Charlotte Hornets: 3 ways the preseason shook up the rotations

The guard rotation has been shaken by the loss of Devonte’ Graham and Malik Monk in the offseason and the depth in the backcourt is still uncertain.

When talking about the guard rotation before this season we already underlined that there could be a problem in managing the minutes without Ball on the court. The two players asked to cover the backcourt with the bench unit are Ish Smith and James Bouknight.

In the preseason games, Borrego decided to split the minutes between Ball and Smith at the point guard position. This was very predictable and those two players likely will not share the court at all. The Hornets just have two natural point guards and the staff will probably keep the same organization going forward.

The same happened at the guard position with Bouknight ghosting Rozier’s role in every aspect of the game. A lot of his actions came out of designed plays to get him moving before getting the ball in his hands. The rookie produced a good bit in terms of raw stats but he still needs to work a lot efficiency-wise. With almost 16 points a game, he was tied with Rozier as Charlotte’s preseason leading scorer. This scoring attitude will be much needed for the Hornets as they will be missing key rotation players from last season.

These two players will likely be the two main actors from the bench for the guard depth but it’s possible the staff will not be satisfied by their production. During these preseason games, especially when Rozier went down because of an ankle injury, Borrego decided to try something different situationally.

The two players used in the backcourt aside from Smith and Bouknight were Oubre and Cody Martin. The first one had some reps as a guard during his long-tenured NBA career and could be an option for the staff going forward. His three-point percentage is the key to unlock this possible situation for the team, if that stabilizes on a good volume and something in between 30% to 40% it will be more likely to unlock him as a situational guard. Even Oubre went down with an ankle injury and it is still uncertain if we will see more of that in the future.

Martin could be seen as a situational point guard as he was doing that during his Nevada days in college. That is not his natural position and there is much more he needs to do to become a better-suited point guard, starting from his shooting gravity.

Borrego did display an overall attitude to experiment with lineups during his three years with the Hornets and will not be shy to shake up things once again If Smith and Bouknight do not provide the right production for the team.