‘Same Old Song’ as Hornets Wrap Another Disappointing Season

Despite double-digit scoring from five Charlotte Hornets players in a game that featured no regular starters from either side, the Hornets dropped a seventh straight game on Sunday to wrap their season 2024-25 season on Sunday — winning just one of their final 13 games and ending the season with a 19-63 record. 

After piling loss on top of loss with key players going down with long-term injuries left and right throughout the season, the Four Tops’ “It’s the Same Old Song” played in my head as they walked off the floor at TD Garden on Sunday. 

With a new regime in place for the 2024-25 season, there was hope for measurable improvement. The injuries, however, make it hard to even reasonably assess the job that first-year head coach Charles Lee did, but it’s his record nonetheless. 

LaMelo Ball played in 47 games, which was more than he participated in during either of the previous two years, but it’s getting to the point where you wonder if the Hornets can count on him to play enough games to make the impact he needs to for the team to ascend at all. 

Brandon Miller played in only 27 games in his sophomore year, with Grant Williams appearing in just 16 and Tre Mann, who looked like an early candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, coming in at 13. Mark Williams played in just over half the team’s games. 

What to make of Lee’s first season

I am going to give coach Lee a pass, not because it’s his first year but because it’s especially difficult to judge a coach’s cooking when he’s lost nearly all of his key ingredients. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t evaluate him on what we did see. 

Coach Lee is all about positivity. No matter what befell the team, the coach never got down on himself or his players — at least not publicly. 

Lee’s easy to like with his warm, welcoming presence and patient demeanor. I never saw him get irritated at the questions thrown his way following a loss and his players seem to like playing for him. 

Behind closed doors, does he let his real feelings show? I remember talking to a Chicago Cubs player back in 2004 about manager Dusty Baker, who was deemed “a player’s manager.” He divulged that Baker was a straight shooter behind closed doors, letting a player know bluntly what he expected from him, but only in his office and certainly not in front of the press corps. 

Is Lee doing the same? 

Before the season started, the coach stressed defense would be a focus and the team did improve some in that area, finishing at 23rd in “team defensive efficiency” for the season compared to dead last the previous year. 

The offense was an entirely different story. 

Lee told us in March that he thought the O looked “pretty good” at that point: “I don’t know what the numbers are going to say in every category and sometimes they’re not friendly, but I do think we have been able to create some good looks. I think the guys are trusting the pass and trying to play with pace.” 

Hearing that answer, I wondered if we had been watching different teams. 

Most notably, I found Lee’s seemingly inexplicable rotations to be baffling. Nick Smith Jr.’s minutes fluctuated without any knowable correlation to performance while Moussa Diabate would face long stretches on the bench just when he would appear to be putting in great effort.

What’s in store for Lee’s second season? Losing can become a habit fast in this league, and it’s a habit this franchise has already formed, not having made the playoffs since 2016. Lee was hired to break that habit, not join in on it. 

Can Lee turn Ball into a winning player instead of a stats collector and highlight machine? Will he make Miller more of a weapon in his third season? The second overall 2023 draft pick played well before his injury, but not to the level he appears capable of. 

The bottom line is: I don’t know if he’s a good coach yet and I’d be lying if I declared that I did just to have a take. I’m hoping we get a clearer picture of Lee next year if he’s able to operate with a healthy team for at least a majority of the season.  

Were the Hornets looking to the future this year? 

While their record was bad, the Hornets still have a lot of assets to play with in the form of future draft picks. Some of those were attained by former front office leader Mitch Kupchak, when he acquired what could become invaluable picks from Dallas and Miami with limited protections, but they are still a few years away from maturing. 

Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson is the man to watch behind the scenes. He added more picks with his dealings and has been willing to take on players or salary commitments if he feels it might pay off in the long run. 

Peterson traded with Dallas for Josh Green last July, hoping to add his defensive presence to the backcourt. Green started 67 games but didn’t make much of an impression in his first season in Charlotte. 

Diabate was an under-the-radar pickup on a two-way contract, but he played so well early on that the Hornets gave him a three-year deal. He adds athleticism and strong defense, plus he’s an excellent rebounder, especially on the offensive boards. 

At his season-ending press conference, Peterson continued to center Ball, saying, “He’s our engine and as he goes, we go,” while promising “we’re not going to skip steps” in building the team around him. 

Much of the Hornets’ future depends on getting lucky at the draft lottery on May 12, where generational talent Cooper Flagg awaits. There are thoughts that Peterson might shake things up this summer with some big-name trades. Don’t be surprised if Mark Williams gets moved (again), but until we see how the pingpong balls bounce or Peterson’s plan for the offseason, we can only speculate. 

Was drafting Tidjane Salaun the right decision?

What we can judge are the decisions Peterson has made since coming into his role last March. With the sixth pick in June’s draft, the Hornets selected one of the youngest players available, Tidjane Salaun from France. 

