Charlotte Hornets: Biggest strengths and weaknesses for 2017-18

Strength No. 1: Kemba Walker can lead this team to improvement

Kemba Walker is one of the finer talents in the league who may not get as much attention as he deserves, playing for a team that’s made the postseason only three times in the past decade. After his rookie year, the Hornets finished with just an awful seven victories on the entire season. Since then, he has kept the Hornets fairly competitive since, winning at least half of their games through two of the past four seasons.

It may not sound all that optimistic, but Walker has two seasons remaining on his contract and the Hornets may slowly be creeping toward building solid core. With the drafting of Malik Monk, if he performs well it would not be surprising to see a Walker-Monk starting duo down the road.

Without much talent surrounding Walker throughout his time in Charlotte, this year appears as good as any in recent history for the Hornets. The addition of big man Dwight Howard and two promising draft picks is a good start, but someone not named Kemba Walker will have to step up big throughout the season.

Walker is coming off a career year making his first All-Star appearance and averaged 23.2 points per game while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 39.9 percent from 3-point range.