Relax, Hornets’ Faithful: How to Measure Preseason Success Properly

Okay. So, they lost; I get it.

What I don’t — and will likely never — get, though? Is the massive overreactions that are boundless on Hornets Twitter the past couple of days.

If you’re here from Facebook (from my hometown, that is; thanks for supporting!), completely unaware of the Hornets; or even if you're just a casual fan who is very healthily not-so-invested into this team as I’ve chosen to be…

Let me get you caught up:

The Charlotte Hornets got beat on Tuesday night in their first preseason game. Badly. The home Hornets lost 124-90.

Some critical caveats are in order, though. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, is that this is… the preseason.

Not often in pro sports do you get real, live-game reps outside of your own team’s practices to just try whatever you want with absolutely 0 repercussions.

Preseason is that opportunity.

On top of it all, Charlotte was going into this game missing three starters. Not just starters, but their three best players in Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, and Coby White. Maybe Coby White is the fourth-best if you want to argue for new Hornet Naz Reid, but that’s semantics, ultimately.

Charlotte was also missing 18th overall pick Christian Anderson Jr., Grant Williams, and two-way guard Kylan Boswell to injuries, in their own rights.

The Hornets went into this game with one actual PG on the roster in Dennis Schröder, who was traded for in August and just arrived with the team pre-training camp a few weeks ago. Three of the Hornets starting five against the Nets on Tuesday were new faces to the team (Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Naz Reid).

Most of you reading already know all of this. So what I wanted to use my caveats to inform the un-knowledgeable audience out there, but also to set up this question here:

When circumstances are bleak like this in an already experimental part of the calendar, how do you properly look for success in games that may end up lopsided? How do you find positives in those kinds of outings?

For everyone, and coaches, especially, that can look different depending on the situation. These may not be the exact same areas Hornets head coach Charles Lee finds himself replaying during team film sessions to emphasize…

But I’m not Coach Lee. I'm not trying to make the Hornets better; you think they’d listen to me, anyway? I mean they listen to my questions at press conferences but I certainly doubt they’d entertain my opinion.

I’m just a guy who wants you out there in the Hornetsphere to take a breather, stop watching Timberwolves games for your own mental well-being…

And instead, follow along with me as I dive into some things I’d like you to watch for in the next three Charlotte preseason games rather than the final result alone.

Tidjane Salaün is fighting for his Hornets career. Will one of his performances finally reflect that?

This one is tough because while it’s hard to write that tagline, I hate overly bashing players.

This isn’t bashing Tidjane, though. This is God’s honest truth. I’d like to think Tidjane wouldn't just know that already, but he’d also respect that I’m being honest about the reality here.

If not, at least I’ve approached it properly, because at the end of the day, it’s my duty to be honest about what’s happening out there on the floor.

More people should and COULD take that journalistic responsibility more seriously without committing borderline defamation, but that’s the purpose for this large caveat. I digress.

Salaün isn’t lacking talent, and he’s not even lacking potential. That’s the hardest part about this conversation. Was he a bust relative to his draft selection? 1000%. But he just turned 21, has visibly been outstanding in the weight room, and HAS improved.

The problem isn’t any of those things. It’s that Tidjane is an unfortunate victim of his circumstances.

The Charlotte Hornets have 3 weeks to decide if they want to pick up Salaün’s ~ $10M dollar team option to keep him under control until the conclusion of the 2027-28 season. Progress or not, that is a lot of cap space allocated to the guy sitting 14th on the pecking order roster-wise… only ahead of a rookie 6-foot guard in Anderson Jr. (my opinion).

That’s the unfortunate circumstance Tidjane has fallen victim to. He’s made progress that Charlotte’s happy with given the raw prospect he was as the 6th overall pick out of France.

I don’t, however, know that Salaün’s made enough money to warrant paying him 10 million next year on a hope and a whim. That’s why he’s playing for his Hornets career.

His role in the game Tuesday reflects that, too, if you look hard enough. Salaün played 28 minutes against Brooklyn, an almost 10-minute gap playing time between the Hornets’ second-highest minutes getter in fellow Frenchman Moussa Diabaté.

In which ways do teams continue to defend Dennis Schröder when he has shooters on the floor?

Dennis Schröder showed himself against Brookyln to be exactly what Charles Lee mentioned he’d be for this Hornets team– someone who can bring paint touches into the fold.

He did that early and often against the Nets, and he’s a major part of the reason that game was close in the first half. Defensively, he’ll have his issues. But that’s not the detail I’m looking for in the rest of the preseason.

My eyeballs are on, “Can Dennis be versatile in the KINDS of advantages he creates, or will he be a one trick type of pony for the Hornets this year?”

Now, what I mean by that is Schröder DOES get paint touches, and going downhill – particularly when he’s bringing the ball up on the weak side of the court – immediately creates a two on one situation if the weak side corner defender helps down to help on Schröder’s penetration.

In those situations, obviously it’s ideal to find the corner shooter, especially with a roster like Charlotte with so many shooters available. Dennis will do that, but it depends on the help defense coming down to meet him at the rim, and for defenses to consistently do that, Dennis has to make his shots and create shots at the cup.

Is that his biggest asset, advantage-creation wise? That’s what I’m looking for this preseason from the backup PG. I’m doubtful he can create any more variety of advantages at this point in career… But this IS his strongest asset – and Charlotte has the perfect roster to accentuate it.

