The Charlotte Hornets have hit a rough patch that’s hard to ignore. Boston rolled into Charlotte and beat them by nearly 40, and that came on the heels of a 47-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Through it all, Charlotte’s point differential sits at -13.9, which is the third-worst mark in the NBA.
That kind of start invites the obvious question: if you ran this season back 100 times from September 1 to now, where would this version of the Hornets land? Right near the bottom feels fair.
The mood around the Spectrum Center sounds grim for good reason. Injuries have piled up, shots aren’t dropping, and the turnovers have been ugly.
It’s a mess. Still, there’s belief that this group can put together a solid stretch once it gets healthier - if it gets healthier.
The biggest issue is on offense, where Charlotte simply isn’t scoring enough to hang with quality teams. The Hornets don’t have enough play creation or play initiation, and they’re missing a player who can consistently turn the corner, create an advantage, and force extra defenders to collapse.
That’s exactly the kind of job LaMelo Ball handled at an elite level last season. The drop from a point guard who received All-NBA votes and helped drive a top-five offense to what Charlotte has gotten from that spot this year has been enormous.
The roster construction only makes the problem louder. Charlotte leans heavily on perimeter players, including its current best options, and most of them do their damage by shooting off the catch or off the dribble.
The plan is built around making a high volume of threes. When those shots stop falling, the offense has very few fallback options.
That’s been the story through the first 10 games. Outside of Grayson Allen, the shooting has been rough across the board, and the turnovers have been just as damaging. Without a true high-usage lead guard to organize everything and make clean reads, possessions keep breaking down.
There is at least some reason to think the shooting will improve. It can hardly get much worse. And with Coby White getting his legs back under him and earning more minutes and usage, Charlotte has a chance to spark the offense and climb out of its current sub-100 offensive rating.
But the film has been ugly. Defense and two-way rebounding can only cover so much when the points aren’t coming.
Injuries have clearly contributed to the slow start, but the offense still doesn’t have much excuse for being this bad. Until Coby White is fully unleashed and Kon Knueppel is back and healthy, it’s hard to fully write off Jeff Peterson’s plan. Even so, the early returns are not encouraging.
The Hornets also need point guard play, and that’s the exact kind of thing they traded away for Naz Reid and a first-round pick years down the road. There’s still time to dig out of this, but this group doesn’t look equipped to rip off the kind of magical run it made a year ago after a slow start. The clock is ticking.
There are a few pieces that haven’t even been seen together yet, and the numbers for that trio last year were excellent. But beyond that, the results have been brutal.
Coby White has been rusty and dreadful. Brandon Miller is not a leading man, clearly.
Even Moussa Diabaté has struggled.
At this point, it feels like LaMelo Ball was the one thing holding everything together, and whatever Charlotte did to try to replace that loss hasn’t worked. The concern is real.
In Other News...
Hornets Hit Another Low As Brandon Miller Concern Grows
Bostons visit only deepened a rough stretch for Charlotte, which was overwhelmed from the start in a 119-80 loss as Jayson Tatum poured in 34 points and Derrick White and Payton Pritchard added steady support. The Hornets never found much rhythm offensively, and the margin kept widening as the game wore on, leaving another flat night for a team searching for answers.
The bigger concern for Charlotte came with Brandon Miller, who exited at halftime because of right groin soreness. For a team already trying to steady itself after another lopsided defeat, any issue involving one of its most important young players adds a layer of unease, especially with the offense already struggling to generate much of anything. [Read more 🡒]
Tatums Big Night May Have Clarified A Celtics Lineup Call
Bostons visit to Charlotte turned into a one-sided NBA Cup night almost immediately, with Jayson Tatum setting the tone in a game the Celtics controlled from the opening minutes. Boston jumped out to an 18-4 run and never let the Hornets find much rhythm, rolling to a 119-80 win behind Tatums all-around impact and a defense that kept the margin comfortable for most of the night.
For Charlotte, the game also came with another concern when Brandon Miller left in the second quarter with groin soreness and did not return. The Hornets were already chasing a game that had slipped away early, and Millers exit only deepened the challenge as they tried to regroup against a Celtics team that looked settled in every phase. [Read more 🡒]
Charles Lee Sounds Alarm On A Hornets Problem Fans Know Too Well
Soft-tissue injuries have become one of the NBAs nagging problems, and Charles Lee is among the coaches wondering whether the leagues calendar is part of the issue. The Hornets coach said he is concerned about how often those injuries are showing up and questioned whether players are giving their bodies enough time to recover once the season ends.
Lee noted that the offseason has changed, with players now often jumping into training right after the final buzzer instead of waiting much longer before ramping back up. For Charlotte, it is a familiar balancing act: keep players developing, but also make sure the work does not come at the expense of health, something the Hornets and plenty of other teams may need to examine more closely. [Read more 🡒]