2024 Draft Prospects

[GoBobs]

There's just no intellectually honest take to be made that our team is too loaded with offensive talent to prioritize that. Teams that win 14 games in a season and have bottom 5 offenses don't have the luxury of saying we've got too many scorers.

I agree that a healthy Melo and different offensive system would likely change our efficiency, but for me that doesn't change the underlying fact that we're a dog **** team offensively and it would be a mistake to turn down offensive talent just because we like our current offensive potential.

Who are your top 3 prospects you would want us to draft if we land the #1 pick?

I'm trying to see what elite offensive players you want, because honestly this draft doesn't have many of those players besides Knecht.

Elite offensive players starts with the guy leading the ncaa in scoring average.

Miller has had a great rookie year, but needs to improve his efficiency before we start talking about running things through him. He has a well below average true shooting percentage, so a team won’t win with him as a number one option unless he improves.

I hope somebody else pays Bridges in the offseason. He doesn’t box out. I would rather have Grant Williams for less money.

Good role player > 2nd tier star that lacks effort on D and rebounding

[JustBuzzin]

There's just no intellectually honest take to be made that our team is too loaded with offensive talent to prioritize that. Teams that win 14 games in a season and have bottom 5 offenses don't have the luxury of saying we've got too many scorers.

I agree that a healthy Melo and different offensive system would likely change our efficiency, but for me that doesn't change the underlying fact that we're a dog **** team offensively and it would be a mistake to turn down offensive talent just because we like our current offensive potential.

Who are your top 3 prospects you would want us to draft if we land the #1 pick?

I'm trying to see what elite offensive players you want, because honestly this draft doesn't have many of those players besides Knecht.

Elite offensive players starts with the guy leading the ncaa in scoring average.

Miller has had a great rookie year, but needs to improve his efficiency before we start talking about running things through him. He has a well below average true shooting percentage, so a team won’t win with him as a number one option unless he improves.

I hope somebody else pays Bridges in the offseason. He doesn’t box out. I would rather have Grant Williams for less money.

Good role player > 2nd tier star that lacks effort on D and rebounding

So who we replacing Miles production with in FA?

[wilson115]

I could just as easily make the argument letting the offense run through Miles helps Brandon's development. He's maybe not quite physically all the way back yet after spending a year off, but there's no denying Miles is still a physical specimen who legit demands defensive attention. So Miles in attack mode is one less big defensive wing freed up to hound Brandon. A promising rookie, but still a rookie nonetheless.

[Liver_Pooty]

I could just as easily make the argument letting the offense run through Miles helps Brandon's development. He's maybe not quite physically all the way back yet after spending a year off, but there's no denying Miles is still a physical specimen who legit demands defensive attention. So Miles in attack mode is one less big defensive wing freed up to hound Brandon. A promising rookie, but still a rookie nonetheless.

Thank you.

[yosemiteben]

There's just no intellectually honest take to be made that our team is too loaded with offensive talent to prioritize that. Teams that win 14 games in a season and have bottom 5 offenses don't have the luxury of saying we've got too many scorers.

I agree that a healthy Melo and different offensive system would likely change our efficiency, but for me that doesn't change the underlying fact that we're a dog **** team offensively and it would be a mistake to turn down offensive talent just because we like our current offensive potential.

Who are your top 3 prospects you would want us to draft if we land the #1 pick?

I'm trying to see what elite offensive players you want, because honestly this draft doesn't have many of those players besides Knecht.

Well that's a totally different argument then what you've been saying, which is that scoring talent is not even a need we should be considering.

I don't get worked up about the draft and don't have a top 3, I wait for our inevitable 2 month window after the season to get up to speed on prospects.

[JustBuzzin]

I watched Cody last night. Didn't really do much, but that was his 1st game back after the ankle injury. I think Cody has the skills but you can tell he will have to add on some more weight and he's another guy who can do a little bit of everything just not great at one thing.

Looking forward to watching Cody and Castle in the tournament.

[GoBobs]

Who are your top 3 prospects you would want us to draft if we land the #1 pick?

I'm trying to see what elite offensive players you want, because honestly this draft doesn't have many of those players besides Knecht.

Elite offensive players starts with the guy leading the ncaa in scoring average.

Miller has had a great rookie year, but needs to improve his efficiency before we start talking about running things through him. He has a well below average true shooting percentage, so a team won’t win with him as a number one option unless he improves.

