Charlotte Hornets NBA Draft: Daniel Gafford may be a legit prospect

The Charlotte Hornets have a lot of talent to choose from in this upcoming draft; is Daniel Gafford a future star that they can select?

With the draft occurring within the next two months, the Charlotte Hornets should be looking at some late lottery prospects. A prospect that they can definitely look at, is the Sophmore forward out of Arkansas, Daniel Gafford.

Gafford will turn twenty-one in October, so he is still a young enough prospect that can prosper under the right coaching staff. This is a player who has the size to play both the center and power forward position.

About Daniel Gafford

Height: 6’11″

Weight: 233 pounds

Wingspan: 7’2″

2018-19 Stats: 16.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 66% FG, 28.7 minutes.

Strengths:

• Nice size and length
• He is a physical player in the paint
• Shoots the basketball at a high percentage
• Great shot-blocker
• Great rebounder on both sides of the court
• Has nice speed to run the fastbreak

Weaknesses:

• Struggles at the free throw line at 59%
• Lacks perimeter shooting
• Needs to take better care of the basketball
• Needs to learn new moves for his post game
• Needs to build strength, has a hard time when finishing through contact
• He only uses one of his hands and is predictable when shooting around the rim

Gafford may be a legitimate prospect for the Hornets to take in the draft come June. His defensive skills and physicality in the paint make him an asset for any team that takes him.

During his two seasons with Arkansas, he managed to pick up four awards. He picked up the 2017-18 SEC All-Freshman award during his first year in college and managed to do even better during his sophomore season.

During this season, he was named to the ALL-SEC first team and made the ALL-SEC Defensive team as well. During the preseason, he would also be given the 2018-19 Wooden Award, an award given to the most outstanding men’s and women’s college basketball players.

Gafford was also a top-ten finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. This award is usually given to the top men’s collegiate center. Even though he did not win the award, being a part of the top ten is still impressive.

Gafford is no joke, he averaged 16.9 points per game and managed to average two blocks as well. He can get it done on both ends of the court and has the potential to do even more.

During this season, he managed to get a game-high in points against LSU with 32 while shooting an efficient 73% from the field. He also managed to have six games where he had four blocks in each of them.

He managed to score in double-figures 28 times during the course of this past season while also getting double-digit rebounds 13 times. He also finished the season with a total of ten double-doubles.

Gafford’s size makes him a great weapon to play at both frontcourt positions. The only bad thing is his lack of perimeter shooting. I could only see him playing the center position if he is drafted by Charlotte.

Coach Borrego has made it known that Hornets lack defense in their front-court and that he would like to see the center spot upgraded. I expect Charlotte to consider Gafford late in the lottery if he is the best remaining player.