Charlotte Hornets: 4 former players that would have helped this team

1. Alonzo Mourning

Sometimes the obvious answer is right there in front of you, and in the case of Alonzo Mourning, a franchise superstar, he is the go-to answer here. You can call him an icon of Charlotte basketball if you’d like, but at only three seasons there it is hard to say that with certainty. What we are certain about however is how much he’d help today.

Some of the reasons overlap with that of Johnson, most notably how the depth at the center position they have is poor. Zeller and Biyombo wouldn’t stand a chance against this guy in practice, and the coaches would play him all 48 minutes of a game over those guys if they could. That almost happened in Mourning’s third and final year with the team, when he averaged 38.3 minutes a night.

He was also twice an All-Star while in town, before going on to make the exhibition game three more times with the Miami Heat, where he also won a championship in 2006. Mourning came out of the blocks flying in the league, never averaging under 21 points per game while with the Hornets. This included his rookie season.

The 3-point shooting might never have been there but the defensive work alone was on another level. If Curry would have added more scoring punch, then Mourning would have taken a defensive rating that ranked 24th this season (113.3) much closer to league average solely by being on the court.

10.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks as a rookie is pretty absurd, and the numbers didn’t really dip much lower than that, to pair with the scoring we’ve already mentioned, during his tenure with the franchise. They only wish it could have lasted longer, and if Mourning was brought back now, you’d have to think they’d be a fringe playoff team in the weaker Eastern Conference.