Hornets Rumors

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 12/23/17

Here are the G-League moves from around the NBA today:

11:08pm:

  • The Grizzlies have recalled Ivan Rabb from their Memphis Hustle affiliate, the team announced on its website. The 20-year-old is averaging 15.8 points and 9.9 rebounds in 15 G League games.

1:29pm:

  • The Cavaliers have recalled center Ante Zizic from the G League’s Canton Charge one day after assignment, per an official press release from the team. Zizic scored 23 points on 10-17 (.588) shooting and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for the Charge in last night’s game against the South Bay Lakers.

11:33am:

  • The Hornets announced via press release on Saturday that guard Julyan Stone has been recalled from the team’s G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. Stone, 29, has appeared in four games for Charlotte this season, averaging  1.5 PPG, 1.5 RPG and 1.8 APG.
  • The Hornets also announced (via Twitter) that two-way player Mangok Mathiang has been transferred to Charlotte from the G League affiliate Greensboro Swarm. Mathiang has appeared briefly in three games for the Hornets this season.

Hornets Send Julyan Stone To Greensboro

  • The Hornets assigned Julyan Stone to their G League affiliate, the team announced in a press release. The last time the guard suited up for the Greensboro Swarm, he put up 14 assists in 24 minutes.

Five Minor NBA Offseason Trades Paying Dividends

The NBA’s trade market was incredibly active throughout the 2017 offseason, with a total of 40 deals completed between the end of last season and the start of the 2017/18 campaign.

Of those 40 trades, several were blockbusters. Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Thomas, Chris Paul, Paul George, Jimmy Butler, and Carmelo Anthony all changed teams, as did the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Some of the non-blockbuster deals are having a major impact this season too, with guys like Ricky Rubio, D’Angelo Russell, Brook Lopez, and Avery Bradley all on the move.

There are even a handful of trades made for monetary reasons that have been interesting to monitor — the Nets took on salary dumps like DeMarre Carroll and Allen Crabbe and have turned them into key parts of their rotation, while the Bulls continue to get hammered for selling second-round pick Jordan Bell to the defending-champion Warriors.

We’ve written plenty about most of those trades already, so today we’re taking the opportunity to shine a light on a few deals that have flown somewhat under the radar. These trades seemed like relatively minor moves at the time, but are paying dividends for the teams involved. Let’s dive in…

  1. Troy Daniels verticalSuns acquire Troy Daniels and a 2018 second-round pick from the Grizzlies in exchange for a top-55-protected 2018 second-round pick. With too many guaranteed salaries on their books heading into training camp, the Grizzlies dumped one by attaching a second-round pick to Daniels and sending him to Phoenix in exchange for a pick that won’t convey. The move saved Memphis some money, but the club probably could’ve used Daniels more than some of the players it kept. In his last 19 games for the Suns, Daniels has averaged 10.8 PPG and shot 44.3% on three-pointers. He has been particularly productive in the last couple weeks, scoring a career-high 32 points last Wednesday vs. Toronto, then hitting the game-winning shot to beat his old team last night.
  2. Pacers acquire Cory Joseph from the Raptors in exchange for the draft rights to Emir Preldzic. Joseph was originally going to head to Indiana in a deal that would have sent C.J. Miles to Toronto. However, the terms of Miles’ contract made him ineligible to be signed-and-traded, so the Raptors signed him outright and sent Joseph to the Pacers in a separate move to dump some salary. Having essentially been traded for nothing, Joseph has been very solid as the Pacers’ backup point guard this season, making a career-best 43.0% of his threes and chipping in 7.7 PPG and 2.9 APG. Joseph isn’t the main reason the Pacers have exceeded expectations, but he has played a role in the club’s early success.
  3. Hornets acquire Dwayne Bacon and cash ($1.8MM) from the Pelicans in exchange for Frank Jackson. The Pelicans paid Charlotte $1.8MM in order to move up from No. 40 to No. 31 in the draft, having targeted Jackson. It’s unfair to judge Jackson’s NBA career so far, since it hasn’t even started — a broken foot has sidelined him since the start of September. Still, the Hornets have to be happy with how their side of the deal is working out so far. Bacon claimed a rotation role to open the season, and while he’s experiencing some growing pains as of late, he has shown plenty of promise. The extra $1.8MM that Charlotte picked up in the deal is just a bonus.
  4. Grizzlies acquire Dillon Brooks from the Rockets in exchange for a 2018 second-round pick. Not much has gone right for the Grizzlies this season, but the team has to be pleased with what Brooks has shown so far. The 21-year-old is currently Memphis’ starting small forward, and has held his own with a respectable .460/.368/.778 shooting line. Of the youngsters on the Grizzlies’ roster, Brooks has shown more long-term keeper potential than most. Meanwhile, the Rockets did okay in this deal too — the 2018 second-rounder they’ll receive will be the least favorable of the Grizzlies’, Hornets’, and Heat’s selections. All three of those teams have underperformed so far this season, improving the value of the pick.
  5. Knicks acquire the rights to Scott Perry from the Kings in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick and cash ($400K). No players were involved in this swap, but it was technically a trade, with the Kings allowing the Knicks to poach one of their top front-office executives. It’s another deal that has benefited both sides. The Knicks’ front office appears to have finally stabilized since the arrival of Perry, who put a hold on the Carmelo Anthony trade talks in July, then eventually found a deal that has worked out well for New York. As for the Kings, they can’t complain much about securing cash and a future draft pick in exchange for an exec who worked in their front office for less than three months.

