Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets Improve Efficiency, Kemba is a Pick and Roll Master
Welcome to Buzz City Stings, Swarm and Sting’s daily roundup of the best Charlotte Hornets’ stories from around the web.
Buzz City Stings is your daily destination for the latest and best news from around the internet about the Charlotte Hornets. The team gets back to action after a Christmas break as they take on the Brooklyn Nets. In this edition, we look at the Hornets’ jump up in efficiency, Kemba Walker‘s pick-and-roll mastery, and Charles Barkley‘s beef with Michael Jordan.
Charlotte Improves Efficiency With Win Streak
“The Golden State Warriors continue to rank first in Efficiency Differential at +12.8 points per 100 possessions, followed by the Toronto Raptors at +9.6, the Cleveland Cavaliers at +8.2 and the Los Angeles Clippers at +7.6. The Charlotte Hornets moved up from 11th to 8th since last week at +2.2.” (RealGM.com)
After dropping to 11th in the efficiency rankings with their four-game losing streak, Charlotte bounced right back with a three-game win streak last week to catapult themselves back into the top-10. Not only did they bounce back but the Hornets are now eighth best in the NBA in terms of efficiency. They still have room to improve going forward but this ranking exemplifies the team’s success so far this year.
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Kemba Has Mastered the Pick-and-Roll
“The pick-and-roll is the staple of Charlotte’s offense; it makes up a league-leading 31.2 percent of the team’s plays. Kemba Walker, a speedy playmaking machine, is the centerpiece. Hornets head coach Steve Clifford has at his disposal a wealth of weapons that make for a deadly combo in a play called the “double high” pick-and-roll. This occurs when both the center and power forward set screens for the guard at or above the 3-point line.” (TheRinger.com)
Watching Kemba Walker and Cody Zeller in the pick-and-roll is a thing of beauty. Their ability to successfully run the pick-and-roll is a major reason why the team is near the top of the Eastern Conference. It is no surprise that Kemba is vying for an All-Star spot and Zeller is near the top of the league in field goal percentage from easy buckets off of rolls to the rim. This article does a great job of breaking down why they are successful in pick-and-roll action.
Beef Between Barkley and MJ
“Michael Jordan shouldn’t expect an apology from Charles Barkley anytime soon. The Inside The NBA analyst opened up about his current relationship with Michael Jordan during an interview on 97.5 The Fanatic — and even spoke about a recent run-in with his former friend. “I love the guy like a brother. We haven’t been friends for a while and it’s no big deal, but we bumped into each other. He treated me great, I think I treated him great, but our relationship hasn’t been the same since I criticized him about his business… But I’ve got nothing but love and respect for the guy… We shook hands, we said hello and that was it.” (SportingNews.com)
There seems to be a bit of beef between two NBA legends as Barkley and Jordan aren’t on the best of terms. Charles claims that this is because of how he was critical of MJ when the Charlotte Bobcats were struggling and one of the worst teams in league history. Whatever the reason, the feud isn’t poisonous and it doesn’t seem to be malicious. It looks like Michael didn’t appreciate when Barkley said and of course, Charles isn’t taking any of his comments back.
