Charlotte Hornets Finally Send Vonleh, Taylor To D-League
In a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone, the Charlotte Hornets have made some changes to the roster. Rookie Noah Vonleh and recently-returned Jeff Taylor have been sent on D-League assignments.
Vonleh will spend his time in Fort Wayne playing for the Mad Ants, Charlotte’s D-League affiliate.
Jeff Taylor is in a slightly different situation. Because of the high number of wing players with the Fort Wayne squad, Taylor will play his Developmental minutes with the Austin Spurs.
This move won’t help the Hornets win any games right now, but it will go a long way for them in the future. Vonleh and Taylor are two young guys with a lot of potential, so getting them minutes will really help their performances in seasons to come. To this point, both have only seen limited minutes during mop-up duty, so this will help their situational basketball skills as well.
Noah Vonleh was taken ninth overall by the Hornets during this past summer’s draft and was selected knowing he was a project player. He’s 19 years old and only spent one season with the Indiana Hoosiers, playing relatively limited minutes in college as well.
Basically what I’m getting at is this: the biggest thing that Vonleh needs is game experience.
Vonleh missed critical preseason time with the rest of the Hornets’ squad due to an injury over the summer. Because of this absence, head coach Steve Clifford doesn’t feel as though the young rookie understands the team’s schemes enough to contribute valuable minutes, despite having a decent Summer League performance.
In his limited minutes, it’s clear that Vonleh isn’t quite there yet. He has looked confused on the court against backups, so it’s clear he would be a liability during any meaningful game play.
There isn’t much time to practice during the season, so Vonleh will never be able learn what Clifford would like him to this season – meaning he’ll never do anything but ride the pine. His time will be much better spent in Fort Wayne where he can play against a higher level of opponents than in his college days.
Jeff Taylor’s situation is slightly different than Vonleh’s. An injury and a suspension kept Taylor off the court for a calendar year. Last season, Jeff Taylor tore his Achilles roughly a quarter of the way through the season. This season, he was sidelined for the first 24 games because of domestic assault charges during the offseason.
All Taylor needs at this point is minutes in a competitive basketball game. After missing so much time, Taylor isn’t in game-shape and would be a liability after a few minutes of play. At the D-League level, Taylor will get reacquainted with actual game situations.
Similar to Vonleh, Taylor hasn’t been able to practice with the rest of the team, so even if he was in game shape, Clifford likely wouldn’t feel comfortable with having him in.
Depending on how the season goes, we may see Jeff Taylor back with the Hornets before the final game. Vonleh will most likely be in Fort Wayne for the majority — if not all — of this season.
This move by the Hornets will really benefit the team for next season. Unfortunately, it won’t do anything to help them win now, but it also won’t hurt them, as neither player was seeing meaningful minutes.
With so much talk of Lance Stephenson being traded away already, it’s nice to see that the organization still has an eye on the future.