Right now I don’t even know who the second option on the Hornets is. Obviously the first option is Kemba “Brandon Jennings 3.0/Damian Lillard 0.8” Walker. But after that the heirarchy of the team is all confused. I suppose under normal circumstances the second option might be Nic Batum, but he’s dead for the time being so there needs to be a different #2 on the team.
In my mind, there’s three guys who could maybe potentially be the second option: Jeremy Lamb, Dwight Howard, and Frank Kaminsky. Lamb definitely played like he thought he was the second option, shooting the ball seventeen times in the game. Howard has the resume to be a second option, considering the important role he played on some very good playoff teams. Kaminsky is the mystery candidate in this race; he was a good scorer in college, but has always seemed to have a role-player ceiling in the NBA.
Kaminsky could flourish if he was allowed to be more than just a three-point shooter. He had his share of crafty finishes in this game, but it’s hard to tell how much of that was due to his own skill and how much of it was because Luke Babbitt was defending him. I propose that the Hornets make him the official second option for the next few games to see if his ability to create his own shot can be sustained. Worst case scenario is that he sucks at it and then we get to see Jeremy Lamb score eighteen points per game.