Charlotte Hornets: 2018-19 NBA season preview
Best-case scenario
The best situation for the Hornets centers around the team’s contracts. They are able to ship away Nicolas Batum. They then find a way to jettison Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marvin Williams or Bismack Biyombo. Willy Hernangomez or Miles Bridges will make one of those three expendable and by dangling some draft picks, they finally get a team to bite on Batum.
On the court, the Hornets are flying all over the place and have an unstoppable duo in Lamb and Walker. Hernangomez takes over as the starting center and a healthy Cody Zeller and Frank Kaminsky provide quality minutes off the bench.
Miles Bridges garners a lot of attention from the beginning, getting some spot starts after MKG or Williams are traded or even outright benched for him. He stays in the Rookie of the Year conversation all year as well, but without a starting role yet, he falls short of winning it.
Jeremy Lamb has his breakout season as expected and wins the Most Improved Player of the Year award. He does so by continuing to improve his 3-point shooting.
To top it off, Kemba Walker has a career year and is a frontrunner for the MVP award with 28 points per game. He takes big leaps as a player and becomes the best point guard in the East after Kyrie Irving. This all leads to not only a playoff berth for the Hornets, but their first division title in franchise history.
Worst-case scenario
No one steps up as another go-to scorer alongside of Kemba Walker and the team is unable to ship off any of the burdensome contracts it has. As a result, the Hornets are out of playoff contention by the All-Star break.
To make matters worse, Miles Bridges becomes more of a defensive liability than expected and despite strong 3-point shooting and the occasional highlight dunk, he doesn’t see the court much due to defensive problems.
Jeremy Lamb becomes a poor 3-point shooter once again but maintains his starting position because Malik Monk continues to struggle against NBA competition.
Desperate to hit the reset button on the team, the Hornets find a suitable trade partner for Walker and ship him out of town just before the trade deadline. As a result, the Hornets finish as one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, just ahead of the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic, but even the New York Knicks finish ahead of this team.