The Charlotte Hornets drafted Malik Monk with the 11th overall pick in this year NBA Draft!

The Charlotte Hornets might have gotten a steal in this year NBA Draft by drafting freshmen shooting guard Malik Monk from Kentucky with the 11^th overall pick. Going into the draft most NBA insiders had the Hornets drafting either guard's Luke Kennard or Donovan Mitchell with the 11^th pick. Couple days ago ESPN insiders had Monk dropping to the Hornets and Charlotte taking him, I initially thought that’s too good to be true, either a team will draft him before we were able to or that the Hornets would pass on him and take Kennard or Mitchell instead. Lucky, I was wrong. Malik Monk was the first option on a Kentucky team that finished as the nation’s 12^th ranked offense. Was a key to the Wildcat’s run to the Elite Eight and earned All-SEC first team honors while average 19.8 points a game. Strengths: Monk is an explosive athlete in terms of both burst and leaping, highlight dunker with an explosive bounce in space. Good defender when motivated and good at close out. Dynamic Scorer, scored 30+ points four times, including a 47-point game. Deep range, confident, versatile shooter; explodes into pull ups, jumper threat opens drive. Dangerous stepping into three’s. Great contested, very confident shooter, has the quickness to lose his man off screens. Reads the defense well, good mid-range game and good crossover to get to the rim, sharp footwork. Has a score-first mentality but can make basic passes, makes the simple play. Made clutch shots all year long and is a very confident shooter. NBA-ready scoring guard with considerable upside. Weaknesses: He is undersized as a two guard at 6’3” has an average frame, not physical. Doesn’t absorb contact well when he does attack bigs, lacks the size to contain most shooting guard and even some big point guards. Effort/IQ comes and go on defense, needs to play with consistent intensity, ball watches, beat by straight line drives and takes bad angles and needs make more of an effort to keep the ball in front of him. He’s mostly limited to basic crossover/straight line drives which can make him very predictable. Not good with ball pressure. Reliance questionable shot leads to inconsistent efficiency, wants jumpers over assists doesn’t hit the open pop. Doesn’t let plays develop/recognize lacks spacing.

Charlotte had the 31^st pick from the Atlanta trade early in the week and the Hornets drafted guard Frank Jackson from Duke but traded him to the New Orleans Pelicans for the 40^th pick and cash. And with the 40^th pick, the Charlotte Hornets drafted small forward Dwayne Bacon from Florida State. Played alongside 6^th overall pick (Orlando Magic) Jonathan Isaac, Bacon could highlight his offensive versatility and his efficiency from the floor. As a sophomore, Bacon held an average 23.9 points, 5 rebounds per 40 minutes. Strengths: Listed at 6-7. 6-9.5 wingspan, nice size for a wing. Can absorb contact and finish. A physical defender, capable rebounder for a wing. Ability to challenge shots with length. Is an elite scorer in transition, confident shooter and can attack in transition after defensive rebound and has sound shooting mechanics. Creates space for pull ups. Is NBA ready in terms of scoring and physicality and could possibly become a reliable 2^nd unit guard? Weaknesses: Struggles to create vs NBA-level length and athletes, an average athlete with questionable shot selection. Lacks explosiveness at the rim. The inconsistent three-point shooter, not a consistency shooter in general. Inconsistent defense effort doesn’t play in a stance, lacks focus off the ball, lose shooters. Needs the ball in his hands to make an impact on offense. Has a low basketball IQ, can he think at the NBA level?

