Defense needs to be a priority for the Charlotte Hornets

It’s pretty evident that the past season was a disappointment in just about every way for the Charlotte Hornets. Their most glaring hole, though, might just be on the defensive end.

Covering a team on a daily basis and monitoring their progression (or regression in some cases), you get a good sense of where a team’s strengths and weaknesses are. Numbers don’t lie and that adage could not be any more true in the case of the Charlotte Hornets.

Writing as many game previews as I have and poring over the various stats required to do, so has afforded me fairly extensive knowledge on what is really ailing the team. Sure, it’s not just one thing, as any hardcore fan can attest. The Hornets have a lot to fix.

One major thing I’ve preached about, however, is their defense. You can point to a sometimes woeful offense and that has hurt them. Yet, when you’re offense is sputtering,  you need to at least make up for it on the defensive side of things and that’s one area in which Charlotte simply just could not get it done.

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For instance, Charlotte has the sixth-worst defensive rating in the league. Per 100 possessions, they give up nearly 113 points. That’s only two points behind the Washington Wizards, who have the worst rating in the NBA, and the Wizards still have a better overall record.

It doesn’t end there. The Hornets grab the third-fewest defensive rebounds in the NBA and have the lowest defensive rebounding percentage. If their opponents miss shots, the Hornets have a hard time making the other team pay. Couple that with an interior defense that allows the eighth-most points in the paint and you have a veritable sieve inside.

The odd part about all of this is that early in the year, it was their perimeter defense that was hurting them. In the month of November alone, the Hornets allowed their opponents to shoot almost 40% from deep, second only to the San Antonio Spurs in that regard.

After the New Year, their perimeter defense started improving, with the team ranking from the middle of the pack to the top 10 in opponent three-point percentage. The interior defense seemed to suffer as a result, as nearly every team outscored them in the paint.

The Hornets haven’t had a true post presence for quite some time. Al Jefferson was a solid anchor down low on both ends, but those days are long gone. Since then, Charlotte has hovered around in the bottom of the league in rebounding.

With the likely departure of Bismack Biyombo and Cody Zeller‘s future somewhat in doubt, the team might look for a veteran defensive-minded big that can clean up in the paint and keep opponents from scoring easily inside.

Or, they could try and find someone to plug into that spot in the upcoming draft. Either way, the Hornets need to get better on defense because their offense is just not consistent enough to weather teams repeatedly shooting nearly 50% every night.

If next season really is when we’ll see Charlotte Hornets basketball again, then a lot of things need to be addressed in the offseason. Finding a reliable third scoring option is one of them, but I feel like working on playing better team defense should be the number one priority. Here’s hoping it becomes a focus in what could be an elongated offseason