Charlotte Hornets will send an assistant to oversee Swarm in NBA’s G-League bubble

Charlotte Hornets assistant coach Jay Hernandez didn’t need to be talked into entering the G-League bubble in February.

He volunteered for the gig.

Hernandez will coach the Greensboro Swarm’s season on Disney’s campus outside Orlando, Fla. That means leaving the Hornets for about six weeks to coach games every other day in a quarantined environment away from his family.

For Hernandez, that’s gaining experience as a head coach. For the Hornets, it’s maximizing synergy in developing young players, with the added complication of a bubble in pandemic times.

The Hornets chose not to retain Joe Wolf as Swarm coach. When the Hornets committed to fielding a Swarm team this season in Florida, Hernandez stepped up to oversee it.

“This plays to my strengths, and is also something I want and need to do,” Hernadez told The Observer.

“In these times, if you hire a G-League coach for this position, maybe they’re not allowed in training camp because of COVID protocols and they’re not able to hear the (Hornets) messaging or see the drills first hand, to understand how to teach things.

“I know all those teaching points, I know the talking points. I can go in there very confidently, knowing exactly what J.B. (Hornets coach James Borrego) wants to do and how he wants to do it.”

Hernandez has been a Hornets assistant since Borrego was hired as head coach in 2018. He has a heavy background in development, and helped oversee the stronger synergy between the Hornets and the G-League affiliate since Borrego and general manager Mitch Kupchak took over basketball operations.

Hernandez has a personal motivation, too, in taking this assignment: He needs experience as a head coach, and the G-League’s bubble season will mean being in charge of at least 12 games.

“I came to them. This is something I’ve been wanting for a long time in regards to having an opportunity for head-coaching reps, and to develop young players in the way they’re developed in the G-League,” Hernandez said.

The Hornets have had major success over the past two seasons with their development program: Devonte Graham, Cody and Caleb Martin and Jalen McDaniels — all players either drafted in the second round or who went undrafted — have improved enough to end up in Charlotte’s rotation.

The Hornets established its G-League affiliate in Greensboro to make it easier for players to commute between the Hornets and the Swarm. The Hornets also hired a development specialist, Nick Friedman, to supervise players in the pipeline between the Swarm and the Hornets.

Hernandez indicated Friday that Friedman will remain with the Hornets during the G-League bubble, while he oversees the Swarm.

Charlotte was one of 17 NBA teams that committed to creating a G-League bubble at Disney, similar to the one that allowed the NBA to complete last season. There will also be an elite development team, called Ignite, that will play in the bubble.

The Hornets have four rookies on the the roster who were either taken in the second round (Vernon Carey, Nick Richards and Grant Riller) or undrafted (Nate Darling) and are getting limited development opportunity in the absence of the G-League. The Hornets are in a span of 10 games in 16 nights, so there have been few practices during off days.

Hernandez and the other assistants have the rookies and other players outside the rotation scrimmaging 4-on-4 or 5-on-5 when time permits. But that’s not the same thing as game reps that the G-League can provide.

The Hornets haven’t yet said how much time Carey, Richards, Riller and Darling will spend with the Swarm in the bubble. NBA protocols, to limit COVID-19 spread, will complicate the process of moving players back-and-forth between the NBA and the G-League next month.

But Borrego was relieved the Swarm would have a season when the announcement was made Jan. 8. The bubble added expense to fielding a G-League team this season that nearly half the NBA chose not to pay.

“I’m thrilled. I’m very appreciative of our organization to invest in something like this,” Borrego said then. “I think the last two years, we’ve all learned what development can do for (a team) internally. We have a number of examples of those guys, and this is a continuation of that.

“I don’t want to get into who is going to play there just yet, but we’re going to use the program. We believe in it. We’ll have a number of guys getting reps in the G-League.”

Hernandez as Swarm coach can facilitate that; he already knows these rookies and their skill sets, and is intimate with the system Borrego coaches. This rookie class has lost a lot already — no summer league, and no real summer of preparation between the draft and training camp.

“We can only do so much off the court, with Zooms and discussing things,” Hernandez said. “Mental reps are great, but a lot of (development) is getting that time on the court.”