NBA Draft: Charlotte Hornets select Brandon Miller at No. 2
Brandon Miller is bound for Charlotte.
The Hornets chose the former University of Alabama star with the No. 2 pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in New York, ending the debate regarding whether Charlotte would select the 20-year-old wing or instead choose G League Ignite standout Scoot Henderson.
Miller and Henderson each had two private workouts with the Hornets during the past two weeks, the second coming in separate sessions on Monday in front of team brass and Michael Jordan just days after he sold a majority stake in the Hornets to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rich Schnall. Miller increased his stock with that latest meeting and ultimately helped him get picked by the Hornets behind San Antonio grabbing Victor Wembanyama first overall.
“It wasn’t the easiest of decisions, but Brandon was our favorite all along,” team president/GM Mitch Kupchak said. “A lot of spirited discussion the last three or four days, which I welcome, and I think it’s good for the basketball department to discuss pros and cons, pluses and minuses, argue a little bit. So, obviously, our opinion from the beginning did not change.”
In other words, there wasn’t much debate between the two. The Hornets feel Miller is supreme.
“We think he is the player that is the best player,” Kupchak said. “They are both excellent players, and they both will probably go on to have long NBA careers. But he’s the one that we feel would have the best NBA career as a Hornet.”
Still, Miller didn’t know he was the Hornets’ selection until everyone else also got word of the pick.
“I found out literally when they were calling my name,” Miller said. “I was still on the phone. My reaction was a lot of excitement, smiles, hugs and handshakes. I knew my mom was going to cry, she was going to shed a tear. But there’s nothing wrong with crying, I think it happens to the best.
“Yeah, I think it’s just us taking it slow, taking the moments in while we can.”
Miller joins a crowded position that features Gordon Hayward, who’s owed $31.5 million this upcoming season in the final year of his deal, promising 20-year-old Bryce McGowens and is expected to also include Miles Bridges. The Observer, via multiple league sources, has been reporting for months that Bridges remains a part of the team’s plans and both sides remain amicable to him returning.
Bridges didn’t play at all last season after pleading no contest to felony domestic violence. Since he wasn’t under contract and missed all 82 games, the NBA deemed he’s served 20 games of the 30-game suspension the league handed down in April.
Miller may have some legal issues to deal with as he navigates his new life as a professional, but he hasn’t shed much light on the subject during the pre-draft process, citing the ongoing case. In January, he delivered the gun to the scene of a fatal shooting in Alabama that led to the arrest of former Crimson Tide teammate Darius Miles. Miller wasn’t directly charged with a crime because the Tuscaloosa chief district attorney said there was nothing they could charge him with.
Charlotte did extensive work, which included Kupchak and senior vice president of basketball operations/assistant GM Buzz Peterson taking a trip to Alabama two weeks ago. They wanted to gather as much information as they could about Miller and came away satisfied enough to bring him on board.
“Over the course of the year, we do a lot of investigative intel, so to speak,” Kupchak said. “Whether it’s reading an article in the newspaper or you bump into people, you go to games, you watch body language on the court, you talk to people, you bump into people.
“It’s a process, but with a pick this high you are going to do a little bit extra due diligence than you normally would. And yeah, we are comfortable with Brandon on and off the court.”
The Hornets, who also hold picks Nos. 27, 34, 39 and 41, are pairing Miller with LaMelo Ball, hoping he can complement their primary ball-handler and facilitator when they’re on the court together. A versatile player who can be slotted into multiple positions, Miller’s strength is shooting. He sank 38.4% of his shots beyond the arc in his lone season with the Crimson Tide.
At Alabama, Miller averaged 18.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game and earned first team All-America honors from The Associated Press. He became the first player in Southeastern Conference history to collect the league’s player of the year, freshman of the year and tournament most valuable player awards in the same season.
Miller already has a pretty good idea where he’ll slotted with the Hornets.
“Definitely at ‘3,’ because you have LaMelo Ball’s playmaking,” Miller said. “I think him being a playmaker and me being a shotmaker, I think that kind of fits in. And not just that, (also) how we take pride on the defensive side and really lock in and get the stops that we need to win ball games.”
In essence, the Hornets began preparing for this potential moment in February when deciphering what to do at the trade deadline. Mitch Kupchak shipped Jalen McDaniels, who’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer, to Philadelphia before routing Mason Plumlee to Los Angeles.
Charlotte sent McDaniels and a 2024 second-round pick to Philadelphia in a four-team deal that landed the 34th pick in Thursday’s draft, which was the Hornets’ originally, plus a 2027 second-round selection from Portland and forward Svi Mykhailiuk from New York. But the main reason Kupchak pulled off the move was to begin clearing space at the position in case the Hornets magically catapulted into the upper reaches of the draft, providing them with the opportunity to get an elite talent.
“We are looking at a lottery pick,” Kupchak said Feb. 10. “What if we draft a player that’s a wing player? What if it’s the top pick in the country? And now you’ve just made a huge commitment to a player that even if Gordon’s back, won’t be a starter and might not play. And if you bring in a rookie that you want developed quickly who’s the third pick or the fourth pick or the fifth pick, whatever. So, those were all factors. It wasn’t an easy decision.”
Four-plus months later, the Hornets have their prized selection in Miller. And there are more moves to make over the coming days and weeks as they enter free agency looking to shape their roster, making it good enough to end a seven-year playoff drought.
Miller already seems eager to get down to business.
“I know there is going to be a lot of learning in that first practice, but I think getting stronger is going to be the biggest thing with me,” Miller said. “So, just getting stronger and better every day.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2023 at 8:19 PM.
