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Poll: Charlotte Hornets’ 2017/18 Win Total

September 19th, 2017 at 9:45am CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets have bounced up and down the Eastern Conference standings over the last five years, with their win total going from 21 to 43 to 33 to 48 to 36 during that stretch. While last year’s 36-46 record was a disappointment, Charlotte has reason to believe that better things are in store for the 2017/18 season.

Although the Hornets didn’t make major changes to their roster, the moves they did make look like good ones. A trade with the Hawks that sent Miles Plumlee and Marco Belinelli to Atlanta cost the club some outside shooting, but allowed Charlotte to acquire Dwight Howard, who should be an upgrade up front over Plumlee.

Meanwhile, the Hornets were able to replace some of that outside shooting in the draft, nabbing Malik Monk – who was viewed by most experts as a probable top-10 pick – with the No. 11 selection. Charlotte also made a savvy second-round pick, scooping up promising rookie Dwayne Bacon at No. 40.

While the Hornets made a few solid roster moves, the team didn’t have the cap flexibility to make any major splashes, and there are still question marks at some spots on the roster. Charlotte struggled to get reliable point guard production behind Kemba Walker last year, for instance, and while the team addressed that issue in free agency by replacing Ramon Sessions and Brian Roberts with Michael Carter-Williams and Julyan Stone, MCW is battling injuries again, and Stone hasn’t played in an NBA game since 2014.

Oddsmakers are optimistic about the Hornets’ chances of improving over last year, with offshore betting site Bovada putting their over/under at 42.5 wins.

What do you think? Does a seven-game improvement on last season’s record seem reasonable for the Hornets, or are there still too many areas of concern on the roster for the club to rack up 43 or more wins? Vote below and share your thoughts in the comment section!

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Previous over/under voting results:

Golden State Warriors: Over 67.5 (53.57%)
Boston Celtics: Over 55.5 (63.5%)
Houston Rockets: Over 55.5 (65.57%)
San Antonio Spurs: Over 54.5 (67.74%)
Cleveland Cavaliers: Over 53.5 (68.82%)
Oklahoma City Thunder: Over 50.5 (71.77%)
Minnesota Timberwolves: Over 48.5 (55.69%)
Toronto Raptors: Over 48.5 (64.21%)
Washington Wizards: Over 47.5 (71.29%)
Milwaukee Bucks: Over 47.5 (63.88%)
Denver Nuggets: Under 45.5 (50.44%)
Los Angeles Clippers: Over 43.5 (60.7%)
Miami Heat: Over 43.5 (55.39%)

Luke Petrasek Headed To Camp With Hornets

September 18th, 2017 at 11:27am CST by Arthur Hill

Columbia forward Luke Petrasek will join the Hornets for training camp, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.

Petrasek was a second-team all-Ivy League selection as a senior last season. He averaged 15.1 points and 5.7 rebounds and ranks fifth on the school’s all-time blocked shots list.

Following Saturday’s signing of Terry Henderson, the Hornets are now at the maximum of 20 players for camp. Charlotte has just 13 guaranteed salaries, so there will be at least two roster spots up for grabs.

Hornets Notes: Monk, Lamb, Batum, Howard

September 17th, 2017 at 3:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Hornets’ choices for backup point guards were influenced by the drafting of Malik Monk in the first round, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. In a mailbag column, Bonnell states that because Monk is an undersized shooting guard with defensive limitations, the team needed larger point guards to pair with him who are better at stopping opponents. That’s why they signed Michael Carter-Williams and Julyan Stone, both 6’6″, when other options were available.

Another factor was cost, as Charlotte was concerned about staying under the luxury tax threshold of about $119MM and was financially limited after trading for Dwight Howard‘s $23.5MM salary. Carter-Williams agreed to a one-year, $2.7MM deal in July, while Stone accepted a minimum-salary contract in August after negotiating a release from his team in Italy.

Bonnell offers more insight into the Hornets:

Monk should be fully recovered from a sprained left ankle that caused him to miss the Orlando Summer League. The 11th overall pick suffered the injury during a draft workout and was sidelined for several weeks, which coach Steve Clifford said affected his conditioning. Monk probably won’t see a lot of playing time early in the season, Bonnell writes, but he should be fully healthy for the team’s October 18 opener.
Jeremy Lamb has impressed the coaching staff with his work this offseason, but he’s not a threat to take Nicolas Batum‘s starting job. Lamb has been a valuable reserve during his two seasons in Charlotte, and Bonnell says the team needs Batum’s playmaking skills and overall versatility in the starting lineup.
The roles of the big men haven’t been firmly established heading into camp. Howard is expected to start at center with Marvin Williams at power forward, but Cody Zeller and Frank Kaminsky could both make a push for more playing time. Howard’s reputation as a poor free throw shooter could limit his fourth quarter minutes, just as it did in Atlanta, with Zeller getting more use late in games.

