Can the Charlotte Hornets turn into a playoff team?
all right so next up we’ll be doing our draft preview of the Hornets and they I believe in the Sixers preview I said they had the fifth pick but they actually have the fourth pick in this year’s draft and they have the 33rd and 34th pick in the second round as well so early first round pick and some early second round picks now the Hornets I feel like we talk about them every year um there’s not much to say with this group other than like LaMelo Brandon Mark Williams i know he was almost traded in that Lakers deal before he was uh brought back but it it’s like we just I feel like we can’t really see what their ceiling is until they play together fully and even then I’m sure like at their peak I’m not sure this is really a contending team because I feel I still feel like they need a lot but I think it also makes it harder to kind of know what direction you want to go in i mean I feel like before we get into this what do you guys think are the biggest needs for the Hornets uh defense and they need to like pick a direction like to me it feels like it’s kind of like Groundhog’s Day with this team i feel like every year we’re just kind of back in the same spot they’ve come off a disappointing year with a bunch of injuries to the best players and they kind of are considering where they should go from here and like basketball-wise like they have talent on the roster like LaMelo Ball did like show like he had a really good start to last year i like the move they made for Trey Man i mean Brandon Miller was hurt all last year but his rookie year he played really well so they have talent but it’s just for some reason really hasn’t clicked yet so I think they need really to be honest what they need i don’t know if they can find in the draft i think they kind of need something like what the Pistons did last offseason where they kind of added some older guys that came in and contributed in the right ways like that fit the roster and kind of provided like some adults in the room yeah even what the Rockets did like I think that ended up paying off in the long term but I definitely agree with you i feel like for them as long as you kind of rely on I guess your younger players who I guess who have also shown that they’re not really healthy um that definitely makes things harder but I feel like also kind of knowing what guys to go after because I we don’t have to get into this too much with free agency and whatnot but I feel like you also kind of need players who can run or beat offensive weapons while because obviously LaMelo he’s their best player you know he averaged I think almost 30 points per game this year but again he’s just never healthy so it’s like you have to find players who can help keep the offense going but also kind of contribute and play defense i don’t know it’s hard when like you said they just don’t play but for the Hornets they have the fourth pick in the draft this year um some names that I have seen pop up a lot is are VJ Edgecom obviously similar to the Sixers and also people have been talking about Ace Bailey if he’s still on the board me personally I don’t know how I feel about Ace Bailey going to the Hornets but um I’ll open the floor to you guys what do you guys think about um their potential picks this year um I don’t hate the Ace Baby Fit i’ve kind of been on record like I would kind of be interested in it just because I think they have the potential to be like a really tall athletic team like Brandon Miller as their two guard is like 67 68 LaMelo 67 uh Miles Bridges is pretty tall and then you you have their pick last year Salon who didn’t really have a great year but he like if he ever develops he’s another long rangy ring and I think like they’re kind of building identity as like one of those longer athletic teams that are going to run and get out in transition i think Ace could fit that in some ways i think you like Charles Lee would have to really stay on him similar to what we’ve seen him do with LaMelo at times like you can’t stop the ball you have to keep moving within the Florida offense and like move off ball so I think there’s a way it could work but I think obviously I think VJ for them is like a way better fit just because he provides the defense that they’re sorely missing and he doesn’t really need the ball a lot and LaMelo we know his usage rate is going to be high brandon Miller is going to need the ball a lot so I just think he’s a more natural fit there but I don’t really hate either but if I was them I would definitely be praying that Edgecomb falls to them at four yeah i mean whenever you’re deciding between either the third or the fourth prospect in a draft there’s obviously going to be a lot of hype and a lot of potential and upside for that um so I feel like a lot of this is just going to come down to how they fit among the kind of two main guys at the moment for Charlotte whether that stays the same two guys going forward that’s still up in the air with how much Lamelo’s contract will become kind of a storyline for this team over the next two or three years uh how much he’s getting paid eventually so I feel like this Charlotte team honestly is about two years away if they’re still at the top of the draft every year from being in a point where they have to make a decision on pretty much blowing up whatever this core is right now but at the same time I feel like they’re also maybe two or three years away of adding pieces to becoming a consistent maybe top nine top eight team in this Eastern Conference because obviously with LaMelo and Brandon and Brandon Miller you know they have the offensive ability to score the basketball but what are the other guys around them doing you mentioned T john Salon what does his year two look like does it look a lot similar to year one where it’s just kind of a struggle and he’s not contributing as much as you would hope a top five type pick would make or does he take a step forward and all of a sudden this Hornets team has a great young core of three guys that they’re continuing to add on to so uh if Ace Bailey or BJ Edgecom come in and can contribute then all