Malik Monk has been consistently getting minutes (like, twenty or more minutes) for the past three weeks or so. Is it finally happening? Have the prayers of Charlotte Hornets fans worldwide been answered by a God who was always thought to be absent and cold towards his creation, but now is present and loving? Is James Borrego finally giving Monk a consistent role on the team that Monk can count on to always be there no matter the coach’s fickle whims?
Let’s not go that far. Monk has had his minutes jerked around his entire career and it takes more than three weeks’ worth of games to convince me that this is for real. For example, Borrego could randomly decide that he wants Nicolas Batum to become good again, and then play Batum thirty minutes per game while Monk collects DNP’s from the bench in a suit. That would be a very Hornetsian turn of events that, frankly, would not surprise me at all. I would be disappointed, but not surprised, if somehow Monk went back to the minutes regimen of earlier this season.
Still, this is a good start for Monk to maybe begin exerting himself on a regular basis. The Hornets will eventually (although not this offseason) need to figure out if Monk is a long-term piece for them, and the only realistic way to do that is by giving him a bit more offensive freedom in this season that means absolutely nothing for the Hornets. They should also do the same with Willy Hernangomez, but I shouldn’t get greedy. These kinds of coaching improvements don’t just all happen simultaneously at the snap of the finger. If they did, I would be over here snapping my fingers all day.