2024 Draft Prospects

[Liver_Pooty]

Random thought, if they never got injured and peaked at the same time would Adam Morrison and MKG make a good duo?

Definitely would be a fun odd couple, the stench and the stutterer.

MKG was never good, and I was his biggest fan. He had flashes but he just didn't have it. Average at best, and Hornets even tries to get a PR thing going to get him all defense. Lol.

Stealing from LamarMatics blog, his defense was definitely team changing good before the injury.

https://lamarmatic.com/2015/04/17/season-in-review-michael-kidd-gilchrist/

Season in Review: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Kidd-Gilchrist was our best player this season, no matter what’s the measurement of your preference.

Our defense, which is built on limiting drives and wings (mainly, MKG and Henderson) who keep action towards the side-lines, collapsed whenever Mike hit the bench. With Kidd-Gilchrist on the court we were the best defensive team in the league at 96.3 points given up per 100 possessions. With MKG on the bench we allowed 104.1 points, a ho-hum rating that would have you defending as the 19th best team in the league.

I love Lamar and MKG was a good defensive player but in retrospect it wasn't all world or anything. He was always good for a solid 13 and 7 with good D. Not exactly something we expected out of the 2nd pick in the draft especially after his out of the world summer league.

[Snidely FC]

ESPN updated Mock today post withdrawal deadline, has some interesting comments on Hornets:

The Hornets are sitting in a tricky spot at No. 6, with some prospects thus far unwilling to work out in Charlotte. With a new front office in place and the team's new ownership also known to be heavily involved in decision-making, it remains to be seen what direction the franchise will take. And, there is much curiosity around the league surrounding LaMelo Ball's long-term fit.

With less than a month to the draft, Charlotte has been connected to perimeter players, with the team said to be high on the long-term future of Mark Williams -- which might preclude drafting Donovan Clingan as an option here. Other names to watch for the Hornets include Cody Williams and Ron Holland. But Dillingham's shooting ability and playmaking make him an attractive fit as someone who can play alongside Ball and Brandon Miller in the short term, and also offer long-term cover at point guard (depending what happens with Ball). -- Woo

To me Rob Dillingham would be a hugely disappointing conclusion to this Hornets draft

ps their mock has Sheppard to HOU at 3, Castle to SA at 4, Clingan to POR at 7, and Topic to UTA at 10

[JMAC3]

i don't actually think it's that hard to determine high character, work ethic, high iq players from watching film or taking to them in pre-draft or all scouting we should have done all year
mitch clearly placed less interest in these things than say, miami. mitch was swing for fences all the time. first time i saw both bouk and kai play, i knew they were low iq guys. it's not that hard when you have a functioning scouting dept. first time i saw nsj i knew he was me-first low iq player. bryce and thor... no clue how to play winning ball. nsj, has work ethic, but no clue how to play team ball. so, maybe don't draft those types this year.
not sure which players fall into this category this year. i'm not a scout. but if i was paid to be a scout, i'd certainly know.
mkg is bad example. he had massive confidence issues, plus injuries, plus hornets falled to see huge changes to nba 3pt landscape... and despite all that, mkg was still solid starter until injuries wrecked the last of his confidence. mkg had great on-off for us first few years. we destroyed his dev by forcing him to change his shot. his best games were rookie year when he was still shooting with an ounce of confidence.

Yeah I still call bs. These type of guys fail all the time and yes you can look back hindsight 20/20.
I mean it is not hard to go read the Kai Jones thread and see people pumping him for posting workout videos, stuff he said in interviews...
Same can be said for Stanley Johnson, Justice Winslow, Dante Exum, Kris Dunn... all these dudes were massive failures and have zero character, work ethic, iq flaws...

[fatlever]

no one is suggesting high character, high iq guys don't fail. obviously every type has failures.
but, you can't deny our franchise needs a culture change. we need grown ups and draft guys who are ready to compete and improve the culture. all i'm saying is, if all else is equal, lets get the guys (if we can) that are high character, culture setters, and guys ready to play, sooner than later.

[Chapelchilla]

MKG was definitely a good rotation player prior to the shoulder injuries. Not a superstar worthy of the 2nd pick unfortunately but he had a consistently positive impact as a legit NBA player until the shoulder broke twice and his grandma died.
Rewriting obvious facts to fit an agenda is weird.

