Tonight marks the dawn of a new era of basketball in the Queen City.
Year two of the Charles Lee and Jeff Peterson regime tips off with increased expectations on their revamped Charlotte Hornets roster. The team has legitimate depth at some key positions, it has a pair of burgeoning star players on the precipice of a breakout, and some intriguing young talent that, in an ideal world, could coalesce into something special as early as this season.
Here’s what these eyes will be looking for in tonight’s season opener against the Brooklyn Nets.
The time for LaMelo Ball to crack the NBA’s elite is now.
The entire basketball world is aware of his exploits. The tattoos, the flashy passes, the three-pointers from the parking lot. He’s got more talent in his right hand that the majority of basketball players have in their entire body.
It’s time for that talent to translate to victories.
A major key to the team racking up those wins will be LaMelo operating without the ball in his hands. In the preseason, we saw Ball used as a screener in offensive sets, weaponizing his floor-bending shooting gravity as a decoy to open up his teammates. How much of that will we see on opening night? How often will Collin Sexton, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, and Tre Mann initiate offense while Ball floats around the perimeter?
Ball’s box score statistics may take a hit if he moves off the ball, but his efficiency should improve. A more efficient, less taxed LaMelo Ball will lead the Hornets to wins and an improvement in the discourse that plagues the veteran point guard.
A major tenant in Charles Lee’s defensive philosophy is allowing the ‘right’ shooters to take open jump shots. Charlotte is going to attempt to wall off the rim by committee, which means perimeter players will have seams to exploit behind the three-point line.
The Nets start two knockdown shooters, Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr., but the other three Brooklyn starters historically struggle from deep. Can the Hornets goad Ben Saraf, Terrance Mann, and Nic Claxton Jr. into shooting three-pointers instead of their more accurate teammates? For me, that is the biggest key to victory tonight.
Just a few hours before game time, I believe the starting lineup will include Ball, Kon Knueppel, Miller, Bridges, and Moussa Diabate, making the first-line backups Collin Sexton, Tre Mann, Liam McNeeley, Tidjane Salaun, and Ryan Kalkbrenner.
Those ten, and maybe Sion James or Miles Plumlee in a pinch, will be the Hornets that play a major role tonight.
The primary bench unit is significantly more talented that the group Charles Lee relied on last season.
Sexton and Mann can be relied on as offensive engines for long stretches, again, easing the shot creation burden that LaMelo Ball has carried for the majority of his career. Liam McNeeley is a competent floor spacer and connective piece on the wing. And Ryan Kalkbrenner proved his worth in an encouraging preseason.
That five-man unit won’t play all together, but the individual net ratings of each bench member will be a number to look at tonight. Charlotte has to stay afloat when the starters sit, and with the talent they’ve amassed, they’re positioned to do so.
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