It came as a complete shock on Friday when the Hornets decided to relieve James Borrego of his duties after serving four years as the head coach. Not only did I not see this move coming, but I also think it was the wrong decision by team owner Michael Jordan and GM Mitch Kupchak.
Why exactly? Here are my thoughts:
The 2021-22 surpassed expectations
No one, including myself, had the Charlotte Hornets finishing with a winning season, let alone winning 43 games with Gordon Hayward out of the lineup for a good chunk of time. When Hayward when out last year, the team collapsed. At first, the Hornets struggled to pick up wins during his absence but they eventually went to a bigger lineup with P.J. Washington starting at the four, thus bumping Bridges to the three. That lineup worked wonders and was a big reason why they won 11 of the final 16 regular season games.
The one thing I constantly see fans gripe about is how the Hornets finished the year in the ten spot once again. In most years, I would understand that argument, but not this year. The Hornets won 43 games and finished tenth. That's not normal. Winning 43 games typically puts you in the six or seven spot of the Eastern Conference standings. This year, the East was loaded with talented teams with only ten games separating the No. 1 Miami Heat and the No. 10 Charlotte Hornets. For comparison, there is 31 games separating the No. 1 Golden State Warriors and the No. 10 San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference.
The roster just isn't there...yet
LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges have the look of forming one of the best young duos the NBA has to offer. But coming into the season, that was not the expectation. Bridges only averaged 12 points a game a year ago and no one knew what kind of production he would provide the Hornets in 2021-22. He improved all facets of his game and ended the year averaging 20.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. One could argue that he was snubbed from the NBA's Most Improved Player award.
As for Ball, he's just a 20-year-old kid. Yes, he's a special talent and is on path to have a stellar career, but he's just a kid. If your franchise is solely dependent on a 20-year-old guard to take you to the next level, the expectations need to be tampered a bit. He still has a lot of room to grow as a player and LaMelo would be the first to tell you that. He's just scratching the surface, yet still made his way onto the All-Star roster in just his second year in the league.
The two main problems with this team are defense and the lack of an inside presence. The Hornets tried to improve their inside game by bringing in Mason Plumlee as they shipped out Cody Zeller, but they knew Plumlee wasn't the long-term answer.
The defense was much better in the second half of the season, really since Christmas as they finished 12th in defensive rating from that mark on. Unfortunately, the defense wasn't consistent down the stretch and, in my opinion, some of that has to do with personnel, not coaching. I'm not saying there needs to be a Myles Turner or Rudy Gobert down there, but if you don't have somebody that can effect/change shots at the rim, it's going to be hard to slow a lot of teams down.
Progress/development
I understand why fans get upset with the Hornets sending James Bouknight and Kai Jones to Greensboro for much of their rookie year, but to be honest, they weren't going to take minutes away from anyone else in front of them. Just because you were drafted 11th overall doesn't necessarily mean you need to play right away. Cody Martin took an unexpected jump and became a very solid role player for the Hornets off the bench. So much of a jump that the Hornets may not be able to bring him back in addition to signing Bridges to a long-term deal.
Playing in the G-League and playing the patient game has worked out more often than not for Borrego's guys. Martin and Jalen McDaniels are perfect examples. Heck, even Miles Bridges could be thrown into that mix as well when you look at the huge leap he had this year. Borrego won't be here next year, but he should be credited for Bouknight's and Jones's growth which will be on full display next year. They saw the floor a whole heck of a lot more playing in Greensboro than they would have sitting on the bench in Charlotte, maybe getting 5-7 minutes a night here and there.
Lastly, Borrego took this team from 23 wins to 43 wins in just two years. I know the performances in the play-in game played a big factor in why he's no longer here, but to me, I would have weighed the progress he's made with this team over the past two years over two play-in games. Truth be told, if the Hornets would have lost by five to Atlanta, there's a good chance Borrego would still be the head man. As young as this team is, they weren't going to make much noise in the playoffs anyways. Again, when you compare the Hornets' roster against the nine teams that finished above them, which team do they clearly have a better roster than? I can't find one.
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