Salaun played 60 games for the Hornets, averaging just over 20 minutes a game. At the post-draft press conference, Peterson raved about Salaun’s potential. He was still high on him after the season ended when evaluating his rookie year. 

“We knew there was going to be a learning curve,” Peterson said of Salaun. “The reason we drafted him was for the intangibles. He’s an incredible worker, an incredible competitor. The guy’s in the gym more than anyone. He wants to be great and if we had to do it again, we would. At the end of the day, he’s going to maximize himself and we still believe he’s going to be a consistent rotational piece on this team.” 

Peterson passed on drafting Matas Buzelis, who went to the Chicago Bulls at pick No. 11. He was originally projected to be a top 5 pick and to possibly even go first. I asked Lee when the Hornets played the Bulls on April 6 what he thought of Buzelis. 

“With his length and his size and his aggression level and overall competitiveness, I see a guy who can be a great two-way player,” Lee said of the Lithuanian American forward. “Offensively, he’s been able to shoot it pretty well and he’s been able to drive it and he’s pretty athletic. He’s kind of like a Swiss Army knife, so I think that helps him down the road.” 

Bulls coach Billy Donovan has been hesitant to utilize rookies, so Buzelis didn’t get the opportunities Salaun did earlier in the season. His numbers have been climbing since he started getting more minutes, but to really appreciate Buzelis, check out his highlights. 

Now that the season is over, I still see a very raw player in Salaun, who probably should have played in the G League this year (and next). He’s not that athletic and his basketball instincts are lacking, as he often looks lost on the court. 

His 1-11 shooting in the final game of the season, including 1-7 from 3, was indicative of his shooting struggles, as he finished shooting 28% from the arc with a 33% field goal percentage that would have been the worst in the league if he had enough attempts to qualify. 

He’s been more aggressive going to the basket lately and his passing isn’t bad, but right now, I’m seeing his ceiling as being a rotation player and not someone worth passing on Buzelis for. I think, with hindsight, the pick was a regretful one.

Catching up with Curry

One Hornets player whose performance I have no qualms with this season hasn’t actually played with the team since 1998, and retired in 2002 as the franchise’s all-time scoring leader. He still travels with the team day in and day out as a color analyst for the team’s television broadcasts, working alongside Eric Collins. 

He’s also a team dad, as his younger son Seth joined the squad early in 2024. I caught up with Dell following the recent game against the Bulls to chat about his former team’s rough go of it, LaMelo Ball and how his other son, Steph, has reshaped the way the game is played.

Queen City Nerve: In more than 36 seasons as a franchise, the Hornets have yet to reach a conference finals, nor have they won a playoff series since 2002. Why do you think that is and what do they need to do to change that? 

Dell Curry: It’s a tough league to win in. You’ve got to have a lot of things fall into place. You’ve got to have good draft choices. You’re got to have players that want to win and stick to it, and of course, you’ve got to be healthy. It’s hard to get all of those things to align at the same time. 

That’s why you see so many teams fluctuate between getting some of the accolades you mentioned and not. You have to be able to sustain that. You have to build a culture and a winning tradition and find a way to sustain that with a lot of factors that could get in the way of that. 

What are they missing? 

A lot of things I just said and you have to have luck involved as well. You know the draft, you can have a few guys at the top who are no-miss draft choices. You have to have a lot of luck for those guys to hit and develop. 

What are your thoughts on LaMelo, from the time he has been able to stay on the court? 

I think his game is still improving. He’s a talent, a fun guy to watch, a guy that you would pay to buy a ticket to come and watch, obviously, but still learning and still a young guy. It’s his fifth year in the league and some injuries have set him back as far as finishing out seasons, so I think he’s got to get past that. I think this staff knows that and he knows that now. 

Do you think he can play off guard and what would that do to his game? 

I don’t think he’s an off guard … He’s a point guard. He’s a guy you want the ball in his hands the way he shoots it and makes decisions and creates gravity for defense. He opens so many things up for the other guys. You can take him off the ball just to relieve some of that pressure, but he’s a guy you want the basketball to be in his hands. 

You were a legendary 3-point shooter and your son Steph is the greatest ever. Even Seth currently has a higher 3-point percentage than Steph. [Seth went on to claim the league 3-point percentage title.] That being said, a lot of critics think teams are shooting too many 3s now. What are your thoughts on the topic? 

They say Steph changed the game. There’s a lot of guys shooting a lot of 3s and there’s a big difference between shooting and making. Steph is a volume shooter and makes a lot of 3s. Seth is not that volume guy because of the teams he’s been on but he’s still accurate. That’s what makes the league exciting to watch. You know it’s a fast-paced game … a lot of 3s going up. I like where we’re at so I wouldn’t change it. 

But do you think it’s winning basketball? 

The Warriors have won four times, so I think it is winning basketball.