poll #4 - Who should the Hornets pick? vj off board

Post #1 » by **fatlever** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 7:43 pm

Assuming vj Is off the board when the hornets pick at 4. Who would you want to pick?

MasterIchiro · Post #2 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 7:45 pm

Voted Ace

MasterIchiro · Post #3 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 7:46 pm

I've got posters on the wall.

My favorite rock group, Kiss.

I got, Ace Bailey.

Post #4 » by **fatlever** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 7:52 pm

MasterIchiro wrote:I've got posters on the wall.

My favorite rock group, Kiss.

I got, Ace Bailey.

And the biggest pro for us drafting ace is that I don't have to constantly edit his name when I'm using voice-to-text. Everyone else I have to edit.
For example... Here are the other unedited names when I say them through voice-to-text. Vijay Trey and Khan... Which also half the time shows up as tray or con

lol.

amcoolio · Post #5 » by **amcoolio** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 8:58 pm

I would be happy with Ace or Tre but I'm going Tre here becuase I think with a point guard he will be lethal on offense and he has the personality traits to improve like Booker did on defense (when Phoenix is really trying Booker is good at D)

Liver_Pooty · Post #6 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 8:58 pm

Went Kon

Please don’t send death threats to me or my family.

JustBuzzin · Post #7 » by **JustBuzzin** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:01 pm

Liver_Pooty wrote:Went Kon

Please don’t send death threats to me or my family.

MasterIchiro · Post #8 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:11 pm

Liver_Pooty wrote:Went Kon

Please don’t send death threats to me or my family.

Why would we inflict further injury on a poor desperate soul who lit a bag of poop and will soon find himself stomping out the fire on his own front doorstep?

SWedd523 · Post #9 » by **SWedd523** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:30 pm

Liver_Pooty wrote:Went Kon

Please don’t send death threats to me or my family.

I hope when you take a shower the water is always just too hot or just too cold

Post #10 » by **JDR720** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:39 pm

Went Kon.

Reasons:

I don't trust this team to develop Ace.
Kon and Tre both have defensive issues, but at least Kon tries to defend smartly.

MPM · Post #11 » by **MPM** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:45 pm

Voted Ace but Ace or Tre, no big whoop. Would be happy with Tre as well.

Post #12 » by **luciano-davidwesley** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:47 pm

I voted Ace but don't feel that good about any of these guys. Something seems off about him.
I strongly would consider Fears.

Post #13 » by **yosemiteben** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:53 pm

I'm curious to hear a Tre vs. Ace debate. Is it just the defensive upside of Ace?

Post #14 » by **fatlever** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 10:21 pm

yosemiteben wrote:I'm curious to hear a Tre vs. Ace debate. Is it just the defensive upside of Ace?

Think this is a very fair question. Let's have a honest discussion about these two prospects. Pros and cons.

from my limited pov
tre
- He's the better shooter of the two. Arguably the best shooter in the draft. Hard to see a world where he's not at least a three point sniper. I think his floor is maybe something like a better Isaiah Joe
- I've heard him described as a maniacal worker. I've heard him described as a no nonsense guy kind of like Jimmy Butler. He definitely seems like someone who is all about basketball and very serious about it
- Seems like he has showed more willingness and passing skill in others environments outside of Texas last year
- In the interviews I've seen with him he genuinely has a great personality.

- The defense is obviously the biggest issue. I've heard people mention that he didn't particularly try defensively in high school as well. Perhaps this is just someone who never felt the need to put a ton of effort on the defensive side because he could always outscore or was always saving himself for the offensive side of the ball. Is this a mentality that he can change?
- He's obviously on the skinny side at 190 pounds for someone that's 6 foot 6. Definitely going to need to put on some muscle.
- Is he shifty enough laterally to get to the rim and finish through contact? Why are his rim pressure stats so absurdly low? Is it because he has so much faith in his mid range pull up game that he doesn't feel the need to get to the rim? I mean we kind of saw this a lot with lamelo in his first few seasons where he was almost allergic to go to the paint always settling for his floaters which he had a rational confidence in.
- It does concern me when players have never really shown much effort on the defensive end. How often do we see players just flip a switch when they get to the league and all of a sudden become quality defensive players maybe that depends on coaching and situation. There were probably quite a few players on the Pacers team that weren't known for being solid defenders coming into the playoffs.

ace
- Rare combination of size and athleticism elite shot making skill from mid range with some pretty promising mechanics for three point shooting. Would be hard to see him not being an above average three point shooter for his career.
- He certainly has the size and athleticism to be a plus wing defender. Seems to be a pretty solid help defender in terms of blocking shots. Seems to have a pretty high motor on the defensive end. The tools are there to be a plus defender. How good is his off ball defense or understanding of schemes that might take a few years to get that coached into him correctly. Most rookies are pretty terrible at that part of playing defense.
- Could possibly be a better passer than he's shown. Although even in high school it seems that even with a much higher usage his assist to turnovers weren't noticeably better. The analytics model for players with his low assist numbers, Is this to turnovers, and low rim pressure is not great historically.
- As I've said before what kind of player he is is up to him. How coachable is he? How much of some of the comments he's making is just himself trying to push himself into the top three? Does he really actually care that much about going to a team that will immediately try to feature him as the number one option?
- Some see his arrogance as a plus, the mentality needed to be an alpha score like Kobe. Others see that as a rational confidence and something that could potentially keep him from seeing the floor on a good team early in his career.
- is he someone that's gonna play winning basketball right away how much coaching does he actually need? we've heard repeatedly people say that this is someone that needs to be retaught how to play basketball and someone that needs to be coached out of his bad habits. Will he be receptive to that at the next level?
- There's definitely some questions about whether or not he has some people in his fear that are feeding him some bad advice

