The Charlotte Hornets shocked a lot of folks by drafting Tidjane Salaun with the No. 6 pick in the 2024 draft. Were they wrong in selecting the young French prospect? Time will be the ultimate judge of that.
However, some folks thought at the time that Salaun would likely still be available later in the draft. So, the Hornets could have traded down to acquire more assets and then still brought him in.
Another school of thought was that the organization should have chosen a different guy, as there are other rookies selected after Salaun who have proven to be NBA-ready. Of course, Charlotte didn't have the benefit of hindsight. And its draft decision to bring in a raw prospect signified its intent to practice as much patience as possible in the rebuild.
Tidjane Salaun is a long way from becoming an average NBA player on offense
With the Hornets' 2024-25 regular season 55 games in, what people expected about Salaun has actually come to pass. His offensive skills, while showing promise, still require a lot of refinement.
In fact, his shot-making abilities rank among the worst in the league. As James Plowright put it, Tidjane is a "long way off from ranking out even close to average," even if his scoring prowess progresses.
The most important chart for scorers.
— Taylor Wyman (@taylormetrics) February 18, 2025
Efficiently scoring on volume is the most important thing in basketball. Players in the top right are the most valuable players in the league
-True shooting% combines a players 2pt, 3pt, and FT% into one number pic.twitter.com/38viEHGcE9
Despite being good for some rare highlight-reel plays, Salaun has mostly looked lost on offense. Making matters worse is how he has regularly clanked wide-open shots, hitting just 28.6 percent of such attempts.
It would be fine if the rookie can contribute in other areas to make up for his shooting deficiencies. Unfortunately, his defense remains subpar by NBA standards despite supposedly having the physique and athleticism to be serviceable on that end of the floor. He does show some hustle and heart; let's give him that.
In addition, he hasn't displayed any potential to be at least an average playmaker, ranking near the bottom among all Hornets players in assist percentage.
So, it's still unclear how Salaun can be useful for Charlotte this season.
It makes sense to keep on giving him minutes in hopes of seeing some improvement from him. However, if he can't exhibit even some minor leaps in the following weeks, the Hornets might have to make the tough decision of letting the 19-year-old try to develop his game in the G League instead and assign his minutes to more deserving players.
Perhaps another offseason of Salaun putting in the work will result in a considerable sophomore jump. But from what we've seen from him in this campaign, he will have to spend a lot of time in the gym. The good news is that he is still pretty early into his career, and the franchise can probably afford to be patient with the youngster.