Are the Charlotte Hornets turning their season around?

Are the Charlotte Hornets turning their season around?

Charlotte went 3-1 on a recent west trip, is this a sign that the Hornets may be turning their season around.

Charlotte went 3-1 on a recent west trip, is this a sign that the Hornets may be turning their season around.

Before the season most people including this writer thought the Charlotte Hornets would be a lock for the playoffs in a weak eastern conference. Most people figured around a six or seven seed. Then the season happened, and injuries combined with inconsistent play got the Charlotte Hornets off to a 12-22 start. Then the Charlotte Hornets went on a four-game road trip and went 3-1 bringing their record to 15-23 for the season.

The trip included a shocking win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors plus wins over Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers, it also a included a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. It was a good trip, but was it just a fluke win over the Warriors combined with wins over the terrible Kings and Lakers? Maybe this is the trip that can turn the Hornets season around. Here is what went right on the trip and what it means for the Hornets big picture. 

West Trip

The first game of the trip was a win at Golden State. Dwight Howard had his best game of the season with 29 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Golden State was shocking awful from the field, and the Hornets capitalized. Then there was the close loss for the Clippers, and blowout wins over the Kings and the Clippers. 

The key to the trip was the offense. For the season Charlotte is ranked 21st in offensive efficiency and only scores 105 points per game. During the west trip, Charlotte averaged 112 points per game. One of the difference was Charlotte hit a few more threes than usual.

They only average nine makes from deep per game, but during the trip, they averaged 12 makes. However, that wasn't the most significant difference. The most prominent difference was the ball movement. Charlotte is 28th in the league in assists per game with 15.7 per game. I don't know what it got into them, but they average 25.2 assists per game during the trip. 

Going forward ball movement is the most important thing for the Hornets to win. Outside of Kemba Walker, they have no one who can consistently get their own look. They also don't have a lot of shooting, to score they need to move the ball. A key to that is Nicholas Batum. Batum missed the first six weeks of the season with an elbow injury and hadn't looked right since.

He is the best passer on the team and key for the team's success. Luckily during the trip, Batum started to show some flashes of getting back to the player he used to be. He averaged 12.2 points on 44 percent shooting and 5.7 assists per game. Up from his season averages of 10.4 points on 41 percent shooting and 4.9 assists per game. If Charlotte wants to make, a run Batum has to regain form. 

Interim coach Stephen Silas has preached ball movement and the players have responded. He also seems to have settled on a rotation and the bench has stepped up. Treveon Graham, Jeremy Lamb, and Frank Kaminsky all had a good trip. For most of the season, the bench has hurt the Hornets and has given up several leads.

Lamb was a +30 for the trip, Graham was +3, and Kaminsky was +31. This is huge going forward. Charlotte needs consistent offense from Lamb and Kaminsky to carry the second unit, and Graham needs to provide defense and shooting. As for Michael Carter-Williams and Johnny O'Bryant, they just need to be solid, and both held their own for the most of the trip. 

As for ball movement, Kemba Walker did a good job of distributing averaging five assists per game. Kemba needs to balance scoring with getting his teammates involved. A tough balance, but he did a good job of it on the trip.  Howard also did a good job passing out of double teams in Golden State on the way to a season-high seven assists. 

As for the defense, Charlotte allows 106 points per game for the season. It was better on the trip only letting up 102.7 points per game. The Warriors game was most impressive as they only allowed the Warriors to score 100 points. Charlotte is ninth in defensive efficiency for the season and trending up. MKG and Dwight, in particular, had some terrific defensive showings on the trip.  They need to remain a top ten defensive unit to make up for their offense if they want to make a run. 

Going Forward

This west trip had a lot of positive. Batum, the bench, ball movement, and defense. It finally saw Charlotte get good efforts from multiple players at the same time. They need that to have success. Kemba cant do everything. Even though the trip helped the Hornets still have a long way to go. They are still 4.5 games back of eight in the east. That is why Charlotte still only has a 17 percent of making the playoffs. They have a lot of teams to pass, and the east is friskier than expected.

The eighth seed in the east will likely have 42 wins, so Charlotte will have to finish the season 27-17. That is a tall task. Charlotte needs help and still expect them to be active at the trade deadline. The question is which direction they will go in. I don't think they will go full blow up; I think they still plan on being competitive. Charlotte will try to trade Batum, but moving his contract will be tough, my guess is MKG is the one to go. Teams always need wings, and he will shed some cap. We will miss his defense, but if the move is right, Charlotte should pounce. 

The main thing is the Hornets are mostly healthy besides Cody Zeller. Zeller may be back by the end of the month, and that is huge. If healthy Charlotte is a solid team. With an upgrade at the deadline, they can still make the playoffs. The thing is their ceiling is a first-round exit; Charlotte needs to ask itself is that worth it at the expense of not preparing for the future? For now, Hornets fans be excited your team is turning it around and are fun to watch again. Hopefully, it continues Wednesday night at home against Dallas. 