[Bassman]

ESPN updated Mock today post withdrawal deadline, has some interesting comments on Hornets:

The Hornets are sitting in a tricky spot at No. 6, with some prospects thus far unwilling to work out in Charlotte. With a new front office in place and the team's new ownership also known to be heavily involved in decision-making, it remains to be seen what direction the franchise will take. And, there is much curiosity around the league surrounding LaMelo Ball's long-term fit.

With less than a month to the draft, Charlotte has been connected to perimeter players, with the team said to be high on the long-term future of Mark Williams -- which might preclude drafting Donovan Clingan as an option here. Other names to watch for the Hornets include Cody Williams and Ron Holland. But Dillingham's shooting ability and playmaking make him an attractive fit as someone who can play alongside Ball and Brandon Miller in the short term, and also offer long-term cover at point guard (depending what happens with Ball). -- Woo

To me Rob Dillingham would be a hugely disappointing conclusion to this Hornets draft

ps their mock has Sheppard to HOU at 3, Castle to SA at 4, Clingan to POR at 7, and Topic to UTA at 10

I was just getting over to post this. Agree Dillingham would be among my least favored picks and potentially another Hornet’s mistake. But what I find MOST INTERESTING from Woo’s comments are his emphasis on the new regime/staff, the unknown on what direction they will ultimately take, and that “ there is much curiosity around the league surrounding LaMelo Ball's long-term fit. Is this just some reporter being speculative, or is there more fire to this smoke?

[MPM]

Dilly at 6 is among my worst realistic draft scenarios

[JustBuzzin]

ESPN updated Mock today post withdrawal deadline, has some interesting comments on Hornets:

The Hornets are sitting in a tricky spot at No. 6, with some prospects thus far unwilling to work out in Charlotte. With a new front office in place and the team's new ownership also known to be heavily involved in decision-making, it remains to be seen what direction the franchise will take. And, there is much curiosity around the league surrounding LaMelo Ball's long-term fit.

With less than a month to the draft, Charlotte has been connected to perimeter players, with the team said to be high on the long-term future of Mark Williams -- which might preclude drafting Donovan Clingan as an option here. Other names to watch for the Hornets include Cody Williams and Ron Holland. But Dillingham's shooting ability and playmaking make him an attractive fit as someone who can play alongside Ball and Brandon Miller in the short term, and also offer long-term cover at point guard (depending what happens with Ball). -- Woo

To me Rob Dillingham would be a hugely disappointing conclusion to this Hornets draft

ps their mock has Sheppard to HOU at 3, Castle to SA at 4, Clingan to POR at 7, and Topic to UTA at 10

I was just getting over to post this. Agree Dillingham would be among my least favored picks and potentially another Hornet’s mistake. But what I find MOST INTERESTING from Woo’s comments are his emphasis on the new regime/staff, the unknown on what direction they will ultimately take, and that “ there is much curiosity around the league surrounding LaMelo Ball's long-term fit. Is this just some reporter being speculative, or is there more fire to this smoke?

Melo fits the question has always been about his maturity and ability to stay healthy.

There is no doubt in my mind we could trade him, but the value obviously won't be there so we would have to accept trading him for pennies on the dollar.

My biggest fear is he will get injured again next season and we are stuck with his contract.

If we are going to make a decision either way it needs to be this off-season.

[Bassman]

ANOTHER concerning statement from Woo at ESPN was “ with some prospects thus far unwilling to work out in Charlotte.

PROSPECTS….PLURAL

What the hell? We know Castle’s position…who else is stoning us? Clearly the Hornets have a bigger problem with reputation or league chatter than we know. The recent babble a former player spoke of, saying Miller is really going to be good and will be even better when he can get out of Charlotte, says this franchise has soiled itself. Of course it can recover, but sad to see such a rep possibly hurting our draft process.

[LofJ]

If we can get a huge return for LaMelo I'd be interested in trading him. I don't think that's on the table though. The most I could see is Houston offering us something like Amen Thompson and their 2026 1st from Brooklyn. If Amen wasn't an MKG level shooter I'd be interested, but not sure he and his brother will ever be 3 point threats.