I’m just worried about whether there are more areas on this roster and its accentuation to his playstyle can help Dennis find more ways to create 2 on 1’s.

Efficiency aside: Can Naz Reid continue to get to… ANY spot he wants offensively?

Look – I was hoping to see a better performance from Naz Reid in his first Hornets’ appearance, too.

What was important for me to see in the gaps of his inefficient shooting night, though?

Reid’s ability to find his shot virtually anywhere on the offensive end of the floor is even more impressive than some in Minnesota made it out to be. Reid took advantage of a mismatch in the post on Terrance Mann vs BKN and hit the fadeaway mid range that made Eric Collins go crazy.

He got a few attempts at the rim even though he didn’t finish, and he found a myriad of ways to get open behind the 3-point line. He didn’t pour it on beyond the arc, but nonetheless, this IS what Reid’s capable of.

A simple one here, but I’m not worried about Reid’s efficiency. I want to continue to see him get to all kinds of spots and show he can be someone who, throughout the season, can get a late shot-clock shot attempt off from almost anywhere and be capable of making it.

Charlotte called him “unique” all offseason, and frankly, that’s what they meant by it. Not many 4’s in this league are capable of doing that whatsoever. Defensive issues aside, as a 2nd/3rd option, this offensive versatility will be so massive for a team in Charlotte lacking top-end talent at the moment.

Four of their five starters are capable of advantage creation, and the fact that when one has the ball, a defense will always have to acknowledge White/Miller/Knueppel are waiting somewhere to expose any brief advantage Reid can give on offense.

I’ll be bag-watching Naz Reid all season in the best kind of way. I don’t mind his money, just show me the jelly, big.

Liam McNeeley himself said his turnovers have to stop. We know he can shoot, but can he prove himself with the ball in his hands?

Liam has potentially had the most rollercoaster summer of anyone on the team:

He was lights out in Summer League, was bragged on by the coaches in exit interviews, and has the skillset to fit right into what Charles Lee wants to do on offense given his shooting ability.

The issue in both Summer League and against Brooklyn the other night has never been the offense, though; it’s been the consistent turnovers with McNeeley out on the floor. You can tell he’s improved his handle, but it can still get tighter.

The decisions to pass out could be crisper when he goes to the cup and realizes he’s barreling towards an inefficient rim attempt. It’s really subtle for Liam, but this TO issue and ability to be EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY more crisp in his offensive decision making will decide whether he finds himself playing any form of rotation minutes for Charles Lee this year.

He’ll play, no doubt. But the rotation is tighter than people realize… I’ve mapped it out. There are a lot of wing options ahead of Liam, and with Miller and Knueppel out, this is a HUGE chance for Liam to show he can tighten up those turnover issues on a game to game basis rather than leave the coaches thinking it’s still a consistent problem he hasn’t quite worked through yet.

That’s what Liam’s biggest challenge will be all offseason, and it’s where your eyes need to be for McNeeley rather than worrying about if his perfect 3-point form shot falls or not. The shot is good. Show us what else you have, Liam. I know there’s more there, and clearly he thinks so, too.

How does Moussa continue to adjust offensively after being a bit of a non-factor against Brooklyn?

Diabaté clearly struggled due to the lack of offensive creation available to Charlotte on Tuesday night, let’s be clear.

But we’re all aware of Moussa’s offensive limitations outside of his rebounding – but we didn’t even see much of that against the Nets. He had two blocks, but both were on the same early possession for BKN. Lackaidesical doesn’t feel like the right word…

But very shortly said, I want to see Diabate IMPOSE himself physically. He’s adapting to a lot, and this is by no means to say he can’t fix it… but he has to fix it before the season starts.

We know his skillsets. In order to best bring those niche skillsets out best? Bringing those out for Diabate is a MOUSSA thing. When he sets the tone with physicality, it tended to look different last year in the regular season than what it looked like in preseason game one.

The rust has to be knocked off for everyone, but this will be a massive focus for me when I’m watching tonight. His tone-setting makes everyone better, top to bottom.

Ryan Kalkbrenner is struggling to find ways to impact the game, but Lee is putting him in unfavorable circumstances/matchups on purpose, I believe:

Kalkbrenner isn’t obtuse enough not to understand that the Charlotte Hornets just drafted a C in the lottery.

The good thing for Ryan? His skillset is still one Charlotte doesn’t have elsewhere on the roster, with or without the addition of rookie Hannes Steinbach.

That skillset has just NOT been on its best display going all the way back to Summer League. He’s struggled catching the ball at times, and even to be a high-level rebounder… and it seems Charles Lee is really trying to bring that fire out of Ryan again that we saw after he returned from his elbow injury last season.

I think that’s why we’re seeing Charles Lee play him for so many minutes in matchups where his niche skillset defensively isn’t going to be enough. They’re trying to test him in drop coverage, and they’re trying to test him against players his size who can be perimeter threats and keep Ryan away from where he does the most damage.

Ultimately, this will make Kalkbrenner a better situational player and hopefully help him not be so reliant on what he thrived at while with Creighton alone. Charlotte clearly wants to make him more usable because they need his rim deterrence desperately…

But he has to continue to show improvement this preseason against these matchups that are out of his comfort zone. Otherwise, I truly believe Steinbach will ever-so-slowly eat into his minutes the longer the season goes on.

Huge preseason for Ryan, and I haven’t heard much chatter about it.

Remember folks… look for tangible improvement. Don’t look for wins.

I’ll see you guys on the other side.

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