Charlotte Hornets: 5 big goals for the 2018-19 NBA season

3. Make the playoffs

Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen seven different seasons where a playoff team finished with a .500 record or worse, 13 different times within the Eastern Conference. But this has only happened once over the last three seasons after seeing a team with 38 wins make the playoffs from 2012-13 thru 2014-15. The eighth seed has won an average of 40.2 games over the last 10 seasons, which should bode well for the Hornets’ chances at a playoff spot in 2018-19.

The East will be as competitive as ever with the Milwaukee Bucks landing a new head coach and the Indiana Pacers continued improvement, but then there are teams in full rebuild mode like the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks. LeBron James has departed for the Los Angeles Lakers, opening up the top of the Eastern Conference for teams such as the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and, yes, even the Washington Wizards.

41 wins this year is just five more than the Hornets’ win total from last year. With the welcomed departure of Dwight Howard and additions of rookies Miles Bridges and Devonte Graham and veteran Tony Parker to go with a different landscape in the East, the Hornets could be primed for a trip back to the postseason.