CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Even with all the struggles and an injury list that rivals the length of an income tax form, the patrons haven’t stop showing up at the Spectrum Center during the past few months.
Although the Charlotte Hornets didn’t add to their impressive sellout streak on Sunday — falling short of the mark with an announced crowd of 16,052 witnessing a 128-108 loss to Toronto — it can’t detract from an unexpected impressive feat. In amassing 15 sellouts, the Hornets have already surpassed their mark for capacity crowds in a single season since pro basketball returned to the city in 2004-05.
The feat that hasn’t gone unnoticed, either.
“It’s always good to see, and we as players, we individually appreciate the support the fans have given us so much,” Gordon Hayward said. “And it’s huge, especially when you’ve had tough times. For them to still be supporting you, that means a lot as a player. And I think they can see the potential we have when we have our whole team together and everyone is right.
“There’s certainly been games in my three years here that have been electric and a lot of fun, big games where we’ve taken down big opponents. And so it certainly has been a great time here so far.”
As they wrap up the season, which has three games remaining, the Hornets (26-53) are locked into having the NBA’s fourth-worst record. They are slowly preparing for the future and an important offseason that could have major ramifications on the organization’s direction. But before they completely move on, they can take a little solace in the flashes of positivity that have transpired even among the seemingly endless dark, cloudy days.
Such as this likely little known nugget: there was a point roughly two weeks back where the Hornets’ defensive rating of 110.7 ranked fourth in the NBA since the All-Star break. Their center tandem of Mark Williams and Nick Richards increased their rim protection, but Hayward said the players also better understood the concepts coach Steve Clifford was utilizing and the execution became much crisper.
”Certainly, the last couple of games that I played, you had about as tough a matchup as you could have with Luka (Doncic) and Kyrie (Irving),” Hayward said. “And I feel like we executed the game plan and what we wanted to do pretty well, and ended up with two big wins. Those are game you look back on when you are going into the offseason and really use that as some motivation and stuff that you can build on.
“For us as a team, it all starts defensively. I think no matter what happens on the offensive end, I think you give yourself a chance every night by defending and guarding. You’ll be in the games, and that’s something that we are just not consistent on. We started to figure it out there after the All-Star break. But that’s something that has to improve if we want to make it to the next level. We’ve got to be a team that plays defense every night.”
Hayward seems bullish on spearheading the charge. And it excites Clifford.
“He has such a good feel for the game that his decision making on defense is just as it is on offense,” Clifford said. “When to help, how much to help, who’s got the ball, all that stuff. He’s exceptional on that also. There’s not many players that help you in every phase of the game, but he does.
“To me, he’s just a really good all-around player.”
Before sitting out the past three games with a sprained left thumb, which is an injury not considered overly serious, Hayward was in the midst of his best stretch of 2022-23. He poured in 25 points to go along with a season-high nine assists in their victory in Dallas on March 24.
He racked up 20 assists in a three-game span last month and has recorded multiple assists in 22 straight games, his longest streak of the season. When LaMelo Ball fractured his right ankle last month and Terry Rozier began sitting out with right foot discomfort, it pushed a bulk of the ball-handling and facilitating duties on Hayward’s shoulders and he’s been completely fine with it.
“The playmaking piece is what I like to do more than anything else on the basketball court,” Hayward said. “It’s kind of how I grew up playing basketball. Being from Indiana and playing with the pass is just something that I enjoy doing. But I think being a playmaker is something I can help our team with. Getting into the paint, finding guys, getting guys some easy shots. So, it’s something that I need to do moving forward.”
The 50 games Hayward has logged this season represent the most he’s totaled in his three years in Charlotte and he’s optimistic it will spur him to a productive summer, allowing him to prepare effectively to better help the Hornets in their attempt to end the league’s longest playoff drought.
Given the number of ailments the Hornets have dealt with, propelling them to being among the league’s leaders in games missed due to injury, they can’t afford a repeat. It’s too demoralizing.
“Obviously first and foremost, we’ve got to take of care of our bodies this offseason,” Hayward said. “This is going to be one of the first offseasons in a while that I’ll be going into relatively healthy here, so that’s a huge plus for me and being able to train the way I want to train is instrumental to my success. It’s how I’ve always improved things.”
But Hayward hasn’t been able to do that in his previous two summers with the Hornets. His season ended prematurely due to injury in both years, and it did more than foil his availability for their play-in tournament losses. His offseason routine also got severely disrupted, putting him behind the curve a bit heading into the fall.
His meticulous schedule should remain on track over the coming weeks, though.
“That’s huge,” Hayward said. “I don’t think people understand how big that is, not having to go into the offseason rehabbing and being limited on how much training you can do, and specifically what you can do. And then you are kind of trying to build up and ramp up right before the start of the season. It’s not ideal. Training the way that I want to train and being able to work on what I want to work on will be big for me.”
Hayward also has his mind set on something else: refining his jumper.
“I want to get back to shooting it the way I can shoot it,” Hayward said. “I felt like I didn’t shoot it well this year, specifically off the dribble. And so working on that will be huge.”
