As shown in Image 1, Charlotte ranks near the bottom of the league in points per game. However, their offensive efficiency is actually in the mid-to-upper tier. This is because their pace is so slow that they don't get enough offensive possessions to capitalize on their efficiency, resulting in lower overall scoring.
Let's look at the second image. The Hornets have many good shooters, so their free throw percentage ranks at the top of the league. However, their actual free throw attempts are near the bottom of the league.
The third image highlights the Hornets' catastrophic defensive performance. Opponents enjoy comfortable, uncontested shots against them. Interestingly, despite having poor defensive numbers overall, the Hornets remain one of the teams with the lowest foul counts. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City, the league's top defensive team, maintains elite defensive stats but ranks only 15th in personal fouls.
Currently, the teams with the fewest fouls in the league are the Bulls, Heat, Nuggets, Mavericks, Spurs, Hornets, Clippers, and Rockets. Ironically, only Miami and Houston from this group rank in the top 10 for defensive efficiency. This suggests that in today’s league climate, keeping foul counts low doesn't necessarily result in a high-level defense.
The modern NBA is so heavily slanted toward the offense that there are countless moments where you simply can't stop a player without fouling. Even if they score, you have to initiate hard contact to wear them down and drain their energy. But because the Hornets treat their opponents so 'nicely,' I bet other teams think, 'Sweet, today's going to be a painless day,' whenever they face us.
And this ties into the slow pace we saw in the first image. If you want more shots, you have to pressure the opponent and force turnovers, but the Hornets just let them take their time and shoot. Their offense only starts after the opponent is done, which is why their offensive volume is so low. It’s frustrating because Charlotte’s offense is actually quite good, but the defense isn't giving them enough chances to actually use it.
In today’s NBA, every offensive player screams and flails their arms to bait the refs into a foul the moment they feel even a tiny bit of contact. But on the Hornets, not a single starter draws more free throws than Collin Sexton, even though he only plays about 24 minutes a night. This lack of aggression might be exactly why the team struggles so much in close, down-to-the-wire games.
At the end of the day, what the Hornets need to become a true contender is obvious. They need a 'bruiser' on offense who can embrace contact and bait the refs into fouls by being vocal. Defensively, they need a tough player who’s ready to get physical and play hard to shut people down. I actually like Miles Bridges a lot and think he’s a bargain for what he’s paid, but I get why the trade talk never stops. His position is exactly where you usually find those tough, two-way guys, so it makes sense why people keep looking for an upgrade there.
Of course, it’s not just about one position—the entire roster needs to adopt that kind of mindset to some degree. The Hornets need to be hungrier, nastier, and more physical, much like a Jose Mourinho team. Right now, this Hornets team is simply too nice.
The eye test proves this honestly.
Yes it's pretty clear that defense and lack of rim pressure are our two biggest concerns, and it's why Sexton has been a clear positive addition on offense despite having obvious flaws.
It's also why I'm not super excited by a Bridges trade because while he definitely doesn't help our defensive issues, he's the only starter that consistently attacks the rim.
I do think Lamelo has been better about attacking the basket to collapse the defense which has helped a bit, but he's still not strong enough and tries to avoid contact too much for that to lead to free throws consistently.
But the offense is pretty fine honestly, the defense is by far the biggest concern and has been for years. Sion, Moussa and to some extent Josh Green are the only guys I trust to consistently be positives on that end, and that's just far from enough (Grant Williams should help if he's able to bounce back from his injury, but that could take a while). We're going to need at least one guard and one wing defender if we ever want to take the next step. A true rim protecting center wouldn't hurt either, but we have good size at every position which means we could potentially do well in a switch-heavy scheme without that profile.
Your observations around pace are great, and it's definitely mostly the defense that is preventing us from playing as fast as we should. Although I do think that we often take too long to get into our actions - I feel pretty confident that this will get better in time since we're finally starting to have an extended period without none of our main guys injured which is allowing us to build the habits required to play faster, but hopefully this isn't just wishful thinking.
It would never happen, but Beef Stew would be perfect to fix this on the roster.
Or Julius randle
Good analysis
The refs in our last game definitely didn’t feel we play gentlemanly.
This is all a lie. If anyone actually watched our games the refs don’t call any fouls against us. It’s so obvious. Stats like this don’t matter at all. Our guys drive plenty. Sexton and Melo are the problem with defensive for the perimeter. We really missed Kalk these last 8 games.
Team has zero physicality