The 2021 NBA Draft will take place on July 29. As the it approaches, The Game Haus will be doing draft profiles for each NBA team. Each NBA squad will be analyzed, team needs will be addressed and potential targets will be discussed.
The Charlotte Hornets are the subject of today’s 2021 NBA Draft Profile.
Summary
In return for their 2020 lottery pick, the Hornets got LaMelo Ball, who won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award for the 2021 season. In late November they also acquired veteran forward Gordon Hayward from the Boston Celtics.
Despite those two impactful players, the Hornets finished the season with a 33-39 record and landed in the play-in tournament. They were completely outmatched in that play-in game, giving up 144 points to the Pacers, who eliminated them.
With a clearer vision of where the team is headed, fourth year head coach James Borrego has three picks to shore up some of the Hornets’ weaknesses in the 2021 NBA Draft.
2021 Draft Picks
The Hornets have three picks in the 2021 NBA Draft.
First Round (one pick):
Pick No. 11
Second Round (two picks):
Picks No. 56 and 57
Team Needs
Scoring threat: Hayward is a nice addition and LaMelo is clearly a burgeoning star, but even with them the Hornets ranked 23rd in points per game. In today’s NBA every single team needs more scoring, but Charlotte needs to be closer to the middle of the pack if they want to keep up with Eastern Conference playoff teams.
Rebounding: Strangely, Charlotte ranked 25th in defensive rebounding, yet 6th in offensive rebounding. The team needs to stop giving up those second chances, which would not only improve their defensive rating but also translate to more offense.
Ball security: This may be more of a coaching and disciplinary problem than a problem a single player can fix. Either way, the Hornets suffered the seventh-most turnovers in the league in 2021. They have got to stop robbing themselves of opportunities if they want to take the next step.
Projected Targets
Pick No. 11: Kai Jones, PF, Texas
Jones is absolutely huge for the position he plays. At 6-foot-11 he is more suited to a power forward role, but he is athletic enough to play the three if a team wants to create a huge mismatch. He can also shoot the three at a decent clip for a player that big.
Apart from that, he defends well on every level of the court, too. He is not quite a unicorn but could easily be coached into being a fantastic two-way player that may even be able to play three positions on the floor. Jones is especially useful in a tall lineup if he can indeed play three positions.
Pick No. 56: Luka Garza, C, Iowa
The two-time Big Ten player of the year is being supremely undervalued in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Luka Garza was a phenom at Iowa who was essentially the heart and soul of the entire team during his time there. He is a huge body in the paint and scored almost at will against NCAA-level talent. The biggest issue causing him to drop down the board is his speed. Being so big robs players of speed and that may not be a problem that is fixable.
But Garza is big and talented and can score with the best centers in the league and grab offensive boards. If he slides all the way down to the last five picks, this is a no-brainer selection.
Pick No. 57: Daishen Nix, PG, G-League
Nix has forgone college in favor of the G-League. This has resulted in him being one of the most polished passers in the entire draft. Drafting a point guard like this is useful for not only distributing assists and letting LaMelo Ball spot up, but also for cutting down on turnovers. An NBA-ready passer like this can definitely cut down on those turnover numbers.
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