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Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets fall in Week 11 power rankings, Repicking the 2017 NBA Draft

By Jerry Stephens

The Sacramento Kings' De'Aaron Fox (5) works around a pick by the Charlotte Hornets' Marvin Williams while defending Kemba Walker (15) in the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images)
The Sacramento Kings' De'Aaron Fox (5) works around a pick by the Charlotte Hornets' Marvin Williams while defending Kemba Walker (15) in the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images) /
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Buzz City Beat is Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the latest news and stories from around the web about the Charlotte Hornets.

During a Q&A on Twitter, Portland Trail Blazers‘ star Damian Lillard admitted on Twitter that he misses playing with Nicolas Batum. In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at where the Charlotte Hornets sit in the Week 11 NBA power rankings, who the team would take in a repicking of the 2017 NBA Draft and Kemba Walker passing Raymond Felton for second all-time in assists for the franchise.

Charlotte falls in Week 11 power rankings (USAtoday.com)

"The Hornets, who finished last season ranked 14th in the NBA with an offensive rating of 106.4, are 25th this season, scoring just 102.9 points per 100 possessions."

The Hornets dropped four spots from No. 21 in Week 10 to No. 25 this week. Although they did go 1-2 in Week 11, Charlotte did have an upset victory over the defending champion Golden State Warriors on the road which has to count for something. Still, they are nine games under .500, 12 in the Eastern Conference and five games back of the eighth seed so it’s easy to see why they rank in the bottom six.

Golden State remains in the top spot while the Boston Celtics and the Houston Rockets round out the top three. The biggest climbers in Week 11 were the Dallas Mavericks who moved up five spots from No. 28 to No. 23. Luckily for the Hornets, they have an easier schedule coming up so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility for them to string together a few wins and move into the top-20.

Repicking the 2017 NBA Draft (SI.com)

"11. HORNETS: JOSH JACKSON | ORIGINAL: MALIK MONKNo lottery prospect fell more precipitously during this exercise than Jackson, who dropped from No. 4 to the Suns to a position just outside the Top 10."

After being ranked as one of the top prospects in the 2017 Draft Class, Josh Jackson has not been overly impressive so far in his NBA career. If he would’ve landed in Charlotte, the 6’8 small forward could have been a nice piece off of the bench and a building block for the future. Although, the more likely scenario is that he would get a number of DNP – CD’s like the Hornets’ real first round pick has.

This redraft has Malik Monk falling to the Utah Jazz at No. 13. When discussing Monk, Jeremy Woo said that “it’s clear that he may not add a ton in other areas beyond getting buckets. At this stage, it’s on the Hornets to figure out how to weaponize him.” At the time, Malik was the right pick and at only 19-years old, he still may be in the long run. For the record, (and it may be a hot take but) I’d rather have Monk than Jackson going forward.

Kemba Walker passes Raymond Felton for second in assists (Twitter/ @ESPNStatsInfo)

"Kemba Walker has moved into 2nd in @hornets history in career assists. behind Muggsy Bogues. He trails only Dell Curry on the franchise’s all-time scoring list."

Next: When was Charlotte's best chance to win an NBA Title?

Kemba passed Raymond Felton who had 2,573 assists for Charlotte which was the second-most in team history. At Walker’s current rate, it will take him seven or eight more seasons before he surpasses Muggsy Bogues (5,557). When it’s all said and done, the all-star point guard should hold just about every record for the Hornets’ franchise if he stays with them until the end of his career.

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