ESPN’s Jay Bilas thinks Hornets can find solid starters within their range in NBA draft
While most focus on how the Charlotte Hornets right themselves and if Mike D’Antoni will be the new head coach after they were spurned by Kenny Atkinson, there’s another immediate pressing matter deserving of undivided attention.
The NBA draft is Thursday.
Armed with a pair of first-round draft picks nearly in succession on top of a second-rounder, general manager Mitch Kupchak and the rest of the Hornets’ scouting staff will be extremely busy navigating the first major event on the NBA’s offseason calendar. There are plenty of directions for the Hornets to go in, including trading one or even both of their picks.
Though boasting two first-round selections in near proximity of each other isn’t completely unique among NBA circles, it presents the Hornets with valuable assets leading into what some pundits think is a relatively talented pool of players. They haven’t had this kind of scenario truly unfold for them since 2011, when they held the seventh and ninth overall selections and plucked Bismack Biyombo and Kemba Walker off the board.
Slotted to pick 13th and 15th, at worst the Hornets can fill some potential holes in the roster by adding young talent who could help them down the line.
“Thirteen and 15, what are the Hornets are going to do,” ESPN college basketball Jay Bilas said Tuesday. “They have a lot of different needs for a team that has been flirting with the playoffs, sort of in the middle of the league, which is where you talk to some people in the NBA and they’ll say that’s where you don’t want to be. You want to be up in the draft or down at the bottom, which means you’ve got a great team and all that stuff.”
Still, Bilas is confident the Hornets can land guys who can be solid contributors — or better — in this draft. He believes the middle of the first round where the Hornets currently reside has enough depth to deliver good rotational talent.
“There is certainly value there,” Bilas said, “and that is the type of place where you can get a Malaki Branham, you can get an Ochai Agbaji, you can get a Mark Williams. There are a number of good players that will be available there that can be not only starters for you but maybe even better through the course of their careers. A number of players you can look toward that have been drafted in those spots and turned out to be All-Stars.”
Bringing Williams, a 7-footer from Duke who the Hornets worked out earlier this month, on board would help upgrade the center spot. Retooling the position is among the things the Hornets surely want to do, and Williams is a cost-effective option.
An inside presence with the ability to protect the rim is essential if the Hornets are going to improve a defense that ranked among the bottom third of the league. Another bonus: Williams isn’t too shabby at the free-throw line, either.
“I think to start he’ll fit the same way Rudy Gobert fits in the NBA,” Bilas said. “Mark Williams can really block shots, and change shots around the rim and really get off the floor quickly and do it multiple effort.”
Pairing Williams with LaMelo Ball and the Hornets’ uptempo style could be a perfect match for a number of reasons. Williams’ skill set fits with the strengths of Ball and the team’s young core.
“He’s a lob threat,” Bilas said. “He really runs the floor well and what I think counts in his favor is he’s an excellent free-throw shooter. He shoots about 73, 74% if I remember right. He shot over 70% from the field. You could argue, ‘Well, he shoots 70% from the field because he dunks all the time.’ And that’s true. But he can’t dunk free throws, and he makes those.
“So if he can continue to work on his perimeter shooting where he can knock down a 17-foot jump shot or even stretch it out further, which I don’t discount that possibility. It’s not a natural thing for him right now. But I certainly don’t discount the possibility that a guy that shoots over 70% from the foul line, that’s a good touch and good mechanics, that he can continue to improve as a shooter once he gets in the NBA.”
