Jeremy Lamb Must Win Defined Role on Charlotte Hornets Next Season

When the worst-shooting team in the NBA acquires a potentially impactful marksman with high upside for cents on the dollar, fans cannot be anything but pleased. The Charlotte Hornets have now gotten their hands on Jeremy Lamb, in what is now a do-or-die situation for both parties.

Much like basketball fans everywhere in 2011, the Charlotte Hornets (then the Bobcats) fell head over heels for a sensational dagger-flinging, cold-blooded dynamo of a point guard by the name of Kemba Walker. He threw his UConn Huskies on his back and willed them to a Big East tournament title and an NCAA championship. Charlotte made him its new franchise point guard with the No. 9 pick in the following draft.

That squad was not star-studded by any means, but do you recall who ran alongside Walker in that backcourt? It was none other than uber-talented shooting guard Jeremy Lamb, whom the Hornets recently acquired in a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder for Luke Ridnour, the NBA's official hot potato.

UConn fans are likely giddy over this deal, but it's much more than a cute reunion. Lamb absolutely has to win a defined role on this team next season—both for himself and for the Hornets.

This is not a man who was selected as a flyer with only a passing chance at NBA success. The Houston Rockets made him the 12th overall pick in the 2012 draft, with hopes that he could blossom behind his 6'5" frame and advanced athleticism. It didn't hurt that he already had such a smooth jumper after just two years of college ball.

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Three mostly uneventful seasons with the Thunder is not enough to label him a bust, but the time is now for Lamb to find himself. Lamb arrived in OKC in a trade before ever suiting up for Houston, but never received consistent playing time as a developing talent on a perennial contender. His erratic shooting also failed to instill a ton of confidence in head coach Scott Brooks.

He will now go from a perennial contender to a group hoping to steal a playoff bid. OKC left little room for him to thrive aside from 2013-14, when he did in fact put together a decent campaign at 8.5 points a night in 78 games.

Charlotte will not have anybody such as Kevin Durant, Thabo Sefolosha, Kevin Martin, Dion Waiters or Reggie Jackson firmly in his way. Instead, he will be competing for minutes with the likes of P.J. Hairston, Jeremy Lin, Aaron Harrison, Troy Daniels and possibly Nicolas Batum at times. Not exactly murderer's row.

The Hornets were the worst team in the league last season when it came to three-point percentage. Lamb's career success rate of 34 percent is not anything eye-popping, but it's certainly an improvement on what Charlotte has been rolling out for years. If he can replicate even mediocre numbers like that, head coach Steve Clifford will have no choice but to give him some burn. He shot 36.8 percent as a freshman at UConn before dipping to 33.6 in a featured role as a sophomore, so it remains to be seen if 

Chris Barnewall of At the Hive had an interesting take on Lamb's unsuccessful shooting efficiency thus far in his career.

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However, there is hope here, and that's the system that Lamb played in with Oklahoma City. Under Scott Brooks, Lamb was heavily reliant on players like Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant creating open shots for him. High volume shooting from those two led to offense for everybody else.

Brooks basic offense left role players like Lamb out to dry, and this might explain why he has so many mid-range jumpshots. Those are all the times Westbrook or Durant weren't able to create a shot for Lamb. Is this actually the case? Hard to say without watching every shot he took this season, but it's a safe bet that it was a factor.

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Barnewall raises a great nugget on Lamb's poor shot selection. If you examine it further, Lamb has only attempted 17 percent of his shots at the rim over his entire career. It's particularly troubling because he has the athleticism to finish above the rim, making 75 percent at the tin last year, as well as 68 percent for his NBA tenure.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, an increasing offensive rating of 110 as well as an uptick in his per-36 numbers indicate that he is improving, albeit slowly.

The additions of distributors Batum and Lin are sure to make the basketball flow much more smoothly regardless of who is on the floor for Charlotte. Playing alongside Walker is going to be comforting for Lamb without a doubt. That 6'11" wingspan hasn't paid a ton of dividends just yet, but surely Clifford can squeeze more out of him on the defensive end of the court.

At UConn, Lamb and Walker not only led the charge on offense, but both more than held their own on defense. In their one season together, only one team cracked 80 points on the Huskies in regulation, and nobody eclipsed 67 on them during March Madness. Their prior chemistry could be a huge asset for this roster, and also help both of them ignite the flames to their stalled progression as NBA players.

The reality of this situation is that Charlotte is in a can't-lose scenario. However, this might be a last resort for Lamb. One or two more uninspiring years could have him thinking D-league or Europe. Charlotte has a desperate need for a player just like him, and only Lamb can provide what it needs on this roster.

If Clifford could turn Anthony Tolliver, Jeff Taylor and Chris Douglas-Roberts into integral parts of his rotation, why can't Lamb blow up?