National Basketball Association

Charlotte Hornets 2016-17 Season Outlook: The Challenge Of Consistency

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:17 p.m. ET

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After making a return to the NBA playoffs last season, the Charlotte Hornets’ biggest challenge in 2016-17 will be consistency

Gritty.

No, not grit-n-grind. Gritty. That’s what the Charlotte Hornets are. That’s what the Charlotte Hornets have been. That’s what the Charlotte Hornets are looking to be.

The Hornets have gone through a lot in recent memory – from having the losingest (If that’s not a word, it should be) season in NBA history when they were still the Bobcats trying to find their claws; to now being a playoff team. The question is – how will they look this season?

His Airness’ team has had a somewhat eventful offseason despite their small market nature and the gazillion dollars Michael Jordan has, but that’s another article for another day.

Before we get to the positive, I’ll list the negatives: the Hornets lost the following players this offseason: Jeremy Lin (BKN), Tyler Hansbrough (still a free agent), Troy Daniels (sign-and-trade with Memphis), Jorge Gutierrez (BKN), Al Jefferson (IND), and Courtney Lee (NYK).

In order to try to offset the losses of super-scorer big man Al Jefferson and playoff hero J-Lin, the team added Brian Roberts, Ramon Sessions, and Roy Hibbert (yes, that Roy Hibbert).

The Hornets also gave up their first rounder in this year’s draft (which turned out to be Malachi Richardson) in order to acquire Marco Belinelli. They signed Summer League Standout Christian Wood to a contract, and re-signed Marvin Williams and Nicolas Batum.

*takes a deep breath*

Now for the depth chart.

Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

Roster

Guaranteed Contracts: Nicolas Batum, MKG, Marvin Williams, Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Spencer Hawes, Marco Belinelli, Ramon Sessions, Cody Zeller, Roy Hibbert, Frank Kaminsky, Brian Roberts, Christian Wood

Partially Guaranteed Contracts: Aaron Harrison

Training Camp Deals: Mike Tobey, Andrew Andrews, Treveon Graham, Rasheed Sulaimon, Perry Ellis

Depth Chart

PG – Kemba Walker, Ramon Sessions, Brian Roberts

SG – Nicolas Batum, Jeremy Lamb, Marco Belinelli

SF – MKG, ???

PF – Marvin Williams, Spencer Hawes, Christian Wood

C – Cody Zeller, Frank Kaminsky

By my estimation, that leaves two roster spots open for six players competing for that spot. Expect the Charlotte Hornets’ training camp to be very competitive.

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Strength: Continuity

While I could have just as easily said Steve Clifford or their gritty defense, the Charlotte Hornets have had a lot of continuity the past couple of years despite not having their best defender (MKG) around for most of those seasons.

Despite losing mainstay Al Jefferson and key contributors like Jeremy Lin and Courtney Lee, the Hornets are returning pretty much the same roster which is more that can be said for a team like the Kings that is constantly turning their roster upside down every offseason.

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In bringing back a lot of the same players, it allows for a greater level of comfort amongst the players in the locker room and actually feeling like a team – which goes a long way in professional sports, but especially basketball.

The Hornets will look to build upon their steady improvement with Clifford around for the long haul and guys like Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, and Marvin Williams all looking to build upon their breakout seasons.

Weakness: SF Depth

MKG has an injury history and has earned the dreaded ‘injury prone’ label. While it remains to be seen how healthy MKG will be coming off another major injury and surgery, unless Clifford starts Jeremy Lamb (not a bad move) or Marco Belinelli (not smart to play a guy that doesn’t play effective defense) and brings the newly extended Batum off the bench; it forces Lamb or Belinelli to play the 3 – not their primary position.

Another reason why this is important – a lot of the league’s top stars play the 3 – and if you lose your top defender yet again (God forbid) – then you’re stuck with Lamb or Belinelli defending KD and LeBron.

Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Team’s Most Important Player: Kemba Walker

While you could make the argument for Nicolas Batum or MKG, I’m going to go with Cardiac Kemba.

Look, Kemba has been with the Hornets his entire career. He understands how the city has felt watching them produce terrible seasons, and how it’s felt when they’ve made the playoffs. In other words – he’s been through the ups and downs this franchise has endured in recent years.

If they want to continue to climb the Eastern Conference standings and make some real noise, they need Kemba to continue to build upon his strong numbers from last season: 20.9 PPG, 37.1% from 3, 5.2 APG, and 1.6 SPG.

The offense obviously runs through him, but he also has another PG on the floor with him – Batum. He doesn’t need to be the only playmaker, but he needs to make plays happen when called upon.

In order to be a successful season…

There needs to be a clear pecking order.

Rotations are hard to figure out, I get that. One injury can mess up the entire team, and they’re unpredictable (for the most part). Yet, one thing Clifford struggles with at time is creating a consistent rotation.

Take the case of Jeremy Lamb. He had some strong play for a stretch and the Hornets extended him midseason, making it seem like they were going to give him a larger role.

Instead, he was relegated to the bench and garbage time. If you’re not going to play him, fine. Just don’t be so back and forth with your players.

Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

Prediction

I’m going to say the 4th seed with a 48-34 record is a reasonable prediction for the Charlotte Hornets.

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The Hornets have had a solid offseason IMO. Roy Hibbert has fallen hard since his monster season for the Pacers which feels like an eternity ago, but the dude’s 7’2″. All he should be asked to do is rebound and alter some shots.

If he starts to find his old form, then Clifford can experiment with stretching the floor with some combo of Frank Kaminsky-Spencer Hawes-Cody Zeller and really give opposing defenses a headache.

Now, while the Hornets will most likely have a strong regular season, they’re still not title contenders. Unless MKG suddenly develops an offensive game to pair with his stout defense, the Hornets don’t have a superstar player to pair with their ‘homegrown’ superstar Kemba Walker.

(As I’ve been writing this, I received a notification the Hornets have been discussing a Greg Monroe for Jeremy Lamb and Spencer Hawes trade, so that could change things.)

If the Hornets do acquire Monroe, they could certainly play bully ball like they did with Big Al, but don’t have a rim protector to cover Monroe’s defensive deficiencies; although Christian Wood should be given a hard look at after his Summer League showing.

(COUGH HORNETS COUGH MJ COUGH)

The buzz around the Charlotte Hornets is real, so kick the nest at your own risk.

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