The Lowdown, Volume I
What you should know about the Hornets running fewer set plays this season, Malik Monk's return, the start of preseason games and LaMelo's ice grill
He has to resist the urge.
Under normal circumstances, given the ample opportunities leading up to the regular season, it wouldn’t be necessary to deviate from the usual path. But with the condensed amount of time James Borrego has until the Hornets coach sends his team onto the floor for their Dec. 23 season opener in Cleveland, he has to alter his plan of attack.
Rather than drilling and installing a plethora of specific plays, Borrego said he will instead focus on driving home the team’s offensive and defensive philosophies. That, he believes, is more important and should aid in better long-term success.
“This is how I’m approaching it this season,” Borrego said on a Zoom call. “I can go throw out a bunch of sets right now and flood the playbook, put out 50 sets — five or six for each guy — and that would be great. But I think that stunts your growth as a program, because at a certain level the league catches up to you. And when the league catches up to your sets, they can scout you and take those things away.
“Where we want to be a little different (is be) more adaptable, flexible, where we play out of concepts, run a set, run a play, but no matter what it always ends in concept play and position-less basketball.”
Borrego is a big proponent of that last term and Charlotte has constructed its roster with an eye on having players who can slide over to more than one position effectively. He has so many new pieces to figure out where they best fit in. That’s factoring into his mindset.
It’s important to ensure each knows where he wants them to be and wants them to do.
“In the end, that’s going to make us tougher to guard,” Borrego said. “Instead of being so set-driven, play-driven right now (be) more concept driven. With that comes a little bit of sloppiness and messiness because they are having to read and react on the fly right now. If I just stopped the gym and ran a set every single play they would know where to go and control that. But there is a ceiling on our offense then.”
And he obviously doesn’t want that to be the case.
“Teams will catch up, defenses will catch up us then,” Borrego said. “Where if I focus more on the concepts of how we want to play — side-to-side, our five-spot motion and sets — we are going to be tougher to guard down the stretch. And I’m OK with that. I understand it’s going to look a little messy early on. It might not be as clean as I’d like it early on. But if I look at it big picture, I think this is only going to make us tougher and more dynamic to guard.”
LET THE (PRESEASON) GAMES BEGIN
It may not count and it’s not exactly something their fans can celebrate in person given they can’t attend any games at Spectrum Center at the moment, but the Hornets tip off their preseason against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.
Nine months after they walked off the court at American Airlines Arena in Miami, having knocked off the Heat, the Hornets are finally about to play a game again. A suddenly rapid offseason has already shifted into high gear, motoring toward two games in three days in Charlotte.
“It’s super exciting,” Devonte’ Graham said. “I couldn’t believe it. That it came so quick. Super fast, but I’m definitely excited to go out there and play against other guys instead of my teammates.”
In other words, begin to get a gauge on things.
“I just want to go out, push myself and see where I’m at conditioning-wise,” Graham said. “Work on the things that we’ve been working on this past week. Just making sure guys are learning the offense and we are playing together, playing well. Base and all that little stuff that’s really going to matter. A lot of it is going to be what we do defensively, not so much offensively. That’s going to come. But if we can be good defensively early, I think that will help us a lot.”
Saturday’s game is the first of the Hornets’ four preseason matchups spanning this next week. They host the Raptors again on Monday before heading to Orlando to take on the Magic on Thursday and Saturday. It all leads up to Charlotte’s season opener, which is less than two weeks away.
“I think for me it’s just about evaluation and getting a good run out there,” Borrego said. “Making sure that we are running the things and doing the things that we’ve been working on all week in practice. …
“What is a little bit unique here is that I don’t have a lot of evaluation data on the young guys. Usually there’s a Summer League here and I can learn more about them. Right now it’s really about our team. So this is not going to be a full evaluation our roster. By now we would have already seen these guys in Summer League and had a feel for who they are as players.”
That makes it all the more imperative to ensure the core players are good to go.
“Right now its really about getting the top 10, top 12 ready to go for opening night. So that is going to be my focus there,” Borrego said. “Making sure those guys are getting enough run and not too much run, but they are getting more comfortable with each other. So that is going to be my focus. I may not get to all 20 guys. I just may not this preseason. If I get to them that’d be great.
“I’ve got to evaluate on the fly right now. If I have to pay the main guys, the main rotation group all four games I’ll do that. I’m not looking to do that, but by game three or four hopefully have a better evaluation of what we are going to do down the stretch.”
MONK RETURNS
Malik Monk was back in the building Thursday, a good sign for the fourth-year guard.
Monk tested positive for COVID-19 and had to quarantine away from the team for 10 days, according to the NBA’s coronavirus guidelines. He must practice by himself at the facility for two days while wearing a mask before fully rejoining his teammates, which Borrego said could happen Saturday.
Don’t expect Monk to play in the preseason opener, though. It’s still unclear if he’ll even be ready to play against Toronto on Monday.
“I don’t have an answer for you on that,” Borrego said. “I’ve got to see where he’s at the next two days. Could he potentially be there Monday? Yes. But I’ll probably have more clarity after these next two days.”
SAY CHEESE
LaMelo Ball’s flashy new fronts are in a class all by themselves.
Ball’s shiny grill was hand-delivered earlier in the week and it didn’t take long for the glare to quickly shine things up a bit on Instagram. The diamond-encrusted teeth are hard to miss, seemingly sending out blinding beams of light while they sparkle.
Ball’s father, Lavar, didn’t know about the new toothy accessory or the social media stir it caused. Ball, taking the whole thing in stride, didn’t seem worried about any potential tongue-lashings from his dad.
“At the end of the day, I’m a grown man,” Ball said, smiling. “I’m going to get what I want, do what I want.”
When asked if the teeth were his first big purchase since inking his rookie deal with the Hornets, Ball made it clear that wasn’t the case.
“Nah, I don’t spend my NBA contract,” he said. “I’m smarter than that.”
Ball, who’s drawn rave reviews from Borrego for his playmaking ability, is clearly enjoying things as he acclimates himself to the new surroundings. An early mutual admiration appears to be budding between the Hornets and their first-round draft pick.
“Pretty much from the day I first stepped here and got in Charlotte ‘til now, I’ve been loving it,” Ball said. “My teammates, coaches, everybody is genuinely nice and great. So it’s an amazing vibe for real. I love to be here for real.”