Hornets To Fire Charles Lee After He Randomly Benched LaMelo Ball?
Hornets To Fire Charles Lee After He Randomly Benched LaMelo Ball?
LaMelo Ball is the best fourth-quarter player in the NBA right now. Coming into Tuesday night, he was averaging 10.3 points on 53.3 percent shooting from the field and 45.7 percent from beyond the arc late in games.
Because of that, it would stand to reason that Ball would always be a permanent fixture in the Charlotte Hornets lineup in the fourth quarter.
For some reason, head coach Charles Lee decided to change that this week.
In a close game against the Brooklyn Nets, Lee opted to bench his team’s biggest star.
Georgia Fan Called Out For Inappropriate Outfit To Tennessee Game https://t.co/C3zuBgMS5q
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 20, 2024
Predictably, Charlotte lost the game 116-115.
After the game, Lee offered a bizarre explanation for his move.
“Melo has been phenomenal for us and he’s done so many good things. He’s creating offensively and guarding, and I just thought that Tre had a little better of a hand tonight and was helping us a little bit more on both ends of the court,” Lee said.
🎙️ Charles Lee: “LaMelo (Ball)’s been phenomenal for us. He’s done so many good things, creating offensively and guarding.”
“I just thought that Tre (Mann) had a slightly better hand tonight and was helping us a little bit more on both ends of the court.” pic.twitter.com/xIn9SGNGzb
— /r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) November 20, 2024
“But, that’s not to say that we weren’t getting anything from Melo early in the game. I thought he did a really good job of setting the table and doing some good things too.”
Lee didn’t stop there, though.
“I think every night it could be someone different. And they all have to accept the fact that if another guy has it going, we probably need to ride that hand,” he continued.
This is an inexcusable rationale. One definitely worthy of firing Lee on the spot.
Ball is averaging 28.4 points per game on 43 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Additionally, he is averaging 6.6 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game. He is Charlotte’s best player – no ands, ifs or ors about.
There is no good reason to bench him in the fourth quarter aside from some sort of weird personal grudge.
Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
