Kaminsky Injury Leaves Charlotte Hornets In NBA Purgatory

On March 2 against the Phoenix Suns, second-year big man Frank Kaminsky suffered an AC joint sprain in his left shoulder. For the Charlotte Hornets, that injury is the latest in a long line of setbacks.

On Dec. 29, the Charlotte Hornets defeated the Miami Heat 91-82 to improve to 19-14 on the season, tying the Hornets with the Boston Celtics for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.

Since then, Charlotte has a 9-21 record. The descent has been headlined by a quadriceps injury to starting center and plus-minus superstar Cody Zeller that sidelined him for 18 of the 30 games during this stretch.

It also included a trade that rid the team of the expiring contracts of Spencer Hawes and Roy Hibbert in exchange for Miles Plumlee and his four-year, $50 million contract.

Amid the downslide emerged one bright spot: Frank Kaminsky‘s play in the month of February. Kaminsky’s averages for the month landed at 18.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals and on .432/.386/.788 shooting in 32.7 minutes per night.

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Kaminsky clocks in with the third higest usage percentage on the team at 21.7 percent according to Basketball Reference and a lot of those touches lately have been filling Zeller’s niche in screening for Kemba.

Kaminsky pops much more than Zeller and, thanks to his increased minutes and touches, his 3-point percentage skyrocketed in the month of February from his season average.

Frank was fulfilling many of the visions Hornets fans had when he was drafted ninth overall in the 2015 draft, using his herky jerky drives to the rim and range to stretch the defense and keep them off balance.

That is, until his injury that leaves the remainder of the season in doubt for the Wisconson product.

Coach Steve Clifford has said that Zeller will return to his starting role with Kaminsky’s absence, but many were eager to see Zeller and a confident Kaminsky work together in extended stretches, as the numbers with the two on the court together this year are surprisingly good.

According to NBA Stats, together Kaminsky and Zeller are plus-11.1 per 100 possessions in 317 minutes, as opposed to plus-7.7 for the usual starting pairing of Zeller and Marvin Williams in 735 minutes.

Kaminsky’s injury may drive the final stake into Charlotte’s playoff hopes unless bench play improves and the Hornets miraculously find another playmaker to relieve some of the burden off of Walker and Nicolas Batum.

After registering a scoring margin of plus-2.7 in December, the Hornets’ margin has decreased each month since, a direct reflection of not only their record but also their competitiveness game to game.

In January, the margin fell to minus-1.3 and a 4-11 record, which then dive-bombed to minus-3.3 in February and a record of 3-8. In March through two games and going 1-1, the margin is at minus-3.5 thanks to a 120-103 loss to the Phoenix Suns on March 2.

The numbers add up to a team that has a very small margin for error. With one All-Star in Walker who has to manufacture virtually every shot each possession he’s on the court, the Hornets are easy to plan for despite coach Clifford’s best efforts to generate looks for other players.

Batum was signed to a five-year, $120 million deal in the offseason and was expected to pick up much of the slack Jeremy Lin and Courtney Lee took with them to Brooklyn and New York, respectively.

His numbers are actually slightly better from last season, minus a slight decrease in field goal percentage. But Batum is what he is: a nice third option on a contender, not a primary or even secondary option on a playoff team.

Despite 25 percent of his possessions coming as the pick and roll ball handler and the Hornets being a team that features the two-man game heavily, he’s in just the 16th percentile in pick and roll points per possession, per NBA Stats.

He simply doesn’t have the acceleration to motor past most bigs on the switch, and doesn’t shoot it well enough to command the primary defender going over the screen.

Throw in his lob passes that leave much to be desired and his tendency to settle for midrange jumpers and it’s not hard to see why Batum hasn’t thrived as the second option.

The question going forward remains: what is the mean of this core?

The 2015-16 season in which the Hornets recorded franchise’s best season since returning to Charlotte with 48 wins and a seven-game first round series or the 2016-17 season that has fans googling draft prospects in March.

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Walker, Batum, Zeller, Williams, Plumlee, Jeremy Lamb, Marco Belinelli and Kaminsky are all signed through at least 2017-18. This group will make another run at it next year, hopefully with a rookie that can contribute.

Until the Kaminsky injury, I was a staunch supporter of going for it and having a shot at a playoff seed that wouldn’t match up against the Cleveland Cavaliers. But now, the prospect of rising above the eighth seed is growing dimmer by the day as time runs out.

Briante Weber and Johnny O’Bryant, on 10-day contracts, should play meaningful minutes over the next few days to see if the Hornets discovered the next Yogi Ferrell.

O’Bryant had 15 points and six rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting in Charlotte’s win against the Denver Nuggets Saturday night.

The Hornets find themselves in the dreaded NBA purgatory of not bad, but not good. With an All-Star entering his prime in Walker, the Hornets can’t go full tank mode, but they don’t have much young talent to look forward to.

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General manager Rich Cho will have his work cut out for him in the coming months, as the Hornets will surely look to put a more competitive team on the floor next season. For now, just be glad that the Bobcats are fading further and further into the past.