Charlotte Hornets: Early 2019-20 power rankings revealed
As the start of the 2019-20 season is only four months away, the Charlotte Hornets found out on Friday where they are ranked on ESPN’s early power rankings.
With a hard offseason in the making, the Charlotte Hornets found out what ESPN thought about them on Saturday. With this early prediction, hopefully, the Hornets can find some form of motivation.
In ESPN’s power rankings, the Hornets are ranked at the 26th spot; they are ranked to be one of the worst teams in the NBA going into next season. Notable Eastern Conference teams ranked ahead of them are the Miami Heat, Atalanta Hawks, and the Washington Wizards.
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Based on ESPN’s prediction, the top three teams going into next season would be the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, and Philadelphia 76ers. This comes to a surprise, as the Golden State Warriors also fell to 6th place.
If this set of power rankings comes true, the Hornets would basically be looking at the 13th spot in the Eastern Conference. This would mean they would miss the playoffs for a fourth straight season.
A lot of the reasoning behind this ranking is because of Kemba Walker’s free agency this offseason. ESPN’s Arnovitz believes that investing a quarter of a billion dollars into a guard who will turn 34 at the end of his contract, is a considerable risk.
Arnovitz also noted that the Hornets have a couple of bad contracts that contribute to this ranking, such as Nicolas Batum and Bismack Biyombo. These contracts restrict a lot of what the Hornets can do in free agency this year.
It’s hard to look past this early prediction for the Hornets because of all the issues that they must solve this offseason. Even though Walker stated that he would take less money to stay in Charlotte, it’s still not going to be that easy.
The Hornets also had NBA legend Tony Parker retire from the league, and now they will need to improve the depth of their point-guard position. It seems that the problems just keep adding up for Charlotte.
ESPN also stated that the Hornets’ title odds for the 2019-20 season are 200-1. These odds do not look great, and it would mean Charlotte would go another season without making the finals. The Hornets are currently the only team in Eastern Conference history not to reach the finals.
Next. Full Two-Round NBA Mock Draft. dark
With the NBA Draft occurring in under a week, the Hornets will have a chance to improve their rank. If they also find a way to re-sign Kemba Waker, I think their rank will also increase dramatically.