hornets draft history 2012 - 2024

[fatlever]

Sitting here thinking today about the decision the Hornets will have on draft night where they will most likely have their choice of 3 of their 4 players - Ace, VJ, Tre, kon - and how that decision will pan out several years down the road.

I thought it would be interesting to look back at the last 10 years or so of drafts and based off the best of my memory of who I think the Hornets were considering at each of the picks, when they were on the clock, and how those decisions impacted the franchise.

2024 - 6th - salaun, clingan, buzelis, knecht - (I really think these are the four players that were most linked to the Hornets leading up to draft day)

2023 - 2nd - miller, scoot - (this was really just a two-player race)

2022 - 13th, 15th - duren, williams, abaji, griffin, eason (obviously made the dumb decision to trade duren - classic trading $1 for four quarters)

2021 - 11th - bouk, moody, sengun, kispert (classic falling knife. I do think the Hornets were very interested in sengun, who apparently had good workouts with the Hornets.)

2021 - 19th - kai, jalen lohnson (Hornets later came out and said they considered taking Kai at 11. Weird they passed on Jalen know who they worked out twice and by all accounts had a very good workout)

2020 - 3rd - melo, okongwu (I think the option here was take whoever fell from the top three or trade back for okongwu. Pretty sure the Hornets would have taken Wiseman over melo if given the choice)

2019 - 12th - pj, (this one is tough because I don't quite remember who else we were linked to that was available),

2018 - 12th - miles, sga, porter jr (clearly we chose poorly on this one. SGA had been linked all week to the Hornets and wanted to be in Charlotte. I don't think Miles even worked out for the Hornets. mpj was also in the mix most likely)

2017 - 11th - monk, mitchell (I think it really just came down to these two. I think we were fully prepared to take Mitchell until monk fell)

2016 - 22nd - traded for marco early on draft day - (another tough one. I think we really did like Brogdon here had we stayed in the draft. Crazy that siakam, dejounte, zubac and brogdon all went Within next 10-15 picks. This is easy one to point to as being just an awful decision by the front office.)

2015 - 9th - frank, winslow, boston trade, booker (one of the most hotly debated drafts both during before and after. I do remember Clifford being very high on Booker in pre-draft workouts. I think that's who Clifford wanted. Clearly the Boston Trade was also a better option but as we later found out the front office was hilariously unprepared for that scenario)

2014 - 9th - vonleh, mcdermott, saric, lavine (I think Clifford wanted McDermott, but another falling knife situation. I think Saric and Lavine were also in play)

2013 - 4th - zeller, len, mclemore (I'm not sure Noel was in play here due to his injury. We know the Hornets were very much interested in len. mclemore also was in play. I think the Hornets were hoping otto fell. What a terrible draft at the top)

2012 - 2nd - mkg, robinson, beal, barnes, trade for harden (sadly I think had the Hornets not drafted mkg their next pick would have been Thomas Robinson AKA Thor. I don't think Drummond was ever really in playing since we had just drafted Biz in the previous draft, same goes for Lillard since we just drafted kemba. There was an outside shot maybe we were considering beal/barnes. And then of course rumor came out sometime after the draft that there was consideration of trading the second pick to okc for harden)

What does everyone else remember about these drafts? Not what you would have done in that situation, but who the Hornets were linked to heading into those drafts for the players available when they selected.

[KingCat]

Rich Cho was a basketball terrorist that sent this organization back a decade.

Kupchak was one of our better GMs but still not great.

Between 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022 I don't think you can find a more embarrassing collection of draft blunders.
People here have been laboring over bad lottery luck, but we absolutely shoot ourselves in the foot when ever decent opportunities comes knocking.

[JDR720]

The most frustrating thing about this is we had plenty of chances to draft good, if not star, players that we were interested in. And we just... passed on them.

[HornetJail]

2012 - I was between MKG and Drummond. thought the team could've drafted either of them, Beal or Barnes (though Barnes more for the UNC connection than his actual basketball talent). At least we got a great defender for many years.

2013 - I was scared shirtless that we were going to go all in on Anthony Bennett and straight up dancing when I found out Cleveland fell on that sword for us. I don't think I liked any of our options. I couldn't talk myself into any of the top prospects and just wanted to trade down into the 7-10 range for Steven Adams (let me cook) or Shabazz Muhammad (oops), maybe Trey Burke even though he would've been a terrible fit with Kemba (also oops). Honestly Zeller didn't turn out bad compared to the other top 7 players, he just shouldn't have been asked to be a long-term answer to our starting C spot.

