Charlotte Hornets: What To Expect After All-Star Break

There are many mixed emotions regarding expectations for the Charlotte Hornets following the All-Star break.

One one hand, they just made a relatively big trade for a guy that dropped 52 points against the Pacers, in Mo Williams. On the other, they limped into the break, falling to three straight teams with sub-.500 records.

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The Hornets have seemingly been two different teams this year, so which one should we expect? To answer that, we need to look at two things — the losing streak and the trade.

The Losing Streak

Those three games before the break were … bad. Charlotte had just beaten the Washington Wizards two times in the span of a week and were riding high coming into a match-up with the lowly Philadelphia 76ers. Easy win, right? Wrong, apparently. The Hornets would go on to lose that contest.

They would also lose their next two games in very different fashions. Charlotte held a 21-point lead over the Indiana Pacers, only to lose on a last-second George Hill floater. They would then be blown out by the Detroit Pistons.

In the six quarters they played since halftime of their game against Indiana, Charlotte was outscored 170-124. That’s an average deficit of nearly eight points per quarter.

While that’s certainly cause for concern, much of the troubles can be attributed to the absence of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. In 16 games this season without the former Kentucky Wildcat, Charlotte is a pitiful 3-13.

In fact, in the 30 games played between when Kidd-Gilchrist returned from his first injury and when he left with his second, the Hornets went a decent 17-13 (including the loss Charlotte suffered when he left in the second quarter against the 76ers).

In addition to Kidd-Gilchrist being out, Bismack Biyombo, and Kemba Walker were all sidelined as well. While Walker will be out for a while, Biyombo should be able to return shortly after the break.

Basically, all of this means that it’s hard to take much away from those losses with so many injuries. Steve Clifford was forced to use rotations that hadn’t spent much time together, which surely took it’s tole.

The Trade

The Hornets’ trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves seemed to somewhat come out of nowhere. We knew there had been talks, but the most recent reports had been saying talks had stalled – then, bam! Trade complete.

The deal brought Mo Williams and Troy Daniels to Charlotte in exchange for Gary Neal and Miami’s 2019 second-round draft pick.

On paper, it looks like a great move for the rest of the year. Williams gives the Hornets a solid option at point guard while Kemba Walker is out, and will still be able to contribute even when Walker returns. Troy Daniels is somewhat of a wildcard, but he’s inexpensive and has upside.

This deal doesn’t make the Hornets contenders, but it certainly makes them better and gives them a chance at the playoffs moving forward without sacrificing anything for the future.

So, knowing all of this, what can we expect from the Charlotte Hornets?

The seventh seed is probably about as high as we should expect. Milwaukee is currently 7.5 games ahead of them in the sixth seed, and barring a rough patch from them, catching up seems a little too optimistic. Unfortunately, they’ll likely either stay put of move down.

Charlotte may have the second-to-last playoff spot, but they’re only two games ahead of the twelfth spot, so they’re far from secure.

I expect us to see the same tight, conservative basketball we saw them play last season after the break, so I’m predicting yet another playoff appearance for the Charlotte Hornets. As for what they’ll do in the playoffs, we’ll have to see how the new faces blend in before we go there.

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