As the great Rivers Cuomo once said, “Say it ain’t so.”
An MRI on Monday confirmed the worst for Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who will need surgery to repair his dislocated right shoulder and is expected to be sidelined for six months, according to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
A six-month timetable would put Kidd-Gilchrist out of action until April, near the end of the 2015-16 campaign, and as a result, Wojnarowski also reports that the 22-year-old is likely to miss the entire season.
The former No. 2 overall pick suffered the injury during a fall in Charlotte’s preseason opener against the Magic on Saturday. You can see the play where Kidd-Gilchrist was hurt here.
Kidd-Gilchrist’s importance cannot be overstated for the Hornets. He’s one of, if not the best, perimeter defenders in the Association today. Charlotte gave up 96.3 points per 100 possessions last season when Kidd-Gilchrist was on the floor as opposed to 104.1 whenever he sat. With a steadily-improving jumpshot to boot, the argument could be made that the former Kentucky Wildcat is the Hornets’ most important player.
Now Nicolas Batum will be forced into a role as the team’s de facto defensive anchor, but as a new acquisition, it remains to be seen how quickly he has picked up on head coach Steve Clifford’s defensive schemes. Fellow newcomer Jeremy Lamb could also be pressed into heavier minutes on the wing, as could second-year guard P.J. Hairston, an underrated, physical defender in his own respect.
With no true rim protector on the roster after the team gave up on Bismack Biyombo (neither veteran Al Jefferson nor rookie Frank Kaminsky fits the billing and Cody Zeller is still too inconsistent), the Hornets will have a really difficult time on the defensive end of the floor next season. Whatever chance they had of sneaking into the 2016 Eastern Conference Playoffs has probably been dashed by this news.
Image Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
*Stats courtesy of NBA.com*
