The Hornets Aren't Checking the Standings, and That's Exactly the Point
It's still all about the process in Charlotte.
CHARLOTTE — There’s a version of the Charlotte Hornets that would be glued to the playoff picture right now. Refreshing the standings after every game, calculating magic numbers, and letting the external noise creep into the locker room. After years of losing, you could forgive them for it.
But that’s just not who this team is. Charlotte has won 14 of their last 17 games and is playing some of the most meaningful basketball this city has seen in a long time. Spectrum Center is loud and the fanbase is bought in. And yet, when asked Monday at practice whether there’s any temptation to peek at the standings, Charles Lee didn’t hesitate.
“No,” he said. “We are still full steam ahead on our daily process, on our improvement, our growth. Not talking about those things has put us in a position to play meaningful games, and if we continue to do what you’re supposed to do, hopefully the chips fall where they should, and we’ll still be in contention for those things.”
That answer says more than you might think. Lee isn’t giving a coach-speak response about taking it one game at a time. He’s making a genuine philosophical point: the discipline of not checking the standings is precisely what created the standings worth checking. The process produced the position, and abandoning the process to admire the position would be exactly the wrong move.
Part of what’s fueling that process is depth the Hornets haven’t had in recent memory. Lee has been creating combinations that opposing defenses haven’t had clean answers for. When asked about the experimentation, Lee was candid about what he’s seen.
“Thank goodness we’ve won, or you guys would criticize me,” he said with a laugh. “Coby [White] has such a great competitive spirit to him, but he’s also such a dynamic offensive player that we can put him in a lot of different spots. And we’re seeing Brandon, and we’re seeing Melo and we’re seeing Tre Mann get pressured a ton. It just helps having another really good ball handler out there, somebody with a great basketball IQ, that’s a three-level scorer and a really underrated playmaker. Some of his passes have been really good for us. It’s fun having that much depth.”
The confidence this team has is palpable, and it’s because they know they’re doing the right things. Kobe Bryant once spoke on his confidence, and said that it came from knowing that he’d done all he could to prepare. This team is emulating that mindset in a way.
Brandon Miller, speaking to the media after practice, pointed to the crowd energy at Spectrum Center as a driving force behind the Hornets’ recent run.
“The fans have been showing up through any condition for the past three months,” Miller said. “Having that bond and that support system from the fans helps us out for the long run. The fans help us win. We play for the fans. Encourage them to keep showing up for us. We want to keep doing what we do best.”
There’s a feedback loop happening in Charlotte right now that feels different from previous seasons. The team wins, the fans show up louder, the team feeds off that energy and wins again. Miller’s words Monday reinforced that the players feel it deeply.
The Hornets host Dallas tomorrow night with a chance to make it five in a row. If this team stays true to what Lee described: heads down, process first, eyes off the standings, the chips are going to fall exactly where they should.
Will Eudy covers the Charlotte Hornets for The Eudy Report. Follow for credentialed Hornets coverage all season.
Enjoy the coach's comments!