Being one of the best offensive teams in the league this NBA season, the Charlotte Hornets certainly look like a team that can crack the playoffs, but the Eastern Conference definitely has a lot of talented teams in it.
In year’s past, the East has always been “top-heavy” in terms of having one or two championship contending teams, but by the looks of things this season, there are several teams you could point to and make a real argument about them going far in the playoffs.
Charlotte certainly has the firepower and personnel to be a special team, but their defense has been their weak point this season. Giving up an average of 116.6 points per game (30th in the NBA) and ranking 28th in the league in defensive rating, the Hornets are going to have to try and improve if they are to make the playoffs for the first-time since 2016.
They came close last season, making the play-in tournament as the 10-seed in the Eastern Conference, but that effort was all for not after getting trounced by the Indiana Pacers in the 9-seed versus 10-seed play-in game.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Hornets-Pacers Trade Lands Myles Turner In Charlotte
LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier are all talented offensive talents in this league, but in order for the Hornets to truly take a next step as a young team on the rise in the NBA, they are going to have to fortify their defense, specifically in their frontcourt.
Bringing in Mason Plumlee in favor of Cody Zeller this past offseason was just a temporary move for the Hornets and finding a true defensive-minded center needs to be a goal for them ahead of the trade deadline.
Someone like Myles Turner from Indiana would surely make a big difference for this franchise, but a much cheaper target for Charlotte could be Knicks’ big man Mitchell Robinson. The idea was recently floated by Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz, but is it one that would work?
New York is not finding as much success this season as they did last season and with both Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson being under contract long-term, the Knicks could very much look to leverage Mitchell Robinson ahead of the trade deadline, especially since he is in the final year of his rookie contract.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Hornets-Pacers Trade Lands Myles Turner In Charlotte
At just 23-years-old, Robinson still has a lot of growing to do in terms of his talent-level, but he led the league in field goal percentage during the 2019-20 season and has averaged 2.0 blocks per game over the course of his career. Could Charlotte look to New York’s young center for answers in their own frontcourt?
Let’s take a look at a trade between the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks that is centered around Mitchell Robinson.
