One of the unfortunate themes for the Charlotte Hornets in recent years has been a lack of roster depth. But through the first nearly seven weeks of this season, this team is showing that they're in a far more favorable position when it comes to addressing that problem.
We've seen the Hornets come into a season with what seemed like improved depth over the last couple of years, only for things to more or less fall apart once a few injuries struck. This year, the injuries have remained an issue, but Charlotte has clearly done a better job of dealing with the adversity.
It didn't look this way from the jump. A month ago, when LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller were both missing time due to injury, the Hornets' performance dropped off quickly.
But now that they've had a little time to settle into things and get more comfortable as a unit with roughly one quarter of the season down, the Hornets are looking much more adept at putting together four quarters of solid basketball even with multiple rotation players missing.
The Hornets are remaining competitive with multiple guys out
Sunday night's game against the Denver Nuggets, even though it resulted in a loss, was the latest reminder of this. Charlotte came into the contest down LaMelo Ball, Moussa Diabate, Collin Sexton and Tre Mann, on top of missing Grant Williams and Josh Green, who are yet to play this season.
Even though the Nuggets had their own injury troubles and were without Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun, Denver still had a clear talent advantage. Even so, the Hornets battled all night and kept this one close until the final minutes.
That says a lot about the state of this roster as well as the fight this team has been bringing in recent weeks. Ever since their 28-point loss to the Knicks on November 26, Charlotte has kicked things up a notch and won three of their last six. And they've done it with key guys still being in and out of the lineup.
At the end of the day, this speaks to the progress this group has made, and it's a massive relief to the fanbase. In previous years, being down four rotation players against playoff-caliber opponents might have meant a decisive defeat. Now, they're able to take a game like Friday's against the Raptors and bring home a victory even with LaMelo sitting out most of the second half.
The Hornets are building chemistry and buying in as a team, utilizing their increased level of overall talent to hang with high-level teams like Denver, New York and Toronto and picking up some unlikely wins along the way. Charlotte still has to get in the win column even more frequently, but these recent performances have been encouraging.