Charlotte Hornets offseason review

As the NBA offseason plows ahead we’re taking some time to pause and assess the work each team is doing, building for the present and future. Today, we’re looking at the Charlotte Hornets.

After a strong season, winning more games than they had in nearly 15 years, the Charlotte hornets are looking to build on their momentum. What does that look like from a personnel perspective?

Inputs: Marco Belinelli (SG, traded from the Sacramento Kings); Roy Hibbert (C, signed for one year, $5 million); Ramon Sessions (PG, signed for two years, $12.5 million); Brian Roberts (PG, signed for one year, veteran’s minimum); Christian Wood (PF, signed for two years, partially guaranteed)

Outputs: Al Jefferson (C, signed with the Indiana Pacers); Jeremy Lin (PG, signed with the Brooklyn Nets); Courtney Lee (SG, signed with the New York Knicks); Tyler Hansbrough (PF, unsigned); Troy Daniels (SG, signed with the Memphis Grizzlies); Jorge Gutierrez (PG, unsigned); Jason Maxiell (PF, unsigned); Jeffery Taylor (SF, unsigned)

Retained: Marvin Williams (PF, signed for four years, $54.5); Nicolas Batum (SF, signed for five years, $120 million)

Pending:  None

The Hornets were able to re-sign to of their most important players from last season — Marvin Williams and Nicolas Batum. Both were instrumental in the team’s evolution towards becoming a well-spaced, three-point juggernaut. Williams struggled in the playoffs but his ability to shoot from the outside and defend fours at the other end is hugely important. Batum’s positional versatility and capability as a secondary ball-handler are binding elements for the team’s offense.

While the Hornets were able to hold onto those two, they also lost several key players from last season. Courtney Lee’s loss is softened by the return of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist but Lee’s defense and shooting will be missed. Jeremy Lin was the engine for the second-unit offense (more on this later) and his departure will put a lot more responsibilities on Kemba Walker’s shoulders. Al Jefferson is on the downside of his career but was still a reliable post-scorer who made things simple for his teammates.

The replacements the Hornets brought in for those players are all reasonable, if slightly less dynamic. Marco Belinelli is a good shooter but is nowhere close to Lee as a defender. Sessions is a nice back-up point guard, duplicating many of the things Lin brought just a little less effectively. Hibbert is essentially a trade-off — all-defense in exchange for Jefferson’s all-offense.

In all, the roster looks a little less deep than it did last season but the key pieces are locked up. There is also more room for internal development from Walker, Frank Kaminsky, and Kidd-Gilchrist to keep this team on an upward trajectory.

3 Big Questions

To really dig deep on Charlotte’s offseason, I’m leaning on friends with some Hornets expertise. Adi Joseph (@AdiJoseph) is the deputy editor of Sporting News. Chris Barnewall (@ChrisBarnewall) is an editor for SBNation’s At The Hive, an assistant editor for FanSided’s Friendly Bounce, and a regular contributor to FanSided’s Hardwood Paroxysm. Jerry Stephens (@JR_Steph23) is the editor for FanSided’s Swarm and Sting.

Adi, Chris, and Jerry were nice enough to help out by answering three big questions about Charlotte’s offseason.

Is Roy Hibbert a better/worse/same fit than Al Jefferson in the big man rotation?

Adi Joseph: Al Jefferson and Roy Hibbert couldn’t be more different. The Hornets are going to miss having Al as a guy who they can pretty much just throw the ball down to and get out of the way. But they needed that more in the pre-Nicolas Batum era. The offense is created on the perimeter now, and Hibbert’s awful offensive game shouldn’t hurt them except that he’s slow on pick-and-rolls. Defensively, he’ll just be another way to protect the rim, which they never needed in Steve Clifford’s system but certainly won’t hurt.

Chris Barnewall: He’s definitely not the same fit I can say that. Better or worse is going to be very subjective based on how someone views what he’s bringing to Charlotte. What Jefferson brought was a good locker room presence (everybody from Charlotte has nothing but nice things to say about him) and when playing at his best, the ability to bend an entire defense to his will. The 2013 version of Jefferson was a dream in how dominant he could be on certain nights. However, while he wasn’t hidden on defense, a lot of the scheme Charlotte ran defensively benefited a slow mover like him that couldn’t defend to the level the Hornets really needed or wanted.

This only got worse as age and injuries caught up to him, and last year’s version was a much better player as an off the bench scorer similar to that of Enes Kanter in OKC. Hibbert’s fit is going to be much more of a defensive presence. He’s a very classic rim protector, and despite being slow himself, is still an otherworldly defender at times. There’s questions about if the NBA has passed him by or not, and next season is going to answer those questions. I personally think Hibbert is going to be one of those players that’s quietly playing well, but it isn’t noticed much because the way he plays isn’t flashy. He won’t be better than Jefferson was, but he won’t be that much worse either. Just passable.

Jerry Stephens: Roy Hibbert is almost the exact opposite of Al Jefferson and whether he is better or worse has yet to be determined. We can all remember the All-Star years from Hibbert when he was a defensive anchor who could change games just from his defensive presence and rebounding. Now that we are a few years down the line, it is unclear what he actually brings to the table. At least with Big Al the team knew what they were getting out of him. Even in his advanced age, he was still a dominant offensive big man. The only problem with Jefferson was availability. He was seemingly injured every season.

