2024 Draft Prospects

[Bassman]

On the latest Locked On Hornets podcast, Nata Edwards makes a good case for Clingan being a high value pick for the Hornets. Primary points he makes:

1. Can’t call center a strength for this team. Williams issue is his back which is ALWAYS a red flag for 7 footers. Nick isn’t a sufficient back up plan. Williams might never return to a level that deserves long starter minutes.

2. Believes the top talent of this draft is really Sarr and Clingan due to their size/skill attributes and the relative unknowns of all the wings. Still likes Castle, but acknowledges most wings don’t have reliably certain jump shots. Dismisses good shooters like Sheppard due to height and defensive limitations at league level, and Knecht due to his defensive lapses at college level.

3. Says Clingan showed he can apply his size and defensive skills at a league level, with mobility to switch and use his 8’ wingspan to interfere with wings off the pick. Can depend on him finishing strong at the rim, nice shooting from midrange and has just enough on his 3 ball to possibly keep teams honest.

[JustBuzzin]

Clingan with a top 5 pick makes no sense.

We can get a center in FA. We still don't know the issue with Mark. It's possible he comes back healthy and then we took Clingan for depth.

We need a legit starter in the top 5.

[fatlever]

I'm fine with clingan. I'm sick of us having a pathetic center rotation.

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[JMAC3]

Weak draft? Draft a big you say... say Hello to Cody Zeller 2.0. Hard pass.

I would rather take a swing on nearly every other wing in the top 15 then play it safe

[SWedd523]

I'm fine with clingan. I'm sick of us having a pathetic center rotation.

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Same, but regardless of our team makeup. I feel like hes a fair pick in the 5-8 range so depending on where we land, he makes sense.

[EmpireFalls]

Clingan is not necessarily that safe. He doesn’t play many minutes, he has a questionable injury history

[Goodecharlotte]

If we don't get the #1 pick and possibly assuming we'd pick Sarr if we did, would people go with Castle and his defense next to Lamelo. His shooting could improve over time he seems to have good mechanics to sort that out, and we do have a shooting guru to help.
Who would the board pick in the 2nd? Is Karaban an option looks like a very good shooter 37% this year from 3 and 40% last year.

[LofJ]

Anyone else interested in Isaiah Collier?

He's a powerful athlete with a quick step. He can drive to the basket and he can get a shot off when guarded.

He's talented enough that I think we should consider him. I don't love the idea of taking another guard, but if LaMelo is out we don't have enough talent that can attack the basket and put pressure on defenses.

Adding him to the list of other guys I like with our pick if we're in the top 4 (Sarr, Topic, Holland, Collier).

[MugzZo]

I'm fine with clingan. I'm sick of us having a pathetic center rotation.

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Yeah he would be a solid pick. Having him and Williams would be nice especially if it means no nick Richards.

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[JustBuzzin]

Anyone else interested in Isaiah Collier?

He's a powerful athlete with a quick step. He can drive to the basket and he can get a shot off when guarded.

He's talented enough that I think we should consider him. I don't love the idea of taking another guard, but if LaMelo is out we don't have enough talent that can attack the basket and put pressure on defenses.

Adding him to the list of other guys I like with our pick if we're in the top 4 (Sarr, Topic, Holland, Collier).

I like his scoring ability, but he's just a scorer and not much else. That's a lot of guys fighting for shots. I would prefer a more team oriented type player who plays both sides of the court.

[wilson115]

Really wanted Collier to click but Dean's extremely harsh on him. Yikes.
https://deanondraft.substack.com/p/is-isaiah-collier-worthy-of-1-overall

[Snidely FC]

I concur with Adam Finkelstein at CBS who has CHA mocked at 3 to take Ron Holland

I am higher on Holland than most. He's competitive, with solid wing size, and improved shooting. I also think pairing him with Brandon Miller, although counterintuitive at first, could work as Holland's motor, physicality, and defensive oriented pedigree could be a nice complement for last year's No. 2 overall pick in a Tatum/Brown type mold.

[Liver_Pooty]

I concur with Adam Finkelstein at CBS who has CHA mocked at 3 to take Ron Holland

I am higher on Holland than most. He's competitive, with solid wing size, and improved shooting. I also think pairing him with Brandon Miller, although counterintuitive at first, could work as Holland's motor, physicality, and defensive oriented pedigree could be a nice complement for last year's No. 2 overall pick in a Tatum/Brown type mold.

Agreed.

