Charlotte Hornets: The favorites to win the NBA’s Southeast?
The Charlotte Hornets have quietly emerged as the best team in the NBA’s Southeast Division; could this finally be their year to win it?
Entering the 2018 NBA season very few analyst and media members believed that the Charlotte Hornets could be a contender for the Southeast Division title.
Some could see the Hornets as a possible playoff team, one that maybe snuck in as the last seed but none mentioned the possibility of Charlotte being the division’s best. In the Hornets franchise history the best they’ve ever finished in their division was second, but this season is shaping up to give them their best shot at a first division title.
As the season approaches the middle of December the Hornets currently lead the division by 1.5 games and have a 13-13 record. The Hornets have looked like the best team in the division and they currently own a 5-1 record against their division.
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The biggest threats in the division are the Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards. The Miami Heat are also in the mix but the Heat’s 1-7 record against the Southeast Division suggest that it’ll be hard to see them as a true division title contender without some changes happening.
As for the Magic and Wizards, they are 1.5 and 2.5 games back of the Hornets and both have 3-2 records against their division.
The Magic are 12-15 on the season and currently sit as the 8th and final playoff team in the Eastern Conference. Orlando has the NBA’s 27th best offense by offensive rating and the league’s 15th best defense by defensive rating.
The Magic do have one of the NBA’s best turnover percentages at 11.7 which is 4th best in the league. It’s hard to see the Magic being the division winner but it’s looking like anything could happen in the Southeast.
The Washington Wizards are the most talented team in the Southeast but also the most volatile and it’s because of chemistry that the Wizards are 11-16 overall and seem poised to eventually blowing up their dysfunctional roster. The Wizards have the leagues 19th best offense and 27th best defense.
Washington has chemistry issues for the last few seasons and it appears now that management may be willing to deal one of their premier players in hopes of salvaging the team. As of now the asking price for Bradley Beal is too high and John Wall’s contract make him almost untraceable to most teams.
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So for the Charlotte Hornets to win the Southeast division for the first time in franchise history they will need to simply be the most consistent team in the division. Kemba Walker has been outstanding this season and if the Hornets can make a move to acquire some scoring help then maybe this Charlotte team could be more of a threat to the teams not in the top 4 in the Eastern Conference.