Charlotte Hornets: 3 takeaways from 2018-19 preseason
The Charlotte Hornets enter the 2018-19 season with a new look and feel. With a new system being put into place, what can we glean from a brief preseason?
The Charlotte Hornets have a lot of hope coming into the 2018-19 NBA season. They have a new general manager in Mitch Kupchak and a new head coach in James Borrego. Both guys come from great organizations — Kupchak built championship-winning teams with the Los Angeles Lakers and Borrego learned under of the best NBA coaches in history, Gregg Popovich.
The biggest question before the regular season starts Wednesday is how the starting lineup will look and who comes off the bench first. The preseason has ended and Borrego gave us some clues as to how he will work certain guys into his rotation.
Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb and Nicolas Batum have seemed to solidify their starting positions from their preseason play. Marvin Williams and Cody Zeller should start when healthy too. The rotation of bench players will likely change from game to game, but Willy Hernangomez and Miles Bridges appear perched at the top of that rotation currently.
Mitch Kupchak shared a lot of thoughts during his press conference Monday before the season opener. He thought Nicolas Batum’s camp was impressive, has high expectations for Jeremy Lamb and gave some insight on the team’s second unit.
"I'm not sure the coaches have settled on the second unit yet. They're getting close. Today, is probably the day [Coach Borrego] decides what he's going to do with the second unit." - Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) October 15, 2018
Kupchak seems pleased with the team so far and Borrego is having success with a new system. After going 4-1, what can we learn from the team’s preseason?