Charlotte Hornets: The Playoff Party’s Over
The Charlotte Hornets can finally focus on the future since the door was closed in the present.
The Charlotte Hornets lost to the Boston Celtics last night and eliminated themselves and the Detroit Pistons from playoff competition. Now, the Hornets’ best interest probably lies in losing the remaining two games of the season to try to get better draft positioning than Detroit in the lottery.
The Celtics game was sort of a microcosm of the Hornets season. They could score a lot and even lead in the fourth, but teams with superior depth and star power found ways to beat them. The Hornets’ identity of playing good team defense again resulted in giving up more than a hundred points to an opponent.
Kemba Walker scored twenty-three, but this time he was helped by Nicolas Batum with thirty-one. In a rare reversal from most of the season, Batum was the only player that was effective from the three point line. They even got double-figure games from Cody Zeller and Jeremy Lamb and lost to the second best team in the East by 121-114.
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The Hornets came into the season as a team that had decided on an identity, but did not have the money to retain the depth that they enjoyed last season. Batum and Marvin Williams were paid to keep the basic picture from 2015-6, but the Hornets never really replaced Jeremy Lin and Courtney Lee on the roster.
The bench included Lamb, Marco Belinelli, Ramon Sessions, and Frank Kaminsky. Kaminsky grew some as a player this season, but each of the others had their stumbling block. Lamb and Belinelli were shooters but not defenders. Sessions was injured the last part of the year and the lack of quality backup point guard minutes was something the team never recovered at that point.
This problem was compounded by the Miles Plumlee trade. The Hornets sent away their one expiring contract (Roy Hibbert) and a piece that fit what they wanted on offense (Spencer Hawes) on a gamble that Plumlee was as good as his contract year (he might be, but he never showed it this season).
Speaking of contract years, let’s get back to Batum. Batum was not the consistent scoring presence that the Hornets needed next to Walker in order for them to succeed. His field goal percentage dipped below 40%. His three point percentage went from an acceptable career 35% to a lackluster 33%. At 33%, you have to question whether it is worthwhile for him to shoot from that range.