Charlotte Hornets
G: LaMelo Ball, Coby White
G: Knueppel, Josh Green
F: Brandon Miller, Sion James
F: Miles Bridges, Grant Williams
F: Moussa Diabate, R Kalkbrenner
Others: Tre Mann, Pat Connaughton, Liam McNeeley, T Salaun, X Tillman
The switchability of that 10 man rotation is impressive. Coby White is their smallest player at 6-5. Diabate is one of the most switchable centers in the league. Kalkbrenner is the only guy who isn't that switchable but he gives you something positive in drop coverage with his size / length.
Sion James is an impressive defender. Offense is weak but adequate enough to get on the floor. He has been a nice find.
So they have a strong bench with their first 5 off the bench. And then one of the stronger sets of 3rd stringers in the league. Tillman looks their weakest player / 15th man. Those rotation players. They got solid guys at all 5 spots. Coby White as a bench scorer. G Williams and Josh Green as efficient 3+D type players. Sion James and Kalkbrenner bringing the defense. Coby White is the weakest defender of their bench 5 but he is fine defensively at PG. He had more issues at SG.
They are undersized at PF with Miles Bridges and Grant Williams. Miles tries hard but he is a SF. G Williams has the muscle for PF but lacks in height / length. But both are switchable guys. With the way that team helps and recovers .... the way they can shrink the floor with their tall long perimeter players + either active mobile defensive center (Diabate) or tall / long rim protector center (Kalkbrenner) to aid those perimeter guys.
My main question with the team in the summer was what they were going to get out of their centers. Diabate looks fantastic. He is probably a top 10 defensive center in the league. He rebounds well. He is knows his job on offense. He is limited but stays within his limits. Kalkbrenner has been solid for a rookie / 2nd round pick. He looks more comfortable in that backup C role than starting C role.
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The two things that standout are:
(1) Three point shooting - obviously - where Charlotte are 1st in the league in makes, 2nd in attempts, 3rd in percentage.
(2) Rebounding - they are killing people on the boards. They have a +6.9 rebounding differential. That is huge. 7 extra possessions per game. That would comfortably rank 1st in the league most years but Houston are even freakier this year with +8.3 per game. The 3rd and 4th rank teams are the Knicks and Celtics at around +5 per game (which is also great).
Their turnover differential ain't great. They are a -3.0 per game. That almost cuts their rebounding differential in half in terms of total possession creation but they are still a strong +3.9 possessions per game. A possession being worth 1 point - or 1.156pts per possession on the season - gives them around 4pts extra a night over their opponents from possession creation.
The 1996 Bulls team were phenomenal in possession. I forget their exact number but I think it was around 11 per game. They had a huge rebounding differential (Rodman) and a huge turnover differential (MJ minimized turnovers on offense, they forced a lot on the other end). All those extra possessions made them lethal. The 1970s Celtics teams with Cowens, Silas, Hondo was another team that was terrific in terms of possession creation.
If the Hornets can improve those turnover differential, and I imagine they already have ... that there is noise in those full season stats from their bad start to the first half of the season. That defense looks like it forces more turnovers than their numbers suggest (27th in league). I imagine they are more +5 possessions per game (maybe +5.5 or +6.0) now than the +4 possessions they are on for the full season.