2014 - There was no passing on Vonleh. He was too good a prospect, just didn't pan out. I can't blame this one at all. I really liked McDermott and I think the team would definitely draft him if Vonleh wasn't available. The right kind of offensive player on the wings, as we would've been building around All-NBA Al Jefferson. The PJ Hairston pick annoyed me, because I thought Napier was the right man for the backup job behind Kemba.

2015 - I agreed with Cho's picks until this one. Frank Kaminsky was an unforgivable blunder. Winslow looked like the sure thing at this point (even though he wound up not being that), the infamous Boston late picks offer or Turner (who I remember not liking as a prospect for whatever reason) or Booker were all right there and vastly better options than Frank, a guy that very clearly was going to be totally outmatched at the next level. He was never physical enough to play C or quick enough to defend forwards, his only path to success was if he was an A+ level shooter, which he was not. In hindsight, this was the first major mistake that would ultimately doom the Kemba era.

2016 - I remember us having some interest in Brogdon before trading that pick for Belinelli. Would've definitely solved quite a few of our issues trying to build around Kemba the next few years...

2017 - ah the famous Cho/Cliff/MJ power struggle. If I'm remembering it right, Cliff wanted to trade for Dwight and draft Donovan Mitchell. the rest of the org wanted nothing to do with Dwight, and to draft Malik Monk instead. In true Hornet fashion, we managed to get the worst of both worlds. If that is how it went down, Clifford's refusal to attempt to develop or play Monk was for sure just a temper tantrum. 2nd round of that draft had a few gems in it, we picked Dwayne Bacon over Hartenstein, Dillon Brooks, and Monte Morris, who all could have contributed but of course it's just the luck of the draw at #40.

2018 - The SGA for Bridges swap will never make sense to me. Not that I or anyone else could have seen SGA becoming an MVP level player, but imo SGA the prospect, was the absolute perfect complement to Kemba in our backcourt. For a while, Bridges looked like he was good enough to ignore it, until the... events of 2022. And then of course SGA explodes. At least Devonte' was a really nice 2nd round pick, easily the best in our franchise's history.

2019 - I think we clearly had no insight into how Kupchak was approaching this one, as basically everyone assumed Kemba would be in the fold. I think a lot of us were just expecting a trade to get him some actual help. PJ was the safe pick and has turned out kind of how many expected he would, and better than pretty much anyone picked behind him except Herro. It would have been extremely easy to draft a bust in that terrible 2019 draft.

2020 - I really truly believed we would want nothing to do with Melo. Thought we'd go Okongwu or even Halliburton. Even with all the injuries, he's had a better career than I could've possibly envisioned. Ant and Wiseman were pretty much the main two guys of that draft, and I think there's no way we wouldn't have picked whichever was left over if GSW or MIN had scooped up Melo for themselves.

2021 - double dipping in disaster here with Bouk and Kai. The irony is we would've been far better off if we'd just picked Kai Jones at #11 like was rumored, and then if the Knicks offer for #19 was still on the table, we could've picked one of the several good players that were picked in the 20s of that 2021 draft. This is where signing Hayward, and not tanking 2020-21 really killed us. There were eight real talents at the top of that draft. Picking 11th was a no-win range.

2022 - what a weird outcome this draft wound up. We had #13 and #15, and personally I would've been prepared to pool both those picks to move up to draft Mark Williams if we had to. We wound up not having to do any of that, he fell all the way to us when no prospect of his caliber ever should have... and then we decided that was enough and decided to essentially punt the other pick for nothing. I still think Mark was an absolute coup for us, but the mismanagement of #13 was just maddening.

I do have a theory about that draft though. I believe we could have been looking at J-Dub (or Dieng) and when OKC traded with the Knicks to move up ahead of us so that they could draft both of those forwards. When they did that, Kupchak was probably caught without a backup plan and panic sold the pick to the first team to answer their phone.

2023 - this was always going to be Scoot or Miller. I was very surprised it wasn't Scoot, but so far, it definitely looks like Miller was actually the right choice. Our asset management in the 2nd round wound up being hillllarrrrrrious (in a bad way)

2024 - I don't understand how you can begin to justify Salaun in any capacity. Wonder if we hoped Sheppard or Castle would fall into our laps at #6. This draft was a lot like 2013 imo, where there was nobody I was dying to get, every prospect available had a couple red flags, but I don't understand not taking Clingan when your team has major issues with size, your current C just lost an entire season to a back injury, you have no backup C. I would have gladly taken the package Minnesota gave the Spurs for Dillingham. Salaun wasn't even the BPA of his own archetype of "raw ass tweener forward". Passing on the bigs, and then attempting to trade Mark Williams for Knecht (another guy we passed on in the draft for Salaun) without another C in place was yet another reason it's really really tough to be optimistic Jeff Peterson knows what he's doing.

