Old North Banter
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Charlotte Hornets: The Tim Duncan Scenario Guys

By John Woodcock

Apr 5, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford gestures from the sidelines in the first half against the Miami Heat at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford gestures from the sidelines in the first half against the Miami Heat at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 17, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) prepares to shoot the ball against the Kent State Golden Flashes in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 17, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) prepares to shoot the ball against the Kent State Golden Flashes in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
  1. Lonzo Ball, UCLA

No, I am not a card carrying member of the LaVar Ball band wagon. There are other former Carolina Panthers I would rather hear from than LaVar, and I am not sure I would want LaVar in Charlotte criticizing the team’s direction or just gushing on his kid all the time. But I also thought Cecil Newton was a liability and we never hear from him.

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The reason Ball is on this short list and not Markelle Fultz is because Ball is 6’6”. He is a point guard, sure. The Hornets have a point guard in the form of Kemba Walker. He is already pretty good, but Kemba is a scoring guard. He can work with other distributors on the court like Batum.

The idea would be to put Ball at the two guard, while giving him the backup point guard minutes. His shooting is still suspect, but his passing is what you want him for. That element would take pressure off of Batum to be the only real distributor on the floor. Ball would also likely become the second option on big possessions where Batum has not been comfortable.

This move would also result in Batum displacing Kidd-Gilchrist at the small forward and again we have the Kidd-Gilchrist bench dilemma. However, the Hornets do not have money to throw around this off season and the draft might be only chance to improve the team. Ball checks off some of those boxes, but of course the problem would be how much Ball wants to play for the Lakers.

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