Post-Mortem: 2021-22 Charlotte Hornets

[Kobe187]

MJ in the locker room waiting for the Hornets..

[Doctor MJ]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

[Doctor MJ]

MJ in the locker room waiting for the Hornets..

No worries, he'll strike out.

[amcoolio]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

Um, what?

23 wins to 33 wins to 43 wins...treadmill?

Most of the minutes this year came from players 25 and younger (LaMelo is 20), by minutes only the Magic, Pistons, Rockets, Thunder, and Grizzlies were younger, four of those being the worst 4 teams in the league

I would say they absolutely are up and coming, they are just ahead of schedule and aren't ready to compete yet

[eminence]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

This feels strongly negative to me.

They just finished their first season really under the command of the 20 year old franchise centerpiece and improved by ~5 wins and ~2 SRS. I don't think hoping/expecting things to continue to click for Ball is a particularly large leap of faith.

[Doctor MJ]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

Um, what?

23 wins to 33 wins to 43 wins...treadmill?

Most of the minutes this year came from players 25 and younger (LaMelo is 20), by minutes only the Magic, Pistons, Rockets, Thunder, and Grizzlies were younger, four of those being the worst 4 teams in the league

I would say they absolutely are up and coming, they are just ahead of schedule and aren't ready to compete yet

10th best team in the East last year, 10th best team in the East this. SRS a bit up, but still basically just neutral. There was reason to hope for better, particularly when it came to taking pride in the play-in game that would let them move a spot up from last year.

[KembaWalker]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

LaMelo Ball 20 years old all star leading a team to 43 wins in a historically deep Eastern Conference lost a road postseason game defending Eastern Conference finalists, guess he's a bust after all. we should look to rebuild asap
durr

[Slim Charlez]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

They lost to a team that made the ECF last year, no shame in losing to a better team if you show internal growth which they clearly did.

[Doctor MJ]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

This feels strongly negative to me.

They just finished their first season really under the command of the 20 year old franchise centerpiece and improved by ~5 wins and ~2 SRS. I don't think hoping/expecting things to continue to click for Ball is a particularly large leap of faith.

Well, it is, and I think I'll probably feel less negative going into next year, but jeez, losing by 30 in a play-in game as a young team who has never had anything more important than that to play for?

To say the year ended with a whimper is an understatement. They need to not go into next year satisfied with some notion of "we've been making good progress". Good progress doesn't look like what they just went out with.

[Doctor MJ]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

They lost to a team that made the ECF last year, no shame in losing to a better team if you show internal growth which they clearly did.

There is ALWAYS shame in losing by 30 points to anyone unless you're, like, a small high school going up against a much bigger high school.

No team should be 30 points better than any other NBA team that isn't tanking.
And no team should punt a game in a blow out in a play-in, particularly when it's their lone chance to play a real post-season game.

I'm not saying the Hornets are doomed to failure, but they need to take a hard look in the mirror right now once the smoke clears.

[Tanks1]

Andre Drummond would be a big upgrade. Might have to compete with a few teams to get him.

Young team that got some good experience this year

[Doctor MJ]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

LaMelo Ball 20 years old all star leading a team to 43 wins in a historically deep Eastern Conference lost a road postseason game defending Eastern Conference finalists, guess he's a bust after all. we should look to rebuild asap
durr

First: I didn't call him a bust and didn't say the team should rebuild - I mean hell, this is the most competent of a rebuild that the Hornets have ever done in the Jordan years, so you certainly shouldn't re-roll the dice.

But I also think it's important not to think about LaMelo as if he was actually good enough to be consider an all-star worthy player this season. Yup, he got the invite after other players got hurt, but he wasn't in the original 24, and that was despite the fact that at the time the Hornets had a considerably higher seed. Had they been the 10th seed at the time - which I believe their SRS indicated they would end up being - he probably doesn't get picked, and that might have been for the best.

With an all-star selection, players tend to feel like they've "made it" in the NBA. It's important for the Hornets now that LaMelo goes into this off-season recognizing that the basketball world is laughing at him and his "blunt" truth, and that he hasn't actually proven all that much yet. If he doesn't feel humiliated right now, I worry for your franchise's future.

[eminence]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

This feels strongly negative to me.

They just finished their first season really under the command of the 20 year old franchise centerpiece and improved by ~5 wins and ~2 SRS. I don't think hoping/expecting things to continue to click for Ball is a particularly large leap of faith.

Well, it is, and I think I'll probably feel less negative going into next year, but jeez, losing by 30 in a play-in game as a young team who has never had anything more important than that to play for?

To say the year ended with a whimper is an understatement. They need to not go into next year satisfied with some notion of "we've been making good progress". Good progress doesn't look like what they just went out with.

It was certainly a rough loss.

But I didn't see anything terribly wrong with LaMelo and his approach/play yesterday (they were moderately competitive with him on-court even), and he's the only one that if there were serious issues could give me large concerns based off where they're at. Questions about how much to pay Miles Bridges and how to surround Ball certainly exist and were maybe made more pressing. But to me at least they've still answered the first question of any rebuilding team in a positive way in the past season - Do we have a potential superstar or can we get one? That's a big positive to me that at worst balances out the negatives.

[giberish]

There was no need to pay Hayward 40 mill a year.

Didn't Kup do the same thing with Deng and Mozgov.

besides that Hornets have LaMelo and a bright future.

while u are right, it did show the rest of the org that they are serious about trying to win basketball games immediately. which is important for a team trying to shed the label of being a joke.

