After two buzzer-beating wins, the Charlotte Hornets have hit a rough patch. Have the wheels come off? Or is the season still savable?
With Kemba Walker shifting gears and signing with Boston during the off-season, most people around the league expected the Charlotte Hornets to finish towards the bottom of the league during the 2019-20 season.
Now 18 games into the regular season, the Hornets have surprised many. Well, prior to this current five-game losing skid, at least. Now sitting with a 6-12 record, good for 11th in the Eastern Conference, the Hornets have now shown signs of being the team we all expected them to be.
They’re losing games. In both blowout and heartbreak fashion. From a 36 point loss to the defending champions, to a five-point meltdown turned one-point loss to Zach LaVine and the Bulls, the L’s are beginning to rack up for Charlotte.
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While the Hornets were overachieving for a bit to start the season, that momentum has come to a quick halt. Being in the significantly weaker Eastern Conference, some thought this team could even make a run at the playoffs. Can a young team like this recover from such mentally-exhausting losses?
We must remember that we are still pretty early into the season. With 64 games remaining on the schedule, a lot can still happen.
We also must remember that this is a young, rebuilding team that lacks experience. Whether they are winning or losing, the top priority going into the season has always been one thing — player development.
Devonte’ Graham has been the standout, but we’ve seen some big improvement from other players as well, such as Malik Monk, Terry Rozier and Miles Bridges.
PJ Washington‘s sudden emergence as a rookie has also been a major story for the Charlotte Hornets. He, like the Hornets, has hit a wall lately, but you can see his work with the player development staff has payed off in a big way.
Prior to the start of the season, I’m sure the front office would even tell you that this roster, as currently constructed, is unlikely to make the playoffs. That’s just the reality of it. Building towards the future and establishing an identity has always been the goal.
The big thing they have going for them is playing in the Eastern Conference. If they can regain some of their early season success, they could, somehow, be in play for a lower playoff seed. In the Western Conference, they’d be lost in the shuffle.
Regardless of how the rest of this season plays out, the Hornets are on track with their strategy. We may be getting towards that time where long-term plans outweigh short-term plans.
In conclusion, it may be too early to say that the wheels have fallen off for the Charlotte Hornets, but I still do see them finishing the season as a lottery team. They do have an exciting young core that will keep that competitive in games, but team success may be limited from here on out.