Charlotte Hornets
The 2020-21 Charlotte Hornets season can be defined by being the most fun team in the league over the first half of the season when healthy.
What did we learn?
The Hornets were the Young Surprise Team that we advocated them to be!
A League Pass MUST SEE with LaMelo dimes, Sky Miles Bridges power dunks, Scary Terry in the clutch, Devonte’ Graham from deep, Hayward in the mid-range, P.J. Washington as the small-ball 5, Monk and the scrappy Martin Bros. off the bench — all with Eric Collins yelling with an unmatched level of genuine and enthusiastic excitement.
And not only were the Hornets the funnest team in the league, but they were damn good!
The Hornets, OUR beloved Hornets, were in 4th place in the Eastern Conference for an entire week at the end of March.
Then Gordon Hayward got hurt, a right foot sprain that kept him out for the rest of the season. When the Hornets signed Hayward, everybody laughed, but he was having a near All-Star caliber season. The injury concerns are far from new territory with Hayward, and it stung when the Hornets lost him. He was the exact type of additional offensive threat who could score from all levels and make the right play, taking this team to a higher echelon of Charlotte Hornets team basketball, the #1 team in the NBA in assist percentage.
The Hornets assist leader? The Rookie of the Year, LaMelo Ball. For a lot of the season, the Hornets were Living LaMelo Loco! LaMelo’s per game numbers as a starter: 18 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 38% from 3. His shooting was by far and away better than anybody anticipated, and we love that he is always in attack mode, pushing the pace, zipping here and zipping there, pristine full-court passes aplenty. Before Hayward went down, LaMelo had already fractured his wrist in a fall at Staples Center against the Clippers on a random March Saturday night. He missed 5 weeks in all which included the entire month of April.
Who else missed the entire month of April? Malik Monk who sprained his ankle on April Fool’s Day. It was no joke, he missed the next four weeks. Also no joke was Monk testing positive for Covid at the beginning of the season, hardly playing at all until late-January and receiving numerous DNP-CD’s after being available to play. A forgotten man, Monk changed the tune on a random February Monday night in South Beach, lighting the Heat up for 36 points on 9-of-13 three-point shooting. From not playing to NINE 3’s, just like that. Monk would continue to be a threat from 3, shooting a definite career-high 40 percent on five attempts per game after shooting a ghastly 28.4 percent last season. A huge improvement that helped the Hornets bench considerably.
Miles Bridges was the Hornets resident Iron Man, playing in each of the first 64 games of the season until a stint in the protocols caused him to miss two weeks in May at the tail end of the season. Before that, Bridges was throwing down power dunks galore, the no doubt best and most consistent power dunker in the game. Eric Collins and Dell Curry were constantly losing their fricken minds, just as we would. Bridges also showed that he is so much more than just the best power dunker in the league, nearly a 50-40-90 guy with splits of 50% from the field, 40% from 3, and 87% on free throws.
Devonte’ Graham had his beginning of the season struggles, but he still could heat up and find his stroke again at a moment’s notice. Graham’s shot attempts took an expected drop with the arrival of Hayward and LaMelo. After those two went down, Devonte’ picked up the slack and finished the season with fourteen games of five or more made 3’s.
Seeing Terry Rozier completely flip the script and narrative surrounding his once thought to be terrible contract in the Kemba Walker deal has been a fantastic pleasure. We will admit to being a part of that unfortunate slander, but we hope that Terry can accept our sincere apology. It’s no problem to admit that we were wholeheartedly wrong, and we are so glad that we were. Rozier has not only lived up to his contract, but he has completely outperformed it! We’ve gone from making fun of his contract to him being one of our favorite players in the league! Rozier was one of the most clutch players in the NBA, a killer in the mid-range and a superb three-point shooter once again at 39% on high volume of 8.2 attempts per game.
In spite of all the injuries, the Hornets were still able to hold on to the 10-seed to make the inaugural play-in game. They promptly got walloped by the Pesky Pacers, never having a lead and trailing by as many as 39.
But that does not change the fact that the Charlotte Hornets were an absolute joy to watch.
Did we mention that this team was fun?
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
Over 26.5 wins without hesitation and we are sounding the Young Surprise Team Alarm!!!
Hornets 2020-21 Record: (33-39)
YES, our preseason Over/Under prediction hit!
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What’s Next?
Free agency here is big as Devonte’ Graham is a restricted free agent while Malik Monk and big-men Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo are unrestricted free agents. We like all of these guys, yet the Hornets have needed an upgrade at the center position for some time now.
The Hornets have the #11 pick in the draft (familiar territory no doubt) and KOC’s mock has Duke’s Jalen Johnson slotted in here. Sounds pretty spot on considering he’s a Blue Blood which MJ adores like his golf and cigars.
Get healthy! Everybody on the court for a full season would be a different story, although that same sentiment could be said for most every team.
Two five-man small-ball lineups that obliterated opponents:
Graham, Rozier, Bridges, Martin and Washington: 135.2 offensive rating and 113.8 defensive rating for a 21.4 net rating in 82 minutes.
Graham, Rozier, Bridges, Hayward and Washington: 118.8 offensive rating and 88.4 defensive rating for a 30.4 net rating in 67 minutes. (Small sample sizes, sure, but serious destruction!)
Naturally, the four-man lineup of Graham, Rozier, Bridges and Washington was highly successful: 117.7 offensive rating and 104.4 defensive rating for a 13.3 net rating in 294 minutes.
Still waiting on those lifetime contracts for Eric Collins, Dell Curry and the beautiful and lovely Ashley Shahahmadi. At this point, most everybody else has hopped on the Eric Collins hype train, but we are still the ones driving it!
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Favorite Hornets Highlight from the 2020-21 Season:
The Power Dunk of the Year.
