Charlotte Hornets: 5 goals for Kemba Walker in 2017-18

2. Become a two-way guard

The backcourt is the team’s backbone, and their first line of defense. For the most part, Charlotte overall is a fairly good defensive team. But if they were really good at defense, then they would’ve prevented other teams from scoring more. Instead, the Hornets won 12 fewer games last year than the previous season.

Defensively, Walker’s real-plus minus was -1.25. This is what Walker, who also pointed the finger at himself, had to say about his team’s defense back in March, when it was almost too late:

"“’We’re just making too many mistakes as a whole,’ said guard Kemba Walker. ‘We’re not executing our (defensive) game plan. When we’re good and right, we do what we have to do defensively and we’re hard to beat. But we’re not following the game plans for a full 48 minutes and that’s hurting us. “’It’s on us. We have to be more consistent as a group. We’re the ones out there playing and making mistakes. It’s us. We’ve got to find a way to be better.’”"

According to David Scott of the Charlotte Observer, “Coach Clifford is also troubled by what he perceives is a lack of toughness. That’s hard to quantify, because the Hornets outrebound their opponents by a 52.8-52.1 margin.”

No one has to teach Howard how to have a physical presence, but Walker must start developing one himself. Since Walker sets the tone of the game, he must be more aggressive when defending his man.

Because Walker’s teammates take their cues from him, if they see him attacking the court aggressively, then they will follow his lead. Walker must become a pesky defender, which includes attempting more steals, causing more turnovers, and not giving his man any airspace, whatsoever, to launch a three.

The saying is that defense wins championships, which may be true. But if Walker doesn’t become more defensive-minded, then Charlotte won’t even make it past the first round.