Charlotte Hornets: Can Gordon Hayward and LaMelo Ball work?

How the Gordon Hayward and LaMelo Ball pairing may look

As mentioned already, the thing that may make the Hornets most interesting is the full-court. Hayward is a 6’8” athletic forward who can shoot. He’s a perfect fit for LaMelo in that sense, as Hayward can both finish at the ring or fade the corner.

Hayward attempted 222 threes this season, ranking 131st in the NBA. Hayward shot 38.0 percent from three while taking 4.3 per game. In his last two seasons in Utah, he was attempting at least five per game — it’s not a stretch to think Hayward could be taking six or seven threes per game in Charlotte.

My biggest takeaway is that Hayward only shot 49 threes from the corners, making 40.8 percent of them. LaMelo Ball if you haven’t already figured out is an out of this world playmaker, at age 19 he was already averaging seven assists in the NBL – what do you think happens when he’s 20 and is on a team with better shooters?

Let’s take Todd Blanchfield, who is also a multi-talented wing and was LaMelo’s teammate in Illawarra last season.

When Ball drives, he catches the eyes of everyone in the crowd, sometimes even he catches the defender’s eyes as well. The combination of speed, athleticism, and creativity will pay dividends for Hayward’s possible All-Star return, as Ball will be able to dish the ball to any spot on the court, including a trailing or corner loitering Hayward.

The NBA comparison is tough, but, ironically it comes from Lonzo Ball and Bradon Ingram. Lonzo has become a good 3-point shooter and LaMelo has shown promise in that area, (when he wants to take efficient shots) the Ingram-Ball chemistry could be an example of how it works between LaMelo and Hayward.

The two Pelicans are both capable defenders above 6’6″ who have shown shooting capability, the peak of the Ball and Hayward duo could look like this.

The fit isn’t absolutely perfect, with Hayward introduced a very intriguing element to that discussion. The next biggest question is, do the Hornets expect to make the playoffs?

Looking at the Eastern conference and last year’s standings, the only teams that could fall out (besides a team suffering an injury to a star player) would be the Pacers or the Magic. Leaving those two teams with the Bulls, Hawks, Wizards, and the Hornets all trying to get the 7th and 8th seed.

With a gun to my head, I’d say the Hornets are not making it. Ball has superstar potential, but it’s just potential right now. The laundry list of issues Ball suffers from on the court cannot be ignored.

Ball makes dazzling passes, but he also played little to no defense in the NBL and struggled to shoot efficiently – things that are required to be a playoff team, even in the East. Hayward will try his best, but it all comes down to how the LaMelo Ball enigma unfolds.