Since February 2018, a common sight of Charlotte Hornets games has been a tall, well-built Spaniard being the first to get up off the bench, wave a towel, and generally offer encouragement.
Guillermo Gustavo Hernangomez Geuer, affectionately known as Willy, was traded to the Charlotte Hornets on the 8th of February 2018 in exchange for Johnny O’Bryant and two 2nd round picks. The move was seen as an opportunistic punt on a former All-Rookie 1st team member.
After Dwight Howard was traded in the summer of 2018, Charlotte Hornets fans expected Willy to take up the mantle of backup center behind Cody Zeller. Certainly not sky-high expectations based on Willy’s Knicks achievements, and after a strong Summer League showing Charlotteans were starting to believe the Madridian could be one of the best backup big men in the league.
However, Willy failed to meet James Borrego’s standards for most of the 2018/19 season. By late November, Willy was out of the rotation; all in all, Willy’s first full season with the Hornets included 22 DNP-CDs and a further 16 games playing under 9 minutes. Fans took issue with Hernangomez’s matador defense and sloppy hands in the pick and roll, a death sentence for any center in the Kemba Walker era Hornets, well, except Bismack Biyombo.
Heading into the 2019/20 season, fans were unsure what to expect of Hernangomez. Borrego had entrusted the starting center role to Bismack Biyombo for the latter stages of the 2018/19 season with Cody Zeller injured. Furthermore, the Charlotte Hornets selection of PJ Washington effectively canceled out any effects of Frank Kaminsky’s move to Phoenix on the center pecking order. Therefore, heading into the 2019/2020 NBA season, Willy was anywhere between 3rd and 6th in the center rotation based on how willing you were to experiment with small ball.
To Willy’s credit, he played some solid basketball at the 2019 FIBA World Cup, helping Spain on their way to a gold medal. And as this piece will show that Willy improved many facets of his game over the off-season to develop into a currently reliable rotation center for the Charlotte Hornets.