Charlotte Hornets: 2019-20 NBA season preview
Storyline #3: Where does all the youth fit in?
Coach James Borrego has already said this offseason that he will be leaning on the youth of this team when he’s trying to make decisions on who gets more playing time. It doesn’t mean they will start over veterans Marvin Williams and Nicolas Batum at the outset of the season, but if they earn more playing time in practice and games, Borrego plans to give it to them.
The biggest question is Malik Monk. After a disappointing rookie season, Monk seemed to be on the right path in his sophomore campaign. However, streaking shooting and others competing for playoff time saw Monk get a reduction of minutes or not even used in games for a stretch in the month of March.
Monk’s natural fit on this team is as a shooting guard, but if it’s believed that Miles Bridges will make the starting lineup, that could push Batum back to the starting shooting guard position. Or open the door for Dwayne Bacon or even Devonte’ Graham to play a lot of minutes at the shooting guard position, thus leaving Monk in limbo again.
Bacon played very well for the Hornets last year after being moved up permanently from the Greensboro Swarm. He had multiple performances of 20 or more points and, partly thanks to injuries, made the starting lineup for the last 12 games of the Hornets’ season.
Graham will likely be the backup point guard for Rozier, but with Borrego running both Walker and Parker on the court at the same time during the 2018-19 season, we could see him do that with Rozier and Graham this season.
PJ Washington just adds more confusion to the mix as well. He could spend a majority of his rookie season in the G League as he faces an uphill battle at the forward position. With the forward position being anchored by veterans Marvin Williams and Nicolas Batum and Miles Bridges expected to be featured prominently this season, PJ Williams will need to outshine both Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Dwayne Bacon to earn even a sliver of playing minutes.