Ball will be riding the bench far too often to be a serious contender for ROY.
Im sure Ball will be a slow starter, in part because CHA already has Graham. But like Wiseman, he has length for his position. Of course Wiseman has length for any position, and is, a fullcourt guy.
Okoro went 4-5 for 11 points, 2-2 on three pointers. Played good defense, and he had 5 assists!
Like OG Anonoby, he just needs attempts… or greed
And he needs teammates/coaches to encourage him to shot the ball more which the Cavs said they do. People can dog the Cavs all they want but I think Okoro will develop well under JB bickerstaff
Interested to see if they play small with all 3 guards in at once now- It wouldnt work with every opponent but they could run with those 3 Hayward and PJ at quiet the pace
I’m all for that. I want Graham to start, and I also realize Ball needs floor time. I’d have traded Rozier during the offseason at the time, but last night he sure had a game! So just play all 3 together. As you said, it won’t work against everyone. I don’t really care if they win this year, though. Try to develop these guys, collect another high pick and see how it all fits.
dedmon is a great option to cover zeller’s injury. da hornets relaly need that defense and rim protecting opportunities if they wanna win.
Hornets are like, we just got rid of these old slow guys, now we have to find another!
Threse Haliburton has a very, good play to. He played a good defense and a offense with high iq
Threse Haliburton has a very, good play to. He played a good defense and a offense with high iq
LaMelo Ball will be riding the bench for a while. He is nothing more than a younger, flashier and NOT as good version of his brother Lonzo. LaMelo has all these highlight tapes of him dropping shots, but it is painfully obvious he cannot shoot a lick. When you hire Mitch Kupchak as your GM …. bad personnel decisions seem to follow. Anybody get a look at the rap video that Miles Bridges just dropped??? The one where he is rapping about drinking lean and putting a couple of dots (bullets) in the head of people. Charlotte is the worst run organization in the league.
Um… Kupchak drafted Bynum, Russell, Ingram and Randle. He’s made some pretty solid personnel decisions. He’s early in his tenure in Charlotte. He took the best left available of the consensus top 3, which is what you do. Rebuilding clubs shouldn’t trade assets to move up in a draft without a clear #1.
You’re entitled to your opinion, but the facts don’t support it.
Bynum? Is that head case really helpful to your argument? Plus, Russell and Ingram didn’t really take off until they left the Lakers. I guess that shouldn’t be the GMs fault, but he shouldn’t really get credit for finding them either.
Kupchak since 2018 has drafted better than average. link to basketball-reference.com
He made two draft-day trades which messes up the page recording what happened, in Bas.Ref. at least, which does not include all the trading. He traded for #34 Devontae Graham for two future seconds, capital gained from the ShaiGA trade. He picked ShaiGA first probably just to mess with the team picking next, the Clippers, which was the only team Shai worked out for. A trade with them, lost Kupchak Shai, but won two future seconds and Miles Bridges, picked after Shai. Not as good a player, but SGA was being mysterious and avoiding the predraft process, probably with a promise from LAC and/or trickster Jerry West, that they would take him.
West may in trouble now for how he got Kawhi Leonard. Getting Pau Gasol also raised controversy.
Anyway. Long speculative post, but apparently the only summation of these events a BB fan will ever get, you’re welcome.
Hornets should trade for either Miles Turner,Zach Collins, Julius Randle or Whiteside…
They just spent two high second round picks on big men. They might as well let them play and see what they have. It’s not like they are serious contenders or anything.
they already have a bunch of bigs. their only weakness is shooting cuz monk is out. not like they’re even gunna make da playoffs cuz their roster is almost da same as last years.
Hornets should have got Wiseman