LaMelo Asks, "Why So Serious?" That Might Be a Problem.

The Hornets are beating LaMelo into the ground, but he doesn't have the discipline to make the most of it -- and it might be hurting his team.

The Hornets, quite frankly, are sub-par at best. Even aside from the running bit of this publication in which I thoroughly rip into the franchise, it’s readily apparent that this team is more of a League Pass darling than an actually competitive team — and that’s true even in the horrific Eastern Conference.

The two lone bright spots, LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller (though Tre Mann is also thrown in for good measure), have been great overall, even with the subpar play! The latter has upped his scoring and looks the part of a Paul George-esque second option, while the former has, well, taken matters into his own hands.

With as much as the Hornets are running LaMelo Ball into the ground this season from a usage perspective — and we’ll get to the stats later — he’s been good in many respects. Yet, there are a few reasons why he likely could be better, with most of them coming down to discipline.

Playing for a team as bad as this does force some, well, interesting decisions out of Ball. Even so, just because, like Thanos in Avengers: Age of Ultron, sometimes saying, “Fine, I’ll do it myself,” doesn’t cut it, especially when you combine heliocentrism with unseriousness.