Cliff Notes: 'You Can See the Beginnings of What Can Be a Good Team'

Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford sees progress during long road trip.

There hasn't been much for Charlotte Hornets fans to be excited about this season as the team holds a 9-26 record through 35 games.

There is, though, some hope that the season will turn around as the team continues to get healthy. Charlotte finished off a tough, six-game west coast road trip with a close loss to the Golden State Warriors. It may not have been the results head coach Steve Clifford wanted but he takes solace in the fact that his team is fighting every night and starting to play better basketball.

"I thought 3-3 would've been great," Clifford said following Tuesday night's game. "We're getting better. We're getting our guys back. We still got two more guys to get back, but we got our guys back so we're a lot better team. It'll take us a little bit more to get organized. We're playing every other day, so there's not a lot of practice time but I think you can see the beginnings of what can be a good team.

"The reality is that we've really had this group now for this trip, right? And I think they understand that. Melo got back the Detroit game. Gordon got back the Atlanta game, so these are the first, I believe third or fourth game that we've had what you could say I guess in some regards would be our projected lineup. They understand that. The whole thing is we've got to make progress. We need to get Dennis [Smith Jr.] back. We need Cody [Martin] back and when we get those guys back, I think that'll help us in many respects also."

This four-game homestand presents a good opportunity for the Hornets to create some momentum as we reach the halfway point of the season. Charlotte currently sits 7.5 games back of the 10th and final playoff spot, which belongs to Toronto. Obviously, there's not much room for error, but there is plenty of basketball left to be played and if the Hornets can get healthy and stay healthy, there's a chance they can make a run at the playoffs.

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