Exclusive Q&A With Marlon Garnett: Part 3 - Coaching, James Nnaji and Amari Bailey

Hear what Garnett learned from coaching Charlotte's 2023 Second round picks

Hornets Assistant and acting Summer League Head Coach Marlon Garnett spoke to James Plowright of AllHornets.com sharing his thoughts on the Charlotte Hornets Summer League team. In this multi part series Marlon discusses Charlotte’s incoming rookie class and the returning rostered players. In Part Three Marlon discusses what he saw from Charlotte’s 2nd round picks James Nnaji and Amari Bailey and reflects on his experience as Summer League Head Coach. Catch up on parts One and Two.

On James Nnaji…

JP James Nnaji, there was a long list of reasons for James to look uncomfortable out there, The language, play style, age, unfamiliarity with the system. However, I thought he looked remarkably comfortable. What do you feel he needs to focus on moving forward?

MG Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. That was the one biggest thing that I took from James. You see a lot of potential. As a rim protector, his pick and roll defense from the five position. But the fact that the language, the, the pace of the game, him kind of just adjusting to that I think was a little bit of a challenge to start.

But he showed signs and traction in the right direction. Once he’s able to get completely comfortable being out there and the language is not an issue and he knows where he needs to be. When he's locked into the coverages, the scheme, the game plan that we will have. I think with his size and the way he moves, he's pretty mobile and he's pretty agile. I think he can be a really intriguing piece for us.

JP One thing that stood out to me was his ability to play the gap in pick and roll defense, that popped as being quite advanced. Is that something you and your staff noticed?

MG Definitely, he has some familiarity doing that. I played a number of years overseas and I actually played in Spain. So I know he's being coached really, really well. He's in a great organization (FC Barcelona). So yes, he definitely has a feel in that area and it will be a strength of his in the NBA, whenever that is.

On Amari Bailey…

JP Amari Bailey played a smaller role but received extended minutes in the final Minnesota game. I think some fans expected him to see him at point guard, but he played more off-ball. What are your thoughts on his role on the floor and how it might evolve over time?

MG Yeah. His role is going to evolve and shape out a little bit more as we move forward. I did hear information that in some of the NBA Draft combine scrimmages he got some reps from the point guard position. Yeah, but we used him a little bit more on the wing, I think that played more to his strengths.

He definitely has a scorer’s mentality. He’s offensively skilled. He's able to get downhill, get into the paint and get to the rim. Adding that playmaking mentality, similar to Nick (Smith Jr), being able to empower other others around would definitely be helpful for his evolution and further developing his game.

But I liked some of the things that he did. Just thinking off the top of my head, he was probably our best guy that was able to get into the paint and get to the rim. Yeah. And make plays around the rim. So you can tell he definitely has a, a knack for that, he’s pretty decent athlete, pretty decent finisher around the rim. Yeah. So I'm excited to have him in the fold and see where he can fit in as well.

On His Experience Acting as Summer League Head Coach…

JP Now you've had some time to reflect, what was the overall experience of being able to serve as the Hornets summer league head coach for the first time?

MG Well, I did it back in 2017 with the Suns. There was a little bit of familiarity going into it this time, and I'll be honest with you, from a personal standpoint, definitely less nerves. The second time around, I kind of had a little bit more alertness on certain expectations and what to expect going into it.

I felt really comfortable going into the whole process. I'm glad that coach (Steve Clifford) had confidence in me as well as the organization. You know, Mitch and Buzz, they selected me to do it. I hope I represented. Obviously, we would've much rather have more wins than we did, but all in all, I think it went pretty well from my standpoint.

JP How did you find balancing coaching for development as opposed to winning games?

MG I don't think there is a debate. I don't think there's really any pressure. I think what is important is the perspective of whoever's evaluating. If you look at it in from a lens of this, we want to make sure we're developing some of the younger guys that hadn't had a chance to get the same reps during the season as they'll be able to get in summer league. But at the same time, all of us are competitors and you want to go out there and win.

So I wouldn't say is difficult. It's only difficult if you have one side of the room saying, “Hey, we need to win” and the other side saying “Yeah, it's about developing these guys” which we weren’t. So, I think you have to be vertically aligned, with the mindset going into it in terms of what you want to get out the process. All in all, I was satisfied with that side of it. 

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