Where everything went wrong for the Hornets, and how they can avoid it next year

Terry Rozier didn’t remember the exact words when they were relayed to him.

“I said that?” the Charlotte Hornets guard asked with a wry smile. “Oh man.”

Back in September, as they were preparing to embark on their six-month journey, Rozier mentioned how the season wouldn’t really be a success unless the Hornets punched a postseason ticket. But those hopes were foiled by their crushing 132-103 loss to Atlanta in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament on Wednesday, ending a season that had its share of promise, and felt like it concluded prematurely.

“Well, we made the play-in, so I guess I ain’t super disappointed,” Rozier said. “But I wanted to be in the playoffs, just to have guys like Miles Bridges and Melo (LaMelo Ball), just to have them in a series for the first time. I really wanted that for my younger brothers and a lot of guys in that locker room, for them to experience it for the first time just so they can have that hunger and just to have that foot in the door over the whole summer.

“And we’ll experience it, whether it’s us together or whatever it is. They will experience it. But I just wanted that for them more than anything.”

So as the NBA playoffs get underway, the Hornets won’t be participants in the main eight-team field and are left to ponder what could have been. They can only reminisce on a wild season featuring more nationally-televised games than they’ve had in years, a bevy of Spectrum Center sellouts, and watching the face of the franchise become an All-Star.

Here’s an overview of the Hornets’ 2021-22 campaign:

The positives

By collecting 43 victories, the Hornets increased their win total by 10 or more in each of the past two seasons, making them one of just three teams to accomplish the feat. The other two are Golden State and Phoenix. Those 43 wins are also the most wins the Hornets have stockpiled since 2015-16, and the highest win total by a team that finished 10th in its conference since the Seattle Supersonics posted a 44-38 mark in 2000-01.

Offensively, the Hornets were among the league’s upper echelon, going from No. 23 in offensive efficiency last season (110.1) to eighth (113.6). That’s the highest jump in the category of any team this season. They were at their best when the ball was moving, as evidenced by their league-leading 28.1 assists per game. And the 1,143 shots they knocked down beyond the 3-point line ranks ninth all-time in NBA history for a single season.

“There’s been tremendous growth here, tremendous progress,” coach James Borrego said. “For us to even be in that category with Phoenix and Golden State is tremendous for our organization. We’re on stable ground.”

Ball soared in his second season and flourished at an All-Star level, collecting 20.1 points, 7.6 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game. He’s just the fourth player in NBA history to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists before turning 21 years old, joining LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Tyreke Evans. The 1,508 points, 571 assists and 501 rebounds he’s already accumulated puts him in company with only James. No one else racked up those numbers in those three categories before their 21st birthday.

Bridges, Ball’s alley-oop partner, had a career year and boasted the third-highest increase in scoring increase among players who had at least 200 field goal attempts this season, and also last season. He scored 7.5 more points per game and emerged as the Hornets’ top scorer at 20.2 points per game, ranking him 23rd in the league. He also totaled the sixth-most points scored by a Hornets player over the past 20 seasons and did it with free agency looming.

The core is in place, and now it’s time to ensure the right pieces are put around it.

Where it went wrong

The troubles really began with the Hornets’ rough patch in February, which coincided with Gordon Hayward’s ankle injury.

Dropping 13 of 17 games, which included a three-game losing streak just before the All-Star break, lowered their positioning in the standings, and they never recovered because of the conference’s strength.

For 23 days spanning the middle of January into early February, they were in seventh place. That’s when they were still ahead of Boston, which went on to claim the No. 2 seed in the East. But the Hornets fell into eighth place on Feb. 3 and never made it beyond that for the rest of the season.

Then there’s an improved — but still flawed — roster.

Many of the teams ahead of the Hornets in the conference standings made a move that aided them down the stretch, plugging a void or two in an effort to shore things up. While the Hornets acquired Montrezl Harrell just prior to the deadline, that transaction alone wasn’t nearly enough to address the Hornets’ true need: a rim-protecting, shot blocking big man who is also a threat offensively. That glaring defensive hole was attacked repeatedly, and the Hornets are not taking that next step as a playoff team until it’s rectified.

Making poor decisions at the tail end of games and halves was also a serious issue for the Hornets. Shot selection and general court awareness lacked at times, and it often came back to haunt them. Whether it was yielding points on free throws due to inexplicable, head-scratching fouls, or hoisting jumpers with plenty of ticks still remaining on the 24-second shot clock, the Hornets made things harder for themselves in end-of-game situations.

Plus, think about how different things could have been if they showed a modicum of success in overtime. The Hornets were winless in seven tries in games featuring the extra five-minute session.

They were the only team that played in at least four overtimes games and didn’t collect at least one victory. That makes their 10th-place finish that much more difficult to stomach.

“We’ve got to get better on defense and our decision-making, especially in crunch time,” Bridges said. “What did we go, 0-for-8, 0-for-12 in overtime this year? So we win half of those games we are at least the sixth seed, fifth seed at that.”

The Hornets have a flurry of things that could have altered their regular-season fate — remember the games against Cleveland and Miami? — and put themselves in a totally different position rather than having to play their way into the actual eight-team first-round field for the second straight year.

Instead, they matched up with the Hawks and lost badly.

“Atlanta was trying to embarrass us,” Harrell said. “That’s what they were trying to do. Even down to the last couple of seconds went off the clock, they were still trying to shoot the ball.”

Looking ahead

Given the contractual situation of four players who will be free agents — Harrell, Bridges, Cody Martin and Isaiah Thomas — and the obvious need at center, the offseason is going to be critical for the Hornets for a variety of reasons.

At the forefront of them is this: Ball will be in his third year and making it to at least the first round of the playoffs next season is important. Expectations will surely be raised to greater heights than they experienced in 2021-22, and that likely will include Borrego, who got a contract extension in August. It will be his fifth season with the franchise and he’s going to have to show he’s indeed the right person to get the Hornets to that next level.

Thanks to New Orleans beating the LA Clippers in the play-in tournament Friday night to head to the Western Conference playoffs, the Hornets have a first-round pick to dangle in a trade. As a condition of the Devonte’ Graham sign-and-trade, if the Pelicans’ 2022 selection landed outside of the top 14 picks it belongs to the Hornets. Otherwise, it would have conveyed into a pair of first-rounders.

So the Hornets have the assets to make a move if they want.

Internally, it’s on everybody to improve, and that also includes Borrego. He knows it.

“Now it’s just about taking that next step,” Borrego said. “Don’t get caught up in the noise. Just stay the course, get better and I’ll do that. I’ll reflect on myself, on the team and how to get better and we’ll address those areas and come back a better team.”

The Hornets have made strides over the past four years under their current regime. In 2022-23, it should be all about taking a leap. A first-round playoff series and being in the mix for a seed that keeps them out of the play-in tournament altogether has to be the goal.

“Honestly, I really didn’t even feel like we should have even been in that position,” Ball said. “I don’t feel like we should be in play-in games. So that obviously goes with wins and losses. I feel like all of that work should be done during the season. I feel like some of those games we should have just won. We shouldn’t have even been in that predicament.”