'It hit everybody hard'
LaMelo Ball's season-ending hand injury is a rough blow to the Hornets, but they vow to press on with their prized rookie
There was no reason to try to sugarcoat it or deny the obvious disappointment.
With rookie sensation LaMelo Ball diagnosed with a fractured bone in his right hand, sidelining him indefinitely, the mood was quite different for the Hornets on Monday in San Antonio.
“Obviously, this is tough to swallow,” coach James Borrego said before Charlotte’s 100-97 victory over the Spurs. “It hit everybody hard. Everybody loves this kid. He's at the core of our organization. He's a pillar for us. Anytime someone like that is hurting it's tough. It's been an emotional evening and morning for us. But we carry on. We move forward. We’ve got a job to do and we are not going to sit here feeling sorry for ourselves. This is sport, this is life and it’s just how you deal with it.
“I think more than anything,” he continued, “this is really about resiliency. That’s the one thing we’ve been about all season. We’ve been as resilient a group as I’ve ever been around. This season has really tested the fabric of our resiliency, our character and there’s nothing different here. This is just another challenge along the way and now we’ve got to deal with it. And in the end we’ll be better for it. Melo will be better for it. It hurts in the moment but we pick ourselves up, move forward and in the end we’ll be better. That’s the challenge now.”
Borrego stopped short of suggesting Ball is done for the season, indicating the 19-year-old will see a specialist and the medical staff will go over all the information before making a final decision. However, a league source confirmed an ESPN report that Ball’s season is likely over.
He was the leading candidate for rookie of the year, having already won the conference’s rookie of the month award in January and February. In 21 games as a starter, he posted 19.5 points, 6.2 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals, shooting 42.6 percent beyond the arc and 46.4 percent overall. And it all came to a screeching halt with one freak play in Los Angeles on Saturday.
“I feel for him,” said Terry Rozier, who scored 14 of his 24 points against San Antonio in the fourth quarter. “It’s never easy dealing with things like this, hearing that you are going to be out for the season. Melo is like my little brother. I know him and I know how he works. If it was up to him he’d play left-handed. That’s just how competitive he is. But you’ve just got to sit him down, he’s just got to keep getting better and stay poised. I was with him all yesterday, just trying to keep him level-headed, me and Miles (Bridges). He’s in a good place. He’ll be all right.”
Devonte’ Graham’s insertion back into the starting lineup in Ball’s place is part of the trickle down effect. The good news is it’s nothing new for the third-year pro of course, allowing him to once again potentially flourish with Rozier. But beyond altering the bench personnel they now have at their disposal, losing Ball will probably slow the Hornets’ pace down considerably.
Ball always looked to push the action, racing up court at any noticeable opportunity. He’s a huge reason why the Hornets’ pace of 100.8 ranked ninth in the league. Now, though, the Hornets may be forced to grind it out more in half court situations, meaning they could have trouble getting easy buckets in transition. New creativity at times could be required, such as Borrego acknowledging the ball could be in Gordon Hayward’s hands a lot more or how playing through the post more frequently is also an option.
Hayward led the Hornets with 27 points against the Spurs, but also seemed to focus on being a distributor, too, with Ball not around. He had six assists, continuing a nice trend on a road trip in which he hasn’t finished with fewer than four in a game. He knows it’s imperative for him to step it up.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Hayward said. “Obviously with LaMelo going down there’s going to be more responsibility, some more touches, some more opportunities. So I’ve got to make the most of it, try to balance my own scoring with trying to get everybody involved.”
Whether Ball’s injury changes the thinking of the GM Mitch Kupchak and the team’s brass in regards to their approach to Thursday’s trade deadline remains to be seen. The Hornets could certainly use help up front and they have been among those scouring the market. They remain on the fringe of the playoff picture, currently sitting in sixth place after hovering between sixth and eighth in recent weeks.
Roughly two months remain in their regular season and they still have 30 games left to keep it altogether. Their postseason aspirations are going to center around figuring out how to best alleviate the void left by Ball’s stinging injury.
“Definitely with Melo’s absence the game is slowed down already and it’s not on purpose,” Rozier said. “He played fast at a high level. … That’s a great thing that he had and we are trying to work at playing at a faster pace like that. So we are definitely going to miss him, but we’ve just got adjust. This is what we’ve got. We lost a special player, a great player. But this is part of the NBA. You’ve just got to — not move on but we’ve just got to work with what you’ve got and make it happen.”
In other words, don’t expect any excuses from the Hornets.
“I’m really looking for no drop-off here,” Borrego said. “That’s my goal here, is that we just carry on and fight and we claw … and we get it moving. So we’re capable of that. This group is experienced enough and we’ve done this enough together to pick up and move forward quickly.”