Three areas where the Hornets will be most improved this season

Areas where the Hornets will show improvement in the 2024-2025 season.

Austin Leake | Oct 14, 2024

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Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets currently have the longest playoff drought in the NBA right now (eight seasons) and haven't won more than 30 games in either of the last two years.

With that in mind, it is obvious that there are plenty of areas where the Hornets could and should improve from recent history. Let's take a look at the three areas where I see the Hornets showing the most improvement compared to previous seasons.

Health

As a team over the course of the last couple of seasons, there have been many injuries that have negatively impacted the Hornets' season. Injuries have surrounded Hornets star LaMelo Ball, which has made it difficult for the Hornets to compete and win games. Not only have there been injuries to Ball, but also to starting center Mark Williams, and some key reserve players like Cody Martin.

Now, with Ball wearing ankle braces, a new training staff in place, and Williams' back injury appears to be healed, there's hope that the Hornets could stay healthy.

The ankle braces for Ball should provide a lot more comfort and decrease the risk of an injury occurring again. The Hornets have had some injuries early on in preseason, but other than Williams' foot injury, most of them seem to be out of precaution. Most of the team's success relies on Ball's health and I see him shutting down those "injury-prone" conversations.

Bench Scoring/Depth

Well, if there's one thing the Hornets have seemed to lack over the years, it has most definitely been having a decent bench. For the first time, maybe since the Hornets made the playoffs in the 2015-16 season, I can say the Hornets have a really solid bench, if not their best in the last decade.

Last season, in all honesty, the Hornets were putting players on the floor that wouldn't touch any other team's NBA roster with players like Ish Smith, Frank Ntilikina, Nathan Mensah, Leaky Black, and the list goes on. Now, the Hornets have the likes of Tre Mann, Grant Williams, Cody Martin, Seth Curry, Vasilije Micic, Nick Richards, and Hornets rookie Tidjane Salaün.

The Hornets averaged just 29.5 points per game off the bench last season. Grant Williams, Cody Martin. and Nick Richards started over 10 games for the Hornets last season and now they're expected to be key bench pieces.

Mann, so far has looked like an early sixth man of the year candidate as he's averaged 16.0 points per game in just 19 minutes of game time in his three preseason contests. He's one of the main reasons why I can confidently say that the Hornets bench is much improved than in previous seasons because the team has lacked a bucket-getter off the pine.

Not only is the bench scoring a plus, but how about the depth?

With the consistent injuries over the years, the depth has lacked when replacing injured players. However, it seems Jeff Peterson and company have done a solid job making tweaks to the bench. With guys like Seth Curry, Nick Smith Jr., Taj Gibson, Moussa Diabate, and others, it appears the Hornets have replacements if needed.

When Ball went down last season, the Hornets saw a major dropoff in production from the point guard spot. Similarly, at the center position when Mark Williams got injured, the team didn't have another center on the roster outside of Nick Richards. The additions of Gibson and Diabate should provide much-needed depth at that position, as both have looked solid in the preseason thus far. I really like what Peterson and the Hornets ownership have done with the bench, while also having a competent starting lineup with Ball, Green, Miller, Bridges, and Mark Williams when healthy.

Coaching + Defense

Did you really think I could write an article talking about where I see the Hornets improving the most and not talk about new head coach Charles Lee?

Lee has undoubtedly won over the players and the fans already and he hasn't even coached a regular season game yet. Coming from Boston and Milwaukee, who are simply known for winning, Lee knows how to win basketball games. You may wonder what that would entail and the answer is simple. Defense. You will not win games in the NBA if you don't learn how to stay committed and disciplined on the defensive end and the Hornets learned that last season with Steve Clifford. The Hornets were 22nd in the league in defense while allowing 116.8 points per game.

No offense to Steve Clifford, but he didn't seem to be able to get the Hornets to stay disciplined or compete at a level they were capable of on that side of the ball. As well, being older I don't think he got across to the players like Coach Lee is so far. Lee is like a fan and a coach at the same time as he's always on his feet being vocal, clapping, and jumping up and down. It's exciting to see what Lee has done with the team so far and you can feel a sense of energy and pride from the players on defense, especially from LaMelo Ball.

Lee has spoken many times about Ball's defense and how that's where he wants the 23-year-old to take his game to the next level. In the Hornets' first preseason game versus New York, Ball took the challenge of guarding the Knicks' star player Jalen Brunson. If Lee can get Ball committed, disciplined, and ready to compete on defense, then that should tell you all you need to know regarding how much of an impact Lee has made coaching already. I see this area being where the Hornets have the most improvement overall in the 2024-25 campaign.

Health

Bench Scoring/Depth

Coaching + Defense

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