3 biggest surprises for the Hornets heading into the All-Star break

Clarity

Another nice surprise from this Hornets season is the organizational clarity that has come along with all of the losing and disappointment. The silver lining from all of that is the harsh dose of reality.

This has finally allowed the team to end any delusion about contending for a playoff berth and embrace a teardown and full rebuild. Maybe this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but given the way the past few seasons and offseasons have played out, it does.

The previous regime either thought they were building a contending team, or they were content to compete for a play-in spot every year. It was blatantly clear that the best course of action was to blow it up and rebuild, but the actual decision-makers didn’t see it that way - or didn’t care.

At least with the way this season has gone, there was zero doubt about it. It’s now plain to see this team was nowhere near competing and was much closer to being the worst team in the entire league. I’m sure this was humbling to some around the organization, but coming to terms with the situation has proven to be a huge positive already.

Now the team can build the team the right way, with the end goal of creating a team that can contend for a championship. It is going to be a long process, but at least that process is now underway.

So it truly has been a pleasant surprise to see ownership accept this reality and see clearly where the team is at, and what needs to be done.