After 6 months, Hornets finally can practice. Here’s what they’ll accomplish in 2 weeks
Of course, Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego can’t wait for his players to start scrimmaging after a six-month layoff.
But the thing Borrego most wants from this two-week window to hold practice? Permission to be a team again.
“We need to connect — that is the biggest thing,” Borrego told The Observer, on what group practices starting Monday at Spectrum Center mean.
Charlotte and the other seven teams not in the NBA’s restart have between Sept. 21 and Oct. 6 to hold group workouts. The Hornets can scrimmage 5-on-5 an hour each day, after not playing a game since March 11, when the NBA halted the season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hornets players and staff will be quarantined; the team has arranged for housing that separates the basketball operation from Charlotte’s general population. (The actual workouts will likely start Wednesday, after 48 hours of isolation). There is daily COVID-19 testing and the league sent the eight teams a 55-page memo of health-and-safety protocols.
Participation by the players is voluntary, but anyone who exits the bubble-like campus the Hornets are creating can’t return to practice.
While sequestering the team may sound odd, Borrego sees it as a superb bonding opportunity after players were limited to individual workouts and weightlifting throughout the pandemic.
“I love the basketball, but I’m so excited to have a meal with my guys,” Borrego said.
“That (camaraderie), to me, might be the biggest thing we get out of this whole bubble. The basketball is going to be great, just to compete again, but it’s gonna be all of us huddled together interacting, connecting, conversing.
“I’m going to get to know them at a higher level, I’ll tell you that.”
No Disney bubble
The Hornets played their best in the last eight games before the pause, going 4-4 and beating playoff teams Toronto, Houston and Miami.
Not being part of the NBA’s restart at Disney’s campus cost the Hornets at least eight games and a month of practice for a team deep in a rebuild. Individual workouts with coaches can clean up some technical flaws, but Borrego has been adamant this team needs competition, even if it’s just among themselves.
“For true evaluation, you’ve got to see it in live, 5-on-5 setting,” Borrego said of the return to scrimmages. “Our guys are itching to get out there to play and compete, to show their skills in a live setting.”
These are likely the only team practices the Hornets will hold in a span of at least nine months. The NBA isn’t likely to start the 2020-21 season before Christmas Day, and that could be pushed back further if the league has hope of some fans being allowed to attend games early next year.
Better off the dribble
Borrego feels his players improved at shot-value last season; understanding that the best shots in the modern NBA are 3-point attempts or at the rim. The next step — which will be an emphasis these two weeks — will be better ball-handling and playmaking while in the area between the arc and the rim.
“Working a tremendous amount on making plays off the dribble,” Borrego said of the off-season agenda. “We’ve got to finish better right at the rim and in the floater game. Especially our guards and wings have to finish better at the rim and in the painted area.”
Under the agreement between the NBA and players association, participation in these practices is entirely voluntary. Free agents, for instance, would have reason to pass on this months out from signing a new contract.
Borrego said the chance to get back in the gym — combined with some good meals, wine and fellowship each night — is potent incentive. He didn’t provide a number, but expects “a strong number (of players) coming in here next week.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
