Will Charlotte Hornets Clean House?

Everyone has an off day now and then.

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Such is true in all facets of life, but perhaps especially so in the NBA ‘sphere. Players — including the league’s elite — and even entire teams can, and are expected to have a handful of bad nights over an 82-game stretch.

Considering this, it’s never wise to count out the established powerhouses (your San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies and such) after a handful of bad stretches; the powerhouses prove that title is warranted by bouncing back from a bad night.

In that respect, the Charlotte Hornets just might be the biggest non-powerhouse in the entire league.

Mental resilience: perhaps the determining factor that separates the strong from the weak — Tony Parker from Kemba Walker. Klay Thompson from Lance Stephenson. Brad Stevens from Steve Clifford.

The Charlotte Hornets’ pathetic dearth of mental resilience was displayed as early as mid-November, when they began what would end up being a 10-game losing streak — one that only ended thanks to a last-second shot against the now-17-win New York Knicks.

On the season, the Hornets have had five (!!!!) losing streaks of at least four games. Of course, cheering for losses might be the way to go at this point, with the Hornets missing the playoffs, but as we’ve come to realize over the past few seasons, tanking takes place in the front office, not on the court; sadly, it’s not Charlotte trying to lose … it’s just a crappy, awful, no-good basketball team.

So the mental toughness wasn’t there, not even in that key final stretch of the season; the question is, do the Hornets’ issues extend further than that?

Is this team talented enough to compete in the upcoming years, or does the best route to take this offseason involve a metaphorical wrecking ball and a whole lot of phone calls?

It’s important to note that on-paper (as if that means anything), the Charlotte Hornets should be an elite basketball team. Their core is diverse. Seemingly complementary players, all with differing skill sets, fill up positions 1 through 5.

With Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson both capable of averaging upwards of 20 points per game, an evolving slasher in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a playmaker and excellent cutter in Lance Stephenson and a super-stud athlete in Cody Zeller, the Hornets offense should be excellent. P

air that with their defense-first head coach (Clifford) whose speciality is cloaking bad D *cough cough Al Jefferson*, and you have — on paper — a two-dimensional Eastern Conference playoff team.

Flash back to reality, though, and you’ve got an underwhelming starting five with a multitude of serious injuries, an offense with awful ball and off-ball movement, an inconsistent defense that seems to always have enormous gaps in the paint, and above all, 49 losses.

Ouch.

The 50-win dream from the beginning of the year became a real (almost) 50-loss nightmare, and horrendous minute mismanagement by the man on the sidelines has hardly allowed him to get the most out of this hyped roster.

So once again, the ultimate question: is it time to clean house?

Yes and no. Expectedly, within a complex situation like this, in which foresight is simply speculation, there are caveats to both possible routes.

The NBA projects a $66.5 million salary cap for the upcoming season. Charlotte has $46 million worth of guaranteed contracts next year, but that number could jump to a whopping $72 million should Al Jefferson, Gerald Henderson, Jeffery Taylor and Bismack Biyombo pick up their options for next season (the latter two are qualifying offers).

Neither Taylor nor Biyombo has played well enough to warrant a hefty check this summer, and Biyombo would make just south of $6 million next season if he were to pick up his qualifying offer. It’s reasonable to infer that both of those young, high-upside guys are going to be on Charlotte’s roster for another year, attempting to prove their worth at the professional level.

But what about everyone else?

The “maybes” for next year are as follows: Jason Maxiell (unrestricted free agent), Biyombo (restricted free agent), Taylor (RFA), Mo Williams (UFA), Henderson (player option) and Jefferson (player option).

With the recent coming-out of Noah Vonleh, it’s not likely that Charlotte chooses to re-sign Maxiell, and Mo Williams — as much as he helped Charlotte when Kemba Walker was hurt — is getting up there in age and runs a little too much isolation.

He also had a horrendous final month that saw him shoot 32.5 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from three, all but nullifying his excellent start to his Hornets career. He did, however, tell the media that he “could see [himself] finishing [his] career” in Charlotte, and if he’s serious and willing to take less money to play there, that could become a reality.

If the Hornets can re-sign him for say, two years and $6 million, it’s hard to see why they wouldn’t.

Things get a little more complicated with the two starters, Henderson and Jefferson. The former has been a Bobcat/Hornet for his entire six-year career, and has gone from bona fide benchwarmer to starting-caliber talent. When Lance Stephenson went down with his first set of injuries this year, Henderson was given the starting nod, and from there, Clifford never looked back.

It seemed that in games where everyone was struggling, Henderson thrived. He averaged 12.1 points per game on the year, a respectable number, but one that doesn’t do his scoring ability much justice. He’s actually very productive when he attacks the rim, using his strong body to finish even through contact.

He’s a decent off-ball cutter and he’s a very good rebounder when he crashes the boards, allowing him to get some easy put-backs.

