Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets select Collin Sexton in latest mock draft, Michael Jordan’s draft misses
Welcome to Buzz City Beat, a daily roundup of the best articles from around the internet surrounding the Charlotte Hornets.
The Phoenix Suns are reportedly interested in Steve Clifford and have contacted the former Charlotte Hornets‘ head coach about their HC vacancy. (ESPN.com) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at who Charlotte picks in the latest mock draft, Michael Jordan‘s biggest draft misses and the Hornets being one of six teams who are in need of a total rebuild.
Hornets select Sexton in latest mock draft (SI.com)
"With Charlotte in midst of a regime change as Mitch Kupchak takes the reins (and Kemba Walker potentially on the move), it makes sense for the Hornets to look at talent over fit in this spot. Sexton is a good bet to provide backcourt scoring and has some upside in the right situation as he matures."
Collin Sexton makes the most sense for Charlotte if they trade Kemba Walker. Even if they don’t trade their all-star point guard, the University of Alabama freshman point guard could still be the right pick as he would give the Hornets a reliable backup PG and a scoring punch off of the bench. The only two players that I would argue taking over Sexton would be Kevin Knox and Zhaire Smith.
With their second-round selection (pick No. 55), this mock has Charlotte taking Kris Wilkes who is a Freshman out of UCLA. Looking a little bit closer at the 6’8 forward, he averaged 13.7 points per game and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 44.1% from the field and 35.2% from three during his first year with the Bruins. A few names to watch in the second round are Hamidou Diallo, Trevon Duval and Malik Newman.
MJ’s biggest draft misses (ChicagoNow.com)
"Michael Jordan is arguably one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He has won six NBA titles and 5 MVPs as a player. However, as the GM of the Washington Wizards and owner of the Charlotte Bobcats/ Hornets his draft choices have not worked. Here is a look back at Michael Jordan’s worst NBA Draft moments:"
In 2006, Charlotte drafted Adam Morrison over Brandon Roy, Rajon Rondo and Kyle Lowry. They then took D.J. Augustin over Brook Lopez and DeAndre Jordan in 2008. Next, it was Gerald Henderson over Jrue Holiday in 2009 and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ahead of Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard, Andre Drummond and Draymond Green in 2012.
Lastly, in 2013, the Hornets selected Cody Zeller over C.J. McCollum and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even their best pick (Kemba Walker) isn’t without controversy as they picked him over Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard. They had their shot to land an all-star level player to pair with Kemba multiple times but struck out far too often.
Teams that should blow up their rosters (Sportsnaut.com)
"Does it make any sense to continue this charade of remaining “relevant” by expecting more from tapped-out veterans such as Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams? We’re not too sure. What we do know is that Charlotte is going to blow it up big time during the summer. That’s for sure."
Charlotte’s already in the midst of a rebuild. They’ve already fired their GM, head coach and most of their staff. I would argue that it’s unclear how far this rebuild will go but trading Kemba Walker is not off the table and doing so would signify a complete rebuild for Mitch Kupchak and the Hornets. On the other hand, they could just be re-tooling for another run at the postseason with better players and a new coach around Kemba.
Next: Kaminsky frustrated with disappointing season
A successful rebuild would include trading big contracts like that of Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, Dwight Howard and Cody Zeller. One thing that is for certain, rebuild or not, is that Charlotte needs to get better at drafting if they want to compete immediately and/or in the future.