Why the Charlotte Hornets should re-sign Willy Hernangomez

Heading into this year’s free agency period, the Charlotte Hornets will have to make a tough choice between two backup centers.

As the NBA begins to open up more of its day to day operations, the Charlotte Hornets should be prepared if they do not get to finish their regular season schedule. However, the team will be faced with a tough decision.

When the 2020 offseason officially begins, WIlly Hernangomez and Bismack Biyombo will become unrestricted free agents. Both of these players have had big roles, and have alternated playing time in Coach James Borrego’s rotation.

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The Hornets will have to make a decision to re-sign one of the centers, but at the same time, they could move on from both of them. Since the Hornets are moving toward having a younger lineup, would the team want to keep Willy Henrnagomez around?

Looking back at least season, Hernangomez saw decreases in his averages this year. Last season Hernangomez averaged 7.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Moving on to this season, his numbers dropped to 6.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

The biggest reason behind this decrease is the reduction in minutes. After averaging 14.0 minutes per game in the 2018-19 season, Hernangomez only saw 12.1 minutes per game this season.

Hernangomez’s current minute count gave him similar numbers that he had in the 2017-18 season when he joined the Hornets. Playing time has been hard to come by for the young center, as he’s been battling for minutes with Bismack Biyombo.

Two of the strongest aspects of Hernangomez’s game is his post offense and rebounding. Looking at this season, Hernangomez showed off some nice post moves against some great shot-blocking centers.

One of my favorite moves that Hernangomez made was during the February 26th matchup with the New York Knicks. In this game, Hernangomez used his footwork to fakeout Mitchell Robinson multiple times.

Out of every center on the roster, Hernangomez has proved that he has the best post moves. When you look at the above video, ask your self this: “could Cody Zeller or Bismack Biyombo do that?”

Moreover, Hernangomez has proved to be a consistent rebounder. While Hernangomez’s minute count doesn’t do his rebound average any justice, he does have a total rebound percentage of 19.5%.

According to Basketball-Reference, this percentage is an estimate of how many rebounds Hernengomez grabs while he’s on the court. His percentage is the highest among all centers on the roster.

The Hornets are currently the 25th ranked team in rebounds per game with 42.8. As a team that struggles to rebound the basketball, the Hornets could use more rebounding heading into the 2020-21 season.

Furthermore, Hernangomez’s abilities on defense may be a problem, as he’s been known to often get scored on in the paint. However, Hernangomez does have the best defensive box plus/minus among all Hornets centers with -.5.

With the lacking defense, I could see Hernangomez working to improve this part of his game. Since defense has been an issue for the Hornets, Hernangomez will need to improve his defense if he wants to get re-signed.

Willy Hernangomez could benefit from some extra playing time. If the Hornets re-sign him over Bismack Biyombo, then I could see Hernangomez easily increasing his per-game averages.