of a sudden we could be looking at one of honestly the better young cores in the Eastern Conference so my question for you guys is is it time to move on now like would you rather move on from LaMelo early or me personally i think I would give it the year like I think this would be the last year especially with how good the next class is coming in i would give it the year to figure out what this team looks like but if they’re at the top of draft again I think I would have to blow it up how much rope do you think this group has left together you know I’m kind of glad you asked that question because that was something I wanted to put on the dock but I’m like I don’t want to be the guy who’s like overreaction like oh they might have to blow this up but I think if it becomes an issue of like even if they just don’t stay healthy for like another year like if we get a full season out of them and we have more of a better understanding I’m like “Okay yeah we’ll have more time with this let them see what they can cook.” But if it’s like we have another season where they’re dealing with injuries I think at that point I might cons be considering trying to move on from LaMelo and like you said going after maybe another top player but I’d probably maybe wait until to see how the lottery shakes before I do it next year before I fully commit to that but again I don’t want to be one of those people who’s like overreactionary but it it I think what year is this going to be for LaMelo year five I want to say and I think it just gets to a point now where it’s like I think he’s a player who can be great in the long term but if you have him as kind of your focus point and it’s not going anywhere I see if maybe I could get something out of that to have a better foundation or a more consistent foundation I should say yeah like don’t get me wrong like I’m a really big like fan of the Mel’s game like it’s immature at times like I think he can definitely rein in some of the shot selection still and the effort on defense needs to be there i think he’s like capable as a defender especially cuz he like he has positional size he’s not slowooted really like he has all the capabilities to do it it’s just like an effort thing at times so I’m a fan of him i just especially with like the way the NBA is going with the um second apron and stuff like that which they’re not really close to right now they’re $21 million away from it but as guys start coming up it’s like it’s comes time to pay Brandon Miller eventually i just don’t know if you can have somebody making as much money as he does and keep coming up with results like this like they’ve been at top of the lottery for a long time now and I just I just wonder if his style of play is like if he’s ever going to put it together in a sense like I would hate to move on from him at only like 24 years old after next season or 25 and he goes and be like becomes a star for another team but maybe it’s just not meant to be in Charlotte i do feel like part of that is also just the construction of their team because and again I also think it just goes back to Brandon Miller he was dealing with his own issues this season but I feel like they also just don’t have cuz like we said he’s a very offensive minded player who can play make for others as well but it’s like I don’t have the numbers but I’m like fairly certain they’re also one of the worst defenses in the league as well and it’s like I don’t think he’s a player like maybe Luca or what am I trying to say you don’t think what he brings on offense necessarily offsets how bad he is on defense yet yeah like I don’t think he’s a player who’s just you can put him on a team and it’s like immediately like oh he’s gonna instantly maybe start playing winning basketball i don’t even want to say that because that comes off weird but I feel like you guys understand what I’m trying to trying to say yeah it just hasn’t proven that with like guys like Luca guys like Shay now where he’s becoming his career like they’ve kind of proven that like if they’re on the roster there you’re only going to be so bad as a team like they just bring a certain amount of wins to your team and LaMelo just hasn’t gotten to that point yet to me the Hornets are like in a similar position as the Pistons were last year like kind of directionless haven’t really like seen any success but you have a guy that’s like clearly talented as your league guard like you have the top of the billing guy like you have the number one option do you guys think that they’re closer to Detroit or they’re closer to blowing it up like do you if you had to guess how many wins if you give them VJ Edgecom let’s say it breaks the perfect way for him in the draft how many wins do you think this team what seed do they finish has in the east next year I feel like if they’re healthy enough like let’s say their top two or three guys whoever you consider that to be let’s say they all play 65 games I feel like this Hornets team could probably get to around maybe a 500 record around 40 plus wins which in the Eastern Conference that’s good enough to at least get you to the play in tournament and a chance at the playoffs so uh I I it’s really all about if they could stay healthy but again that’s not really been the case over the last two plus years brandon how about you what do you project them to finish next season see again like I don’t want to sound like a broken record but it’s just the consistency of the unit and the issue is it’s not just one guy because Mark Williams obviously he had the physical brandon Miller I I’m trying to remember if he had injury problems his rookie year or not but not much but I think there was some like just regular stuff i think last year he missed a lot of year but like let’s say we give him 55 games a piece 55 to 60 games a piece I think and they let’s say they draft edge like I think because I also kind of believe in what Charles or Charles Yeah is doing over there i think that like he seems like he and again Hornets fans in the comments you can correct me if you disagree but I feel like what he’s doing it seems like he’s kind of doing it the right way they