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Charlotte Hornets: The Frank Kaminsky Connundrum

By John Woodcock

February 28, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Charlotte Hornets center Frank Kaminsky III (44) during a stoppage in play against the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
February 28, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Charlotte Hornets center Frank Kaminsky III (44) during a stoppage in play against the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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Frank Kaminsky and the Charlotte Hornets have to wonder what they want out of their post rotation for the future.

The Charlotte Hornets lost to the Phoenix Suns last night. That sounds pretty bad. The only good news is the play of Frank Kaminsky continues to be at a high level. It is unfortunate that the team has wasted much of it in losses like this one since Cody Zeller and Miles Plumlee went down to injury. Zeller did play some minutes, but is still recovering from his injury.

Kaminsky stepped into the hole and center and has offered something that made the Hornets more interesting during Zeller’s absence. He offered a big body that could shoot from outside. When he is on the court with the Hornets starting lineup, there is no player that needs to be based in the paint. That gives the team maximum flexibility on the offensive end.

In theory, this is what Coach Steve Clifford wanted when Al Jefferson got hurt. He wanted a wide open scheme. Zeller could not shoot it, and was a better all-round fit. The team could use the one-in and four-out approach despite the lack of fit in that system for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Earlier this season, the Hornets got good results from this scheme because of what Zeller offered on the other end of the court.

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So now the Hornets find themselves in a quandary with Zeller coming back and Kaminsky playing well. How do you play them together? For right now, you don’t. Until a center emerges to take the backup minutes (a healthy Plumlee or extended minutes for Christian Wood) the two need to share their minutes at the five spot. That will be mean less overlap for the two on the court.

The future will have to decide what the final fate of Zeller and Kaminsky will be. They aren’t incompatible with each other on offense. On defense, there is a question of whether Kaminsky has the foot speed to defend other power forwards or smaller lineups. Neither is as flexible as Marvin Williams, who is the third wheel in this deal.

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Williams is not having the year he had last year. That is little surprise since this is not a contract year. He still represents a pretty hard to replace piece. If Kaminsky was a step faster that would do it.

The Hornets are coming to a deciding point where they need to determine what direction the season is going to go. They either need to produce a big winning streak or they need to experiment for the sake of next year. A Zeller-Kaminsky combination would be one way to do that. Then the Hornets will have to figure out their money situation, which got more complicated in the wake of the Plumlee trade.

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