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Most players have their best seasons at age 27 or 28 (and Griffin is 28 years old), but research suggests for many of the best athletes in the league, their best seasons often come as early as 23 or 24 years of age. On the downside, Griffin is extremely reliant on his athleticism. Griffin averaged 21.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists last season, and increased his three-point attempts to 1.9 per game. The offense will run through Griffin most of the time, as he’s the best playmaker among the starters and Patrick Beverley isn’t a traditional pick-and-roll point guard.
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In a best-case scenario, it’s possible to imagine Griffin having an elite season on the level of his 2013-14 performance, when Griffin was third in MVP voting. Green led the league in steals with 2.0 per game in 2016-17, and averaged 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game. When compared to some of the Top 10 scorers in the NBA, Green is a markedly better player than some, despite averaging just 10.2 points per game himself. Green is also a perfect example of how a player can produce incredible value for their team without needing to score the ball. Opponents shot just 43.9 percent at the basket with Green defending the play last season, and there isn’t a guard he can’t switch on to. There isn’t another player like Green, who could simultaneously be both the best perimeter defender and rim protector in the NBA. Golden State has consistently been one of the best defenses for four years in a row, and Green is the main catalyst behind the success. DeMarcus Cousins will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and if the team starts off slow there could be a disaster in the making. With the Western Conference playoff race being extremely competitive this season, 2017-18 will be the most important year of the Pelicans franchise. Defensively, Davis has been the type of game changer scouts expected coming into the league.ĭespite Davis basically being the type of basketball player you’d come up with in a lab, the Pelicans have only been in the playoffs once during Davis’ tenure, and more importantly the front office hasn’t built the roster to succeed long term. On offense, Davis can score in a variety of ways, either from the post or attacking off the dribble. Davis is one of the most talented players, and overall the best two-way big man, currently in the NBA. Last season, Davis averaged 28.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while posting an excellent 58.0 True Shooting Percentage. There are also injury risks, and age related decline to consider. Every team loves having versatile bigs who can make a spot-up three-pointer and defend across positions, and that becomes particularly valuable in the playoffs when facing an opponent like the Golden State Warriors.
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Randle hasn’t been a positive contributor so far in his career, but that could change almost overnight.Īmong the power forwards, especially at the bottom end of these rankings, there are some borderline starters and high-end backups who could be immensely valuable to their teams in just 20 minutes per game. A player like Julius Randle is likely to put up really impressive counting stats in his fourth season, heading into restricted free agency, but how those individual statistics add up to team wins is a bigger question. One of the tougher challenges when trying to project players is where to place the young guys. I previously projected the Top 30 point guards, shooting guards and small forwards, and now it’s time for our power forward rankings for 2017-18.