I hope somebody else pays Bridges in the offseason. He doesn’t box out. I would rather have Grant Williams for less money.

Good role player > 2nd tier star that lacks effort on D and rebounding

So who we replacing Miles production with in FA?

If you look at the top teams in both conferences, the star player is going to be above, or at least very close to .600 true shooting percentage. That is what you need to be a good team. League average is usually between .55 and .58

Miles Bridges had a few good years in this area when he shot the ball well, but he has been very average this year. Bryce could probably average 21 pts if you gave him those 18 shots per game. He could probably lead us to a bottom 3 finish in the east. I would rather give those shots to Grant Williams if he is also going to box out and be reliable.

LaMelo has also never had a true shooting percentage close to .60, and Brandon Miller's is poor as well. Until one of these guys can put up points on the type of efficiency we can win with, we are looking for a guy that can do that.

[JustBuzzin]

Elite offensive players starts with the guy leading the ncaa in scoring average.

Miller has had a great rookie year, but needs to improve his efficiency before we start talking about running things through him. He has a well below average true shooting percentage, so a team won’t win with him as a number one option unless he improves.

I hope somebody else pays Bridges in the offseason. He doesn’t box out. I would rather have Grant Williams for less money.

Good role player > 2nd tier star that lacks effort on D and rebounding

So who we replacing Miles production with in FA?

If you look at the top teams in both conferences, the star player is going to be above, or at least very close to .600 true shooting percentage. That is what you need to be a good team. League average is usually between .55 and .58

Miles Bridges had a few good years in this area when he shot the ball well, but he has been very average this year. Bryce could probably average 21 pts if you gave him those 18 shots per game. He could probably lead us to a bottom 3 finish in the east. I would rather give those shots to Grant Williams if he is also going to box out and be reliable.

LaMelo has also never had a true shooting percentage close to .60, and Brandon Miller's is poor as well. Until one of these guys can put up points on the type of efficiency we can win with, we are looking for a guy that can do that.

So who are we replacing Miles with in FA?

[GoBobs]

So who we replacing Miles production with in FA?

If you look at the top teams in both conferences, the star player is going to be above, or at least very close to .600 true shooting percentage. That is what you need to be a good team. League average is usually between .55 and .58

Miles Bridges had a few good years in this area when he shot the ball well, but he has been very average this year. Bryce could probably average 21 pts if you gave him those 18 shots per game. He could probably lead us to a bottom 3 finish in the east. I would rather give those shots to Grant Williams if he is also going to box out and be reliable.

LaMelo has also never had a true shooting percentage close to .60, and Brandon Miller's is poor as well. Until one of these guys can put up points on the type of efficiency we can win with, we are looking for a guy that can do that.

So who are we replacing Miles with in FA?

We don't need a free agent to replace him. There are three guys that will need minutes next year that are not in the rotation right now: LaMelo, Mark, and the Draft pick.

M. Bridges is not worth the kind of contract it will take to retain him. If you sign him to a 4 year deal, then before that deal is up you will also have to resign Mark Williams, and Brandon Miller, and Tre Mann if you want to keep him. This is all while LaMelo is making 44 million per year.

There is a good chance that if you sign Bridges to a big deal, it will be really hard to keep both M. Williams and B. Miller.

[Snidely FC]

I watched Cody last night. Didn't really do much, but that was his 1st game back after the ankle injury. I think Cody has the skills but you can tell he will have to add on some more weight and he's another guy who can do a little bit of everything just not great at one thing.

Looking forward to watching Cody and Castle in the tournament.

When you watch Colorado also keep an eye on Tristan Da Silva he might be a smart second round pick for the Hornets

[Snidely FC]

Last night Cody Williams and JaKobe Walter scored respectively 4 and 3 points in largely passive roles.

Meanwhile, Kentucky's Rob Dillingham outscored Williams, Walter, and his teammate, Reed Sheppard, combined.

It was a reminder that the college game is set up for undersized volume scorers, who dominate the ball as well as team leadership.

And a reminder that the Hornets almost never draft who you hope they will.

Rob Dillingham incoming, lol

[Pokuokic]

I think Topic/Melo could work, Topic played (when he was at Mega before moving to Red Star) with a another NBA (2nd round atm) prospect (who was the PG last season a 6'8 combo guard in Nikola Djurisic) and everytime he was on the floor shared the court comfortably with two other PG's if Djurisic was out of the game and it worked well . Melo could have more off the ball stuff run for him as well with his skillset and having two dynamic PG's with SG size for both of them is not a bad thing.

