Charlotte Hornets: The Good and Bad from the Returning Core

Bismack Biyombo

The Good

Biz might be the most known commodity the Charlotte Hornets have at this point. He sets screens and rolls to the rim, grabs rebounds (when he’s feeling it that night), and contests shots near the basket with his firehose arms.

If Vernon Carey Jr and Nick Richards aren’t able to make an impact this year, it’s likely he’ll play 10-15 minutes a game. He’s an experienced and unremarkable pick and roll partner for Lamelo Ball on the second unit. Ball’s soft passes have seemed easier for Biyombo to catch, as he’s never generally been elite in that regard. At the very least, he’s a veteran presence with a good attitude for the young players and bench.

One small wrinkle from the preseason was Biyombo’s passing out of the short roll. On a few occasions, he showed a little more vision hitting shooters in the corners off a catch. That could help him tremendously in finding some way to be useful offensively if he can be consistent with it, as he usually has one of the worst assist rates in the entire league. Continuing to draw fouls at a high rate will also be helpful.

The Bad

Look, it’s been several years since Biz was a good player. He hasn’t had a positive VORP since arriving in Charlotte. He’s like a very poor man’s Clint Capela and wasn’t entirely relevant even when that was a style of center people wanted. He has almost no offensive game. He looked a little better than last year in the preseason, but we’ll see. Defensively, he’s got some skills but isn’t a game-changer.

Even his $3.5 million single year contract is a bit of an overpay. He wouldn’t have gotten it from anyone else, and I suspect he only got it from Charlotte for some roster continuity and because he’s a very sweet human being. I don’t hate him on the roster if only to supply some positive vibes.

I do think it’s hilarious that Basketball Reference’s projection model predicts that he becomes a league-average 3 point shooter this year after attempting (and missing) 2 such shots in his whole career. Seriously, go look.