Maybe some day before my 70th birthday, the Hornets will not be horrifically mismanaged at all levels at once.

[fatlever]

2015 - I agreed with Cho's picks until this one. Frank Kaminsky was an unforgivable blunder. Winslow looked like the sure thing at this point (even though he wound up not being that), the infamous Boston late picks offer or Turner (who I remember not liking as a prospect for whatever reason) or Booker were all right there and vastly better options than Frank, a guy that very clearly was going to be totally outmatched at the next level. He was never physical enough to play C or quick enough to defend forwards, his only path to success was if he was an A+ level shooter, which he was not. In hindsight, this was the first major mistake that would ultimately doom the Kemba era.

All the talk about Turner leading into that draft had something to do with his foot/leg injuries and something about the way he ran. There was all kinds of videos or people talking about how he ran funny looked like he wasn't moving well. Mobility issues. It all turned out to be either smokescreen or overblown ****.

[Braggins]

The reaction in the Hornets draft chat when they announced the Kaminsky pick was one of the funniest moments Ive experienced as a Hornets fan.

[HornetJail]

also fun little fact, I've been out of the country for 3 of these 13 drafts. Each team, they have done something completely inexplicable that was impossible to justify in the moment. 2015, 2016, 2024

[Bassman]

My word…the worst part of this team has been their drafting performance. The best picks made were the easily Melo and Miller. Almost all others, including the trades around those picks, were poor to horrendous. Pathetic evaluation, owner intrusiveness and crappy GM’s all polluted the well. Never forgive them for trading away SGA. I couldn’t believe he was still available, thrilled when we selected him, disgusted that we traded him.

[Diop]

2012 was gut wrenching as we really deserved AD. I remember liking Thor Robinson but wasn't gutted when they picked MKG. Remember Bonnell who liked criticising saying he spoke to a few scouts who said that MKG was the clear 2nd best pick. just couldn't get his head right, wish he went to spurs they would have known what to do with him.

2013 was gross, i think i wanted mclemore, but zeller was the guy they liked and in hindsight was probably a solid/decent pick. that draft was gross. Cj McCollum was probably the hidden gem.

2014 Vonleh was the big faller, big guy who could put the ball on the floor. had no brains though, a lot of guys wanted zach lavine who would have bene exciting at least. The trade for Batum seemed to make it worth it at first, Batum fit nicely to what we wanted, until we needed more from him and that was never going to happen.

2015 Frank was a reach, i think i wanted to trade or Winslow. deep draft in hindsight, we just picked the wrong player. terrible decision. Booker had plenty of fans, they are right to gloat

2016 was so dumb, why trade for Marco? Seriously?? Cho felt so transactional at time. "You want vet shooting, here I trade for 1." Done. I remember wanting Zubac too. I wanted a big white russian. got stuck with a wog.

2017 when I had to admit Clifford was smarter than me. He REALLY wanted Mitchell, i wanted Monk. not a terrible draft really both have had better careers than some of the players picked before them.

2018 SGA was a strong, oversized point guard, but we wanted the high flying Miles. Still not a terrible pick and better than a lot of other teams did. (Looking at you Sacramento, what were you thinking Vlade?)

2019 I dont remember much about this one, PJ seemed like a safe solid pick. And we found Caleb Martin in the scrap heap

2020 Easiest spot for a GM, whatever of the big 3 were left we took. GSW saved us with picking Wiseman.

2021 this one made me angry. I first saw Sengun mid year when someone (probably draftexpress) showes footage of him playing in Euro, and I loved how physical and smart he played. instead we went to the falling player, who probably gave flags during his interviews with other teams as he wasn't right and ready for the NBA. then we traded in to get Kai, we seriously decided that we could ignore the mental side of basketball that year. that was a terrible draft, probably the worst.

2022 the trade away because there were already to many young people in the team. "it wasnt prudent" that alone made it stink. I liked the Williams pick, but what a waste of another pick

2023 Miller was the right pick even though there was TON of pressure to take Scoot

2024 Salaun got in for his maniacal effort, but is unlikely to pan out. was a bad draft but this is likely to look bad in hindsight.

[Diop]

overall I'm not as upset as i thought i would be. there some misses but some ok and understandable.