Overall, I think the Hornets knocked it out of the park this year in the draft. Especially over the past drafts where we had failed miserly. I think Malik Monk can be a factor for the Hornets for years to come and help unload some of the scorings from Kemba Walker also. Also, gives them a player who is explosive and a dynamic scorer which the Hornets needed to badly. The trade the Hornets made also makes sense, they needed money because they were getting close to reaching the tax threshold and would not surprise me if we trade for an experienced backup point guard. Drafting Dyane Bacon was probably the best player they could get at the selection, I see him playing for the Greensboro Swarm, especially since we have Jeremy Lamb, Treveon Graham, and Malik Monk. Like I said I generally think the Hornets did a great job in this year draft, I haven’t felt this way about the Hornets after the draft in a long time. And with the trade to bring in Dwight Howard as the starting center, if the Hornets can get a reliable back-up point guard I believe they can make the playoffs again. Well, that’s what I think about the Charlotte Hornets draft, what do you think about it? Tell me in the comment section below! And Gives this a thumbs up!

Charlotte Hornets and the Atlanta Hawks agreed upon a deal to send center Dwight Howard to Charlotte!

Only hours after the Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks were making trades for ‘snap with a puppy filter’ and ‘right to swap ’18 draft tweets’ on Twitter. The Hornets and Hawks have agreed to a deal to send center Dwight Howard and the 31^st pick for center Miles Plumlee and guard Marco Belinelli and the 41^st pick. First reported by the great Adrian Wojnarowski, the trade came out of nowhere with no one even disgusting the idea of the Hornets making any kind of deals before the draft. The trade is great for the Hornets on many fronts in my opinion. The first front is the fact that we got rid of Plumlee ridiculous 3 years 12 million per year contract. I know whenever we traded for him midway through the season that I said the trade was great, which it was because we got rid of both Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes who both terrible and at the time I was for the most OK with the bad contract if Plumlee was able to come off the bench and score points for the Hornets, something the other two players did not do and help the Hornets make the playoffs. But for most of the season Plumlee was bothered by an ankle injury and when he was able to come back, Hornets playoffs chances were all but dead. I know Dwight contract isn’t much better, 2 years 23 million per year. But is a possible starter who averaged 13 points per game last season and even not in his prime anymore a way better player than Plumlee. Howard contract times really well for Kemba free-agency, Miles extra year could’ve really messed things up for Charlotte. Dwight Howard best season was when Hornets head coach Steve Clifford was on the coaching staff helping him personally if anyone who can get him to play well it's Clifford. Also with this trade, the Hornets moved up to have the first pick in the second round. With this year draft being so deep the Hornets could possibly get someone that could be a decent bench player. Charlotte did have to give up Marco Belinelli who I liked, mostly because of his crazy circus three-pointers and Eric Collins reactions to them, however Jeremy Lamb looked like he was finally getting his crap together in the second of last season and with this season being a contract year for him I imagine he wants to go out and prove to teams that they should sign him in free agency. The only question I have after this trade is who is going to Hornets starting center, Cody Zeller, or Dwight Howard?

To keep the good news coming ESPN Chad Ford new mock draft came out today and he’s taking the Hornets to draft point guard Malik Monk from Kentucky! Malik Monk is a dynamic scorer and an elite shooter. While he’s a tad undersized (6’3), Monk finds ways to create space and shoot over defenders. He has an excellent pull-up jumper and he’s comfortable shooting off screens. He also has unlimited range. While most identify him as a perimeter shooter, Monk is very agile and can explode to the hoop. He’s fearless and always in attack mode. He plays with relentless energy and is fairly crafty when he accelerates inside. Because of his size, some wonder if Monk can transform into a point guard. While his court vision and game management need improvement, Monk is more unselfish that he gets credit for. Who I believe will be good in the NBA and would be a great backup point guard or even starter for the Hornets next season.

What do you think of this trade and the new mock draft? Tell me in the comment section below! And make sure to check back here Thursday after the draft to read what I have to think about the moves the Hornets will make. For me. It’s so far so good!

Charlotte Hornets draft predictions 2.0! Who will the Hornets draft at the 11th spot?

