The Charlotte Hornets have been playing pretty well since losing their first three games, as they have a 6-3 record since. There has been a lot of talk amongst Hornets fans about the starting lineup and why head coach Steven Clifford insists on starting P.J. Hairston, but it doesn't seem like that is going to change. Clifford feels as though Hairston is his best perimeter defende,r and he wants him to lighten Nicolas Batum's load, according to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
The Hornets suffered a big loss before the season started when Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went down with a torn labrum that is expected to keep him out for the entire season. Kidd-Gilchrist was the Hornets' best perimeter defender, and Clifford had to find a way to try to replace him, and so far he has settled on Hairston.
Hairston is dealing with a quad injury that has kept him out of Charlotte's last two games and will likely keep him out for at least one more, but he has started all 10 games he has played in and it seems like he will continue to start. Clifford feels that Hairston is the best defensive option to start alongside Batum, and he wants Hairston to guard opposing teams' best perimeter player. Batum is a good defender himself, but he is the focal point of the offense now, so Clifford doesn't want him expending all of his energy on defense.
Hairston has only played 17.5 minutes per game so far, but Clifford insists he is the team's best defensive option even though almost every metric disagrees with him. Not only are the metrics not kind to Hairston on defense, he is also having a rough year on offense. His PER (6.1) is the lowest of any regular rotation player, and he is shooting just 33 percent from the field and 25 percent from three.
The other options to start besides Hairston on the wings are Jeremy Lin and Jeremy Lamb. Both guys are having great starts to their seasons, but they have worked well together off the bench so it makes sense for Clifford to want to keep it that way, and in the end they are playing more minutes than Hairston anyway. Advanced metrics and statistics never tell the entire story, but in Hairston's case it is easy to see why fans want him out of the starting lineup, just don't expect a change anytime soon as Clifford likes his efforts on the defensive end.
