Hornets' Clifford: Vonleh hasn't been able to catch up after preseason injury

Noah Vonleh finally saw game action on Friday, but Charlotte Hornets fans hoping to see more of the No. 9 overall pick moving forward need to pump their brakes.

Vonleh played seven minutes in a 23-point loss in that game, the first time he played with the Hornets since Nov. 29. He's played just 32 minutes in four appearances on the season, despite the team being fairly thin at power forward and needing players to play out of position at the spot for stretches.

In his limited time, Vonleh has looked decent, but it's an impossibly small sample to evaluate. He has 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting with 11 rebounds, but don't expect any garbage time production to earn him more regular run. Head coach Steve Clifford still thinks that Vonleh is just too far behind after missing a good chunk of the offseason and preseason due to a sports hernia injury.

As Clifford explains to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer:

It’s the speed of the game: To play consistent, regular minutes you have to have a comfort level with how the NBA game is played. Unfortunately once the season starts you only have certain stretches of the year where you can practice a lot.

He’s a 19-year-old who missed all of September, when the foundation was put in, and all of October and is now playing catch-up.

Not helping matters is that Vonleh was always considered a bit of a longer-term prospect who would need time to develop rather than contributing right away. With the Hornets sharing a D-League affiliate with 12 other teams - a sub-optimal development situation to say the least - he's been left to grow through practice and observation only.

At 10-20, the Hornets remain just close enough to a playoff spot to warrant playing their best players, but they're only one bad stretch from being in a position to start giving Vonleh run at the expense of the standings.