[JustBuzzin]

I concur with Adam Finkelstein at CBS who has CHA mocked at 3 to take Ron Holland

I am higher on Holland than most. He's competitive, with solid wing size, and improved shooting. I also think pairing him with Brandon Miller, although counterintuitive at first, could work as Holland's motor, physicality, and defensive oriented pedigree could be a nice complement for last year's No. 2 overall pick in a Tatum/Brown type mold.

I like a Miller/Risacher pairing better than a Holland/Miller pairing.

Risacher is better at catch n shoot. Melo will need a catch n shoot guy. Miller can do it, but I also expect him to be more of secondary ball handler next year.

[Diop]

I only watched Klyngon in that game against Edey but he didn't excite me. at all.

id rather Biyombo as 3rd centre than him.

[JDR720]

Read on Twitter

This guy seems like a 90% chance to bust.

[Snidely FC]

I concur with Adam Finkelstein at CBS who has CHA mocked at 3 to take Ron Holland

I am higher on Holland than most. He's competitive, with solid wing size, and improved shooting. I also think pairing him with Brandon Miller, although counterintuitive at first, could work as Holland's motor, physicality, and defensive oriented pedigree could be a nice complement for last year's No. 2 overall pick in a Tatum/Brown type mold.

I like a Miller/Risacher pairing better than a Holland/Miller pairing.

Risacher is better at catch n shoot. Melo will need a catch n shoot guy. Miller can do it, but I also expect him to be more of secondary ball handler next year.

If Hornets need a catch and shoot guy there may be better choices than Risacher. For example, I would take Johnny Furphy over Risacher. I know that is contrary to the current wisdom of the crowd, but ESPN+ analytics guru Kevin Pelton's Stats Only rankings corroborate. Pelton's Stats Only ranking would have Johnny Furphy tied at #4 with Alex Sarr, behind only Sheppard, Edey and Clingan. On Stas Only, Risacher would be #81. Here's why:

For a freshman wing, Furphy's .609 true shooting percentage was terrific, and more the product of sustainably high 2-point accuracy (64%) than a 3-point hot streak. Furphy's form suggests he could improve on his 35% 3-point shooting as well. Add in good size (a listed 6-9) and Furphy could grow into a multi-positional threat.

Risacher averaged 13.1 PPG in just 24 minutes per game during EuroCup play at 18 years old, making 57% of his 2s and 56% of his 3s. That performance was out of line with Risacher's play in the French LNB Pro A, however, as he shot just 51% on 2s and 34% on 3s. And a 69% career free throw shooting percentage across all first-division competition suggests Risacher's 3-point hot streak in EuroCup play might not be legitimate.

[Hornet Mania]

Read on Twitter

This guy seems like a 90% chance to bust.

He's the Mystery Box Euro of this year's draft. That archetype almost always busts.

[EmpireFalls]

I’m at the point where I either want us to win the lottery or get screwed and pick 7th/8th. Having to burn a top 3 pick on some of these guys does my head in. It is Cody Zeller Adam Morrison allll over again.

[JMAC3]

If Hornets need a catch and shoot guy there may be better choices than Risacher. For example, I would take Johnny Furphy over Risacher. I know that is contrary to the current wisdom of the crowd, but ESPN+ analytics guru Kevin Pelton's Stats Only rankings corroborate. Pelton's Stats Only ranking would have Johnny Furphy tied at #4 with Alex Sarr, behind only Sheppard, Edey and Clingan. On Stas Only, Risacher would be #81. Here's why:

For a freshman wing, Furphy's .609 true shooting percentage was terrific, and more the product of sustainably high 2-point accuracy (64%) than a 3-point hot streak. Furphy's form suggests he could improve on his 35% 3-point shooting as well. Add in good size (a listed 6-9) and Furphy could grow into a multi-positional threat.

Risacher averaged 13.1 PPG in just 24 minutes per game during EuroCup play at 18 years old, making 57% of his 2s and 56% of his 3s. That performance was out of line with Risacher's play in the French LNB Pro A, however, as he shot just 51% on 2s and 34% on 3s. And a 69% career free throw shooting percentage across all first-division competition suggests Risacher's 3-point hot streak in EuroCup play might not be legitimate.

So the thought here is Furphy only shot 35% but he could improve, but we should be worried about Risacher because his shooting was at 56%, but then dropped to only 34% for a time a in LNB. How does that make sense lol? So Risacher in a slump is 1% worse then the totality of Furphy? While playing in a tougher league?

Furphy has a great 2pt % because he only took 2.5 shots inside the arc per game. Half of those are probably open uncontested layups so yeah I would expect his % to be awesome when he is only taking the easyyyy ones.