Before the season most people including this writer thought the Charlotte Hornets would be a lock for the playoffs in a weak eastern conference. Most people figured around a six or seven seed. Then the season happened, and injuries combined with inconsistent play got the Charlotte Hornets off to a 12-22 start. Then the Charlotte Hornets went on a four-game road trip and went 3-1 bringing their record to 15-23 for the season.

The trip included a shocking win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors plus wins over Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers, it also a included a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. It was a good trip, but was it just a fluke win over the Warriors combined with wins over the terrible Kings and Lakers? Maybe this is the trip that can turn the Hornets season around. Here is what went right on the trip and what it means for the Hornets big picture. 

West Trip

The first game of the trip was a win at Golden State. Dwight Howard had his best game of the season with 29 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Golden State was shocking awful from the field, and the Hornets capitalized. Then there was the close loss for the Clippers, and blowout wins over the Kings and the Clippers. 

The key to the trip was the offense. For the season Charlotte is ranked 21st in offensive efficiency and only scores 105 points per game. During the west trip, Charlotte averaged 112 points per game. One of the difference was Charlotte hit a few more threes than usual.

They only average nine makes from deep per game, but during the trip, they averaged 12 makes. However, that wasn't the most significant difference. The most prominent difference was the ball movement. Charlotte is 28th in the league in assists per game with 15.7 per game. I don't know what it got into them, but they average 25.2 assists per game during the trip. 

Going forward ball movement is the most important thing for the Hornets to win. Outside of Kemba Walker, they have no one who can consistently get their own look. They also don't have a lot of shooting, to score they need to move the ball. A key to that is Nicholas Batum. Batum missed the first six weeks of the season with an elbow injury and hadn't looked right since.

He is the best passer on the team and key for the team's success. Luckily during the trip, Batum started to show some flashes of getting back to the player he used to be. He averaged 12.2 points on 44 percent shooting and 5.7 assists per game. Up from his season averages of 10.4 points on 41 percent shooting and 4.9 assists per game. If Charlotte wants to make, a run Batum has to regain form. 

Interim coach Stephen Silas has preached ball movement and the players have responded. He also seems to have settled on a rotation and the bench has stepped up. Treveon Graham, Jeremy Lamb, and Frank Kaminsky all had a good trip. For most of the season, the bench has hurt the Hornets and has given up several leads.

Lamb was a +30 for the trip, Graham was +3, and Kaminsky was +31. This is huge going forward. Charlotte needs consistent offense from Lamb and Kaminsky to carry the second unit, and Graham needs to provide defense and shooting. As for Michael Carter-Williams and Johnny O'Bryant, they just need to be solid, and both held their own for the most of the trip. 

As for ball movement, Kemba Walker did a good job of distributing averaging five assists per game. Kemba needs to balance scoring with getting his teammates involved. A tough balance, but he did a good job of it on the trip.  Howard also did a good job passing out of double teams in Golden State on the way to a season-high seven assists. 

As for the defense, Charlotte allows 106 points per game for the season. It was better on the trip only letting up 102.7 points per game. The Warriors game was most impressive as they only allowed the Warriors to score 100 points. Charlotte is ninth in defensive efficiency for the season and trending up. MKG and Dwight, in particular, had some terrific defensive showings on the trip.  They need to remain a top ten defensive unit to make up for their offense if they want to make a run. 

Going Forward

This west trip had a lot of positive. Batum, the bench, ball movement, and defense. It finally saw Charlotte get good efforts from multiple players at the same time. They need that to have success. Kemba cant do everything. Even though the trip helped the Hornets still have a long way to go. They are still 4.5 games back of eight in the east. That is why Charlotte still only has a 17 percent of making the playoffs. They have a lot of teams to pass, and the east is friskier than expected.

The eighth seed in the east will likely have 42 wins, so Charlotte will have to finish the season 27-17. That is a tall task. Charlotte needs help and still expect them to be active at the trade deadline. The question is which direction they will go in. I don't think they will go full blow up; I think they still plan on being competitive. Charlotte will try to trade Batum, but moving his contract will be tough, my guess is MKG is the one to go. Teams always need wings, and he will shed some cap. We will miss his defense, but if the move is right, Charlotte should pounce. 

The main thing is the Hornets are mostly healthy besides Cody Zeller. Zeller may be back by the end of the month, and that is huge. If healthy Charlotte is a solid team. With an upgrade at the deadline, they can still make the playoffs. The thing is their ceiling is a first-round exit; Charlotte needs to ask itself is that worth it at the expense of not preparing for the future? For now, Hornets fans be excited your team is turning it around and are fun to watch again. Hopefully, it continues Wednesday night at home against Dallas. 

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