Hornets Sign Terry Henderson

September 16th, 2017 at 12:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets have signed undrafted rookie Terry Henderson to their 20-man offseason roster, according to a tweet from his agency, Assist Sports (Twitter link). RealGM’s official NBA transactions log confirms that the signing has been finalized.

Henderson, 23, began his college career at West Virginia, but transferred after his sophomore year and played the rest of his college ball at North Carolina State. The move to N.C. State was a homecoming for the 6’5″ shooting guard, who is a Raleigh native — he’ll remain in North Carolina after having signed with his hometown Hornets.

In his final college season, Henderson appeared in 32 games, averaging 13.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.6 APG, with a shooting line of .433/.384/.769. NCAA eligibility and transfer rules prevented Henderson from returning to the Wolfpack for one more year in 2017/18, as Luke DeCock of The Charlotte Observer detailed in the spring.

While the Hornets only have 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts at the moment, Henderson seems more likely to head to the G League and become an affiliate player for the Greensboro Swarm than he does to crack the team’s 15-man regular season roster.

Southeast Notes: Howard, Richardson, Oubre, Spoelstra

September 16th, 2017 at 9:57am CST by marksuleymanov

Dwight Howard will suit up for his fifth team in seven seasons as he prepares for a new start with the Hornets. The 31-year-old has been an effective player, when healthy, but has regressed from the player that was an MVP candidate in Orlando.

Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes Howard views his opportunity with the Hornets as a chance to reestablish himself. Under the guidance of his former and current coach Steve Clifford, Howard feels he can prove doubters wrong and prove to himself he can still be a productive player.

“This opportunity for myself to really get back everything that I would say has been taken away. I’m not too much worried about the naysayers, the rankings and stuff, but just the hearts of the people,” Howard said. “I’m in a much better place mentally, physically and spiritually than I have been in a couple of years.”

Despite the downward trend in recent years, Howard posted 13.5 PPG and 12.7 RPG while scoring from the floor at a 63% clip last season in Atlanta. Charlotte has a need for defense and that is one part of Howard’s game that remains a threat.

Read more news around the Southeast Division below:

In a separate column, Bonnell writes that the Hornets did not have much financial flexibility to acquire a premier backup point guard after acquiring Howard. That led to the signings of Michael Carter-Williams and Julyan Stone; one player who has not done much since winning Rookie of the Year and the other hasn’t played in the NBA since 2014.
In his latest Ask Ira column, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes that Josh Richardson‘s four-year, $42MM contract extension is a worthwhile investment for the Heat. While he may not consistently crack the starting lineup, Richardson will be a key part of the team’s core going forward, Winderman adds.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni shared the honors of the new Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award, NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner writes.
Chase Hughes of CSN Mid Atlantic writes that Kelly Oubre, after a productive sophomore season in Washington, will be one of the team’s most vital players. Hughes notes that Oubre is the “most athletic player and best wing defender” on the Wizards‘ bench and will need to be consistent in that role to help the team.

Southeast Notes: Incentives, Gortat, Kidd-Gilchrist

September 14th, 2017 at 5:27pm CST by Austin Kent

The Heat found a creative way to pad the contracts of their offseason signees, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel writes, by loading the deals with impressive bonuses and incentives. Dion Waiters, for example, can net over $1M in addition to his traditional $11M deal by simply appearing in 70 or more games this season.

While Waiters only appeared in 46 contests last year, thereby making this an “unlikely” incentive, he played in 70-plus in each of the four seasons prior to 2016/17. Other sorts of bonuses offered include one that would reward Kelly Olynyk should the Heat make the playoffs and another that would sweeten James Johnson‘s deal provided he meets certain body-fat measurement requirements.

Such contractual maneuvers aren’t new for the franchise, Winderman writes, noting that the Heat employed similar tactics, tying routine weigh-ins to retired point guard Tim Hardaway‘s deals.

Incentives are officially classified as “unlikely” if the condition was not met in the previous season. Unlikely incentives do not count toward a team’s salary cap at the time of the signing but they do at the end of the season if the conditions are met. This allowed the Heat flexibility to successfully juggle their returning free agents.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Wizards decided this offseason to stick with their plan of gradually developing their young core, Shaun Powell of NBA.com writes. While they may have been able to skip the line in the East by going out and acquiring an additional star, the Wizards’ patience could pay off in the long run.
A healthy Ian Mahinmi will eat into Marcin Gortat‘s role with the Wizards, Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic writes. At the end of last season, Gortat expressed doubt about his future in Washington, though he said last month that he’s fully committed to the franchise.
Without being asked, head coach Steve Clifford has reiterated that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will start at small forward for the Hornets, Tom Sorensen of the Charlotte Observer writes. Concern over the 23-year-old’s offense has some wondering if he may be better suited for a reserve role.

