Preseason preview: Hornets open preseason slate against the Celtics

What: Charlotte Hornets (0-0) at Boston Celtics (0-0)

When: 1:00pm EDT

Where: TD Garden; Boston, MA

How to watch: NBATV

We’ve got Hornets basketball back on your television sets! It’s been a less than exciting offseason, but that’s all done and over with. It’s time to start talking about basketball being played on the floor.

That said, the first preseason game is likely going to be a far cry of what we see in the regular season. The teams have only had a handful of practices, which means only a few practices to establish the principles and get on the same page as the teams’ new coaches. This is especially true for the Hornets, who are probably going to be implementing some rather significant changes to their approach in certain phases of the game. Those aren’t going to be ingrained yet, so there’s a decent chance the team looks disorganized and disjointed in their first organized action together.

We’ll get our first look at how the Hornets will handle the absence of Miles Bridges, which likely means PJ Washington will slide into the starting lineup. We’ll see if he’s ready to make a fourth year leap. We’ll also see if Gordon Hayward’s physique changes alter the way he plays. We’ll also get our first look at third year LaMelo Ball, who Steve Clifford has been raving about in camp.

But perhaps more interesting will be the play of players we haven’t seen in Hornets jerseys as much. The Hornets invested a first round pick in Mark Williams. He didn’t pop in the summer league, but that’s not a good environment for bigs of his ilk. He’ll try to be more consistently impactful with a more cohesive supporting cast. A refreshed and rejuvenated James Bounknight has a chance to crack the rotation, and that starts on Sunday.

Keep in mind, we still have a couple of weeks before the games start to matter. There’s not going to be anything we can take away from this game with any confidence. Let’s just enjoy some NBA basketball.