It is becoming harder and harder to watch the Charlotte Hornets in their current state. This is a team that is so far away from resembling a semi-competitive organization.
Not helping matters was the completely delusional mindset the Hornets entered the season with. Charlotte’s decision-makers actually believed that the way this roster is currently configured was good enough to compete for postseason play. This was proven untrue rather quickly this season, and the limitations of the roster only became exposed further after LaMelo Ball’s ankle injury that has kept him out of action since late November. Ball’s talent level is so high that it makes up for a lot of the shortcomings that exist on the rest of the roster, which allows the team to at least be more regularly competitive than they are without him.
Charlotte’s belief that postseason play was possible was always a bit far-fetched. Having a roster filled with youth, only a few of which are actually useful, combined with a couple of veteran starters who may be better suited for bench roles on competitive teams, was always going to make a quest for the postseason difficult. The roster makeup is pulling in three different directions, and that makes trying to institute any sort of plan nearly impossible.
The group of LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams represent the three of the most important players in Charlotte moving forward. This is a team that needs to acquire more young blue-chip talent to add to this group and that unfortunately means having favorable odds in the draft lottery. In order to be in a position where this becomes possible, Charlotte is going to have to lose and lose a lot. This means that they may need to move a few notable players, such as Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, and Miles Bridges, to make that possible.
There is something to build around in Charlotte, but they will need to clear out some of the clutter first. Once they finally understand what their timeline is and align with it accordingly, they will finally be on a trajectory that will allow them to complete attainable goals and build their roster properly. Until then, the Hornets will continue to wander aimlessly without any idea which direction they should head in.