The same can not be said for Hibbert who played in 81 games last season. Although Jefferson was great during his first year in Charlotte and in the playoffs this past season, let’s not forget that he struggled to stay on the court the past two years. If Roy Hibbert is available for the whole season and he has a bounce back year (which is plausible in Steve Clifford’s system and with a winning team around him) then he could potentially be better this season than Jefferson was last year. But just based on his lack of an offensive game and coming off of a career worst season, I would have to say that while he isn’t the “perfect” fit, he is probably on the same level as Big Al was last season in terms of fit in the team’s system.

This season, Frank Kaminsky will be                            .

Adi Joseph: Pretty good. Not better than Justise Winslow. Kaminsky’s shooting should improve a lot, and he’s apparently bulking up nicely. He will be a competent option at power forward without being the best option there because Marvin Williams is around. I do think we will see Kaminsky force his way into the starting lineup by 2017-18, but it’s unclear if that will be at center or power forward.

Chris Barnewall: A solid to good player. For a rookie last year, Kaminsky wasn’t bad and showed some real flashes offensively. He shot the ball well, and by the end of the year had taken Spencer Hawes’ spot in the rotation. Defensively he needs work, but almost all rookies are terrible on defense. Kaminsky will likely be playing the same off-the-bench scoring role as last year, but now he’ll have a year of NBA experience and NBA weight training under his belt which should help him immensely. Oh by the way did you know the Hornets could have drafted *is swarmed by a wrath of bees and carried away before he can complete the sentence*

Jerry Stephens: Average. At best, he is a seven-foot big man who can spread the floor in a system where that is needed. At worst, he is a defensive liability who struggles to rebound the ball as well as shooting the ball from the outside at times. It will all depend on the improvements that he has made this summer. The good stretch that he had in the playoffs against the Miami Heat was definitely a great sign for him moving forward. His role may be slightly expanded by the loss of Al Jefferson but he will likely be only a little bit better than he was last season. No one is expecting much from “The Tank” so maybe he can surprise everyone with an above average season.

Where do the re-signings of Marvin Williams and Nicolas Batum leave Michael Kidd-Gilchrist?

Adi Joseph: MKG is the Hornets’ most dynamic player — and, in my opinion, their best. He played really well off Marvin and Batum last season for those seven games, and that trio should be able to switch on every pick-and-roll and every ball reversal in a way that makes them somewhat similar to the Warriors as far as defensive flexibility. (Always compare every team to the Warriors.) Offensively, what really impressed me about MKG last season was how much his handle improved. If he can hit open threes — and stay healthy — he will be tremendous.

Chris Barnewall: In the few games that MKG did play with the Hornets last year, he looked like he fit in just fine. The additional spacing created a lot of room for him to actually showcase his skills more, and he’s always been a monster on defense. We saw last year that Nicolas Batum is going to do a lot of work with the ball in his hands, so that shouldn’t effect Kidd-Gilchrist too much. What I’m most interested to see is how the three are going to look on the court all at the same time defensively. The Hornets plan all last year was to run those three together, which is an absurd amount of length on the floor all at once, but health made that impossible. Now we get to see how they’ll actually work together.

Jerry Stephens: The re-signings of Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams leaves Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in the best position possible. Since he isn’t a great spacer of the floor due to his lack of an outside shot (which is improving), he needs players like Nic and Marvin who can spread the floor and create around him. Batum will likely start at shooting guard, with MKG at small forward, and Williams at the power forward position which is exactly the line-up that Steve Clifford envisioned last season before MKG got injured. With Batum being the team’s second creator on offense behind Kemba Walker and Williams doing everything on both ends of the court, MKG can focus on his strengths which are defending the opposing team’s best player and slashing to the basket. Kidd-Gilchrist was incredible for the team in his short stint last season. He was all over the place with his rebounding, hustle, and even on the offensive end at times. It was only seven games, but if he can continue that trend into this season, then this could be a deadly lineup for the Charlotte Hornets.

Who’s driving the second unit?

One of the big keys to the Charlotte Hornets’ playoff run last season was Jeremy Lin’s dribble penetration. Lin, who signed a deal with the Brooklyn Nets this offseason, gave the Hornets a reliable source of shot creation to anchor the second-unit offense. He also worked well in combination with Kemba Walker in certain lineups, allowing Walker to play more effectively off the ball.

According to the NBA’s player tracking statistics, Lin ranked 26th in total drives last season. As a percentage of his team’s total drives, he ranked 20th.

Obviously, the Hornets still have Kemba Walker but Lin’s absence from their second unit could be a problem. Charlotte replaced him with Ramon Sessions, also a prolific dribbler penetrator who was responsible for a significant portion of the Washington Wizard’s drives last season. However, Sessions was much more likely to use the drive as a way of creating shots for himself.

Last season, Sessions either attempted a shot or went to the free throw line on just over 67 percent of his drives. For Lin, that mark was just over 50 percent. Sessions has plenty to offer and well probably end up being a reasonable replacement for Lin, but those subtle changes — getting into the paint a little less frequently, passing out to take advantage of a scattered defense a little less frequently — could have ripple effects throughout the offense.

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