The Hornets will enter the 21-22 season with one of the most fun to watch team in the NBA. With a fast paced and unselfish style based on Ball's, Rozier's and Hayward's playmaking ability that feeds the entire team with a willingness to pass. Beyond that, Lamelo's ROTY season exceeded expectation and made the front office spend the off-season building a team better suited to make their young-star flourish.
A Season for Development
The Hornets made a conscious decision to go younger. After winning the tie-break with NOP during the Draft Lottery and landing the 11th pick in the draft many of Hornets fans felt that the team might reach for the reportedly targeted player on the board: Kai Jones. A very polarizing prospect in the position of need that surely impressed the FO during pre-draft process.
However, in an event that might be considered destiny, the perfect guard fit-wise, touted as a top 10 pick in the majority of boards, dropped at 11th and we didn't hesitated to pick Bouknight at that spot. The reports of Hornet's high interest on Jones were confirmed later on draft night when they traded to get into the draft again and draft Texas' big man at 19th. With 2 picks in the second round, the Hornets ended the night with 4 rookies on their roster. Kubolka was also added to the young core signed as a previous stash player. 2/3 of the current training-camp roster are 25 or younger.
Considering all that, it's easy to point out that the team will have to balance the playing time of all young guys to develop and test each one of them as much as possible. Player-growth have been the most positive thing about Coach Borrego and staff since getting the job, and the fans hopes that this trend will continue with a young core that now seems to make sense and have a basis that will sustain the growth of everyone. In such young roster, Hayward and Rozier bring the veteran leadership and Plumlee may add experience for a very young big rotation. Ball, Washington and Bridges are looking to improve their skills as vocal leaders as the most important pieces on the young core.
With a team that before Hayward's injury was over 50% and 4th team in the East last season, it's hard to not put Hornets in the playoff race. That being said, the even younger team will surely suffer growing pains throughout a full 82-game season. The aim for the season most likely will be to be as competitive as possible and to make players earn their minutes in the rotation.
No trading allowed
Trading up to grab Kai Jones in the draft indicated that the Hornets would not be too active in the market for players that will need a first round pick to trade for. For Jones, the Hornets sent a heavily protected FRP to the Knicks that prevents them to trade every first rounder, except from '27 and '28, during this season. Since those picks are very far into the future, it's hard to imagine that the Hornets will be willing to send a FRP for an upgrade in the rotation during this season. That's also another indication that the FO is not on a hurry, and rather expecting a shaky season based on the youth in the roster.
Rotation discussion: Miles-PJ Dilemma and search for a big
The ideal 5: Ball, Rozier, Hayward, Bridges and Washington
The next four: Ish Smith, Bouknight, Oubre and Plumlee
Will get minutes: Kai Jones, Cody Martin and Jalen McDaniels
Development and garbage time: Richards, Carey Jr, JT Thor, Kubolka and Lewis
It's hard to predict what's going to be the starting lineup. Bridges, Washington and Plumlee will fight for the 4/5 spot. Plumlee gives more size and experience that might be helpful for starting minutes even though Bridges and Washington are better players and cores for the franchise going forward. With Bridges having a phenomenal impact from the bench last season, will coach JB be willing to lose that energy off the bench and give Miles his chance?
As happened to Lamelo last year, having to fight for minutes with Graham, Rozier and Monk, it's expected that every young guy will go through the same steps to prove their worth. The only exception seems to be Bouknight, who with the loss of Monk and Graham will fit into the 2nd unit from day 1 - which may have been on purpose to have less competition for a rookie Charlotte didn't expect to drop to them making him the first guard off the bench. His playing time will depend mainly on team defense without any good defenders and he may lose some minutes if Cody's defense proves to be worthy of playing time.
The interaction between Bridges and Washington is one of the question that ideally this year will respond is: Could a frontcourt with Miles + PJ exist? Will PJ be able to make the transition to the 5 and then Miles would be the 4; or is Miles capable of playing major minutes at the 3 in the future, which would open PJ to play the 4 alongside a more traditional center.
In that sense, the FO identified since last year that the bigs needed a revamp. In 2020, Carey Jr and Richards were draft and in a shortened pre-season with a team that started overachieving, they ended up not finding the minutes to crack the rotation. Will they take steps forward this year and show they deserve regular rotation spots? Anyway, again this draft 2 bigs were drafted, is Kai Jones the missing piece of the puzzle? Can the coaching staff find the upside of JT Thor giving him playtime in the G-League?
High Hope and Low Expectation
With all being said, the future of the Hornets looks bright. A young and fun star in Lamelo in a team full of young players that fits his style and with veteran and coaches that are building a positive culture throughout the organization. However, in a more competitive and deeper East and with a younger rotation the Hornets are expected to have regression on team record. Obviously the dream goal for the Hornets would be to get a direct playoff spot but competition will be really tough. A shot at the play-in would be a good season too as Charlotte is in that range with teams like Pacers, Wizards and Raptors. With a already big young core, we are in a spot were getting that early playoff experience is more benefitial than picking in the lottery again.
The main factor for the team keeping up with the playoff race will be health, how much will Hayward be able to play? Will Lamelo have a full healthy season? Fun, competitive and most-see TV, the Hornets plan to keep the wave of positivity in a season that the team is expected to show what they'll be capable of doing in the future but will suffer from inexperience.