The Hornets have young talent but zero superstar potential. Rebuild will fail without one
A long-limbed wing scorer and a rim-protecting big man.
That is the Charlotte Hornets’ shopping list. It doesn’t matter which one is acquired first. It isn’t necessary that either is found before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
Whether by trade, draft or free agency, Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak must address these areas of need. Tuesday’s 125-110 road loss to the Houston Rockets illustrated as much. This was one of their better games this season. The young guys are playing abundant minutes and improving as a result.
But there is seldom enough collectively to get it done. They are now 2-20 this season against teams currently with winning records. They can build a lead — they were up 15 on the Rockets — but they are stretched to the limit against any opponent to hold on for 48 minutes.
Tuesday, Miles Bridges (20 points and a career-high 15 rebounds) and Terry Rozier (20 points off 12 shots from the field) were good; probably close to as efficiently as either one can play. I don’t know whether either of them is good enough to be the best player on a team that would win a playoff round.
Contrast that to the Rockets’ James Harden; he’s obviously one of the NBA’s top players, scoring 40 points Tuesday and adding 12 assists and nine rebounds. It’s unrealistic to think the Hornets will fall into a Harden. But most teams’ best player is a lot closer to that standard than any player currently on Charlotte’s roster.
Solid so far
The good news, if you’re a long-suffering Hornets fan, is Kupchak and coach James Borrego have made the best of what’s happened the past 1 1/2 seasons. Borrego has owner Michael Jordan’s blessing to play young guys. He has never gone further in that direction than he did Tuesday: Four veterans combining to make about $70 million this season — Nicolas Batum, Bismack Biyombo, Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — didn’t play at all.
That gives Borrego the flexibility to invest heavy time in rookie Cody Martin (who made his first NBA start and played 36 minutes) and Malik Monk (31 minutes off the bench).
Kupchak has improved the Hornets’ drafting, particularly in the second round: Devonte Graham and Martin are already more useful second-rounders than anyone Kupchak’s predecessor, Rich Cho, drafted in that round.
There are pieces worth developing in P.J. Washington and Bridges. I’m not sure both those forwards will be in Charlotte for the long haul, because they have redundant games and body types. But Borrego is appropriately using games as a laboratory, mixing and matching the young parts he has..
At minimum, the coaches will thoroughly know these young guys’ levels before the offseason development programs begin. These games will also provide Kupchak ample data to assess what’s missing.
Where is the star?
Unfortunately, the best way to summarize this Hornets roster is that it’s entirely complementary players. Ex-Hornet Kemba Walker might not have been a superstar, but he was a star, and I don’t know if there is anyone currently who can reach what Kemba was in Charlotte.
Graham has made major strides, and rookie Washington has had a quick impact, but if either of those guys makes multiple All-Star Games, as Walker has, they will have maxed out their potential.
The Hornets need difference-makers, particularly at wing and center. Players like Kawhi Leonard with the Clippers or Jayson Tatum with the Celtics are so hard to guard in just the way no Hornet is. Likewise, in the absence of a big man to protect the post, the Hornets have to be so precise defensively that it’s just not realistic game-to-game.
I’m not saying anything Kupchak doesn’t already know. He has tools: Likely high picks in the first and second rounds in June’s draft and, for the first time in years, real salary-cap room next summer.
They have all the helper bees this team will ever need. Until they find at least one guy with star potential, they’ll never break this exasperating pattern.
It’s that simple — and that difficult — all at once.