[JustBuzzin]

If we can get a huge return for LaMelo I'd be interested in trading him. I don't think that's on the table though. The most I could see is Houston offering us something like Amen Thompson and their 2026 1st from Brooklyn. If Amen wasn't an MKG level shooter I'd be interested, but not sure he and his brother will ever be 3 point threats.

WTF I would do that right now!

Obviously FVF would have to be included for salary purposes. I still would do it.

[GoBobs]

Pelicans scheduled a workout with Edey. I guess there plan to move on from Jonas V means they might look at the center prospects at 21 or try and trade up.

[JustBuzzin]

Pelicans scheduled a workout with Edey. I guess there plan to move on from Jonas V means they might look at the center prospects at 21 or try and trade up.

I think it was reported he was going to move on in FA not surprising they are looking at center replacements.

[JMAC3]

Take this information for what you will, but I take more from the mock drafts note section then actually who it has a team taking... mock drafts are still meant to be for clicks and I have seen us taking Buzelis, Sheppard, Clingan, Castle, Dillingham already in the last week...

I find it more interesting they called out Holland and Williams specifically even though the mock had them going 11th and 14th.

[LofJ]

The only player being mocked to us that I would be angry about drafting is Dillingham. There's no way in hell he'd find success on this roster as it's currently constructed. ESPN probably mocked him to us so they could write LaMelo trade articles for clicks leading up to the draft.

[Hornet Mania]

ANOTHER concerning statement from Woo at ESPN was “ with some prospects thus far unwilling to work out in Charlotte.

PROSPECTS….PLURAL

What the hell? We know Castle’s position…who else is stoning us? Clearly the Hornets have a bigger problem with reputation or league chatter than we know. The recent babble a former player spoke of, saying Miller is really going to be good and will be even better when he can get out of Charlotte, says this franchise has soiled itself. Of course it can recover, but sad to see such a rep possibly hurting our draft process.

Need more context to know whether that's unusual or not. Prospects can skip for fit reasons (Castle) or because their agents want to give the impression their guy isn't ever going to fall to 6. In this draft especially with almost a dozen players who could go in the top 5 and the Spurs holding picks 4 and 8 I'd bet agents are working overtime to convince teams they'd better draft their guy top 5 or he won't be available at all.

They could also be slighting us, of course. I'm not too concerned either way. These kids ain't holding out, no one in this draft has the pedigree to try to push around any franchise.

[Snidely FC]

A player opting to not work out for the Hornets may make a statement and obviously isn't ideal, but it's important to recognize that skipping a team workout is less effective under this year's new CBA draft eligibility rules that require participation in all aspects of the combine (sans the 5 on 5 scrimmages).

"In the past, agents of elite prospects would regularly strategize to keep medicals of clients away from less-attractive franchises in hopes of steering their players to preferred destinations, something that will no longer be possible."

“league medical examinations, sharing of medical history and biomechanical and functional movement testing, as well as strength and agility testing, shooting drills, performance testing and anthropometric measurements. Team interviews, media circuits, player development sessions and other assessments” are also required.

In addition #1 player as ranked by the league has to share medical information with Top 10 teams, players ranked 2-5 have to share information with Top 15 teams, players ranked 7-10 with Top 25 teams.

So, unlike previous years where prospects could withhold information and refuse to interact with selected teams even at the combine, this year the Hornets and other top 10 teams already received much of the information they need to select a player if they still wish.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/36224467/nba-nbpa-memo-outlines-new-nba-draft-selection-requirements

[EmpireFalls]

Take this information for what you will, but I take more from the mock drafts note section then actually who it has a team taking... mock drafts are still meant to be for clicks and I have seen us taking Buzelis, Sheppard, Clingan, Castle, Dillingham already in the last week...

I find it more interesting they called out Holland and Williams specifically even though the mock had them going 11th and 14th.

I would expect the team would work out both players (and hopefully, those two might feel lucky to be given a workout with a top 6 team, unlike the workout skippers)

[JDR720]

Dillingham is an easy mock pick here. For one, he's from Hickory (which is just outside the Charlotte metro area) and we've drafted a lot of players similar to him before. Smaller, score first PG's. And he's likely to be available at 6.

[KingCat]

I can live with a Dillingham pick since he is one of the few prospects that has allstar potential thanks to his skill.

Sadly there is a higher chance he ends up a Bouknight/Hyland.