By December 3, 2023
Photo: Kurt Shackelford / CLTure
It barely took a month, and the one issue Hornets fans were hoping to avoid in the 2023-24 season has already resurfaced– LaMelo Ball is sidelined with an ankle injury.
Though it appears this sprain isn’t as significant as previous injuries, Ball will still miss at least a handful of games before he’s re-evaluated. In the moment of the injury as Ball was being carried to the locker room, it looked like he could’ve been out for quite a while, but he seems to have avoided anything serious. Hornets sideline reporter Ashley ShahAhmadi reported on November 30 that Ball would be re-evaluated in one week. Regardless, a Hornets team sitting with a 6-12 record can ill afford its franchise cornerstone to be sitting on the bench in street clothes.
Anybody want some good news???@ashahahmadi fills you in with a positive up to the minute update on LaMelo Ball’s ankle injury. pic.twitter.com/tmmPVxdgGx
— Bally Sports: Hornets (@HornetsOnBally) December 1, 2023
Ball was injured just 14 minutes into the game Terry Rozier returned, who was out for three weeks with a groin injury in November (Rozier dropped 37 points and 13 assists against Brooklyn). Charlotte’s “best five” lineup of Ball, Rozier, Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges and Mark Williams have been on the floor together for just 12 total possessions on the season, per Cleaning The Glass. Every team deals with untimely injuries, but the Hornets had it rough last year, and it’s already spilled over into the new season.
Apart from Ball, the roster is getting healthier. James Bouknight has returned from preseason knee surgery, Nick Richards cleared concussion protocol in time to play in Sunday’s matchup against Minnesota, and Brandon Miller bounced back quickly from a couple of minor ankle sprains, giving the back-end of Steve Clifford’s bench needed depth. Additionally, Bryce McGowens has gotten his wind back after missing time with his own ankle sprain early in the season. The second-year guard has a pair of double-figure scoring outings in the last five games and has been a bright spot defensively with his quick rotations, off-ball awareness, and screen navigation.
Bridges returned from his 10-game suspension on November 17, and has scored in double figures every game since, including a 33-point performance in a win over Washington. Bridges has scored efficiently from the field and from beyond the arc, grabbing high-effort rebounds and giving the offense another floor-spacer in the frontcourt. The 25-year-old forward hasn’t missed a beat following a year-and-a-half long absence from basketball.
The Hornets have gone 1-3 since Ball went down, but overall, the last week-plus has been relatively kind; since November 20, Charlotte is 3-3 with wins over Boston, Washington and Brooklyn. The team boasted the 16th-best offense on 58% true shooting over that span, a marginal improvement from their season-long marks. Those numbers match the eye test, too– the team has looked more connected and fluid offensively, even with Ball out. Steve Clifford hammered home the point of taking more threes and making kick-out passes from the paint when the Hornets were dead last in 3-point attempts and near the bottom in percentage early in the season. His message seems to be sinking in; Charlotte has inched up to 26th in 3-point attempts per game (30.7) and rocketed all the way up to 10th in 3-point percentage (37.1%).
It’s become apparent in recent weeks how badly the Hornets match up against tough, physical defenses with positional size across the depth chart. To be fair, Charlotte has faced the league’s top four defenses since November 20 (Minnesota, Boston, Orlando and New York). Though they beat Boston in overtime, the size and physicality of the other three teams were simply overwhelming. In each loss, the Hornets lost the rebounding battle and Mark Williams struggled to contain the opposing center. Despite a 7-foot, 241-pound frame, Williams hasn’t dealt with the bigger, bruising bigs as well as anticipated when he came out of Duke. In fact, it seems he’s more comfortable against perimeter-oriented centers like Kristaps Porziņģis (whom he grabbed 16 rebounds against) than a paint anchor like Rudy Gobert, who limited Williams to six rebounds before he fouled out. It’s not just Williams, either. The Hornets as a whole cannot handle any amount of force or physicality being imposed on them, resorting to cheap fouls that disrupt the flow of the game and compromise the defense. Clifford let out an all-time monologue after the size, strength and toughness of the Timberwolves buried Charlotte in a close loss at home.
Apart from the stretch last season from February onward, where the Hornets ranked sixth in defense, this core group of players has struggled to defend. Turning that around without making significant changes will be difficult.
With Ball sidelined, Clifford will have to determine who shoulders a bigger offensive load and which players take up the vacated minutes. Ish Smith, Nick Smith Jr. and JT Thor have all been in and out of the rotation since Ball went down, and it’ll be intriguing to see who, if any of them, become a fixture. The return of Rozier and Bridges helps alleviate the shot creation concerns, as does Hayward and PJ Washington slowly bouncing back to early-season form. Rookie Brandon Miller has missed a few games already this year due to ankle injuries, but has really rounded into form as an impactful two-way wing. It helps that Clifford has more options to help pick up Ball’s slack than he did last year.
The Hornets have three days of rest before a matchup against the Chicago Bulls on December 6. Four of Charlotte’s next five games are at The Hive following the trip to the Windy City.
Check out the full 2023-24 Charlotte Hornets schedule.
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