- Miles Bridges is in his fourth season with the Hornets, but he still gets butterflies when playing in front of team owner Michael Jordan, according to Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. Jordan attended Friday’s game and Bridges was aware of his presence. “The greatest basketball player of all time on the bench supporting you, it definitely gives you nerves,” Bridges said. “I came out and missed a few layups, missed three few free throws. But as soon as we started settling in and started playing our game, I feel like that’s when it took a turn. That’s when we started going on our runs. But it’s great to have him out there.”
- Ish Smith, who signed with the Hornets in the offseason, played a little more than a minute Friday after sitting out the last two games of the club’s road trip, Boone adds. Coach James Borrego said the decisions have been based more on matchups than Smith’s performance, as he wanted to give Terry Rozier more time at point guard.
A few months before he reached free agency earlier this year, Kelly Oubre strongly suggested that he wanted to be a starter, telling reporters, “I can offer a lot more than coming off the bench.” However, he has been willing to accept a bench role with the Hornets so far, having started just five of 13 games for the team to open the season. On Wednesday, his reserve role put him in position for a historic performance — his 37 points off the bench represented a new franchise record for most points in a game by a non-starter, per Sam Perley of Hornets.com.
- Hornets guard LaMelo Ball says he needs to play more fourth-quarter minutes, Ben Golliver of the Washington Post tweets. “I feel like I’ve got to be in there longer for the fourth quarter, you feel me? I feel like I came in a little late in the game,” he said. Ball’s comments came after a 14-point loss to the Clippers in which Los Angeles scored 22 unanswered points to gain a 13-point advantage.
- Miles Bridges is averaging 22.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG and 3.4 APG after turning down a rookie scale extension from the Hornets. The fourth-year forward was reportedly was offered a baseline four-year, $60MM contract and now could get much more in restricted free agency, Marc Spears of The Undefeated writes. Bridges says he’s put that out of his mind. “I’m not worried about the money,” he said. “I’m really just worried about playing the right way and winning. I will let my agent worry about all that stuff and just worry about the game.”
- The Hornets‘ poor defense is largely to blame for their recent slide, Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer writes. The team has lost three straight games, allowing 113, 114 and 140 points, respectively. Charlotte currently holds the ninth-best record in the East at 5-5.
Hornets big man P.J. Washington is missing at least this weekend of game action as he deals with a hyperextended left elbow, writes Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. In his third NBA season, Washington is averaging 9.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG and 1.4 APG.
“He’s in good spirits,” Charlotte head coach James Borrego said Friday. “We’ll know more in the next two days. He’ll get further evaluated by a specialist in the next day or two, probably on Monday and we’ll know more at that time. We’re not going to jump to conclusions yet. We’ll see what comes out of that and make a plan from there.”
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- Hornets forward Miles Bridges has developed into one of the better scorers in the NBA during his fourth season, impressing his MSU coach Tom Izzo in the process, per Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. Bridges is putting up career-high averages of 22.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.7 SPG and 0.9 BPG so far. “He couldn’t jump until he got to Michigan State,” Izzo said. “So I coached the s— out of him.”
- New Heat point guard Kyle Lowry has been a big part of Miami’s early-season success, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “He wants the best available shot every possession,” center Bam Adebayo said of his new teammate. “That’s what I really like about Kyle. He’s one of those guys, he wants every play to be right, make or miss.” Lowry, 35, has taken a step back as a scorer for his new team, averaging 11.3 PPG, his lowest output since his 2009/10 season with the Rockets. At 7-2, the Heat are currently the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
- Emerging Heat small forward Caleb Martin may be outplaying his current two-way contract, and appears to be fulfilling the perimeter defender position Miami may have earmarked for third-year forward KZ Okpala, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Given that Martin can only play for 50 games with Miami on his two-way deal before it must be converted to a standard contract (and has played meaningful minutes across six contests so far), Winderman wonders if the Heat will start feeling the roster crunch soon.
The Hornets lost handily to the Warriors in Kelly Oubre‘s first trip back to the Chase Center, 114-92. He says it was strange to be back in the arena on an opposing team, but is happy with how he’s fit in thus far with the Hornets, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer.
