Charlotte Hornets: The Good and Bad from the Returning Core

Terry Rozier

The Good

Terry Rozier’s career as a Hornet began two offseason’s ago as a punchline. Rozier’s contract still isn’t winning any awards for the best value, and advanced metrics don’t love him, but when you factor in the “small market tax” that usually accompanies free agents in Charlotte, it’s not as bad after a career year in every statistical category, including minutes, scoring, and efficiency.

If you told people at the beginning of the 2019-20 season that Terry Rozier would be one of the premier catch-and-shoot guys in the  NBA from 3 (with his name near guys like J.J. Redick and Seth Curry in the leaderboards), even Hornets fans would call you delusional. Many questioned if last season’s shooting was real or a fluke.

It still could be a fluke, but it looked pretty real in the preseason. His 50% from the field and 54.5% from 3 are obviously not sustainable numbers over the course of a season. His 24.7 points per 36 minutes likely aren’t either (that would put him in Jayson Tatum and De’Aaron Fox’s production range). But he did look confident and his stroke was pure on catch and shoot and off the dribble. He was getting the ball to roll in, even on tough, contested drives. Who’s to say he doesn’t have another modest improvement in the tank this year?

The Bad

Terry’s frenetic energy might lead you to believe, at first glance, that he’s not a bad defender. His steal rate last season was nothing special, but he’s generally above average at that. His quickness does allow him to stay in front of guards some of the time. He at least tries to close out and contest shots.

Spend any amount of time watching him off-ball and it’s hard to be as optimistic. He gets caught on motion screens often, makes bad rotations, ball-watches, and isn’t a great communicator. His only skill as a defender is point-of-attack defense, and he isn’t a standout in that regard either.

Despite his plus wingspan, his size does him no favors. It’s possible to be undersized and a good defender, but team defensive IQ becomes that much more important when you can’t put a big body in the way. In these preseason games, Rozier showed that his off-ball defensive awareness hasn’t improved much. With an undersized backcourt partner in Graham, the Hornets’ defense will probably rank in the bottom third of the league again this season.