Charlotte Hornets: 2018-19 NBA season preview

With the 2018-19 NBA season knocking on our front door, let’s take a glance at what to expect from a Charlotte Hornets team still looking for an identity.

It was another disappointing year for the Charlotte Hornets as they finished 2017-18 with a 36-46 record, good for just 10th place in the Eastern Conference and seven games out of the final playoff spot.

They managed to be the 10th-highest scoring team in the league at 108.2 points per game, but only managed a 109.4 offensive rating (13th-best) thanks to poor shot selection; the team’s 50.8 effective field goal percentage was one of the worst marks in the league.

The Hornets’ defense was middle-of-the road with a 109.1 defensive rating, but they traded away their defensive anchor in Dwight Howard. Overall, they underperformed for the talent they had. That would be why Michael Jordan and company brought in a new general manager (Mitch Kupchak) and in turn replaced Steve Clifford with James Borrego.

A lot of faces that were rumored to move on from Charlotte didn’t, but that still didn’t stop Kupchak from wheeling and dealing with limited assets. What’s in store for the Hornets in this new season? Let’s recap the offseason and discuss some of the major plot lines of the new season.