With less than a week left before the 2017 NBA draft, I thought it would be a good time to do another and probably the last one for this year Charlotte Hornets draft predictions! The Charlotte Hornets holds the 11th and 41st overall picks in this year draft. And according to Chris Kroeger, Rich Cho said that the “team has already been approached about multiple trades and the team has also proposed trades to other teams.” Cho also said “the Hornets have gotten a lot of calls for the 11th overall pick. He thinks they’ll have even more interest next week.” So, with that in mind let’s get in all the draft prospects that various sites are predicting the Hornets to draft with the 11th overall pick. Granted now the Hornets might possibly either trade up or down or just draft some random player no one is talking about right now so this whole thing is probably for nothing. So, let’s get into it! Bleacher Report.com and CBS Sports.com both predict the Hornets to draft freshmen power forward Lauri Markkanen from Arizona University with the 11th pick. DraftExpress.com has the Hornets drafting international point guard Frank Ntilikina. Sports Illustrated.com got the Hornets taking sophomore shooting guard Donovan Mitchell from Louisville University. The last one is FoxSports.com has the Hornets drafting freshmen center Jarrett Allen from Texas.

The first player I’m going to be talking about is Arizona freshmen power forward Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen earned All-Pac 12 first-team honors while scoring 15 ppg (points per game) on 42% shooting beyond the arc. Listed as 7’0-230 pounds, great size for a power forward; fluid, coordinated athlete who lacks a degree of explosiveness, length and physical strength. Strengths: His main strengths are his versatile shooter, made more three-pointers than any 7-footers since 2000. Smooth stroke, good balance, soft touch. Great on moving to the left, screens, pull-ups and uses size to his advantage. Can use him a lot of different ways with NBA space. Has simple shooting mechanics, quick from catch to release, no wasted movement. Use size/lean to shoot over the top of a smaller defender and isn’t afraid of a bigger defender either. Good out of pick-n-roll. He’s tall for a power forward at 7-0, agile, solid feet good closeout defender, plays angles. Solid first step attacking to his left, defender must respect his jumper. Fluid enough to attack if run off touch with either hand, sound closeouts, good foot in short-slide situations. Can step out and guard if have too and is a solid rebounder for a stretch big. Has a professional/mature approach, a likable teammate. Weaknesses: Lack of elite length and reach really limit him on defense, plays smaller than his height, average frame at 225 pounds. Instincts aren’t great, more intriguing on offense at center, but can he guard a center? Weak base struggles to hold positions in ¾ or front. Not physical, average awareness and no length. Lack reach to block shots, trouble contesting jump hooks from forward's. Doesn’t have the tools or mentally of a rim protector, the technique needs works. Instincts aren’t great on defense-glass. Need to improve post/finishing, was taking out of games by pick-n-roll switches. Very predictable on the perimeter, only drives left. Bad in isolations situations and doesn’t confidence in the post. Overall, he isn’t an explosiveness player the Hornets need, he will be nothing but a role-player in the NBA. He also has way too many similarities to Frank Kaminsky, Hornets do not need another Frank Kaminsky on the team. A player who 7-foot-tall and just stands on the three-point line and throws up three-pointers all game and not play a lick of defense and has no post moves.

The next player is International point guard Frank Ntilikina. Ntilikina finished the U18 European Championships average 22 points, 3 steals, 1 block and 5 turnovers per 14 minutes on 42% from two-point range and 58% from three-point range while on the French national team. Strengths: 6-6 with a near-7-footer wingspan, big frame, elite tools for a point guard. Fluid with a long stride may have some untapped athletic penitential, great in transitions. Lengths allow him to finish from different angles/above the rim in space. Has defense upside, long quick feet, sharp instincts, active hands. Works to fight over ball screens covers ground on closeouts. 3.2 steals and 1.7 blocks per 40 minutes at the U18 Euros. Willing defender with great feet works to make up for mistakes, impressive timing as a shot blocker and good at getting through screens. Has a nice feel for the game with a high basketball IQ. Makes the simple play out of pick-n-roll. Shot 17-of-29 from three (58.6%) led the U18 Euros in a pull-up jumper efficiency. Doesn’t create much space but sound footwork off the dribble catches in rhythm off the catch. Shoot from NBA range with confidence, made 5-of-7 jumpers with the clock below 4 seconds. Weaknesses: Needs to develop his lead guard skills, struggles with ball pressure, 5 turnovers per 40 minutes. Handles is a bit loose, average burst must rely on size, timing, and accuracy as a passer; can improve accuracy and timing on drop offs. Will force passes into tight spaces at times. Struggles to make the simple play, telegraphs passes. Exposes the ball vs pressure. Struggles to finish vs length and turning the corner vs athletes. Can we improve his offhand dribble. Has room to improve as a shooter, struggles when contested, will have to become more reliable given other limitations.

