After being waived by the Hornets, shooting guard LiAngelo Ball (older brother to All-Star Charlotte point guard LaMelo Ball) point guard Jalen Crutcher, small forward Xavier Sneed, and shooting guard Ty-Shon Alexander have an uncertain future. Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer takes stock of where each player could be headed.
Boone notes that the Hornets possess the G League returning rights for all four players, assuming they clear waivers. Should Ball, Crutcher, Sneed and Alexander elect to remain stateside and play in the G League, they will have to suit up for Charlotte’s NBAGL affiliate club, the Greensboro Swarm.
The 6’5″ Ball, 23, spent the 2021/22 season with the Swarm. In 28 games, he averaged 4.6 PPG and 1.1 RPG in 13.2 MPG. Most intriguingly, he connected on 35.7% of his 3.0 three-point attempts in those games.
There’s more out of Charlotte:
- Now that the Pistons are expected to waive veteran point guard Kemba Walker, it’s certainly a possibility that the Hornets opt to use their final roster spot to sign Walker, who was named to three of his four All-Star teams while playing for Charlotte. Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (subscriber-exclusive link) wonders if he could help provide a veteran spark off the bench. The team has 13 players signed to guaranteed contracts. Point guard Dennis Smith Jr. currently occupies the team’s 14th spot on a non-guaranteed deal.
- The Hornets had a fairly lackluster offseason, adding no new free agents and subtracting a lottery pick. The team also fired head coach James Borrego, hired Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, lost Atkinson after less than a week, and pivoted, frantically bringing back former head coach Steve Clifford. After the Hornets finished with a 43-39 record and made a play-in tournament appearance last year, John Hollinger of The Athletic anticipates a regression in an improved Eastern Conference, predicting in his season preview that Charlotte will finish with a 34-48 record, good for the No. 12 seed in the East.
Between the Panthers and Hornets, nothing positive in Charlotte sports.
As long as everything goes as expected with Ball’s ankle, I think the Hornets will be better than almost everyone expects.
Can’t disagree that the Panthers have a long road ahead though.
It depends on what happens with Bridges b/c I definitely had them a lot higher if he was there, and they’re healthy. I still think guys like Kai Jones and JT Thor need another year, and they’re mostly 5s right now, with Rochards, and Williams, and then you cant go to lineups with Washington at the 5 as much, with essentially only McDabiels there to play the 4, unless you go small with Heyward or Oubre there
It also remains to be seen what they get from Bouknight, and they need him to be a scorer/spacer off the bench this year, in my opinion
That reminds me, I dated a girl in school named Charlotte Sports!
It’s hard to be intrigued by much of anything Li’Angelo has done.
I’m pretty sure he led the state of California in scoring as a hs sr & was the leading scorer on 1 of the best hs basketball teams ever. That’s extremely intriguing for most basketball fans
Not that this was a fit for him, b/c it wasnt, but I liked Ty-Shon Alexander in his draft year, and still think he would be a useful combo wing/guard for someone. I would have to think Charlotte will use that last spot on 1 of the several newly/previously available options at the 4, to help alleviate what they’ve lost with Bridges, and help them depth wise next to McDaniels and PJ Washington
You watched Ty-Shon in college? Ima be honest that’s very surprising
I did not, and I’ve said I dont like college basketball, and have thankfully moved away from watching it the way I had to for a few years to scout/research players, but I did a lot of scouting and research for that draft and was prepared earlier than usual. I had a few different versions of mock drafts prepared in case of things going differently at certain spots, and in case of trades. Ultimately the team i thought could/would draft him traded their pick, and there were also guys still remaining at that time I thought would go much earlier, like Tyrese Maxey and Saddiq Bey
Why is it surprising? Is it b/c you still somehow think you’re the only one that knows anything about certain players, despite seeing enough evidence to think otherwise? You also thought nobody here knew who Jalen Williams is, when he got drafted 12th by OKC, and I personally had him like 8th on my big board going into this draft
It would have been surprising bc I’ve yet to see anybody on this site that would be able to talk Creighton basketball or Big East basketball in general with any depth of knowledge. Jalen Williams is another example lol there’s zero chance that you or anybody else here watched him at Santa Clara. I couldn’t even imagine any of the ppl that comment or write for this site watching a WCC conference game or a full basketball game of any type tbh
Yeah, you’re obviously the only person here that watches hoops.
obv
Talk about a god complex lol…although, is it surprising at this point?