The Charlotte Hornets' Final Roster Spots Nominees

With the preseason underway and the regular season drawing closer, the Charlotte Hornets will have some difficult decisions to make regarding their final roster spots.

Most of the Charlotte Hornets‘ roster spots will be filled by the best members of last year’s team along with new acquisitions from other teams. However, what will they do with their final roster spots?

Every Hornets fan knows Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and the other important members of this seasons Charlotte Hornets. In the preseason, most of these guys don’t play as much as they would in a typical regular season game. The minutes instead go to players that have a chance to earn one of the very few open spots on the roster. Who are these players and what do they have to do to win the job?

Aaron Harrison

If you’re a big college basketball fan (specifically Kentucky basketball), you know who Aaron Harrison is already. The second year man out of Kentucky played in 21 games for the Hornets last season. However, he only played a small amount of minutes at a time (4.4 MPG last season). This time around he’s looking to prove that he can retain his spot on the team. He went back and forth from the Oklahoma City Blue in the D-League last season. He must improve his shooting if he wants to consistently play for the Hornets this coming season.

Treveon Graham

Treveon Graham has been around the NBA for a couple of seasons now. After playing 4 seasons at VCU, he went undrafted in 2015 and joined the San Antonio Spurs summer league team. After that, the Utah Jazz signed him, but he only played in two preseason games before being cut. He then played the season with the Idaho Stampede of the D-League for the past season. After playing for the Orlando Magic and Jazz’ summer league team, he comes to the Hornets looking for his first big break.

Andrew Andrews

Yes, that’s his actual name before you ask. Andrew Andrews is a combo guard from the University of Washington. In his 4 years there, he averaged 14.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.0 apg, and 1.4 spg on 38.8% and 40.1% from three. His numbers increased in every year that he played there including averaging 20.9 ppg in his senior season. Washington didn’t make the NCAA Tournament during Andrews’ time there. He was one of the few bright spots in the Hornets first preseason game having 10 points in 17 minutes. If his defense is good throughout the preseason, he’ll have a chance to make the roster.

Rasheed Sulaimon

Rasheed Sulaimon played for Duke and Maryland in his college career. He had to transfer to Maryland after Coach Mike Krzyzewski dismissed him from the team. Sulaimon is the first and only player to be dismissed by Coach K in his time at Duke. Now, Sulaimon has put that behind them with a great senior season at Maryland. He played for the Bulls summer league team after going undrafted in this past NBA draft. He then signed with the Hornets after the summer league campaign. Like Andrews, his defense and shooting will be needed on this team if he wants to make the final roster.

Perry Ellis

One of the most talked about college basketball players last season was former Kansas star Perry Ellis. Like Andre Andrews, all of his numbers improved over his four years at Kansas. He was a 2 time first team all-Big 12 and a second team All-American last season. He didn’t play in the Hornets preseason opener against the Mavericks. Speaking of the Mavericks, Ellis played for their summer league team after going undrafted. He will look to bring a really good skill set to the Hornets. It’ll be hard to compete with the frontcourt players the Hornets already have, but he will certainly play hard.

Mike Tobey

There are many college basketball players who contribute so much to their teams success without using the stat sheet. Former UVA big man Mike Tobey fits this statement perfectly. His contributions usually go unnoticed, but he always helps the team win games with his energy and hustle. He had many great games rebounding for Tony Bennett‘s team including a gem in his final home game. He had a 20 rebound game in his final home game for the Cavaliers against Louisville. Like Ellis, it will be tough for him to make the final roster, but his energy will be liked by the coaching staff for them to be interested in keeping him.

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Overall, Graham and Harrison seem to be the two most likely choices for the final few spots on the Hornets roster. The others shouldn’t be worried because the Hornets will have their own D-League affiliate this season (Greensboro Swarm). They will all likely contribute to the new D-League teams success. They can always be called up if their services are needed because of an injury, absence, etc. It will be quite interesting to see how the rest of the preseason plays out. Steve Clifford has a lot of work to do to decide who makes the team.

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The Charlotte Hornets Final Roster Spots Nominees

By Laieke Abebe | Oct 6, 2016