Malik Monk Continues To Struggle With Ankle Injury; Starting Lineup Updates

September 10th, 2017 at 4:15pm CST by Austin Kent

The ankle injury that kept Hornets rookie Malik Monk out of summer league is still “significant” and could even limit his availability at the start of the season, Dane Carbaugh of NBC Sports writes. In the article, Carbaugh cites two Steve Clifford quotes that Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reported via Twitter. Monk, who was initially said to be out 2-4 weeks, is still regaining his conditioning and recently struggled with a relatively lightweight optional workout.
The Hornets have every intention of keeping Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in the starting lineup, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes. The only tweak to Steve Clifford‘s starting five will be the addition of Dwight Howard in place of Cody Zeller.

Michael Carter-Williams May Not Be Healthy To Start Season

September 8th, 2017 at 3:52pm CST by Luke Adams

3:52 PM: Carter-Williams underwent platelet-rich plasma treatment on each of his knees back in July, Bonnell writes in a full-length piece.

12:23 PM: New Hornets point guard Michael Carter-Williams underwent a procedure on his knee in August, according to Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter links), who reports that Carter-Williams is not yet back on the court. Per head coach Steve Clifford, it’s not a given that MCW will be ready to go for Charlotte’s regular season opener on October 18.

Carter-Williams, who inked a one-year, $2.7MM deal with the Hornets this summer, has a history of injuries, having battled shoulder and hip problems in the past. In 2016/17, Carter-Williams missed time due to knee and wrist injuries. The Syracuse product has never played more than 70 games in a season, appearing in a career-low 45 contests last year.

The Hornets added Carter-Williams this offseason after struggling to find reliable backup production behind Kemba Walker at the point in 2016/17. If the former Rookie of the Year isn’t healthy to start the season, Charlotte figures to turn to Julyan Stone for those backup minutes. Stone recently joined the Hornets on a guaranteed contract as the team’s third point guard.

Hornets Notes: Howard, Monk, Zeller

September 7th, 2017 at 7:52pm CST by Austin Kent

The Hornets added a pair of players who will factor into their core rotation this season and with change comes curiosity. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer recently answered a handful of fan questions in a mailbag article, suggesting that he doesn’t anticipate seeing Malik Monk in the starting lineup barring a significant injury ahead of him.

Monk is an undersized shooting guard who will help shoulder some of the offensive load but his diminutive stature begets defensive shortcomings that may be compounded by the fact that any Monk promotion into the starting lineup would force somebody like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to the bench.

Bonnell also weighs in on another reader’s suggestion that Dwight Howard could be used off the bench. Despite Cody Zeller‘s strong performance at the five, Bonnell says that it’s unlikely Howard would come off the bench. Howard is familiar with being a starter (he’s only come off the bench once in his career) and will earn $23MM this season.

There’s more out of Charlotte:

In the same Q&A article, the Bonnell writes that the Hornets can only expect so much improvement in their three-point shooting. While the addition of Monk will help and veterans like Marvin Williams and Nicolas Batum should bounce back slightly, there’s only so much fans can expect when the club’s core features Howard and Kidd-Gilchrist.
There’s no inclination that he would sell the franchise any time soon, but Michael Jordan‘s investment in the Charlotte Hornets has been a lucrative one thus far, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes. The agreed-upon value of the franchise when Jordan bought out founding owner Robert Johnson was said to be $287MM. These days, given the Clippers‘ $2 billion sale in 2014 and the Rockets‘ sale for $2.2 billion this year, the Hornets ought to be worth at least $1 billion.
While it’s been rather easy to overlook Zeller given the fact that players drafted after him – like Giannis Antetokounmpo, C.J. McCollum and Rudy Gobert – have blossomed into stars, the sharp-shooting big man has been one of the game’s most efficient centers, Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype writes. Zeller also provides intangible contributions that make life easier for his teammates.

Kyler: Could Steve Clifford Land On Hot Seat?

September 6th, 2017 at 4:57pm CST by Luke Adams

In a piece for Basketball Insiders, Steve Kyler examines some head coaches around the NBA who may find themselves on the hot seat if their teams struggle out of the gate in 2017/18. Kyler identifies Dwane Casey (Raptors), Mike Budenholzer (Hawks), Steve Clifford (Hornets), Doc Rivers (Clippers), and Brett Brown (Sixers) as coaches who fit that bill.