How the Charlotte Hornets’ new players can help them earn a top four seed

With the Charlotte Hornets’ additions and the decline of the East, there is an outside chance that they could end up being a top four seed this season.

The Charlotte Hornets acquired four new players this offseason. If the team is to live up to the hype and have home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs, these new players must know how they can help this team succeed.

1. Dwight Howard

What does Dwight Howard need to do for the Hornets this season? Well… be Dwight Howard.

All of his 13 seasons in the league he has averaged a double-double and his teams have made the playoffs for 11 straight seasons.

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Howard has obviously lost a step or two as the years have passed, but plenty of players have experienced a resurgence in their careers before. A reason fans could be optimistic that this could happen is that Howard is teamed up once again with his old friend from the Magic, Steve Clifford.

Clifford’s calling card, with the exception of last season, has been his team’s defense. The team desperately needed a rim protector last year, so the former back-to-back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year is almost a dream come true. Add Howard’s previous accomplishments in with the great defensive system in Charlotte, he will be able to thrive in the paint once again.

2. Michael Carter-Williams

MCW’s career in the NBA has been somewhat of an enigma, but he is a young player that still has potential, so the Hornets are taking a shot on him (for a very cheap price tag) at the backup point guard role.

What the team needs him to do is to fill the void that Jeremy Lin left from the 2015-16 season.  Ramon Sessions, Brian Roberts, and Briante Weber all had chances to do just that last season, however, none of them reached the bar that Lin had previously set (although he set it quite high).

After his great performance from that season, Lin found himself a starting role on another team because of it. That’s what I think we need from MCW. We need people to look at how he runs the offense and to think “Wow, he could be a starter on some teams”.

To accomplish that, he will have to be able to control the offense and pace of the second unit while he’s in the game, and get used to facilitating to the score first guys off the bench such as Malik Monk and Jeremy Lamb.

If he can successfully do this, it will just be another team need from last season that the Hornets can check off the list.

3. Malik Monk

Now onto the guys Charlotte drafted this year, the first is Malik Monk. As we all know, he is the versatile guard with a lights out jumper.

With the exception of MAYBE Jeremy Lamb, Kemba Walker was the only player on the team last season that could always consistently create their own shot. Walker is no longer alone, he now has a guy that he can share the floor with that is entering the league as a more polished shooter than he was when he entered the league.

We can talk about how great and how much potential Monk has all day, but the results will need to show on the court as well. I hope Monk sets out to prove the 10 teams that passed up on him wrong and that he truly is one of the best rookies.

I think if the Hornets are to find immediate success with their new look roster this season and surge into the playoffs, Malik Monk will need to have a year that puts him top three in the Rookie of the Year Voting.

With this highly talented rookie class that certainly will not be easy, but if the Hornets want to finish above a team like the Toronto Raptors or Washington Wizards, they will need Monk to perform as if he’s already on his way to becoming a star in this league.

4. Dwayne Bacon

Dwayne Bacon’s role with the Charlotte Hornets this upcoming season is going to be much, much smaller than that of the other three players mentioned, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a job to do.

The mid-range specialist is expected to spend time with both the Hornets and Swarm this season, but injuries and changes happen all the time in the NBA. If somebody goes down, this team cannot continue to be successful if a guy like Bacon isn’t prepared to step in a fill a role.

Bacon has a very promising future, but if he is not prepared to potentially step in, even if it is for a minor role, he will not be able to help Charlotte reach where they want to be this season.

Next: Hornets significantly improved this offseason

For these four new guys, the goals I have talked about for each one of them do not necessarily HAVE to happen for the team to have great success this year. For example, Malik Monk doesn’t have to finish top three in the Rookie of the Year voting, but if things like that do happen, that is what gives the team the best chance to attain a top four seed in the Eastern Conference.