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 31st pick for center Miles Plumlee and guard Marco Belinelli and the 41st 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!
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