Henderson’s biggest problem, it seems, as his career has progressed has been his iffy shot selection. Although he is adept at going to the basket, he loves baseline post-ups and often opts for that left-shoulder fadeaway instead of trying to seal his man and go baseline, or even backing into the middle and drawing a foul.

Some of his iso-heavy tendencies undoubtedly come from the system he’s in, and expect free agent scouts to notice that as well. Henderson seems like a coachable player, so in the right system, he could be a very good NBA player. The defense, finishing, and shooting (on some nights) is there, and every team is in need of a utility guy like that.

Unfortunately, Charlotte isn’t.

If the team is lucky, Henderson’s agent will advise the shooting guard to decline his option at the end of the season. It’s not too late for Lance Stephenson to turn it around, and he’s proven he can do everything Henderson does and more. It was a forgettable season for the former, but his struggles appeared to stem from a confidence issue more than anything else.

Charlotte signed Stephenson with the intentions of putting Henderson on the bench. Now, after missing the playoffs, Charlotte needs to look for new options and Henderson eating nearly a 10th of the team’s cap space is far from ideal.

On the surface, it’d seem so: the Hornets are famished offensively, and Jefferson is a low-post specialist. He’s a typical old-school center with a mean right hook and an even meaner up-and-under. He’s good for around 20 points per game, pretty much in any system.

The issue is, he doesn’t do much else.

Sure, he rebounds the ball as well as any 6-foot-10, 290-pound fellow does, but his contributions don’t extend much further than that. He isn’t a great passer — he averaged 1.7 assists per game, but a majority of his assists came from simple kick-outs to the wing or cheap baseline cuts after entry passes.

Defensively, Jefferson is a nightmare. His slow feet and slower reaction time are downright detrimental to his club at some points, and he doesn’t have a good understanding of where everyone is when he isn’t looking directly at them.

He can’t guard the pick and roll ball handler (he either gets torched on the hard-hedging blitz or retreats too much and gives a wide open jumper) and he can’t recover in time to prevent the lob either.

Calling him the worst defensive center in the NBA wouldn’t be a stretch.

So does Charlotte even want him?

The answer is … there is no answer, because the numbers have given mixed messages. The only real impressive stretch Charlotte had this season came when Jefferson was injured, but the Hornets have only cracked 100 points one time since Big Al got hurt on April 3, and they’ve gone 1-6 without him during that span.

Then again, it doesn’t really matter what the Hornets want. Jefferson has been injury-plagued this entire season, and he knows he won’t be getting $13.5 million this offseason from any other team. If it’s about the money for Big Al, he’s going to take that player option. If he doesn’t feel like Charlotte is a fit, than expect him to test the market a bit, declining said option.

In free agency, he’d still command an eight-figure contract, but his poor health and his age would certainly steer away a few buyers, and at the very least, cost him a couple of guaranteed years.

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Swarm and Sting

In all likelihood, Jefferson will end up staying. According to Fox Sports, Jefferson told the media, “if I had my way, I’d finish my career here … I can’t see myself leaving.” Of course, it’s not smart to read too much in to this kind of thing, especially when it’s in the context of a post-game locker-room interview.

Still, Jefferson does seem to get along with his teammates, especially young point guard Kemba Walker who will begin his four-year extension at next year’s inception.

But honestly, Charlotte may decide wipe the slate clean and to start completely fresh, and if Walker and Jefferson are a package deal, so be it. After looking like he had finally transitioned into one of the league’s many elite point guards, Walker recieved surgery on his knee, and hasn’t rediscovered his pre-injury form yet.

It’s unclear if Walker’s ceiling is anything higher than it is right now: a volume scorer with poor shot selection and no game-to-game consistency.

Clearly, Michael Jordan believed in Walker when he handed him a $48 million deal last October, but after yet another 17-point, five-assist season that saw virtually no improvements in any specific aspect (like defense) of Walker’s game, Jordan could realize that he overpaid.

There are a handful of team’s that still need the service of an above-average point guard (New York, Sacramento, Brooklyn, Philidelphia, Indiana, Los Angeles, etc.). If MJ is shopping Kemba, he’s certainly going to have buyers — he’s just got to play the market right.

Charlotte has a handful of promising young talent, even excluding Walker. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has had somewhat of a breakout season, looking like a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate, and Noah Vonleh has played well as of late due to an increase in minutes.

Troy Daniels ended the season with a bang, dropping 24 points, and fellow sharpshooter (kind of) P.J. Hairston has shown promise this year, despite his one-dimensionality.

The Charlotte Hornets are going to be quite the story this offseason, and it’ll be interesting to see if Jordan goes into full panic mode and decimates this underwhelming group of guys. The Hornets will have a lottery pick this year, and much of the team’s future could hinge on that pick.

A new system could do the Hornets justice, and hopefully, coach Steve Clifford is open to reconstructing his lackluster offense during the summer.

In a swarm of questions and uncertainty, there’s only one certainty: some sort of change — whether it being coaching, personnel, or systematic — is looming for the Charlotte Hornets.

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