Is this the Charlotte Hornets’ worst nightmare for this season?
There are plenty of things that go right and wrong for a team during the course of a season, but how bad would something have to be in order to be classified as the Charlotte Hornets’ worst nightmare? That proposition was tackled by Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley in a recently published article.
But what is it? Would it be another season filled with injuries? How about not exceeding the disappointing 27 wins of last season? Perhaps it is not being able to move Gordon Hayward ahead of the trade deadline? Buckley’s choice for the Hornets is a conclusion that many have already found themselves coming to. Charlotte’s worst nightmare in the eyes of Buckley would be finding out that Brandon Miller was overdrafted.
"“Miller could be a good get, but he wasn’t exactly universally regarded as the second-best prospect in this draft. When B/R’s Andy Bailey ranked the highest ceilings of the 2023 class, Miller only landed in the No. 5 spot, trailing Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson, Ausar Thompson and Amen Thompson. Charlotte’s future gets a lot trickier to traverse if it failed to maximize the value of having the second overall pick.”"
Most expected the Hornets to take Scoot Henderson with the second overall pick but ended up making the most surprising decision of the draft. While the draft process is far from guaranteed, there are certain situations where teams are expected to make certain decisions. That decision for the Hornets would have been prioritizing potential talent rather than the positional fit, the latter the path they took by choosing Miller.
As Buckley notes, if Charlotte botched an opportunity with the second overall pick by passing over multiple other players who were more highly regarded than Miller, and if Miller ends up not living up to his draft status, it could result in a less-than-optimal situation playing out. The Hornets are a team that cannot afford big-time misses in the draft, particularly when they have all but one prospect available to them. If it does turn out that Miller was overdrafted, it would certainly qualify as their worst nightmare for this season.
