A 3-step outline for the Hornets making the playoffs next season
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Yes, the NBA draft just happened a few days ago, and it's still only June.
But it's also the perfect time, in the days leading up to free agency, to wonder what your favorite team needs in order to make the playoffs or compete for the championship.
In the case of the Charlotte Hornets, the quest for the postseason isn't impossible; but it won't be easy, either.
Charlotte comes off a horrible season where every starter was injured (literally) and big free-agent signee Lance Stephenson was an outright bust. So much that he finished with the worst 3-point shooting percentage in NBA history.
That brings us to this season.
How much better can the Hornets be and will it be good enough to make the playoffs? Without pulling any punches, making the postseason, even in the dreadful Eastern Conference, will be an uphill battle for Charlotte. However, it is doable, but things must go as well as they went bad last season.
Outside of getting nothing from Stephenson, this was Charlotte's biggest issue last season.
If the Hornets should capture a low playoffs seed in the Eastern Conference (6-8), the likes of center Al Jefferson and small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist must play nearly every game. The same goes for newly acquired small forward/shooting guard Nicolas Batum.
In terms of putting the ball in the basket, the Hornets have struggled mightily. The numbers show it. That's why having the their best offensive player on the court -- Jefferson -- is an absolute necessity.
The same goes for Kidd-Gilchrist, easily the team's best defender. But he does so much more than that. He is the heart and soul of the club.
Kidd-Gilchrist is a scrapper and energizer and as he goes ... so go the Hornets.
For years, Charlotte has been among the NBA's worst-shooting and lowest-scoring clubs. That has to change.
Yes, the team relies on the defensive schemes of head coach Steve Clifford to keep games close. But you cannot win if can't score.
And it all starts with point guard Kemba Walker, where something has to give.
Walker has one of three options moving forward:
a) Start making shots.
b) Shoot far less.
c) Execute an efficient combination of the two.
Walker has never been a good shooter. He scores a lot, but it takes an inordinate amount of shots to get the points. He finished with the second-worst shooting percentage in the NBA last season ... and yet, led the Hornets in shots per game.
After four years of inefficiency, enough is enough. It's time for someone else to take the shots. As Clifford said in his end-of-season press conference, Walker would ideally be the fourth option on offense.
Jefferson and Batum should be the top options with Charlotte. That's not including whomever they should sign via free agency.
That leads us to Batum. He has to do what Stephenson couldn't -- shoot the ball well. If Batum can provide the scoring punch from the outside as the Hornets wanted with Stephenson, it will open up the inside for Jefferson, who can score on anybody in the NBA.
If Walker shoots less and makes more than 40 percent of his shots, combined with Batum doing his thing from the outside and Jefferson and rookie power forward Frank Kaminsky handling things down low, then things could be rather good on offense for a change.
Charlotte was decimated by injuries last season. That needs to happen to a team like Boston, which squeaked into the playoffs.
Indiana gets star Paul George back after he missed 90 percent of last season. Miami looks to be healthier with the return of Chris Bosh, though there is still a chance Dwyane Wade could leave. The only team that looks to be going backwards is Brooklyn.
To sum things up: Charlotte needs to stay healthy, be efficient on offense and have other teams sustain the same bad luck the Hornets have incurred to make the playoffs.
Piece of cake, right?
