No tanking here: Hornets insist it’s not time to ‘just pack it in’ despite injuries, losses

Steve Clifford insists nothing is changing during this final month.

As the injuries keep piling up for the Charlotte Hornets in a lost season that’s mercifully nearing its sad conclusion, the coach vowed they aren’t about to alter their approach.

With five key rotation players missing — Seth Curry, Cody Martin and Nick Richards joined LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams in street clothes Sunday night — their 111-106 loss Toronto at Scotiabank Arena and the uncertainty surrounding when they’ll be seen on the court again, there’s a contingent of people who believe it’s probably best for the Hornets to break it all down and look ahead to June.

Defeats in five of their past six games following a strong stretch has the Hornets going in the wrong direction once again. The more losses that pile up between now and then could increase the Hornets’ odds of landing a premium pick, giving them more of a choice of who to select and pair alongside Brandon Miller, who returned from his one-game back injury to lead them in scoring against the Raptors. Clifford, however, has zero plans to just toss out lineups that essentially waive the white flag before tipoff.

“I think accountability is what it’s all about, in my opinion,” Clifford said. “Look, we’re shorthanded and there’s a big difference between in some of the games you play, there’s going to be a real challenge to win. But that doesn’t mean you play losing basketball.

“And there’s a big difference between teams that just pack it in and teams that play the right way and win. And I think as an organization, I think trying to win every game is a big thing.”

Clifford cited his two decades in the NBA, pointing out what he’s witnessed with his own eyes.

“My experiences over the years, there are great organizations that try to win all the way through,” Clifford said. “And it’s also, you want to learn as much as you can. You can go back to whenever. I’ve been in 20 plus years. There are a number of teams that don’t worry about winning, don’t try to play hard and you can totally miss-evaluate a guy when you do that.

“These games are different, you have to know that going in and you have to have the right frame of mindset so you can evaluate players properly and what you are doing properly. But our guys, listen, we’ve been dealing with a lot all year and the thing that I’m proud of is the way they’ve worked, the way they’ve competed. And I think they’ll continue to do that.”

A majority of the players lower on the usual depth chart — or initially off it altogether — are going to have plenty of opportunities to make a case for themselves unless things dramatically shift with the Hornets’ injury situation. They’re so depleted, they transferred their two-way players who shuffle between G League Greensboro and Charlotte — Amari Bailey and Leaky Black — to have reinforcements against the Raptors and possibly beyond. That’s on top of inking Duke product Marques Bolden to a two-way contract just two days after waiving him.

This wasn’t how the Hornets pictured the team’s composition at this point of the season. But here they are, trotting out five-man lineups that no one would’ve imagined in their wildest dreams even weeks ago.

“You look at a roster like ours,” Clifford said, “the majority of them are playing (and) these last 21 games are critical for them for next year. They’ll spend the summer either with us or another team. But hopefully that will all be determined by having a mindset, which you want to have every day, which in this whole league is about making progress.

“If it’s the Celtics or if it’s Denver, it’s different. If you look at Milwaukee, you can tell their veteran players, they decide when it’s time to get going and they have a different mentality.”

Translation: Summer recess hasn’t arrived for the Hornets just yet. School remains in session.

And moments like the final seconds of their latest defeat, when Vasilije Micić got stripped by Gary Trent Jr. with the Hornets in position to potentially tie the game with a 3-pointer, need to be among the lessons learned so they aren’t repeated in the future.

“With younger players, to me, it’s absolutely critical that they understand the importance of getting better every day,” Clifford said. “I’m a firm believer, especially for younger guys, that their first experience is the way they view the league, the way they have to be taught how to be a good NBA player. I think they have to gain an understanding of how to win.”