NBA Power Rankings: 2014-15 Eastern Conference Forecast
By Shane Young
5. Charlotte Hornets — 47-35
Sports grant us with a fascinating sense of life.
In reality, when you travel from a different culture to another, you feel differently. It’s either a good feeling, if you’re happier with the new style, or bitter, if you aren’t used to change.
For the city of Charlotte, and the sake of professional sports in North Carolina, they’re about to go through a change for the better. Cross the Bobcats off the list. Michael Jordan will now own the Hornets, as the name is making it’s re-appearance in Charlotte after being attached to New Orleans for entirely too long.
“It’s just a name.”
“It’s just a more alluring set of colors.”
No, it’s suddenly become more than that. For most teams, going through a re-branding is something bland and the honeymoon usually doesn’t last a full season.
With these Hornets, however, the whole team complexion has changed. It’s not just a new court and lively teal jerseys. It’s a team that’s making their way back to Eastern Conference prominence, and one guaranteed to be a wrecking ball in 2014-15.
For the second straight year, highly-coveted free agents have elected to join … Charlotte? They’ve skipped the chance of warm, Western weather and desirable climates to make their way to … Charlotte?
Al Jefferson paved the way last summer when he agreed to a three-year, $40.5 million deal to join Kemba Walker and the upsetting Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who was set to be coached by a new face, Steve Clifford.
One year later, Lance Stephenson — the young, egotistical, active, and successful Pacers guard — used his contract season to earn him a large payday. Refusing Larry Bird’s five-year offer, he came to Charlotte on a three-year deal to give them a backcourt that raises some eyebrows.
But, at the same time, do they raise any question marks?
Kemba Walker has the opportunity to chill out on offense with Stephenson being a proponent of dribble-drive creation. It could help Walker, who hasn’t shot 43 percent once during his three years in the league.
On the other hand, does it lead to being frightened that Stephenson won’t know how to act properly in a new locker room, where he’s more of “the guy” than he was in Indiana? With the Pacers, he couldn’t be in the spotlight as much as he wanted to. That becomes tough when Paul George is taking up most people’s conversations on a daily basis.
In Charlotte, though, there should be little reason to worry. Clifford isn’t a young coach that’s new to handling chemistry and control. He’s been with the Lakers, an organization that isn’t famous for bickering. He’s been with Stan Van Gundy in Orlando, and it’s easy to remember the Magic as a group of role players mixed in with one star center (Dwight). There, too, chemistry was needed during the 2009 Finals run.
Drafting must have also been on Jordan’s bucket list, since he’s always had miserable June’s before 2014. Being able to land Indiana’s Noah Vonleh and the D-League’s P.J. Hairston, it was an A+ job in many people’s eyes. Cody Zeller is their current option at power forward to place next to Al Jefferson, although Zeller doesn’t give them the versatility at the position the way the league is transitioning. You see more “stretch fours” in this era, and Vonleh let his outside shooting give him fame last year, shooting 48.5 percent from the perimeter on limited attempts. Combining a natural shot with a rebounding machine in Vonleh may be the best outlook for Charlotte.
For the most offensively polished center in the NBA — Al Jefferson — a heavy strain has been lifted off his back. The amount of respect each player should have for him, after hurting his plantar fascia and still hobbling around in a playoff series, shouldn’t have to be mentioned.
Behind a stronger scoring load and keeping a top five defense in regards to Defensive Rating, Charlotte improving their win total by four games could end up being more of a slight than an overstatement.