Ah: Pre-game press conferences and NBA tip-offs are back, baby. No more hypotheticals, no more speculation…
Just real, tangible basketball — and Hornets’ head coach Charles Lee took to the podium just recently to discuss that very first opportunity Charlotte has tonight to finally get out on the hardwood for real.
I decided to kick things off by asking about a comment he made during his Media Day availability.
Lee mentioned at that press conference that the Hornets measure pace internally differently than other teams do. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I posed the question to Coach Lee:
“You guys were 2nd in offensive and defensive rebounding last season, but bottom four in transition points in frequency. Is that something you’re okay with as long as the team is creating and running an efficient half-court offense?”
This paraphrases what I was trying to ask Charles Lee, but it gets the point across without transcribing my own question.
“We definitely want our guys continuing to be relentless on the glass,” Lee began. “A lot of the pace for us, in terms of quick inbounds passes: Like, I love to see our guys, you know, having that next-play mentality. (Seeing) the closest man to the ball, being able to get it out quickly, and how can we get it high and wide up the court? I also think that, you know, part of that pacing for me – we love to gauge how many pass-aheads, pass-acrosses are we getting.
“How are we creating some early advantages in the clock with our passing? You know, obviously dribbling the ball is going to be the slowest way up the court. But I would say the biggest part of what we talk about with our pace is, like, time and action. Like, how quick are we getting to our after actions in and out of those decisions that you have in closeout situations? That’s really what we look for. You know, that is a great point (about our pace). Like, sometimes our pace number on the NBA website won’t be there, but we kind of look at it and engage with it, I think, a little bit differently.”
This is really, really good insight from Coach Lee, and I was excited to share his thoughts with you. On the less exciting basketball-talk front, it was announced just before Coach Lee took the podium that Christian Anderson Jr. and Brandon Miller would not play tonight.
Lee was asked early about this and gave a brief update, though it wasn’t much different from what the Hornets posted on Twitter.
“Unfortunately, Coby suffered an injury during training camp,” Lee said. “Competition level is high, and so I think that he’s obviously in good spirits and understands that every day is just going to be important for him as he continues to work through his rehab process. And Christian and Brandon, same type of thing, sustained injuries during practice, and they’re day-to-day. And so they’ll keep going through their rehab routines, and we’ll update you guys.”
This means Sion James will play a lot of minutes at point guard tonight, as White, Anderson Jr., and Kylan Boswell are all out: Sion is their only other option behind Dennis Schröder. Lee obviously wouldn’t go into detail about Coby White’s potential return plan when asked.
On the bright side — this WILL be the debut of 14th overall pick Hannes Steinbach, and he’ll have more than his fair share of playing time. What I was interested in, though, is this: How have the practice and training camp battles with Moussa Diabaté sharpened Steinbach so far?
Hornets’ sideline reporter Shannon Spake asked Lee about this during his availability, and he said what we all expected — it’s been an adjustment for the rookies. The good news is, there was a “but” at the end of that part of Lee’s monologue to respond to Spake.
They all push each other, to your point,” Lee said. “You know, Moussa crashing that glass relentlessly is something that Hannes hasn’t seen in a while. I think the speed at which Moussa plays, and the physicality that he plays with, (even) on side-out-of-bounds plays — there are moments where you know Hannes has to realize how to shield guys off to be able to get that catch.
“But I also think to your point, Hannes has such a great skill set to him. He’s a big physical guy, as well. That, once he realizes what it takes — the moments, what they take, from a physical standpoint — he adjusts really quickly. He’s a really smart, high basketball IQ player. He’s done a great job, I think, on both sides of the floor. There’s a lot for him to learn, but he’s got great mentors around him at his position, and then also not at his position.”
There’s some positive news amid a 48-hour stretch that’s brought only worry and injury news on the Hornets front. It’s preseason, at the end of the. day. The team is taking precautions, and I wouldn’t worry about return timetables until injuries begin to stack up AFTER the preseason begins.
For now, treat it all as a precaution and don’t raise your blood pressure too much.
I will have more coverage of today’s Hornets vs. Nets preseason game all night on my Twitter (@0wenwatterson), plus another story with more quotes later tonight or first thing in the morning. Stay tuned!
Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM EST at the Spectrum Center.
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