The Charlotte Hornets suffered their second straight loss at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets, 133-121. That bumps the Hornets down to 1-2 on the season after opening up their first three games in Charlotte. To add more fuel to this not-so-happy fire, their best player in LaMelo Ball has yet to find his groove. Through three games, Ball is averaging 14 points along with six rebounds and nine assists while shooting 25 percent from the field and from three. Rough start for a guy that just signed a $26o million contract over the summer. Fortunately, he is bound to improve throughout the season.

Steve Clifford provided some clarity on why both Ball and Mark Williams aren't exactly in mid-season form early on to start.

“Mark Williams is the same. They’ve only been cleared for four and a half, five weeks,” Clifford explained. “They’re behind these other guys. The only way to do it is to let them play through it, which obviously we need them both. That’s what we’re going to do. They both did whatever they could to get ready, but if you don’t play at this level, especially with shorter training camps and they weren’t able to do anything with contact until right before training camp, so they’re behind, that’s all.”

Both LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams were nursing injuries over the offseason that prevented them from having the whole summer to prepare for the rigors of an 82-game stretch. It's not even all about being in shape physically, but being in basketball shape. Having the rhythm coming into training camp and than into the season is important. For these two young guys, they're struggling a little bit to start out.

There is plenty of season left to play and find a groove though. It would be an anomaly if both of these guys don't have impactful seasons for this team, especially Ball who should have an All-Star-caliber year.