Are the Charlotte Hornets really set to be the NBA’s worst defense this season?

The defensive end of the floor has ailed the Charlotte Hornets for several years now, dating back to the James Borrego era. One of the reasons Borrego was canned was because of the lack of progress on defense, among other things.

After Kenny Atkinson bailed on the Hornets, Mitch Kupchak and Co. settled on Steve Clifford, who was the guy they thought could help solve some of those defensive problems. In Cliff's defense (pun intended), he didn't really have a fair shake at it, considering the roster was depleted with injuries for each of his two years on the job.

Charles Lee takes great pride in defense and saw the importance of it when he was on staff in Milwaukee and Boston. In year one, the results weren't what he or anyone had hoped, but once again, the roster was riddled with injuries.

In a recent preseason projection by Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, the Hornets were projected to have the worst defense in the NBA this season.

"Their centers are a rookie (Ryan Kalkbrenner) and someone coming off of a two-way deal (Moussa Diabaté). Are they promising? Sure. Kalkbrenner was a four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Charlotte defended far better last season when Diabaté was on the floor. But asking them to carry a defensive backcourt featuring LaMelo Ball and another rookie (Kon Knueppel) is just an impossibly tall order. The only defensive-minded veteran here is Grant Williams, who is recovering from a torn ACL. This team is young, tanking, and very much still developing a culture. The players in place skew heavily towards offense. Check back in a couple of years when they've developed and the front office has had more time to surround them with role players."

I get the concerns with Knueppel, but I believe he'll be able to hold his own on most nights and probably be a little better than we all expect. He plays the game the right way and gives max effort, and that alone can yield respectable results.

In the frontcourt, the duo of Diabate and Kalkbrenner should be a massive improvement over what they had a year ago. The offense generated from them is the bigger concern. With how much Lee emphasizes defense, I can't see this group finishing dead last in many defensive categories, including defensive rating. They'll be in the bottom half of the league, but far from being the worst.

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