From only winning 24 percent of their games to last year’s 58 percent, the Charlotte Hornets have come a long way in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Many fans would like to see that number rise even higher this season with the potential chance to make the playoffs.  

“[The Hornets] will make the playoffs and win the first round, but their second round opponent is probably gonna be a tough team,” said Pa-alieu Ann, senior, a Hornets fan.

Currently standing in the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Hornets are one win away from the playoffs. The Hornets have a roster formed mainly of guards. All star player Kemba Walker averages 22.8 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game and 5.5 assists per game. With those statistics, Walker was voted onto the Western All Star Team.

“He’s put up big numbers, and I think he’ll put on a show in New Orleans [in the All-Star game],” said Ann.

However, even with Kemba Walker, the Hornets still need big men due to the recent loss of Al Jefferson, one of their centers. “That the Hornets rely too much on Walker and he can’t carry the team on his own,” said Michael Browder, Athens Drive shooting guard.

“Good, young, and talented that are really raw and can be developed … however in the off-season they definitely have to sign a big guy. Someone to just take the pressure off the wings, because they lost Al Jefferson. And they just need somebody that could provide some offense because they have Cody Zeller and he averages 8 points per game. He really can’t do that much, they gotta go for some bigs [centers and forwards],” believes Browder.

Although Frank Kaminsky and Cody Zeller, both centers, average approximately 10 points per game individually.. The Hornets also have Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who averages 9.1 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game and 1.3 assists per game. He was a number two draft pick and should be averaging more when compared to other number two draft picks in the previous years like Kevin Durant. Durant. He currently averages 25.8 points per game, 8.4 rebounds per game and 4.8 assists per game.

“I think there is some value in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist because he’s young and has promise. But he hasn’t quite blossomed into what he was expected to do when drafted number two number two in the draft and I think they could get value out of that but unless they’re getting something that’s an instant big impact I wouldn’t get rid of him because he’s a big defensive piece,” said Browder.

“The Hornets have many guards that can shoot. They are a very good three point shooting team. That is one of the tactics that the Hornets use that can be well incorporated into Athens Drive basketball,” according to Browder.

Ann agreed and added on, “Zone defense, they [Hornets] usually start off with a 2-3 defensive scheme,” compared to the Jaguars’ Man-to-man defense. He also said the Hornets hold a record of “13-4 when they let their opponent score less than 90 points,” compared to their record of 10-24 when allowing their opponent to score more than 90 points. He continues, “So everything has to start with defense then they can work on their offense.”