Charlotte Hornets: Five Reasons for Fans to be Optimistic

James Borrego Shaking Things Up

Head coach James Borrego is in his second year with the team. Borrego replaced long time head coach Steve Clifford and started his career coaching the Charlotte Hornets in May of 2018.

While many Charlotte fans look back on the Clifford years positively because of his strong defensive schemes and the team’s 2016 run, the team was stuck in place, where it was not progressing soundly.

Rookies would hardly see playing time, and interestingly, in 2017, the team had a historical difference between its record and points differential. In 2017, the Charlotte Hornets outscored their opponents and had the sixth-best point differential in the conference, yet still had a losing record of 36-46.

If the above-related story is read into, it implies one thing, the Hornets could not win close games. This trend continued in 2018.

Now with James Borrego, rookies are finally seeing more playing time, with this year’s first-round pick PJ Washington playing over 30 minutes each game. The team has gotten significantly younger over the past two years, bringing much hope for the future.

While the record is still not stellar, the team’s point differential is finally in line with it. The team has arguably had less talent than it did four years ago, but it also has a much higher potential.