document a lot of of their process like even in the the draft room last year like just showing they picked uh Tajjan Saloon but still it seemed like they kind of had the right process and how they were doing things and he’s a guy who seems like he’s trying to instill those winning I guess tendencies into them so I do feel like he’s a coach that maybe could surprise us and who knows next year maybe we’re eating our words and you know they get some you know they get a better defender you know Miller plays a good portion of the season lamelo plays a portion of this good portion of the season mark Williams out there I for I feel like we also kind of forget how good he can be too at times um and I know he played most of the second half of the season so I think it is possible that maybe they could even I don’t know if they would do as well as the Pistons and end up with like a fourth or fifth seed because like you said earlier in the episode they also added a lot of veterans um and maybe they do that because free agency obviously hasn’t started but I feel like when with just the young core they have and stay assume it stays that way i could see maybe a playin seed maybe sixth at best well you you said this Charlotte team could be a team that surprises us next season but do you think do you guys think even on like draft night specifically this could be a team that makes a bit of a surprising selection cuz to my memory I don’t really think Ton Salon was was heavily mocked that high to Charlotte last year so do you think this Hornets team could take like a Jeremiah Fears or a Trey Johnson or even like a Kaman Molly watch if they are planning on moving Mark Williams eventually if they’re looking to move him for different pieces on the roster and replace him with a Kaman Molly watch do you think they could be a team that isn’t necessarily chalk at four just going to take whoever’s left of Ace Bailey or BJ Edgecom to me I think my loss would be a stretch i think the only other person I would consider for them here is Trey Johnson like I get the fit for Khan i guess maybe I’ll consider Khan here too but his athleticism kind of scare me a little bit with already how like they’re not the greatest defensive team i would at least need somebody who I think could like might like I don’t think would be hunted like I think Khan would be like he holds up on defense i just worry about will he be fast enough to keep up with some of the guys at his position in the league so with Trey he’s not the best defender but I think he’s in the right spot a lot of the time i think like Ace is kind of space cadet but he has the tools to become a better defender like down the line and VJ is a plus defender so I think I would probably stay within those three guys i don’t see them really going too far out of what consistences just because at least on my board I don’t have that many guys in that tier but like maybe trading down possibly but I don’t know i think the guys at this spot I think honestly fit what they want to do better than maybe even the Sixers who we talked about last episode i think those guys are kind of more so built for a Hornets roster obviously we talked about taking Edgecom with the fourth pick but the early second round I know for a lot of people they view the I guess middle portion of this draft um maybe not in the best light but 33 at 34 uh in the second round you still have a chance to get some steals in the draft and on a young team like this these are players who could maybe even crack the rotation their first year um so of some of these prospects who are projected to go second round who are some guys you would like to see them take with these picks i think um I just really think they need a lot of defense i think they have a good amount of scoring they have they don’t really have a ton of shooting problems so I think VJ if they get I think the dream scenario for them would be VJ early in the first round then I think someone like Adiro would kind of really fit a lot of what they do he’s a really good athlete competes on defense rebounds really well just someone to bring like a level of toughness and he’s like a little bit older so he’s someone I would look at someone else I also would like I think think they would really like to bring in like another big just with like if the concerns that the Lakers had were valid with Mark Williams and him not being healthy they traded Nick Richards last year i think guys like if a Yanico neerhouser is there if a Vlad Golden is there those will be guys that I think could really help them how would you feel about Seion James that’s another guy like to me him and Adutier are kind of similar like built like really strong guard type builds that can guard multiple positions and I think those guys are like becoming increasingly more important especially as the speed and pace picks up in the NBA so I think guys like that would be really good fits for them and there will be guys at the end of the first round as well that like the mock drafts that are out right now in the projections it’s not going to be perfect so there will be people that are maybe projected in the mid20s that for whatever reason and whoever is there to pick in those in that range they might just pass them over so at the top of the second round there’s going to be maybe first round talent type of players that Charlotte could add whether uh it’s you know older guys like a Danny Wolf or or something like that or Walter Clayton Jr if teams decide to pass on guys like that I would love Walter Clayton on Charlotte a guy who can come in as a backup point guard maybe take a little bit of the pressure off of uh a guy like Trey Mann for being the main scorer off the bench he could come in obviously he’s not going to help the defense out very much but we know what Walter Clayton’s out there to do he’s out there to handle the rock and shoot threes at a very effective clip so uh he’s just a couple of the examples of some later first round guys that I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re there in the early portion of the second round for
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