2021 the worst for me, trading back into the 1st round to make sure you have 2 headcases was terrible

[fatlever]

part 2: 2004 - 2011

2011 - 7th and 9th - biz, knight, kemba, klay, marcus morris, burks, leonard (Hornets were all over the place in this draft after making that trade to move up from 19 to 7 by trading sjax. For that first pick there were rumors the Hornets were big fans of Tristan Thompson and even a rumor on draft day that we might explore trading up to get him. But we also knew that cho was in love with biz. For the second pick I think the Hornets were planning to take whoever was left between knight/kemba. Luckily it worked out well. But there was also some rumors that the Hornets were looking at burks, klay and Marcus Morris. I don't remember exactly how much we were linked to Leonard but he did fall a little bit on draft night)

2010 - no pick - I think this was traded away in the tyrus trade - thanks Larry

2009 - 12th - Henderson, Hansbrough, daye (this one's a little bit fuzzy in my memory in terms of who we were linked to other than Henderson and Hansbrough, I do seem to remember daye being mentioned. There was a big debate on the board between derozan and Terrence Williams of both were gone by the time we picked)

2008 - 9th - augustin, lopez (we all remember this story. Lopez was projected to go top 5. Somehow he fell and landed to us at 10. We were basically on the way to the podium when Larry Brown pitched a fit like a 5 year old and demanded we take Augustin. higgins/mj caved)

2008 - 20th - ajinca (total disaster of a pick. Larry Brown project. I think the Bobcats saw a string of big men that were about to be available and made the deal to trade for this pick. I think the players they really wanted all went right before this pick happened, hibbert, javale, hickson. What's a bummer is there were some legit NBA players that went right after this pick - ryan anderson, ibaka, Courtney Lee, batum, george hill. You could have not messed that pick up any worse than we did)

2007 - 8th - traded for Jason Richardson. (We drafted Brandon wright in that deal for the Warriors. I don't believe that was the player we would have taken had we kept the pick. We had been linked all week to noah and he was a seamless fit for what we needed at the time. One of the angriest draft night I've ever had. Not just that we traded for an empty calorie player instead of Noah which is who I wanted. But also that we gave away precious cap space in doing it and rescued the Warriors from a potential cap situation. Higgins was a truly awful GM)

2007 - 22 - dudley (I have absolutely no memory if we were linked to anyone else here)

2006 - 3rd - ammo, roy, gay (I think the pick can come down to these three. I do think the Hornets genuinely liked Roy but when he decided to be a bitch about playing for the Hornets it solidified ammo as the pick.)

2005 - 5th - felton, webster, villanueva (I'm not sure the last two were ever really in play but those were the other two names I remember being linked to at that pick. I think the Hornets were prepared to take whichever of deron, paul, felton was left. Obviously we all know the rumored trade of packaging 5 and 13 to move up. sigh.

2005 - 13th - may, granger, green (the Hornets definitely liked Granger but we're scared off about his knee. Gerald Green was the darling of the draft and had been mocked as high as top five and weeks leading up to the draft. A lot of people were screaming for us to take green with that pick instead of may. For the record I really didn't hate the Sean May pick. he was phenomenal in that 2005 tournament run. And when he was healthy for the Bobcats he was actually really good. just could not stay healthy. That being said the red flags about his weight and partying and not taking basketball as seriously as he should were everywhere in unc circles and the Hornets had all kinds of connections to Chapel Hill and this should have been very well known)

2004 - 2nd - okafor (the Hornets were going to take whoever fell between Dwight and Okafor. The only debates for this draft were prior to the trade up from 4th - when it was looking like Livingston or childress. Those were the two that were linked the most to the Bobcats that draft)

[Bassman]

Gotta lay the blame on these pick disasters. GM’s are ultimately responsible but coaches come into play…plus plenty of owner interference from MJ. Don’t forget how George Shinn pushed for the Carolina twins!

Rich Cho, the “great analytics master”. Just horrible. Yet was surprised to learn he currently is Vice President Basketball Strategy for the Memphis Grizzlies. Either he wised up or used all his crappy experimentation while a Hornet. So many bad choices on who the Hornets put into decision making positions. Bob Bass was the very best they ever had. Mitch was OK but had to deal with Jordan’s constant interference. He was past his prime and seemed to ride the situation out towards retirement verses push for dynamic changes. I guess Bernie comes in 3rd amongst this group but it’s going downhill rapidly from there.

[amcoolio]

Yeah I'm in the camp that if we kept SGA he would be a Coby White level player right now, Sengun would be teetering staying in the league... it doesn't matter that we passed them up, we just suck in every facet of basketball and because of our extremely poor infrastructure over the years they wouldn't have developed here. If anything SGA dodged a bullet by not coming here.

This organization (and the Wizards) is so far behind the others that its going to take years of infrastructure building before we even consider having a MVP level talent here.

[GiggitySmalls]

The reaction in the Hornets draft chat when they announced the Kaminsky pick was one of the funniest moments Ive experienced as a Hornets fan.

That pick and salaun are the 2 I hate the most. At the time I think most of us were on board with bouk. But in the moment the 2 I mentioned were just mind numbing and horrible picks.

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