The new NBA season begins in about two months, giving the Charlotte Hornets a new chance to finally get closer to their undeniably high performance potential.

Last year, a mixture of terrible injury luck, a lack of depth and off-field issues resulted in a disappointing finish in the league table and poor results in most statistical categories. Let’s take a look at some of the key stats and predict how they will have evolved in a year’s time.

Last season 106.6 (28th)
Forecast for next season: 115.2 (14th)

The last time the Hornets reached the postseason in 2022, they did so by boasting one of the best offenses in the league, scoring 115.3 points per game. Last season was a very different story. Lineup inconsistencies and frequent appearances by G-League-level players resulted in a point output near the bottom of the league.

No one can say for sure how well Charles Lee and his team will set up the Hornets’ new offense, or even what kind of basketball the former Celtics assistant wants to play. But LaMelo Ball dictating the game, Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges shouldering a majority of the points, and solid offensive options around the trio are enough to reach league average.

Last season 24.8 (26.)
Forecast for next season: 27.3 (10th)

There is a simple solution to this problem: LaMelo Ball needs to stay healthy! Most of those who had to fill in for him during his absence were either traded (Terry Rozier), released (Ish Smith) or are now playing in Europe (Théo Maledon and Frank Ntilikina). Vasilije Micic and Tre Mann have at least managed to fill the gap in the playmaking void somewhat after being acquired shortly before the trade deadline.

Now, with a healthy LaMelo at the helm, they can continue to thrive in a reduced role. As for Ball, he has proven in the past that he can pass the ball at a high level, leading the Hornets to an NBA-record 28.1 assists per game in 2022. It will be difficult to quickly reach those heights again under a new coach and with a revamped roster, so the goal for now should be a top-half finish.

Last season: 40.3 (30th)
Forecast for next season: 44.6 (12th)

At the risk of repeating itself, staying healthy is key. Nominal center Mark Williams, one of the league’s most talented rebounders, played in just 19 games last season due to back problems. In those 19 games, Charlotte ranked 20th with 43.3 rebounds per game. LaMelo Ball is also one of the better rebounding guards, which also impacted Charlotte’s problems.

In addition to the injury-related deficit in rebounding, the defense also took a massive hit. The Hornets didn’t have a great defensive lineman to begin with, but the constant rotation changes made the situation even worse. Miles Bridges and Co. allowed the fourth-highest field goal percentage in the NBA, which limited the opportunities for defensive rebounding.

Pretty much everything went wrong for the Hornets last season, and it showed not only on the court, but in the stats as well. This article was just a small collection of categories where Steve Clifford’s team finished at the bottom of the rankings, but there are countless other important categories like three-point percentage, steals per game, and blocks per game.

Keeping all players available will solve most of the problems, but even if some players were to be out again, it definitely wouldn’t be as catastrophic as last season. The depth Charlotte acquired around the transfer deadline has strengthened the roster to the point where there are several passable starting candidates at every position.

This allows new head coach Charles Lee to use different lineups and experiment a bit, unlike Steve Clifford, whose rotation was built around the few remaining players. While the latter had to bring players like JT Thor, Leaky Black and Bryce McGowens off the bench, Lee can call on personnel with more NBA experience, such as Josh Green, Tre Mann and Grant Williams. Given these changes, statistical improvements for the purple and teal seem almost guaranteed.