Follow up player is sophomore shooting guard Donovan Mitchell from Louisville. Had an inconsistent freshmen season at Louisville, coming off the bench but made a big leap as a sophomore, first team All-ACC and All-defensive team member. Strengths: 6’2” with 6’10” wingspan, strong and can take contact. Excellent speed and body control in the open court uses length at the rim. Fastest ¾ sprint at combine slow to fast, long strides. Long arms and two feet leaping help him play above the rim. Has the tools to finish from different angles. Versatile shot maker, great balance, and rise, capable playmaker. Strong foundation as a pick-n-roll shot maker, sharp footwork on step backs and creates space with pullbacks. A good defender who can checkpoint guards, shooting guard the and even some forward. Elite length, strong frame, good feet sits and slides his feet. Active off the ball, will scrap and get on the floor and pick up in the backcourt. Works to contest, capable of making plays at the rim and good at anticipating passes. High-character and well-spoken on and off the court, competitive on both sides of the floor; good work ethic, proven by his shooting stroke. Weaknesses: Settles for jumpers too often, sped up at times. Pulls up for three’s when having numbers on numerous times. Lives off contested pull up two’s a bit too often, bad shot selection. Drives in the line without much of a plan, not great going left and needs to improve his touch in the paint. Consistency in the important considering style of play likes to live off tough shots. Slightly undersized for a two guard at 6’3”. Overall, will he be a good backup guard in the NBA, be better than Ramon Sessions? Will he improve his game more in the upcoming season?

The final player is freshmen center Jarrett Allen from Texas University. Was a highly regarded prospect but started the season slow, but found his footing and eventually being named Big 12’s All-Rookie and All-Conference 3rd team. Strengths: Excellent physical tools for a modern NBA center. Has massive hands. Long strides, agile runner/roller when motivated, length allows him to finish from all different angles, potential as a pick-n-roll finisher due to agility and length at the rim. Potential as a rim protector, good instincts at the rim. Inconsistent motor and toughness but upside is there, rangy on closeout, versatile pick-n-roll defender. Big hands and long arms help high-point the ball for rebounds. Has touch and footwork to be more than a tool big, excellent extension on jump hooks, soft touch left and right. Mid-range potential, post flashes and has a good push shot. Weaknesses: Defense energy wavers, not nearly the rim protector he should be and not physical at all. Gets push around by stronger and physical bigs. Slow to help and doesn’t always contest. Lose focus when contact is involved and fundamental not great. Uncomfortable in traffic on offense, goes up soft, weak with the ball; minimal deep catches in the paint. Panic dribbles a lot, uncomfortable vs help defense. Needs to be stronger with the ball after offense-boards. Poor awareness on the block, slow, mechanical stroke, not a pick and pop threat. Not good at creating for others, best as a finisher. Limited mental toughness. Overall, he started the year very slow and had an up and down production. Will be hard to rely on him on a daily basic. What does he do consistently well?

