Charlotte Hornets: 3 takeaways from the 2018 offseason
3. The Hornets have gone through 3 different centers in 3 months
The Hornets played around with their frontcourt this offseason through trades and their top draft selection. The biggest surprise was changing out their center two different times after ending the 2017-18 season with Dwight Howard.
However, the Hornets were expected to exceed the luxury tax threshold, so before free agency truly opened, they struck a deal with the Brooklyn Nets to take on Dwight Howard’s expiring contract. They received a slightly less expensive and longer contract in the form of the under-performing Timofey Mozgov.
Kupchak was then able to deal Mozgov a month later to the Orlando Magic in a three-team trade. In the trade the Hornets were able to get rid of a couple guards along with Mozgov and swap their 2020 second round pick with a 2019 second round pick. The biggest get of the deal was bringing Bismack Biyombo back to Charlotte.
While Howard is easily the best player of the three options the Hornets could’ve had at the center position, his contract and, more likely, his locker room presence caused the Hornets to shop elsewhere. Plus, Biyombo is seven years younger than Howard.
Biyombo is a clear statistical upgrade over Mozgov though from last year.
| Player | Season | Age | MP | FG% | 3P% | eFG% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bismack Biyombo | 2017-18 | 25 | 18.2 | .520 | .000 | .520 | .650 | 5.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 5.7 |
| Timofey Mozgov | 2017-18 | 31 | 11.6 | .559 | .222 | .581 | .767 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 4.2 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/28/2018.
To be fair, these stats for Mozgov were only through 31 games, but he hasn’t played close to a full season for three seasons in a row either. Bismack tops Mozgov in points, assists, rebounds, and blocks per game. Mozgov had better shooting percentages, but limited playing time could sway those numbers a little.
Howard is out and Biyombo is in. With a drop in production expected at the center position, Biyombo, Cody Zeller and Willy Hernangomez will be under a lot of pressure to perform.