OKC Thunder vs. Charlotte Hornets, 2019-20 team preview

Weaknesses:

Lack of star power:

With the exit of Walker, there are no stars remaining on the Hornets nor any player you could realistically cite as ‘the next one’. Scan the roster and it’s hard to even pick one player who would be more than a supplemental piece on any club other than another of the presumed lottery teams. And even that is a stretch.

Again, I’m a fan of head coach James Borrego who began implementing his style and seemingly has a preference for positionless ball and players with the ability to guard multiple positions. While none of the existing youngsters maybe star destined look for the coach to spend the season putting his young charges in a position to impress him and earn their future spot on the Hornets.

Playmaking:

It might be a surprising revelation, but since joining the Hornets in 2015-16 Nic Batum lead the team in assists in half of his seasons and was only 0.2 off holding that achievement in 2017-18. This past season he finished third due to the addition of Tony Parker and Borrego often employing a two-guard lineup.

This is an important factor to consider entering 2019 as Rozier hasn’t exactly been known as a dime master and more often than not prefers to call his own number.

With so few players on the Hornets capable of creating their own shots, this could result in a stilted offense. The moral of this point is if you play fantasy basketball and need assists Batum could be a good selection as he’ll likely lead the Hornets in this category once again.