NBA writer says Hornets have franchise player (but it isn't LaMelo Ball)

Sometimes, hierarchies aren’t clear right away. Personalities clash, politics emerge. The Tatum and Brown situation hasn’t always looked pretty, but both guys are winners who respect each other’s games, so that’s helped everything work out. 

Looking back at the Miami “Heatles” squad that featured LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, it’s crazy to think that Bron wasn’t the obvious alpha from Day 1, but the reality was that it took an entire season for Wade to learn to be deferent to LeBron, and for LeBron to feel okay about taking the steering wheel.

NBA history tells us that establishing a hierarchy is a crucial step towards building a clear vision for your team, and that’s something that the Hornets currently face with Ball and Miller.

With LaMelo being the longer-tenured star in Charlotte and the higher-paid of the two guys (only because Miller is still on his rookie deal), it makes sense for LaMelo to be considered the status quo alpha for the Hornets.

But is that really the optimal situation for Charlotte, or would the Hornets get better, quicker if they considered Miller the center of everything, and Melo his All-Star running mate?

TrueHoop’s David Thorpe believes Brandon Miller should be the center of the Hornets’ solar system

One NBA writer who believes strongly in a Miller-centric blueprint for Charlotte is TrueHoop’s David Thorpe, who recently appeared on The Kevin O’Connor Show to discuss the Hornets, among other teams. Not only did Thorpe question whether LaMelo has what it takes to win, but he also outright asserted that Miller is the guy Charlotte should really be building around.

“I am absolutely in love with Brandon Miller,” Thorpe told O’Connor.

“I think he is a winner. If you watch that Alabama team, which I did … he made so many winning plays for them as a teenager. I think he can be fantastic and really, the first guy to get (the Hornets) out of where they've been.”

“I think that when you can get one star moving in the right direction, (and) to me, that's Brandon Miller, you could start seeing a path forward (for the Hornets),” Thorpe continued. “If LaMelo decides to join the club, great — all of a sudden, they have two All-Star level players, and now, they're a serious team to be looked at as the other guys develop.”

“Brandon Miller needs to not follow LaMelo’s footsteps and create his own path, and play and defend with urgency,” Thorpe added.

Thorpe’s take is an interesting one, and it’s sure to rile up LaMelo’s most ardent supporters. At the end of the day, though, there’s no reason that both players can’t thrive and earn max money doing so, with the Celtics being an obvious example to point to. 

The Hornets don’t need to worry about some sort of power struggle between Ball and Miller, either. They play different positions, for one thing. And if Miller is the dog that Thorpe seems to think he is, surely he’ll assert himself as Charlotte’s outright best player, sooner rather than later.

Given how talented LaMelo is, though, that hasn’t happened yet, and who knows if it will?

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