Melo would be the shooter/scorer who can playmake while Topic is the slasher (once he adds a bit of mass will be a extremely physical player)/passer similar to something like a more skilled less athletic Wizards Wall/Beal.

[JustBuzzin]

Last night Cody Williams and JaKobe Walter scored respectively 4 and 3 points in largely passive roles.

Meanwhile, Kentucky's Rob Dillingham outscored Williams, Walter, and his teammate, Reed Sheppard, combined.

It was a reminder that the college game is set up for undersized volume scorers, who dominate the ball as well as team leadership.

And a reminder that the Hornets almost never draft who you hope they will.

Rob Dillingham incoming, lol

Dillingham is probably the best scorer in this draft. I think if we draft him we would probably make him the 6th man.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Watching the Tennessee v Mississippi State tourney game and I know it's just one "bad" game and all but so far I feel extremely underwhelmed with Dalton Knecht.

He started his college career as an unranked recruit at a junior college and is a 5 year senior too. He also lost a year of playing time as he transferred to Tennessee.

He looks very much like a below average passer for a guard with meh handle and really was floundering under the defensive pressure of State, who executed the timing of their double teams well. He came up with some really poor turnovers. He surprisingly fumbled numerous uncontested catches in this one and I don't think he moves off the ball particularly well on either side of the ball. He really struggled to finish at the rim, not a strong finisher through contact and wasn't creating much separation off the dribble on the rare occasions he put the ball on the floor. He relies on screens to get to his spots. His team relies on Ziegler to get to the rack primarily. He even missed a WIDE open dunk going downhill in garbage time attempting to pad his stats.

He did hit one extremely tough contested floater but it looked more like bad shot selection that went in and I wouldn't want him taking that normally in that situation. Kudos for hitting it though.

Other than having decent size for a two I don't think there is a lot that will translate positively at the next level. Maybe he''ll be a good spot up shooter but he's not getting mistaken for Corey Kispert from deep any time soon. I don't see him being a decent defender at all despite the analytics saying he's OK in that regard. Foot speed looks poor. He also gave up a couple of offensive boards with poor boxing out, something you'd expect better of from a good-sized senior.

He's on my do not want list so far. Funnily enough I was more impressed with the undersized Josh Hubbard than Knecht, though he's obviously not a first round prospect at his efficiency and size and probably won't declare for the draft this season anyway. He's a pretty handy and crafty freshman though.

[JustBuzzin]

Knecht played 5 years of college basketball and he's 24.

Stay far away from that dude.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Knecht played 5 years of college basketball and he's 24.

Stay far away from that dude.

He's turning 23 in April but I agree.

[JDR720]

He only has 3 seasons according to his ESPN profile. Scored 20ppg at Northern Colorado and 21ppg at Tennessee this season. Keeping the same production in a bigger conference is notable.

He's not a 1st round prospect, but he's the type of player that usually does well as a 2nd rounder.

[luciano-davidwesley]

He only has 3 seasons according to his ESPN profile. Scored 20ppg at Northern Colorado and 21ppg at Tennessee this season. Keeping the same production in a bigger conference is notable.

He's not a 1st round prospect, but he's the type of player that usually does well as a 2nd rounder.

He transferred so he forgoed a season of college eligibility. He also played a season after high school at a junior college which doesn't show on his ESPN bio. Pretty sure he wasn't even a ranked high school player.

The problem is he is being mocked anywhere between pick 3-15. He's not going to be on the board in the second round, thus we should stay well clear of him.

[MasterIchiro]

Donovan Clingan 22-16 in the Big East Championship game leading the best team in
the country to victory fresh off playing a pivotal role for a championship team.

Like Mark Williams, he benefited from staying in school for his sophomore season. Given Mark's questionable back, I think Clingan has to be under consideration when the Hornets are on the clock.

He plays with NBA size and strength, yet balanced with poise. He makes the right, winning plays and is loved by coaches, teammates and fans.

He was born and raised in Connecticut, and lost his mother to cancer when he was just a teenager. He's persevered and plays the game with great spirit.

I'm biased, but I love him. He's everything we need Nick Richards to be except he's a pillar instead of a wet noodle out there.

[MasterIchiro]

Clingan's 2.3 blocks per game would put him on par with Rudy Gobert (2.1) if his game translates.