I'm giving Melo his flowers because it's the only good thing about Charlotte right now
The Hornets megastar is finally blossoming into one of the league's most lethal offensive threats. Charlotte isn't growing with him though.
CHARLOTTE — Saturday was LaMelo Ball’s coronation. A young prince riddled with controversies and injurues, his style required years to unlock fully. The seeds were there. The flashy passes, logo threes, alley-oops, triple-doubles; all those bursts of moments crescendoed into Saturday. Ball’s coronation could’ve come as early as his rookie year had he not suffered a wrist injury that kept him out for a significant chunk of the season. Despite a Rookie of the Year Award, an All-Star appearance, and a $260 million contract, there was a sense that we weren’t scratching the tip of the LaFrance tattooed iceberg. Nowhere near the surface.
Saturday, we finally saw it. Melo, approaching levels of consistency he hasn’t approached in years, stormed to a 50-point outburst in a 125-119 loss to Milwaukee. He seemed omnipotent on the court. One-legged threes. Floaters past Giannis Antetokounmpo. Baseline fadeaways. What more couldn’t he do?
He couldn’t walk home with the win though. Although Melo cleared the 50-point mark for the first time in his career on 17-38 shooting, along with 10 assists, they were down by as much as 20 throughout the game. It was only through a Herculean effort by Melo, along with 32 points from Brandon Miller, that Charlotte even approached striking distance late in the fourth quarter.
This story has been prominent throughout the first 17 games of Charlotte’s season, where they’ve slid to 12th in the East. Charlotte has just two wins in its last eight games and is all but eliminated from the NBA Cup. Instead of the fringe play-in team analysts projected them to be, they could be looking at yet another year where the highlight is the draft lottery.
After losing Grant Williams for the rest of the season through an ACL tear, key players like Miles Bridges, Nick Richards, and Tre Mann could be out for weeks. The result has been a gross imbalance of offensive responsibility. In their Monday loss to Orlando, Melo and Miller combined for over 75% of Charlotte’s 84 points. 65% against Milwaukee.
It’s hard to blame Charlotte’s recent slide on anything, but their struggles have started after an injury epidemic and worsened with some horrible shooting performances. Losing Nick Richards to a rib fracture for at least another week means they’ve lost their paint presence offensively. They’ve got rebound vacuum Moussa Diabate to at least convert the few shots he’ll take and grab boards with a Dennis Rodman-like enthusiasm.
The rebound part has worked for Diabate but the shooting part has failed — he’s averaging 3.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. 39-year-old Taj Gibson has gotten some shine off the bench, but they are truly struggling in the frontcourt. Mark Williams. Nick Richards. And now Grant Williams? It’s a headache to even think about. They won’t play a game in the 2024-25 season with their best starting five. Injuries have hamstrung Charles Lee’s opportunity to put their best talent on the table. They’ve trotted out a weird mix of stars, role players, and G Leaguers in recent games. The results have truly shown.
With this, defenses can now focus on the Hornets’ two biggest threats — Melo and Miller. This will lead to declined shooting percentages for the two and thus declined shooting percentages for the team. Miller shot 6/17 from the field (2/7 from range) in Monday’s loss to Orlando. The team shot under 22% from range. They’ve been erratic all month. When they get hot (loss to Milwaukee, Minnesota), they can crush defenses. Their lows witness horrible shooting and stalled offensive drives.
Some individual players have struggled on offense. Cody Martin, Tidjane Salaun, Josh Green, Vasa Micic, and more have all seen horrible stat lines. They’re meant to be Swiss Army role players, not key players with a huge offensive load. Handing the ball to those four often kills the momentum Charlotte builds up, eventually leading to huge leads they can’t come back from.
Hell, Micic might have lost Charles Lee’s trust — he’s played a little over 20 minutes over the past four games.
Enough about individual players, injuries, and inadequate offensive showings. Let’s talk about the big picture. Charlotte’s big slide could continue longer if things run unchecked. They have a crucial conference stretch where they play the Heat, Knicks (twice), Hawks, and Sixers over eight days. That could hugely impact their race in the crowded race for a play-in spot. These are all tricky opponents with All-Star caliber players and pesky defenses. How will Charlotte hold up? Could they rocket up the standings with wins? How far might they drop with losses?
With several of Charles Lee’s main agents to success recovering from injuries, he needs to do some soul-searching. He’s been widely criticized for pulling Melo out of a tight game against Brooklyn — which they eventually lost by one point, putting them out of contention for the NBA Cup. He has to walk a tight line by balancing Melo’s need for freedom with the ball and maintaining order over his players.
Several problems face Charlotte. None of them have short-term solutions, but all of them need to be fixed, possibly as soon as Wednesday’s mid-table clash with Miami.
But, hey, at least Melo had 50 the other day.