PREVIOUS SEASON: 50-32 (5^th Seed)

2018/2019 SEASON: 33-49 (11^th Seed)

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Not too much, if any of this entire season was fun or exciting for Digga and his Hornets. The team and their fans were full of beans heading into the regular season after successfully making the playoffs the previous season for the first time since the 2008/2009 season. If you can take any positives or highlights out of the season this year then the team getting some valuable minutes into their young guys coming through was a real bonus, especially seeing the great play of Kevin Knox. Jamal Murray also stepped it up another gear with Porzingis out and showed what he is capable of doing.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

Through no fault of their own the Hornets were ravaged with injuries this year. With their star Porzingis sitting for the entire year the year did look worse off than last from the get go, but the team were still confident. Not making the playoffs after emerging the previous season as a true contender is really disappointing for the franchise, and not being able to see their 9^th overall selection play would have been a little deflating. But, the team can now refresh and move forward to attack the 2019/2020 season.

BEST TRADE

The Hornets are not a big trading franchise, as they have built their team through the draft and bringing in young talent which allows them to develop their own in whatever way they feel is right.

CHARLOTTE RECEIVE: 1^st (2021 – Memphis)

MEMPHIS RECEIVE: Thon Maker

At the time, majority of people thought this was a pretty fair deal for both parties. I on the other hand would have never given up this first for someone like Thon Maker. People don’t value picks to come in 2-3 years and are always on the side of “It should be a late pick” but look what happened to Charlotte this year with their injuries and dramatic fall down the standings, could happen to any team. Good future asset to have especially after the Memphis flurry of trades’ debacle.

OTHER NOTABLE TRADES

CHARLOTTE RECEIVE: Jrue Holiday, Joel Embiid

SAN ANTONIO RECEIVE: Myles Turner, Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker, Future 1^st

ATLANTA RECEIVE: Gary Harris, pick #12 (Goga Bitadze)

Although this happened post season, it still happened within the 2018/2019 year. Hornets did give up some future young potential stars of this league, but look at the return they got. At the start of this season the Hornets were contenders barring injuries, but with what they have added to the fold now, the team in my opinion have shot up and are now on the same level as the elite teams in the East.

FREE AGENCY

The Hornets approach free agency with 10 guys under contract, with Porzingis ready to sign a max extension. Both Mario Hezonia and Elfrid Payton may look for opportunities elsewhere, with the Hornets maybe lucky enough to be able to keep one of them moving forward, and for mine Hezonja might be the better option with a cheap contract and the addition of Jrue Holiday makes Payton very expendable.

STAR

JAMAL MURRAY – With Porzingis sitting out for the entire season, Jamal Murray was able to produce a season to be stoked with. With averages of 21ppg, 6apg, 3.5rpg on 46% shooting this has been the best of his three year caree to date, and doesn’t look like slowing down too much. With the addition of Jrue Holiday, the productivity may drop a little next season, but the pressure is now off him and he can play some solid team basketball moving forward.

GOAT

MICHAEL PORTER JR. – This may be a harsh evaluation of the rookie who missed the entire season due to injury, but the Hornets didn’t have too many guys who didn’t contribute this season as expected. The Hornets were able to take a gamble on a guy with so much upside and hopefully ride out his injury and develop him to their liking while they still have the fire power to compete with the big boys.

DRAFT GRADES

#33 – Eric Paschall, #41 – Daniel Gafford B+

The Hornets traded out of the 1^st round this season to add Embiid and Holiday.

Adding a couple of 2^nd round guys they can develop over the coming years while contending is as good as you can ask for in any draft in the position you are in. Overall the depending on what the Hornets can produce in free agency, they really just need healthy bodies to fill out the roster moving into the new season.

THE FUTURE

The Future has been bright since making the playoffs in 2017/2018. A season filled with injuries is just a bump in the road for Digga and the Hornets franchise as they have already made a splash trade wise to put them self in a position to go deep into the playoff rounds. Don’t expect too much movement trade wise from Digga as he is now just focusing on free agency and rounding out the roster to kick of the season flying. Barring injuries again, expect nothing less than a top 4 seed by this team next season…. Good Luck Digga and Charlotte!