            After talking about these four prospects I think the Hornets is really in a rough situation at the 11th spot. I kind of hope the Hornets trade up to get a better player but I don’t see anyone trading with them since they have nothing to give up besides Kemba Walker and the Hornets would be idiots to trade Kemba. But if I had to choose out of these four players I would have to pick either Frank Ntilikina or Donovan Mitchell. I think both players can fill the backup point guard need pretty decent I guess, Frank Ntilikina plays just like Nic Batum but he’s a point guard other than a shooting guard, both like to shoot the three balls and make passes that sometimes he shouldn’t make and have a high turnover rate. But he could fit in the Hornets system well. Donovan Mitchell has a good work ethic, just compare him shooting the ball when he was a freshman to him shooting the ball as a sophomore. There completely different in a good way. He plays tough aggressive defense which what coach Clifford loves in a player and again be a good backup point guard replacement. But I do not want the Hornets to select Lauri Markkanen because he plays exactly like Frank Kaminsky and I don’t won’t another Frank the Tank on the team. And Jarrett Allen just seems lazy and not physical at all for a center. Also, Charlotte doesn’t need a center, we have two good centers (?) as is. Well, I’m done talking about what the Hornets should do, who do YOU think the Charlotte Hornets should draft? Or should they make a trade to either move up or down or just takes another player like they did last year with the Marco Belinelli. Tell me in the comment selection below! Have a great day and make sure to watch the NBA draft Thursday at 7 pm!

Charlotte Hornets draft predictions 1.0

After checking multiple sites and reviewing a lot of game tapes I have finished my first Charlotte Hornets draft predictions for this year (2017)! Before I get into that the Charlotte Hornets have hired Mike Batiste as an assistant coach, Batiste joins the Hornets after spending last season with the Brooklyn Nets as a player development assistant. Now I got that out of the way lets dive into this shall? I looked at four different trustworthy websites to see who they had the Hornets drafting eleventh overall in this year draft. DraftExpress.com had the Hornets drafting sophomore shooting guard Luke Kennard from Duke with the eleventh pick. BleacherReport.com had them drafting Duke forward Harry Giles and both CBS Sport.com and FoxSports.com had the Charlotte Hornets drafting freshman power forward/center Zach Collins from Gonzaga.

            The first player I’m going to talk about is Luke Kennard from Duke. Kennard was the 21^st recruit in the 2015 high school class and was a McDonald’s All-American and USA basketball fixture who surprised a lot by developing into one of the best players in college basketball and potential lottery pick. Kennard has a solid freshman season, averaging 12 ppg (points per game) in 27 minutes. But as a sophomore, he finished as the 2^nd best scorer in the ACC at 19 ppg earning him ACC first-team All-Conference honors. Strengths: Has positional size and scoring versatility who plays with a great pace, savvy ball handler. Uses size well to get to the paint for pull-ups and floaters, tough cover for opposing point guards in college. Has a pretty good head/ball fake into side step three’s or mid-range pull-ups, confident from NBA range. A big one for me plays with his head up and few turnovers! Makes quick decisions and has an excellent feel for the game. Can shoot over the top of smaller defenders. Built around his jumpers, floaters, sharp footwork, and tight handles. Can play point guard if need too. Weaknesses: Not very physical and quick enough for a guard, struggles with big wings. Can show more urgency on closeouts, takes bad angles and opens lines when defending bigger guards. Limit ball pressure, caught sleeping on ball multiple times. Will have to rely on his instincts to get by in the NBA. Kills his dribble in the paint too often, leans on his fakes, floaters a lot against smaller guards. Very predictable, jump shot in the paint, pivot to opposite shoulder. Struggles with length and in traffic, won’t explode with a full head of steam and seek contact and didn’t take many free throws at Duke. Overall: Will his game even translate in the NBA? Much less take him with the eleventh pick in the draft.

