New York Knicks: Courtney Lee Made The Hornets Better In 2015-16
by Drew Margolis

The Hornets acquired Courtney Lee at the trade deadline last season, and saw tremendous results. Read on to find out exactly how he improved the team.

If trading for Derrick Rose and signing Joakim Noah qualify as the New York Knicks making a big splash in the offseason, then signing Courtney Lee was akin to a raindrop in the Hudson River. Adding Lee has turned into a footnote to a highly publicized series of offseason moves.

Even foreign additions Willy Hernangomez and Mindaugas Kuzminskas seem to have energized the fan base to a greater extent. It’s strange. Rose and Noah both have obvious concerns between injuries and declining production, while Hernangomez and Kuzminskas have yet to play an NBA minute and are relative unknowns in terms of performance.

Lee, on the other hand, has a legitimate track record as one of the league’s most consistent 3-point marksmen and fiercest perimeter defenders.

In each of the last six seasons, Lee has shot at least 37 percent from behind the arc, including three seasons at 40 percent. His 38.9% clip since 2010-11 ranks 12th in the league amongst players who have attempted as many 3-point field goals as Lee has over that span.

He’s known as one of the league’s fiercest perimeter defenders and was a major contributor to Memphis’ Top 10 defenses in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Lee played most of last season with the injury-ridden Grizzlies before joining the Charlotte Hornets in a near-deadline three-team deal in which Charlotte sent PJ Hairston to Memphis and Brian Roberts to Miami.

Charlotte’s Improvement

Charlotte posted an exceptional 20-8 record (.714 win percentage) in Lee’s 28 games with the team. This stretch included a seven-game winning streak, the team’s longest of the season, as well as impressive victories over the Pacers (twice), Spurs, Heat, and Celtics.

The Hornets were only slightly above .500 before the trade and, at best, a fringe playoff team. Slightly above .500 basketball was not good enough for an 8-seed in the surprisingly competitive, albeit top-heavy, Eastern Conference last season. Just ask the 42-40 Chicago Bulls.

Charlotte finished the season with 48 wins, earning a 6-seed and a matchup with the Miami Heat.

CHA pre-trade	CHA post-trade	Difference
FG%	43.0%	45.5%	        2.5%
3P%	35.2%	38.2%	        3.1%
eFG%	49.1%	52.2%	        3.0%
TS%	53.6%	56.3%	        2.7%

In terms of FG%, 3P%, eFG%, and TS%, Charlotte’s shooting improved across the board after Lee joined the team. Adding Lee certainly improved the team’s spacing, as they were able to trot out a shooting guard who simply couldn’t be left open, as opposed to Hairston, a career 29.5 percent shooter from deep.

Charlotte’s opponents remained relatively consistent, save for a slight drop in 3-point field goal percentage. Obviously, the drop cannot be entirely attributed to Lee, as he joined an already effective defense that ended the season as the league’s 8th best unit in terms of points allowed per 100 possessions.

That being said, he’s undoubtedly a strong perimeter defender and was the only substantial change to the team’s chemistry and composition.

Lee was also part of some of Charlotte’s most productive lineups despite only spending about a third of the season with the team. The team’s pre-trade starting five of Kemba Walker, PJ Hairston, Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, and Cody Zeller posted a -2.3 point differential per 100 possessions in about 259 minutes.

The same lineup with Lee in Hairston’s place outscored opponents by 11.2 points per 100 possessions in about 407 minutes of game action.

In fact, every lineup featuring Lee, including all 2-to-5-man combinations, finished the season with a positive point differential per 100 possessions. Lee, Walker, and Zeller were the team’s most effective three-man combination, outscoring opponents by 12.7 points per 100 possessions in over 500 shared minutes.

Lee and Walker were the team’s most lethal duo, finishing with a +8.2 point differential per 100 possessions in nearly 700 shared minutes.

What Does This Mean?

The Hornets essentially swapped a struggling PJ Hairston for Courtney Lee and surged through the last 28 regular season games. The team’s offense undeniably improved, and an already exceptional defense continued to excel without missing a beat. This is not meant to paint Lee as some sort of incredibly talented missing piece who saved the Hornets’ season. Context is always vital.

Hairston is simply an ineffective, below average offensive player based on several metrics. One could argue that any shooting guard capable of average/above average offensive production could have replaced him with similar results.

Not up for debate, however, is the fact that the Hornets made a significant upgrade at the position and improved as a team, especially on the offensive end.

Let’s hope the Knicks enjoy similar results this season.

Malcolm wrote:This all GREAT . . . as long as everyone buys into the
Hornacek Triangle.

