5 offseason needs for the Charlotte Hornets

CHARLOTTE, NC - OCTOBER 2: Kemba Walker #15 of the Charlotte Hornets reacts during a pre-season game against the Miami Heat on October 2, 2018 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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CHARLOTTE, NC – NOVEMBER 01: Malik Monk #1 of the Charlotte Hornets reacts after a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder during their game at Spectrum Center on November 1, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

4. Don’t make evaluation errors with your personnel

This was a problem that plagued Steve Clifford his entire tenure with the Hornets, and this year with James Borrego was only a little different. It started in the pre-season, where Frank Kaminsky couldn’t buy a basket and Willy Hernangomez couldn’t miss. They finished the preseason, respectively, at 38.9 percent and 73.3 percent true shooting. Except it seemed pretty apparent that it was small-sample theater. Frank Kaminsky was getting open shots, provided a ton more for the offense, and was even outworking Hernangomez on both the defensive end and the boards. He just hit some bad rolls, and that got evaluated as skill even though it was barely representative of his skill at all. Frank was at all points the better player, but results-oriented thinking led to the Hornets playing two of the two worst players on their roster ahead of him for the majority of the season, and to no coincidence, putting Frank into the rotation was a large part of the Hornets making a push at the end of the season.

But that was just the largest mistake Borrego made with handling this roster. Guys like Devonte’ Graham, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Dwayne Bacon were clearly outperforming their role all season, while guys like Nic Batum and Marvin Williams were clearly underperforming theirs, but Borrego failed to adjust their roles until far too late in the season. Similarly, guys like Nicolas Batum and Malik Monk were likely playing out of their ideal positions, and only Batum was returned to the appropriate one later in the year. Malik Monk played a total of 24 minutes this entire season as the point guard, despite having seen better success there as a rookie. Technically he was better there as a sophomore too, but the sample there wasn’t worth anything to argue with. While Borrego does get credit for fixing some problems eventually, especially in view of the prior era, the fact that there was a problem to fix in the first place is still on him, and a team with as many limitations as the Hornets have can’t afford errors like that, so going into the next season, the Hornets coaching staff needs to make absolutely certain not to make basic mistakes in evaluating their personnel.

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