Charlotte Hornets: Inside the worst NBA defense

As we already tried to underline in the past paragraphs, this is a structural problem and it would be very hard to improve this much without switching part of the personnel. On the other hand, it is not easy to be part of the trade/buyout market if you are Charlotte this year for various reasons. Anyway, there is always something that could be done.

The first option is zone defense. Borrego already showed his willingness to run it if needed without problems in order to throw to the opponents’ offense something different. In this first part of the season, zone defense had some success but it has not been used as much as last season. This was one of the reasons for last year’s defensive success but coaches try to avoid it if possible because it is a pretty easy-to-beat scheme if expected.

Another adjustment I would personally want to see more is a much more traditional pick-and-roll defense. Even when Plumlee is out there this season, the team is trying to throw opponents different coverages as hard hedges, blitzes but the results have been a mixed bag. Having Plumlee playing a strict drop coverage would surely make things easier for the whole system.

The hardest way to solve the defensive problem is probably via acquiring personnel from other teams. The name that comes easily these weeks is Myles Turner’s but his price could be very high as a good bunch of teams around the league are aiming him per Shams Charania. It is not easy to acquire defenders that can handle their own out in the perimeter as they are very rare in the league and contenders are willing to add these players as much as they can.

The Hornets need to survive as much as they can with their defense if they want to find success this year, but this will not be easy at all. The team has very deep problems that would need an overall improvement to solve: we will see if Kupchak decides to move something to address the issue even if that means sacrificing part of the offensive success. With how the offense is flowing right now, reaching a middle level in the defensive rankings would propel the Charlotte Hornets in the top tier of the NBA.