The Hornets won’t officially have a coach in time for the NBA draft. Does it matter?
When the NBA draft tips off in Brooklyn on Thursday night, officially putting Orlando on the clock for the first overall pick, there’s going to be an empty seat in the Charlotte Hornets’ war room at Spectrum Center.
Although the Hornets don’t officially have a head coach just yet, all indications are pointing to Mike D’Antoni landing the job, league sources told The Charlotte Observer. The situation can still unravel after the Hornets learned that Kenny Atkinson backed out to remain an assistant with Golden State a week after agreeing to terms. But hiring D’Antoni is the direction it’s trending.
If D’Antoni does secure his sixth head-coaching post, he probably won’t be working with the Hornets’ roster as it is currently constructed. Word around the league leading up to the draft is the Hornets will be aggressive in trying to wheel and deal as they search to add more veteran talent instead of getting younger. The team’s average player age is currently 25.6.
Boasting two first-round picks nearly in succession at Nos. 13 and 15 gives them ample opportunity to use at least one to upgrade their roster with a more experienced player. And it appears general manager Mitch Kupchak has been working the phones, doing his due diligence while also navigating their unexpected, reopened coaching search.
While it’s not the most ideal of scenarios, not having the actual new head coach around for the draft shouldn’t overly affect the Hornets. The absence doesn’t hold a ton of significance for them for several reasons.
For one, as previously mentioned, there is a very good possibility the Hornets move at least one of their three draft picks — they also hold selection No. 45 in the second round — because of their roster crunch and may instead prefer financial flexibility. Adding two first-rounders increases their payroll by nearly $6 million in 2022-23, and the Hornets already have roughly $100 million on their books for the 11 players they have under contract next season. That figure doesn’t even factor in a potential deal for impending restricted free agent Miles Bridges, which has a chance to reach $25 million annually.
Remember, the Hornets have a pair of first-round picks from a year ago who didn’t see tons of significant action in their rookie seasons. James Bouknight logged the most meaningful minutes of the two, averaging 4.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in the 31 games he appeared in. Kai Jones played sparingly and the 21 games he peeled off his uniform were mostly for mop-up duty.
Drafting two more guys to serve as mostly benchwarmers while also shuffling up and down I-85 to Greensboro to play for the Hornets’ G League affiliate shouldn’t be a priority. If anything, the plight of Bouknight and Jones should give the Hornets serious pause about going that route again, and they don’t exactly need a coach on board to underscore that point.
Another reason not having a coach in place yet doesn’t matter all that much: The Hornets’ head coach only has so much say about the player he thinks they should go with. While former coach James Borrego was kept in the loop during the process and certainly could offer his opinion, it’s ultimately the call of Kupchak and the Hornets’ scouting department led by senior vice president of basketball operations/assistant GM Buzz Peterson and vice president of player personnel Larry Jordan.
They make the final decision on who’s drafted because they are the people in the organization that spend the bulk of the time zipping across the country watching prospects in live action and gathering all the pertinent info. Their final grades is among the information they pour through to make that determination.
Surely, Kupchak also already has an idea of the type of player that can flourish in D’Antoni’s offense thanks to their familiarity. The two worked together previously in the same roles in Los Angeles with the Lakers from 2012-14, providing Kupchak with the necessary framework to scour through the proper personnel that can flourish in D’Antoni’s system.
So ideally, even though the Hornets won’t be completely whole as the league’s offseason cranks up — and it’s something they surely don’t prefer — they’ve planned for the draft for months. Being without the person who will be at the end of their bench shouldn’t preclude them from improving their team and making any moves to push them closer to the playoffs.
This story was originally published June 23, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