Malik Monk's Defense Impacting Playing Time

  • The Hornets have cut back rookie guard Malik Monk‘s role because of his weak defense, Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype writes. Charlotte has been outscored by 15.4 points per 100 possessions with Monk on the court, worse than any other player in their 12-man rotation.

Community Shootaround: Hornets’ Next Step

Since starting the season 5-3, the Hornets have plummeted down the Eastern standings, losing 17 of their last 23 games and slipping to 11-20 — 12th in the conference. The club currently sits 5.5 games out of a playoff spot in the East, and a homestand that was supposed to help turn things around has resulted in a 1-3 record so far.

As Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes, with the Hornets’ season cratering, it may be time for the organization to turn to Plan B.

Still, it’s not clear what Plan B in Charlotte is. Unlike fellow 11-win teams like the Kings, Suns, and Lakers, the Hornets don’t have a plethora of promising young players they can focus on developing with things going south. Malik Monk, Frank Kaminsky, and Dwayne Bacon are really the only players who fit that bill. Charlotte’s roster is otherwise overrun with highly-priced veterans, many of whom are underperforming or injured.

Cody Zeller, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marvin Williams, and Nicolas Batum are earning a combined $61MM+ in 2017/18, and none are averaging more than 10.2 PPG so far this season. Batum, in particular, has struggled mightily. While injuries are partly to blame, the veteran swingman has a dismal .394/.277/.821 shooting line to go along with his $22.4MM cap hit. He’s under contract for three more years after this one, and his salary will only get more expensive going forward.

As Bonnell writes, the Hornets are often active around the trade deadline, but their moves generally involve finding complementary pieces, not blowing things up. With so many pricey veterans on their books, it won’t be easy for the Hornets to blow up their roster anyway — dumping one or two of those expensive contracts without taking a bad deal back would likely cost the team young players or draft picks, and would still leave several long-term commitments on the cap.

The Hornets are in a tough spot, and we’re turning to you to help assess their next move. What do you think the Hornets should do with their roster? Can this core still be successful? Could the team still make a playoff run with a tweak or two? Or is a more drastic overhaul required?

Jump into the comment section to weigh in with your two cents on the Hornets!

Kyler: Hornets May Want To Move A Contract

  • The prevailing belief around the league is that the Hornets would like to move one of their big contracts, such as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist‘s. However, Charlotte would likely need to attach a young player to a deal in order to dump salary. Kyler suggests Malik Monk and Dwayne Bacon likely aren’t going anywhere, identifying Frank Kaminsky as a possible name to watch.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Batum Becoming More Aggressive On Offense

  • Nicolas Batum offered a reminder of why the Hornets gave him a five-year, $120MM contract with with a season-high 23-point performance Saturday, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. For most of this season, Batum has been deferring to other players on offense after returning from a torn ligament in his left elbow that he suffered in the preseason. “I was trying to adjust myself to the other guys way too much,” he said, “when sometimes I have to let them adjust to me.”

Hornets Assistant Was In The Running For Rockets Gig

  • The Rockets have thrived under head coach Mike D’Antoni but for a while there, Hornets assistant Stephen Silas was in the running for the position. As Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle writes, the Charlotte coach still gets ribbed by friends and family when Houston, the best team in the NBA two months into the season, does something particularly impressive.

Hornets Need Bench Depth; Possible Free Agent Options

Hornets Inquired On Butler Before Bulls Traded Him

  • In his latest piece for ESPN.com, Zach Lowe passes along an after-the-fact trade rumor, writing that the Hornets made “initial inquiries” last spring on Jimmy Butler when he was still in Chicago. The Bulls had no interest in any of Charlotte’s pieces though, league sources tell Lowe.