NBA games of the week: Young winners of All-Star weekend
By Chazz Scogna
Thursday, Feb. 22: Brooklyn at Charlotte, 7:00 p.m. ET
Young winner: Spencer Dinwiddie, Skills Challenge
What a season it’s been for Dinwiddie. Forced into the starting lineup after injuries to D’Angelo Russell and Jeremy Lin, the second-round pick originally with the Detroit Pistons has arguably been Brooklyn’s best player this season. That may not mean much in the scope of the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, but for a team who hasn’t been able to do anything in free agency or the top part of the draft in about five years, it’s a great moment.
A silver lining to awful teams — maybe it’s the thinnest sliver of a line ever — is that their lack of talent allows guys to establish themselves as NBA players. It doesn’t always work, but from the Tanking Sixers and this Nets team, we’ve gotten T.J. McConnell, Robert Covington, Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert. They aren’t the best players on championship teams or even high-minute reserves in the postseason, but it’s great to see them play themselves into NBA positivity in such negative situations. They deserve it.
For the Hornets, they continue to be the example of NBA limbo. They’re 17th in offensive rating and 14th in defensive rating. That’s not great but not awful. They’re just stuck in the mud. The recent addition of Wily Hernangomez adds more youth to their frontcourt, but still doesn’t address issues they have on the wing and anytime Kemba Walker isn’t on the floor. It’s another approaching offseason of questions for team owner Michael Jordan.