The Charlotte Hornets season is starting to plummet, can they turn it around?

The Charlotte Hornets were once one of the most exciting young teams with two budding stars who were looking like a sure bet to take part in this year’s postseason. Now after a 2-8 stretch in their last 10 games, the Hornets are a team who can’t seem to find any sort of consistency at the moment and could very well miss out on the postseason entirely.

The only two wins in this 10 game stretch have across the Detroit Pistons, currently the worst team in the league, and the Los Angeles Lakers without LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Nothing has been easy for the Hornets as of late and since Mid-January it’s been a rough watch on most nights.

Every Charlotte fan knows how the defense is the biggest deficiency on this team, and boy is it a big one. There was hope that a rim-protecting center could be acquired at the trade deadline, but with the deadline now in the rearview mirror, nobody is coming to save the team in this area.

Montrezl Harrell was brought in at the deadline and offers an aggressive presence in the paint and is someone who can finish around the rim at an elite level, something that can help open up the Hornets half-court offense, but defensively he isn’t solving any of the Hornets’ problems right now.

Even though the personnel of the roster has major flaws, the core is inexperienced and the squad is dealing with a handful of injuries to key rotation players, it would be fair if you were to start having some concern for head coach James Borrego.

Borrego has been great in terms of player development and has had the Hornets exceeding expectations in every year that he’s been in charge. However, Borrego may not be the X’s and O’s guy we need to get us over the hump. That verdict hasn’t been reached yet for me, but there are things he needs to work on to take the next step with this team.

While his season hasn’t gone according to plan, I think Borrego deserves a shot with a complete roster as we head into next season. If anyone should be looked at sideways right now, it might be general manager Mitch Kupchak, who has drafted well, but his free-agent windows have been a bit on the underwhelming side. Kelly Oubre Jr. has been a good signing, but as of late, he’s shown why he hasn’t been able to stick to a team. He’s very streaky and when his shot isn’t falling, it’s not good.

After the 2020-21 season, addressing the center position was without a doubt the top priority on the roster and Kupchak brought in Mason Plumlee from Detroit and drafted two project rookies in JT Thor and Kai Jones. Basically, the top priority was ignored for this season. Kupchak can’t repeat this method this offseason. The problem needs to be addressed.

It’s not too late for the Hornets to turn things around but the team has regressed to their mean. This is a team that when the offense is rolling can beat any team but they can also look very (VERY) bad when the shots aren’t falling and the offense is struggling to get buckets. With the defense being so bad, they live and die by their offense.

We’re just one game away from the all-star break and this team could definitely use the rest. Hopefully, the break is a nice refresher for the squad and some changes are made for this next part of the season. Personally, I think starting Harrell would be a good start. If shots aren’t falling, he seems like he can be relied on to score from inside the paint.