Both players were seemingly allergic at driving to the rim last year.
Which player do you trust more to fix the flaws in their game? me that might come down to which player I felt was more coachable And specifically for the Hornets which player was more willing to buy into this whole hornet's dna thing. The Hornets need to find players that fit the system they want to try to build and fit the system the coaches want to implement. It's much better to have a system and find players that fit that system than to just randomly draft guys willy nilly with no system in place or a system that changes every couple of years.

GiggitySmalls · Post #15 » by **GiggitySmalls** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 10:27 pm

Voted Fears. We need to make sure the og position is addressed with the uncertain around Melo. The highest upside of in the drafts fits that. You cant run a team with no pg. Fears is one of the youngest players in the draft with the ability to get in the paint and get his shots. His handle is nice and I think he will improve his shot. Hes got some kyrie in him.

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Post #16 » by **fatlever** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 10:28 pm

GiggitySmalls wrote:Voted Fears. We need to make sure the og position is addressed with the uncertain around Melo. The highest upside of in the drafts fits that. You cant run a team with no pg. Fears is one of the youngest players in the draft with the ability to get in the paint and get his shots. His handle is nice and I think he will improve his shot. Hes got some kyrie in him.

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you draft fears, you are definitely trading melo. I don't see a world where those two players work together on either side of the ball.

MasterIchiro · Post #17 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 10:29 pm

fatlever wrote:
GiggitySmalls wrote:Voted Fears. We need to make sure the og position is addressed with the uncertain around Melo. The highest upside of in the drafts fits that. You cant run a team with no pg. Fears is one of the youngest players in the draft with the ability to get in the paint and get his shots. His handle is nice and I think he will improve his shot. Hes got some kyrie in him.

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you draft fears, you are definitely trading melo. I don't see a world where those two players work together on either side of the ball.

No rush to throw them together immediately when their contracts run concurrent 4 years.

GoBobs · Post #18 » by **GoBobs** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 10:59 pm

Best player
1. Kon
2. Tre

Best name
1 Ace and it isn’t close

GiggitySmalls · Post #19 » by **GiggitySmalls** » Tue Jun 17, 2025 10:59 pm

fatlever wrote:
GiggitySmalls wrote:Voted Fears. We need to make sure the og position is addressed with the uncertain around Melo. The highest upside of in the drafts fits that. You cant run a team with no pg. Fears is one of the youngest players in the draft with the ability to get in the paint and get his shots. His handle is nice and I think he will improve his shot. Hes got some kyrie in him.

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you draft fears, you are definitely trading melo. I don't see a world where those two players work together on either side of the ball.

Thats fine. You don't have to do it right away. But if we do it puts us in a solid position at og where we would just need a good backup pg and we are locked in at pg. Melo most likely isn't apart of the long term solution. If he plays 40 to 50 games this upcoming year its just a sign of what alot of us think we k ow now but will definitely know at the end of next year if he doesn't spend much time on the court. To be honest we need to field the best trades for Melo, Miles, and Mark. I know its not popular but it needs to be done.

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JMAC3 · Post #20 » by **JMAC3** » Wed Jun 18, 2025 2:01 pm

fatlever wrote:
GiggitySmalls wrote:Voted Fears. We need to make sure the og position is addressed with the uncertain around Melo. The highest upside of in the drafts fits that. You cant run a team with no pg. Fears is one of the youngest players in the draft with the ability to get in the paint and get his shots. His handle is nice and I think he will improve his shot. Hes got some kyrie in him.

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you draft fears, you are definitely trading melo. I don't see a world where those two players work together on either side of the ball.

I don't really agree with that.

LaMelo plays 36 mins, remaining 12 mins we have Fears to run the show.
Then if you can get 16 more minutes of those two playing together that puts Fears at 28 mins- which would be worth taking him 4th.
I think Fears defensively would guard point guards and be able to put more pressure on the ball similar to a Dennis Schroeder type of player.
Allowing LaMelo to play off the ball defensively and conserve his energy for scoring and playmaking.

That would still leave LaMelo 20 mins without Fears on the floor every game.

I don't see why Fears can't play off the ball on offense, we have way worse shooters like Amen, Holland etc playing on the wing in the NBA. Fears shot 36% from three on catch and shoot and 85% from line, so it isn't like his shot is broken.

Then you talk about LaMelo injury history and it is easy to see why having another elite ball handler and playmaker on the roster makes sense. Also gives us insurance in case LaMelo is traded, asks out etc...

What do you want to draft at 4?