How the Hornets’ season was wrecked before All-Star break, shattering postseason dreams
As a veteran observer of the pro basketball ranks, Steve Clifford follows a certain mantra.
“I think the one thing you learn when you first get into the NBA,” the Charlotte Hornets coach said, “is you’ve got to be able to handle frustration, disappointment, losing, injuries, whatever. I will say this: I’ve never been through anything like this and I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
To say the last few months have been an adventure for the Hornets is an understatement. Between Miles Bridges’ season-opening suspension, various injuries to LaMelo Ball, Mark Willams and Cody Martin, to the trading of Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward and PJ Washington, it feels almost like the Hornets have fielded three or four seasons in one.
Or better yet, something played out on Netflix.
“I think one word to describe that is a movie,” rookie Brandon Miller said after posting 26 points in the Hornets’ 122-99 win over Atlanta at Spectrum Center on Wednesday night. “It’s been kind of all over the place. But I just think being around these guys every day, they push you to be the best of the best.”
Things certainly are going in a different direction for the Hornets these days. They’re really distancing themselves from what’s been a rough season, riding an unmistakable energy that’s permeated throughout the team since they acquired Grant Williams, Seth Curry, Tre Mann, Dāvis Bertāns, Vasilije Micić before the NBA trade deadline.
A season-high three-game winning streak has changed everyone’s mood. Including the patrons, who’ve been chanting “Let’s go Hornets!” at the tail end of each outing.
“It feels really good, especially knowing that they were struggling not too long ago,” Mann said. “It feels good. Guys are happy, coaches are happy. We know it’s a lot more work to do. We can get better and it’s a small sample size. And we’ve got to build on it.”
Although the Hornets (13-41) are rolling, the All-Star break couldn’t come at a better time.
“For sure,” Clifford said. “And I think the guys need it. It will be good for everybody to get acclimated. Some of them will be bringing their families in or whatever. And then we jump right back into it. I was looking at the schedule this morning. We go like two and a half weeks without having two days off in between games. I’m glad the All-Stars is the way we are doing it now with a couple of more days rest. I think it’s good for everybody.”
Even if the Hornets have morphed into a different team. Just imagine how things would be coming out of the break if the Hornets hadn’t been on such a roller coaster during the season’s first four months, creating the wrong kind of cinematic moments.
Here’s a look at five things that drastically altered the Hornets’ fortunes, putting them in cavernous hole that’s proven tough to climb out of:
LaMelo Ball’s pesky ankles
The Hornets star point guard came into the season looking to put the injury troubles behind him. But it’s turned out to be more the same and the Hornets’ success is tied directly to Ball.
Charlotte is built to run, tasked with getting up and down the court to keep the opposition from setting up its halfcourt defense. Ball can be a one-man fastbreak and as the team’s main floor general, the Hornets are at their best when he’s pushing the tempo and piling up numbers that have him flirting with a triple-double every time he suits up.
Problem is, he hasn’t done it enough. The Hornets can’t afford to have this happen each season, and beginning in 2024-25, Ball’s ability to stay on the court will be directly tied to whether he can reach the maximum value of his rookie extension. Some salary boosts are requisite on him earning league awards or honors, and they can’t be achieved unless he plays in at least 65% of the games.
So, missing games next season and beyond could hurt in more ways than one.
Mark Williams’ back trouble
If there wasn’t already proof of just how much of a difference the Hornets big man made just with his long presence alone, the last 10 weeks should be a good indicator.
Things just haven’t been the same since the second-year center got diagnosed with a contusion following successive hits to the lower back in November, creating a situation that has taken longer than anticipated. Mitch Kupchak, who’s moving into an advisory role as the Hornets search for a new general manager, said the injury is actually something beyond a contusion, leading to the 22-year-old visiting a top specialist to determine what’s going on.
Kupchak said Williams should be fine moving forward with his career, but this season sounds rather iffy.
Specifically, the Hornets miss his rim protection and knack for collecting rebounds. They don’t have anyone else to make others think twice about driving into the lane uninhibited. That devoid ingredient hindered things exponentially.
Miles Bridges suspension
When the Hornets opened the season against the very same opponent they faced Thursday night, Bridges wasn’t involved. He was completing his 10-game suspension for his no contest plea for felony domestic violence, and there was a lot of unknown — especially after word trickled out about a pending court appearance he had, which initially was pushed back and just got dropped for insufficient evidence.
Without Bridges, the Hornets had to tread water for the first 10 games of the season and they began 3-7. They missed his scoring, toughness, rebounding and defense.
He’s posted 10 doubles and recorded nine games where he scored at least 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He’s also had four outings reaching the threshold of 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Those are numbers that can’t be replaced or duplicated.
Lack of bench depth
For a team that has had serious injury woes over the past couple of seasons, depth remains a big problem and is an issue that should have been addressed leading into the season.
In particular, not having an adequate backup point guard and having to go out and sign veteran Ish Smith off the street just to keep things afloat while filling in for Ball — and because of Frank Ntlikina’s unavailability — hurt the Hornets immensely. Ntilikina got injured in the final game of the preseason and the Hornets never waived him despite his non-guaranteed contract.
The Hornets still kept Ntilikina on the roster, and he didn’t make his debut until Jan. 17 in New Orleans. He wound up playing all of 43 minutes in five games before getting released last Thursday following the trades of Washington and Hayward.
Bryce McGowens and JT Thor have not taken much of a step forward in their development and didn’t do a whole lot with their opportunities. And the Hornets have even had to rely on Nathan Mensah, who was pegged to be in the G League, a lot this season. That all added up to them being undermanned nightly until this most recent stretch.
No ‘D’
Clifford’s specialty is defense, and one of the things the Hornets pointed to when theft hired him for his second stint with the franchise. They wanted to drastically improve things on that side of the ball, given the team thought it had the offensive parts in place already.
But it’s been quite the struggle and Clifford acknowledged such recently.
“Let’s be honest, it’s why I was brought here and to this point I have failed pretty miserably,” Clifford said after their loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 5. “We don’t care enough about defense all the time. We’re a sometimes team. Sometimes we run back, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we care about guarding the ball, sometimes we don’t. When the ball stops going in the basket, a lot of times we don’t care about defense anymore. You’ll never win.
“You may have games and you’ll have a decent year. You’ll never win. You’ll never win a playoff series, you’ll probably never win a playoff game.”
The Hornets rank last in the league defensively, yielding 120.7 points per game. Their breakdowns are collective. It’s not just one player or any particular position, which is extremely alarming.
A different mindset is needed by the entire unit and the signs are there that it finally may be changing.
