When the Charlotte Hornets drafted Frank Kaminsky as the ninth overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, one of the reasons was him being one of the more NBA-ready players in the draft class. A few months later, and he’s playing nine minutes per game.
Kaminsky, a center in college who is currently being converted into a power forward (although these definitions are getting a little bit old), is getting just nine minutes per game despite a decent 14.3 PER through the first seven games of the season, averaging 3.1 points per game with 1.294 points per shot, although the sample size is too miniscule to start reading too deeply into the numbers.
According to Steve Clifford, Kaminsky needs more time to get used to the NBA’s physicality levels: He was struggling with the physicality, but not with his game. He’s ready to play skill-wise. His role will expand.
In the meantime, Hornets fans need to sit through Spencer Hawes, who is having what looks like the beginning of another terrible season (was awful for the Los Angeles Clippers). It might be more beneficial giving more minutes to Kaminsky, regardless if it’s a ‘4’ or a ‘5’ designation, than wasting it on Hawes, who isn’t just struggling with his shooting, but doing poorly defensively and with the stuff that doesn’t go into the box score, like putting in a worthy screen most of the time.