The Charlotte Hornets are in No Man’s Land

The Charlotte Hornets are not in a good spot right now. They are not necessarily falling apart, but the team has clearly not lived up to the high expectations for this offseason.

The first thing that went wrong was arguably the biggest news that the Hornets have been a part of this summer; Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, who the Hornets were set to hire as head coach after the NBA Finals ended, backed out of the coaching job after Golden State won the championship.

This sent the franchise scrambling to find a replacement as the news came just days before the 2022 NBA Draft.

When the dust settled, the Hornets rehired Steve Clifford, who was the head coach for Charlotte until he was fired in 2018.

Roughly a week later, Miles Bridges was charged with three felony counts of domestic violence after turning himself into the police when they were called to a home in Los Angeles after an argument between Bridges and his wife, Mychelle Thompson, became violent. Bridges has two young children with Thompson.

With the Hornets’ leading scorer out of the question and the franchise being forced to rehire a coach that they fired just a few years ago, many fans were hoping that a major trade or free agency move would turn the tide of the offseason.

That move never came. Aside from a few contract guarantees and extensions, the Hornets have been dead silent all summer. There are still some trade rumors here and there involving the Hornets trading for players like Donovan Mitchell or Russell Westbrook, but these trades would be long shots.

With most high caliber free agents already off the market, Charlotte’s roster seems mostly set in stone, with a few new players such as Mark Williams coming from the NBA Draft.

As currently constructed, the Hornets roster is projected to finish this next season in “No Man’s Land.” This happens when a team wins too many games to get a high lottery pick in the draft but does not win enough games to make the playoffs.

What results from this is long term mediocrity and a period of little change in the team’s success, as they do not drastically improve or get worse.

How do the Hornets get out of No Man’s Land?

This is not where the Hornets want to be. Luckily, there is still time to improve the roster. A solid trade is still a possibility, and the free agency market is not completely dry of players that can contribute.

Lastly, Charlotte may not even need to add any players to this roster. There is a serious chance that the young players on the roster have developed their game enough this summer to go for a playoff run this season.

All there is to do now is wait and see what happens.