“It’s definitely weird being on the opposite side of the arena,” Oubre told Boone. “But at the end of the day, man, we are in the moment. So I’m really happy to be able to go against these guys and just get the jitters out for myself. It’s always weird when you go get comfortable somewhere and then you’re uprooted to another place where you have to become comfortable as well.”
Oubre signed a two-year, $24.6MM deal with Charlotte in free agency over the summer. The second year is partially guaranteed at $5MM. Oubre says his energetic play is a good match with the young Hornets.
“This is just a young, energetic group and we are just trying to figure this thing out,” Oubre said, per Boone. “We are all trying to become our best selves and we’re all trying to set up a culture with this team. And I’m just more so happy to be a part of the culture forming in this organization rather than being somewhere the culture is already formed, guys are pretty much older so they are relaxed in how they approach the game.
“And here it’s just more like, ‘Let’s get it. Let’s go. Let’s go to war, let’s have fun while doing this.’ So I’m just super excited and ecstatic to be on this team.”
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- The young Magic are 2-7 to start the season. Fourth-year big man Wendell Carter Jr. knows it’s going to take time for the team to improve, writes Matt Murschel of The Orlando Sentinel. “Teams do not become great overnight,” Carter said. “It’s going to take time. It’s going to take a lot of time.”
- Wizards forward Rui Hachimura is back with the team, but there’s still uncertainty about when he’ll rejoin the lineup. Coach Wes Unseld Jr. said that he tentatively expects Hachimura back “sooner rather than later,” according to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. “I don’t have a timetable, but I would agree with [‘sooner rather than later’],” Unseld said on Thursday. “He’s been around more, he’s working out, so it’s good to have him in the building and be present.
- Hawks rookie forward Jalen Johnson, the 20th overall pick of the 2021 draft, has been assigned to the College Park Skyhawks, Atlanta’s G League affiliate, tweets Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Kirschner notes that two-way players Sharife Cooper and Skylar Mays were transferred to the Skyhawks as well.
The 3-3 Hawks have yet to recapture the momentum that propelled them to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. With an intimidating schedule coming up in which Atlanta will play several 2021 playoff teams, Kirschner offers his thoughts on how the club can adjust.
While forwards Cam Reddish and John Collins have exhibited plenty of growth, other key Hawks players have struggled a bit. Point guard Trae Young is struggling to adjust to the league’s new free throw rules, while shooting guard Kevin Huerter is struggling to connect from deep.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- The Hornets have already enjoyed a promising start to the 2021/22 season, writes Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. New additions Ish Smith and Kelly Oubre have fit in well thus far, with Oubre connecting on a solid 35.7% of his three-point looks. 2022 restricted free agent forward Miles Bridges has taken his scoring to borderline All-Star heights, and Boone is pegging his future contract in the $100MM vicinity. When it comes to perimeter depth, Boone observes that Cody Martin, Jalen McDaniels, and Nick Richards are also improving.
- The hot start of the Heat has Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel wondering if team president Pat Riley has finally nailed the club’s supporting lineup around All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. The club has wholly recalibrated its frontcourt depth around Adebayo, and the early results have paid dividends thus far. The addition of former Raptors All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry has made a huge defensive impact on Miami, though his offense is struggling so far. Sixth man Tyler Herro also appears to have taken a leap in his third season.
- Heat All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler has thrived alongside new addition Kyle Lowry. Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald wonders if Butler has been newly maximized as a player alongside the former six-time All-Star point guard.
The Hornets have exercised the third-year option on LaMelo Ball‘s rookie scale contract and the fourth-year option on P.J. Washington‘s deal, the club announced today in a press release. Both team options are for the 2022/23 season.
The move guarantees Ball’s $8,623,920 salary for ’22/23 and locks in Washington’s $5,808,435 cap hit as well. Washington will now be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2022 offseason, while Ball will become extension-eligible in 2023, assuming Charlotte picks up his ’23/24 team option a year from now.
