Charlotte Hornets: 2019-20 NBA season preview

Best-case scenario

In a perfect world, Terry Rozier would be able to play 35 minutes a game, scoring at least 20 points on any given night. Miles Bridges would be the second go-to scorer, not just slamming away big dunks, but stepping out to nail a few 3-pointers each night.

On top of that, they are able to get some sort of compensation by trading away veteran Marvin Williams. Buying out MKG would help unclog minutes for players like Dwayne Bacon and PJ Williams.

The icing on the cake would be getting out of Batum’s contract a year early after he’s picked up by a contender to come off their bench.

The best case would also include winning games, but not too many to land too high in the lottery draft. A top-four pick for the Hornets would allow them to pull in a young prospect to fit in nicely along side Rozier, Bridges and Bacon.

Worst-case scenario

This team will ride on the play of Terry Rozier. He’s horribly inefficient as the alpha dog of the Hornets, putting up just 15 points a night. Bridges regresses defensively and has a hard time shooting around the perimeter.

On the contracts side, no one gets moved off the team and Batum stays entrenched as a starter due to other young players still not being ready for a starring role on the team.

Cody Zeller injures himself yet again for 30 games and exposes the lack of a quality backup at center. Biyombo fills the space, but can’t score again and maintains a low rebounding average. Willy Hernangomez is still the backup, but can’t handle more minutes when Zeller goes down.

The lottery draft odds look good for the Hornets, but they become the first team to have a chance to land a top-four pick, but end up outside the top-10 when the lottery draft is over.