Hornets Mock Draft 2.0: What one NBA evaluator thinks Charlotte should do
While inquiring about this year’s NBA Draft and utilizing the main buzz word surrounding the crop of players, a question was raised.
Not by the interviewer, though.
Instead, this was a talent evaluator on an NBA team that’s won a championship and has a pretty good idea of what it takes in bringing in first-year players to add to a title-contending core.
“When you say deep,” the talent evaluator said, “your assumption is what? One through 60? One through 40?”
Told let’s just go with 1-20, the response was quick.
“OK, so in that regard everyone is not going to pop, though,” the evaluator said. “All those 20 guys aren’t going to be in the league in five years. It never happens. It never happens. Everyone thinks it every year and it never happens.
“There’s someone in there that is not going to be what we thought he was. But it’s a very solid draft and for the foreseeable future it might be the best draft within the next couple of years.”
Which is something Jeff Peterson, the Charlotte Hornets’ president of basketball operations, and team brass are also surely cognizant of. That’s likely the main reason they refuse to part with any of their two first-round picks unless it’s for a deal they simply can’t refuseand one that benefits the Hornets in the short and long term.
The Hornets hold selection Nos. 14 and 18 in the draft, which is slated for next Tuesday and Wednesday at Barclays Center in New York. To get a better idea of the potential path Charlotte could take based on who may be available, The Charlotte Observer got the talent evaluator’s perspective on who the Hornets could pick and some of their strengths and weaknesses.
Yaxel Lendeborg
▪ Position: Forward
▪ Team: Michigan
▪ Height/weight: 6-foot-8 /235 pounds
▪ Wingspan: 7-foot-3
▪ Standing reach: 9-0
The good: “His size. You’ve got to go against Wemby (Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs) now. No matter who you are, you have to have someone to compete. (The New York Knicks) had somebody in Karl (Anthony Towns). You’ve got to have somebody to compete against this dude.
“But his strength is rim protection. You are not getting a shot off anywhere around him. He’s going to alter your shot. His length alone is crazy. With Michigan, they had pieces everywhere. They weren’t weak at any position, so you are not relying on him. He’s another piece to the puzzle.
“You don’t need him to be dominant. You don’t have to play through him. The best thing that he does, again, is the rim protection and the passing.”
Concerns: “If you have to rely on him (now), you are going to have problems. Because he’s two years away in my opinion. What’s weird about him is he doesn’t have a solid base. When he gets in a tussle with little guards in college, he falls down. But again, that might not bother you. In your mind may go, ‘OK, we are going to get him in player development, with our performance guys. We already know that we are going to have a course of action as soon as he walks in the building.’
“The first thing you want to address is strength. Lower body strength and upper body. That’s me just really being particular. I’m not a fan of his, but you can’t get past his size. Again, if you’ve got a course of action or a plan that you put in place early enough, you’re good to go with him.”
Bennett Stirtz
▪ Position: Guard
▪ Team: Iowa
▪ Height/weight: 6-foot-2 1/2/186 pounds
▪ Wingspan: 6-foot-6
▪ Standing reach: 8-2 1/2
The good: “If you are looking at a guard (with the No. 18 selection), to me that dude is the best shooter in the draft if wide open off a catch-and-shoot. Now the numbers didn’t always suggest (it). He was in the high 30s (in shooting percentage) or might have been right around there or a little bit lower. But that dude is pure. If he’s in space, he’s going to draw a guy, and you’ve got to know where he is. He’s a little bit bigger than (Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson, another possible target).”
Concerns: “Getting downhill is the red flag with him. He’s not very athletic, and he doesn’t have that burst that guys have to create separation in space. So he’s always going to need his screen to create an advantage. But that’s fine because he’s great in the two-man game. He’ll make his reads.”
