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When the NBA Finals tip-off this Thursday night in Denver, it will also mark the NBA Draft being three weeks away, as teams around the league will continue to fill out their draft boards, with the #1 pick already an afterthought. The Charlotte Hornets own the#2 pick, and that’s is really where the draft starts, especially with the Blazers, who currently own the #3 pick, open to trading for a veteran piece to pair with Damian Lillard.
When you’re drafting #2, usually that means you have needs to fill, and sometimes that overrides drafting the best player available. As dreadful as 2-2022-23 was for the Hornets, they are just one year removed from winning 43 games, that was as deep as it had been in over 20 years. It feels inevitable that Miles Bridges will rejoin the team, after missing all of last season and serving a ten-game suspension to start the 2023-24 campaign. There have been rumors over the last two years that Charlotte was going to move off of Terry Rozier, and Gordon Hayward, but those haven’t come to fruition as both are still on the roster today. General manager, Mitch Kupchak said after the season came to an end, that they weren’t going to be players in free agency, hinting at the idea that the organization is set to run it back with a core that made it to the NBA Play-In Tournament, back to back years before last season.
With that in mind, how does that impact what they will do at #2? Sam Amico, a senior NBA writer for HoopsWire, joined Wes & Walker today, and he believes that Scoot Henderson will be the selection because, like many, he believes he’d be the #1 pick in any other NBA Draft. This brings us back to the question, should Charlotte draft for need, or should they draft the best player available? Brandon Miller likely fills the need void, more than Henderson as Charlotte needs more from the wing, even if Bridges is back on the floor. Meanwhile, Henderson is the better NBA prospect today and could be a natural fit with LaMelo Ball in the backcourt for the years to come.
This draft selection is set to determine the outlook and direction of the franchise as LaMelo Ball is set to get the rookie max, and depending on whether or not Mitch Kupchak nails the selection, likely determines the long-term outlook of LaMelo Ball in the purple and teal.
