Fantasy Review For 2018/19 Season:
It was all Kemba in Charlotte last year. He almost managed to singlehandedly bring playoffs to the town. Unfortunately, at the very end he didn’t get enough support from his teammates, as Hornets finished just two wins behind 8th place and Detroit Pistons, despite winning all four games in their head to head matchup. However the organization didn’t consider him worth of the supermax contract after the season which resulted in a meltdown in their relationship and ultimately a departure of the All Star point guard.
Changes in the offseason:
Lost = Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Frank Kaminsky, Tony Parker
Added = Terry Rozier, PJ Washington
Departure of Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb leaves Hornets without any fantasy Top100 player from last season. Who will step up for them this year? Like… really?
Projected Depth Chart:
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
| Terry Rozier | Dwayne Bacon | Nicolas Batum | Miles Bridges | Cody Zeller |
| Devonte Graham | Malik Monk | M. Kidd-Gilchrist | PJ Washington | Bismack Biyombo |
| Kobi Simmons | Caleb Martin | Jalen McDaniels | Marvin Williams | Willy Hernangomez |
Positional Battles: SG and PF/C
As miserable as Hornets rotation is, there is still a bit of uncertainty about player roles and playing time.
Shooting guard time would be split between Malik Monk and Dwayne Bacon. While Monk is undoubtedly more talented, he is also worse defender and less coachable player of the two and what’s most important he seems to be continuously injured. He might be a last round flier type of the guy in standard leagues with a high ceiling / low floor type of potential. On the other hand Bacon is quite safe points and threes stream, with nothing more there. More of a deep leaguer, but at least he projects to begin the season as a starter over Monk. It is worth mention, that the two might also play some minutes together, with Kentucky product being used as a backup PG.
The battle under the basket is a bit fiercer. There are as many as seven players fighting for minutes there. Out of the group Miles Bridges, arguably the most talented Hornets player, looks like a lock to play as many minutes as he could handle at the SF/PF positions. The other starting big man is also easy to predict – Cody Zeller is proven as a legit NBA starter. Unfortunately he lost more than 100 games during his last three season alone, so he is not the one to put faith in. Behind those two it gets much messier. We still don’t know what Marvin Williams role is going to be in an organization at the wake of the rebuild – low hanging fruit type of prediction is him being traded somewhere between December and February. Also Bismack Biyombo might get moved, because some better than Charlotte teams will be eventually in need for a shot blocking big man in the midst of the season. That’s all good news for us as a fantasy owners, because PJ Washington and Willy Hernangomez both has much higher fantasy potential than their veteran rivals. However, until there are any moves or some injuries occur, nobody in standard leagues should even consider touching any big man from Charlotte other than Bridges and Zeller.
Fantasy Relevant in standard leagues
Somebody has to take shots for that team, and Rozier in his Boston career was never shy while given the opportunity. He is an obvious candidate for biggest usage in a team and also for most playing time. Without any reliable backup his playing time is only up to him and might be north of 36 minutes mark. He will get you solid amount of points, threes, assists, FT% and steals only due to the opportunity, but the downside here are no-existent blocks and horrific FG% as he never in his career reached even 40% FG and this season he might be shooting the rock more than 15, maybe 18 times a game. Those field goal killing potential makes him much more enticing option in head to head leagues or punt-FG strategies than for simple 9 cat build.
He is almost unanimous type for biggest leap in fantasy production in Hornets. Last season playing 21 minutes per game without a clear role he managed to pull off only top200 value, but what makes him so interesting this year, is the constant progress during that time. Top200 in 21 mpg over a course of the season, Top160 in 23 mpg in the last three months, Top120 in 25 mpg in the last two months, Top60 in almost 30 mpg in the last month. Obviously it was along an elite offensive threat that Kemba was and right now, with Walker gone, Bridges might be one of opposing defenses main focuses, as they have to focus on something during their trips to North Carolina. Also playing more with the ball in his hands and creating some shots off the bounce, he might be more TO-prone and his field goal % might fall of the cliff, from around 50% at the end of last season to the levels of 43-45%. On the other hand he will probably make that up with playing more minutes and getting more usage. He is the only truly intriguing fantasy prospect in Charlotte for me, worth a top100 pick with an upside of top60.
He enters a fourth year of his enormous 5 year contract and right now is a fringe starter which could be a sign of age-related decline or lost interest. For the second year in a row, we hope for his bounce back, this time simply because in that miserable rotation somebody has to create, somebody has to take shots and finally somebody has to play. Batum as a veteran player, that Charlotte would probably like to showcase in hope of moving his contract away, is a best candidate other than Rozier and Bridges to raise his usage rate at the beginning of the season. He is worth a pick in the later rounds of the fantasy drafts, but there is also an asterisk next to his name… he looks like he simply doesn’t like to play basketball anymore. Draft him at your own responsibility.
His upside on a per game basis is as high as top80 kind of player based on rebound, FG% and steals along with solid ft%. Unfortunately he is one of the most injury prone players in NBA basketball and I cant imagine him any more as an important part of the Hornets future. Therefore his floor is very low and he should be drafted in late rounds only if you are really desperate for the centers, as they vanish around top100 mark.
Could be useful with trades/injuries:
Bismack Biyombo, Willy Hernangomez, PJ Washington, Devonte Graham,
Just don’t bother with:
Marvin Williams
Don’t forget to check the rest of the Charlotte Hornets fantasy basketball projections.
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