The problem is that - combined with the Batum stretch - they effectively got Hayward for $12M in 2020-21, which really helped the team. But the cost was having Hayward for $39M/yr the next two seasons and $30M the last year of his contract. All the while Hayward is getting older, likely worse when he plays and more likely to miss time.

So they helped the team early when they had a limited upside anyway, while hurting the team the next 3 years when they had more upside.

[TinmanZBoy]

i think the Hornets need to get Steve Clifford back first, man, at least play some defense... all those top 10 defense years were flushed to the drain now...

[KembaWalker]

Gotta say, the way they lost this game is such a big deal. As much as I don't see a better way forward than building around Ball & Bridges (Ball's all-star selection looking increasingly comical) the team officially stagnated this year compared to last despite Bridges' improvement, and that's not what you want to see.

Certainly it makes to do the standard things like fire the coach, but this is not a team that should feel like they are "up and coming" at the moment. They should feel like they are at a crossroads, and unless something new clicks, they are going to remain on the treadmill.

LaMelo Ball 20 years old all star leading a team to 43 wins in a historically deep Eastern Conference lost a road postseason game defending Eastern Conference finalists, guess he's a bust after all. we should look to rebuild asap
durr

First: I didn't call him a bust and didn't say the team should rebuild - I mean hell, this is the most competent of a rebuild that the Hornets have ever done in the Jordan years, so you certainly shouldn't re-roll the dice.

But I also think it's important not to think about LaMelo as if he was actually good enough to be consider an all-star worthy player this season. Yup, he got the invite after other players got hurt, but he wasn't in the original 24, and that was despite the fact that at the time the Hornets had a considerably higher seed. Had they been the 10th seed at the time - which I believe their SRS indicated they would end up being - he probably doesn't get picked, and that might have been for the best.

With an all-star selection, players tend to feel like they've "made it" in the NBA. It's important for the Hornets now that LaMelo goes into this off-season recognizing that the basketball world is laughing at him and his "blunt" truth, and that he hasn't actually proven all that much yet. If he doesn't feel humiliated right now, I worry for your franchise's future.

We went 14-8 after the all star break with LaMelo averaging 20/6/8 on 58% TS. You're framing this like its some big statement about the players we have but missing that the actual issue is the players we DON'T have. we lost by 30 not because all of a sudden LaMelo doesn't care or whatever you are trying to say (idk why he'd put up those stats post all star break and suddenly not care in a postseason game, but thats the idea youre positing) we just have a roster thats very easy to break down tactically on both ends of the floor when a team actually has time to sit there and work on us because we do not have a playable center on the roster. we were never going to win that game without an outlier 3pt shooting performance because we don't have a roster that can just switch up strategies like Atlanta can, because we don't have big men

[cupcakesnake]

While this team was too small to play much defense all season, the Charlotte offense was absolute fire when this team was healthy. Hayward isn't someone who's health you should be dependant on, but when he was healthy, this team was well over .500 and a top 3 offense. Hayward died on them in 2022, and the bugs didn't have the depth to compensate for that. The offense went from great to good, and we all started feeling that creaky defense mattering more.

Hayward and Rozier, at 31 and 27, aren't long term pieces on this team. Charlotte wants to show improvement, but they should stay patient, add some more talent around Lamelo, Bridges, and Washington, and add enough size that this team can compete on defense. Lamelo and Bridges are a nice inside-outside punch to build something around. Rozier has trade value, Hayward isn't untradeable (especially if he can get healthy for next year).

Not making the playoffs this year wasn't a disaster. Even when healthy, there are still better, more experienced teams in the East for now. Charlotte's window in 3-4 years from now. (Not making the playoffs the next couple years also keeps their draft pick away from Atlanta).

If New Orleans beats the Clippers tomorrow night, Charlotte will get their draft pick.

I was high on Kai Jones and JT Thor in the draft, so I'll keep an eye on them for at least another year.

[amcoolio]

While this team was too small to play much defense all season, the Charlotte offense was absolute fire when this team was healthy. Hayward isn't someone who's health you should be dependant on, but when he was healthy, this team was well over .500 and a top 3 offense. Hayward died on them in 2022, and the bugs didn't have the depth to compensate for that. The offense went from great to good, and we all started feeling that creaky defense mattering more.

Hayward and Rozier, at 31 and 27, aren't long term pieces on this team. Charlotte wants to show improvement, but they should stay patient, add some more talent around Lamelo, Bridges, and Washington, and add enough size that this team can compete on defense. Lamelo and Bridges are a nice inside-outside punch to build something around. Rozier has trade value, Hayward isn't untradeable (especially if he can get healthy for next year).

Not making the playoffs this year wasn't a disaster. Even when healthy, there are still better, more experienced teams in the East for now. Charlotte's window in 3-4 years from now. (Not making the playoffs the next couple years also keeps their draft pick away from Atlanta).

If New Orleans beats the Clippers tomorrow night, Charlotte will get their draft pick.

I was high on Kai Jones and JT Thor in the draft, so I'll keep an eye on them for at least another year.

Charlotte already has 13, if the Pels win they get 15 as well

[bubonicphoniks]

Lamelo is a true paper tiger.

[NoBias]

I legit hate the makeup of their team.

Get a center who shoots more than 39% FT, get a SG taller than 6’0, get some guys who play defense.