[RELATED: Decisions On 2022/23 Rookie Scale Team Options]
Ball, the reigning Rookie of the Year winner, is the centerpiece of the Hornets’ rebuild, and is off to a strong start this season, with 19.6 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 2.0 SPG on .430/.459/1.000 shooting in five games (28.2 MPG).
Washington is off to a slower start this month and has missed a couple games due to a right injury, but was the club’s starting power forward in his first two NBA seasons. He’s coming off the bench so far this season, with Miles Bridges having entered the starting five.
After earning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors based on his performance through the Hornets‘ three games, Miles Bridges hasn’t fallen off at all during his last two contests. The fourth-year forward is averaging 26.2 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 1.8 SPG with a shooting line of .527/.395/.909 through five games (35.2 MPG).
While it’s very early and Bridges almost certainly won’t maintain that pace, he was nearly a 50/40/90 shooter last season and seems capable of handling an increase in usage without his efficiency taking a major hit. As Zach Lowe of ESPN writes, Bridges is poised to become a “better offensive player – and sooner – than even the Hornets anticipated.” If Charlotte had expected this from the 23-year-old, Lowe adds, the team would’ve made a stronger push to lock him up to a rookie scale extension earlier this month.
Discussing Bridges’ impressive play on his Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that the Hornets’ initial extension offer to Bridges was in the range of $15MM per year.
“When he was in negotiations for his extension, I’m told that the Hornets’ baseline offer was four years, $60MM,” Windhorst said. “… That was Charlotte’s baseline offer. They may have come up, but they were never really close.”
As Windhorst points out, once three-and-D forward Mikal Bridges signed a four-year, $90MM rookie scale extension with the Suns, there was no chance the Hornets were going to be able to lock up their own Bridges for anything in the neighborhood of $60MM. In fact, if the former Michigan State standout can maintain anything close to his current pace, he could match or exceed Mikal’s $90MM on his next deal.
It’s too late for the Hornets to sign Bridges to a rookie scale extension, but the club will be in the driver’s seat when he reaches restricted free agency next summer. There won’t be many teams with the cap room available to make Bridges an aggressive offer, and the Hornets – who have a relatively clean cap sheet going forward – would be able to match any offer sheet he signs. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the young forward this season to see just how high he can boost his value ahead of his looming free agency.
New Wizards reserve big man Montrezl Harrell has emerged as one of the team’s most important emotional leaders, according to Ava Wallace of the Washington Post. As Wallace writes, Harrell is one of the more vocal members of the team, a consistently talkative teammate who makes a point to discuss on-court issues during every practice.
“I tell people all the time, the guy who leads the charge in our group is Bradley Beal, but Brad’s one of those guys who kind of does it by example,” Harrell said. “He’s not going to really voice it. So I want to be that one on that backstop for him to voice it because I’m not really scared of what nobody really has to say or how nobody really feel.”
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel opines that John Wall could be a solid fit for the Heat in a reserve role behind starter Kyle Lowry if the currently-shelved Rockets point guard ever become available after a buyout. As Winderman observes, Wall does his offseason training in Miami.
- The Heat‘s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, have added Ron Artest III, son of the NBA All-Star swingman formerly known as Ron Artest (now Metta Sandiford-Artest), per Ira Winderman. The younger Artest is a 22-year-old alum of California State Northridge. The 6’7″ forward spent his final collegiate season, his junior year in 2020/21, averaging 4.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.3 APG and 0.7 BPG in just six games with the club.
- The Hornets are benefiting from having players with significant wingspans relative to their heights and weights, writes Sam Perley of Hornets.com. “Any time you have more length, you should be a better defensive team, a better rebounding team,” said Charlotte head coach James Borrego. “We can play more defensive, protect the paint more, the rim more, rebound better. It allows us to switch and stay in front of the ball a little bit more. Make plays at the rim, deflect the ball more. It’s going to be really important for us this season.” New additions like James Bouknight, Kai Jones, JT Thor, Kelly Oubre and Mason Plumlee all fit this ethos.