It's nothing to buy into a offense that's making him and the team better, and when you give a player freedom to create(which has been well documented when it comes to honnecek system) good things are destine.

I'm telling you, there is not a more balance starting 5 in the entire league than what the Knicks will trout out come game time

SupremeCommander wrote:I feel like there isn't as much talent in the NBA anymore at SG. I don't think Courtney Lee is an all time great but I do think he's one of the top 20 SGs in the league... considering where we came from...

....mostly shooters who couldn't either shoot, make a layup, dribble, or pass. I dont know how this will play out, but it feels like we have an adult in the room with Lee.

Malcolm wrote:This all GREAT . . . as long as everyone buys into the
Hornacek Triangle.

We're not out of the woods on that front yet.

Al IannazzoneVerified account
‏@Al_Iannazzone

Derrick Rose said Hornacek went over the triangle yesterday, and called it "complicated."

nixluva wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

Malcolm wrote:This all GREAT . . . as long as everyone buys into the
Hornacek Triangle.

We're not out of the woods on that front yet.

Al IannazzoneVerified account
‏@Al_Iannazzone

Derrick Rose said Hornacek went over the triangle yesterday, and called it "complicated."

It was an accurate description but that's to be expected when you go over the details initially. The rules and reads are what tends to mess with most players. The actual spacing and basic moves aren't hard. Rose has even played in Triangle Sets but since the overall offense wasn't pure Triangle it was easier for him and he may not even realize that he was in Triangle action. Yet that's exactly what Thibs had them doing on many plays. This one thing that will keep the players hustling up court looking for early offense so they don't have to rely on the Triangle so much.

The triangle is simple in that it's all about spacing and it's incredibly difficult in that it requires all five players to move, anticipate what the others will do, and then maintain proper spacing with all five.

I played travelling at the apex of Chicago's excellence and one of my coaches, who thought he was brilliant, made a bunch of eighth graders run the triangle. It was so damned difficult. I played the 5 (I was tall for my age) and I'll tell you it was frustrating running it and it was the single most frustrating experience of my athletic "career".

I ended up setting a lot of screen on the weak side. It was very mechanical. I felt like I did all the dirty work and got no touches. Most of the bigs flt that way and before you knew it people stopped setting screens and moving in the post and then you got a lot of contested chucks from the three point line.

I think this system would work best with players that have played together for a while. Because it really isn't a system as much as it is being able to anticipate what your teammates will do, and for everyone to see and exploit the obvious weakness. So all this summer practice is a good thing. But if we bring new players in every year there really is no point to running it at all.

nixluva wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:

nixluva wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

Malcolm wrote:This all GREAT . . . as long as everyone buys into the
Hornacek Triangle.

We're not out of the woods on that front yet.

Al IannazzoneVerified account
‏@Al_Iannazzone

Derrick Rose said Hornacek went over the triangle yesterday, and called it "complicated."

It was an accurate description but that's to be expected when you go over the details initially. The rules and reads are what tends to mess with most players. The actual spacing and basic moves aren't hard. Rose has even played in Triangle Sets but since the overall offense wasn't pure Triangle it was easier for him and he may not even realize that he was in Triangle action. Yet that's exactly what Thibs had them doing on many plays. This one thing that will keep the players hustling up court looking for early offense so they don't have to rely on the Triangle so much.

The triangle is simple in that it's all about spacing and it's incredibly difficult in that it requires all five players to move, anticipate what the others will do, and then maintain proper spacing with all five.

I played travelling at the apex of Chicago's excellence and one of my coaches, who thought he was brilliant, made a bunch of eighth graders run the triangle. It was so damned difficult. I played the 5 (I was tall for my age) and I'll tell you it was frustrating running it and it was the single most frustrating experience of my athletic "career".

I ended up setting a lot of screen on the weak side. It was very mechanical. I felt like I did all the dirty work and got no touches. Most of the bigs flt that way and before you knew it people stopped setting screens and moving in the post and then you got a lot of contested chucks from the three point line.

I think this system would work best with players that have played together for a while. Because it really isn't a system as much as it is being able to anticipate what your teammates will do, and for everyone to see and exploit the obvious weakness. So all this summer practice is a good thing. But if we bring new players in every year there really is no point to running it at all.

I don't think they'll rely on the Triangle nearly as much as they have in the past. They may end up running Triangle about 1/3 of the time. It's really a bit overblown IMO. Noah will have ZERO problems running it and I suspect even the bench guys will be fine. Melo, KP, KOQ, LT, Sasha, Randle, Ndour and to a lesser extent Noah and Rose have run Triangle before. The basics of it they should be able to get and then use their creativity to make it all work. When you don't have talent then guys can't create on their own and you end up just passing and cutting with no purpose. We have guys that can create and finish. I don't anticipate it being a real issue.

