The Charlotte Hornets aren’t perfect. Far from it actually.

And even though the standings (or the history mind you) don’t exactly indicate that all is working well in the Queen City, this team may be on the road to something tangible.

The Chicago Bulls come into town on Friday night, after the Hornets enjoyed a much needed break, after going 1-3 to start off the month of December.

So leading up to Friday night’s game, there are two things that stand out for the Hornets that need to be figured out so they can catch their current opponents in the playoff race, where they stand 2.5 games out.

It’s especially hard for young teams to protect the ball at the professional level, and there’s a few aspects of the game that always come hardest for them.

Points off turnovers, second chance points and fastbreak opportunities.

And for the fastbreak, Hornets coach Charles Lee has had a hard time getting his boys to commit to stopping it.

The Hornets are currently fifth worst in the league in fastbreak points allowed, with 17.3 per game, however, there’s both good news and bad news.

The good news is that Charlotte, in front of its fans, are tied for 15th in stopping those opportunities. It’s nothing special, but if you can limit them when it’s been a pain point all season, take the wins and move on.

Conversely enough, the Bulls are one of the best teams on the fastbreak all season. Chicago has the fifth most fastbreak points in the league, but are actually ranked second when playing away from the United Center.

It doesn’t hurt that the Hornets have beanstalk rookie center Ryan Kalkbrenner to be there to stifle any incoming shooters down low, but he’s just that – a rookie.

Luckily though, Chicago is not a great offensive rebounding team, so even though Bulls center Nikola Vucevic is indeed built like a freight train, Charlotte already has that advantage without even doing anything about it.

Kalkbrenner though is going to be pivotal in this matchup, just for the sole fact that the Hornets don’t really have many big and able bodies.

There is Mason Plumlee who’s on the very tailend of his playing career, and there’s Tidjane Salaun, who in limited time has really developed a nose for the glass. 

Kalkbrenner was one of college basketball’s best interior defenders, averaging over 2.5 blocks per game over his five year career and he’s inching closer to that number averaging 1.9 in his rookie season.

A do or die type of game? Maybe not that, but a must-win to help develop the young team? You bet it is.