Even though they had a losing season with a 23-42 record, Charlotte had some positive signs last year: Devonte’ Graham had a breakout season and showed that he can really shoot from the outside while PJ Washington had a solid rookie season.
Charlotte’s offense was just #29 in the league last year, only ahead of Golden State, which means that they were really the worst offensive team in the league as the Warriors barely existed last season. The Hornets were just too dependent on Graham and Rozier on offense with few to none offensive skills at the forward and frontcourt positions.
In order to solve that, Charlotte gave Gordon Hayward a big contract. Hayward’s playmaking is going to be a huge addition to the team assuming he’s healthy. Charlotte drafted LaMelo Ball for the guard position and his skillset asks for a fast paced transition offensive system. The problem? Charlotte was dead last in the pace factor last season. So, it’ll be interesting to see what will be coach Borrego’s mindset for this season.
In the frontcourt, the team will basically be the same with PJ Washington and Miles Bridges getting a bigger role this season. Coach James Borrego said that he would play Washington at the Center position, which would turn the Hornets into a quite undersized team in the frontcourt.
Charlotte was already the worst defensive rebounding team in the league last year as they only grabbed 74.4% of the rebounds available on their own basket, so it’s likely the Hornets will continue to struggle in this area this season.
Charlotte doesn’t look like a playoff contender at the moment, so if they actually become one then this will mean that Hayward is probably having an All Star kind of season and that somehow their lack of frontcourt production doesn’t stop them from being a competitive team.