These guys aptitudes are way higher than mine, and I don't mean to equate pre-high school hoops to the NBA. All I'm saying is I grew up playing with my teammates and when we had to play that system it really didn't go so well. These guys for the most part haven't played together. My overall point is I hope they play some triangle but some PnR and PnP too, especially at the beginning of the season because it really is a frustrating system to learn, because success depends on EVERYONE getting it

jrodmc wrote:Wasn't thrilled when I first saw the signing, because all I heard about (from non-Knick fans) was what a nutcase he was with the Nyets.

Thanks for posting this...some interesting stats.

Jose C, AA, Langston, Jerian Grant
Rose, CLee, Jennings, Randle/Sasha

I be so happy!

Wasnt thrilled about the length of the deal. Listening to NYETS fans? How quickly we abandon our players. Remember the time we all watched a 3 second clip of Lee shooting a free throw in practice? Good times, you seem to have forgotten.

nixluva wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:

nixluva wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:

nixluva wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

Malcolm wrote:This all GREAT . . . as long as everyone buys into the
Hornacek Triangle.

We're not out of the woods on that front yet.

Al IannazzoneVerified account
‏@Al_Iannazzone

Derrick Rose said Hornacek went over the triangle yesterday, and called it "complicated."

It was an accurate description but that's to be expected when you go over the details initially. The rules and reads are what tends to mess with most players. The actual spacing and basic moves aren't hard. Rose has even played in Triangle Sets but since the overall offense wasn't pure Triangle it was easier for him and he may not even realize that he was in Triangle action. Yet that's exactly what Thibs had them doing on many plays. This one thing that will keep the players hustling up court looking for early offense so they don't have to rely on the Triangle so much.

The triangle is simple in that it's all about spacing and it's incredibly difficult in that it requires all five players to move, anticipate what the others will do, and then maintain proper spacing with all five.

I played travelling at the apex of Chicago's excellence and one of my coaches, who thought he was brilliant, made a bunch of eighth graders run the triangle. It was so damned difficult. I played the 5 (I was tall for my age) and I'll tell you it was frustrating running it and it was the single most frustrating experience of my athletic "career".

I ended up setting a lot of screen on the weak side. It was very mechanical. I felt like I did all the dirty work and got no touches. Most of the bigs flt that way and before you knew it people stopped setting screens and moving in the post and then you got a lot of contested chucks from the three point line.

I think this system would work best with players that have played together for a while. Because it really isn't a system as much as it is being able to anticipate what your teammates will do, and for everyone to see and exploit the obvious weakness. So all this summer practice is a good thing. But if we bring new players in every year there really is no point to running it at all.

I don't think they'll rely on the Triangle nearly as much as they have in the past. They may end up running Triangle about 1/3 of the time. It's really a bit overblown IMO. Noah will have ZERO problems running it and I suspect even the bench guys will be fine. Melo, KP, KOQ, LT, Sasha, Randle, Ndour and to a lesser extent Noah and Rose have run Triangle before. The basics of it they should be able to get and then use their creativity to make it all work. When you don't have talent then guys can't create on their own and you end up just passing and cutting with no purpose. We have guys that can create and finish. I don't anticipate it being a real issue.

These guys aptitudes are way higher than mine, and I don't mean to equate pre-high school hoops to the NBA. All I'm saying is I grew up playing with my teammates and when we had to play that system it really didn't go so well. These guys for the most part haven't played together. My overall point is I hope they play some triangle but some PnR and PnP too, especially at the beginning of the season because it really is a frustrating system to learn, because success depends on EVERYONE getting it

They've actually focused more on PnR and Early Offense etc. They do have to spend time on the Triangle and I suspect they'll figure it out soon enough. Hornacek is going to blend his concepts with the Triangle so once they get the basics down then they can eventually figure out how to just go right into a PnR out of the Pinch Post, which is Super easy. Pinch Post is already a 2 man action so.

I read this morning and it makes me happy... I don't think PnR is necessary at all once the triangle is fully implemented and the roster is confident in it BUT we ain't there yet and it's good to see that we will use it, at least in the short term. PnR and PnP is staple from AAU all the way up. Considering our inside/outside nightmare match-up with Porzilla and Melo, it would be foolish no to do this and it's refreshing to see Phil acknowledge this. We all know he's a basketball genius but sometimes people fall in love with their own genius... always was the concern with Phil but it's clear that is not the case