            Next players is Luke Kennard teammate Duke freshman Harry Giles. Was one of the best prospects in all high school before tearing his ACL, MCL, and meniscus in his left knee. Then in his first game in his senior year of high school, he tore his ACL in his right knee. Had another minor surgery in late 2016 that delayed his collegiate debut until late December. Played behind fifth-year senior Amile Jefferson due to his late start and persistent foul trouble (I get back to that later). Only played 11½ minutes per game. Strengths: Good length and wingspan for his size (6’11”, 7’3”) also light on his feet mobile runner, shot 61% at the rim in half court; good dive man out of pick and roll, rolls with a purpose. HUSTLES. Working off the rust but still competitive and active on defense, has the feet to check power forward’s, the length to guard modern centers and can be a good rim protector. Elite offensive rebounder crashes the board aggressively, knows how to get inside position, box out and pursue with strong hands. Jump shot comes and goes needs to work on expanding his range as well but can make a jump hook with both hands. Weaknesses: Limitations on offense, limited to mostly rim runs and pick and roll dives and put backs, lacks skill in the paints. When sped up is an uncomfortable playmaker, must improve decision making and needs to slow down, catch then go up misses a lot of under the basket wide open shots. Not a treat outside 10 feet can’t utilize his quickness without a reliable jumper. Doesn’t have a great feel as pick and roll defender, bad angles. Gets beat a lot and take to many “avoidable” fouls, 7.7 fouls per 40 minutes. Loses focus too much, awareness needs to improve. Overall: Giles has untapped potential and can possibly be a good starter in the NBA if he works on his offense. He hustles and plays, for the most part, good defense (when he’s not fouling) which that’s what coach Steve Clifford loves in a player. Just worry about his past injuries and if they will be a problem down the line.

            The last player is freshman power forward/center Zach Collins from Gonzaga. Zach Collins arrived at Gonzaga as a McDonald's All-American but nevertheless exceeded expectations significantly. He put up some of the best numbers in the country among freshmen on a per-minute basis and finished the season on as strong a note as you can possibly hope for, leading Gonzaga to the NCAA Tournament Championship game and playing extremely well in both Final Four games. Thus, there wasn't much surprise when Collins decided to enter the draft following the season, even though NBA scouts never quite got to see him in a featured role playing behind an All-American senior in center Prezmek Karnowski. Strengths: Has nice size for NBA power forward/center at 7-0. Light on his feet, great verticality, instincts, and timing. Agile in transitions also good in pick and roll. Quick to shooters, has feet to guard traditional power forward’s, can stay with the ball in pick and roll, recover to block at the rim; has flashes of a high motor. Has stretch potential, touch on jump hooks, a pick/pop threat has simply shooting mechanics. Good mid-range and decent face-up game. Has an average vision. Good instincts on the backboards have nose the ball. Quick to the ball on the offense boards, gets low and boxes out. Weaknesses: Average length and reach, 230 pounds get moved off the block by NBA caliber centers. Gets moved easily after catch, not overall tough. Doesn’t get great extension on post finishes. Has a bad habit of bringing the ball down in traffic. Very jumpy on defense, bites of slight shot fakes. Fundamentally sound but lacks discipline inside, really struggles vs experience, foul prone. Does need to sharpen skills to play more on the perimeter, lacks NBA range. Slow, not a dynamic stroke. Not a threat off the bounce, easy to run off. Not a perimeter playmaker. Overall: In my opinion, he looks a lot like Frank Kaminsky that can’t shoot three-pointers. Will he be able to play consistent NBA minutes? Looks more of a D-league player to me.

            If I had to guess which on these three players the Hornets would mostly draft it would be Harry Giles. He just fits the Hornets profile; He hustles and plays, for the most part, good defense (when he’s not fouling) which that’s what coach Steve Clifford loves in a player. Just worry about his past injuries and if they will be a problem down the line. He does have untapped potential that maybe the Hornets can get lucky and tap into. Luke Kennard, I think will be best a decent back-up in the league if that and Zach Collins just doesn’t impress me. The Hornets need a secondary scorer to help the Hornets. The Hornets was hoping that Nicolas Batum would fill that void but Batum would rather pass then take the shot. I was hoping would tank and get a high pick because I think there some good prospect that fills that void for them but from the looks of things the Hornets just going to get another average player at best and the Hornets won’t be able to do much in free agency this year also. keep being an average team. What do you think of the three players I reviewed? Which one would you be happy with the Hornets drafting? Or should they draft someone else? Tell me in the comment section below!