NBA Power Rankings week 12: injury fallout, OKC Thunder highs and lows
team. 170. . 15-27. Previous: 21st. Charlotte Hornets. 24
Charlotte Hornets:
Offense: (106.0) 22nd
Defense: (112.9) 27th
Net: (minus -6.8) 26th
Games Week 12 (0-4): Lost vs. Pacers: 104-115, Raptors: 110-112 (OT), Jazz: 92-109. Suns: 92-100
Games Week 13 (2 games): Mon at Blazers | Weds at Nuggets
The biggest change James Borrego has made to his lineup was inserting Bismack Biyombo into the starting rotation in place of Cody Zeller.
The latter getting similar production as a reserve as he did a starter. Zeller along with the original four starters are all averaging double figures.
The switch initially occurred with Zeller out injured and the Hornets registered back to back defeats of Detroit and with that Biyombo has started ever since with the team collecting nine victories in his 25 starts whereas the Hornets won six times in Zeller’s 17 starts.
The move may be solely based on the initial success the team was experiencing or it could be the brain trust wanting to garner trade attention for Biyombo. No doubt we’ll know the answer to that question soon.
As for the starting center with the losses piling up this week after a decent showing last week perhaps Borrego will revisit this situation since Zeller has shown glimpses of being a more complete player than Biyombo. The other option would be to assess the situation based on matchups and pick and chose based on a game by game situation and potentially platoon them.