Grant Williams or Josh Green?

When the Charlotte Hornets After making the trade for Dallas’ Josh Green, everyone thought he’d be slotted into the starting five, alongside LaMelo Ball at the back. But is he better off on the bench?

In a starting lineup and rotation prediction by HoopsHypeCharlotte will feature a starting five of LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, Grant Williams and Mark Williams. Vasilije Micic, Seth Curry, Josh Green, Cody Martin and Nick Richards would be the first five off the bench.

I can’t disagree with that, but I don’t see the point in playing Grant Williams and Miles Bridges together. They are virtually the same players in terms of size and stature and it takes away from the defensive value at the back end.

Instead, I think we’ll see Charles Lee play with Josh Green at the two, Miller at the three, and Bridges at the four. While smaller in stature, Bridges seems like a more natural fit at the four than the three. By doing this, Brandon Miller frees himself from the responsibility of guarding arguably the opposing team’s best one-through-three player, handing it to Green.

The other side of the coin is if you play Williams and Bridges together. Who do you replace them when they need to come out of the game? Cody Martin? At the 4? I don’t think so. If the Hornets end up putting Bridges at the 3, then it would be wise for them to look for a bigger, longer body to fill the power forward position long-term. Whichever route they take, Grant Williams is better suited to a backup role and there’s nothing wrong with that.

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