I am not sure I get the excitement around him but if they know something, good on them.
Every year a big like him moves up because GMās fall in lust
Iāll have my go at this, but damn Iām having a really difficult time sorting out the tier of prospects we will be choosing from.
Players I would be very happy with:
Keon Johnson - if we want to go high ceiling, shoot for the stars Keon is probably my guy if heās there. The reason Iām drawn to him is because Iām a sucker for freaky athletes, and with Keon likeā¦ thereās nothing I think he simply CANāT learn to do. His shot needs work, like a lot of it. Odds are it never comes around. But if it does he has all-star potential.
Franz Wagner - Maybe not the crazy ceiling of Keon, but heās just a damn good basketball player. Really high floor and I also think his ceiling is an all star caliber player.
James Bouknight - he gets buckets. If he can become a better shooter he could be like really, really good. And he was left taking insanely ridiculous shots at UConn.
Not First Choice but Strong Picks
Alperen Sengun - this guy is the definition of boom or bust for me. I havenāt fallen for him like some, but the production is absolutely insane. He looks slow to me but maybe Iām overthinking it. Some people I really trust think heās the real deal.
Moses Moody - he will probably be good. Zero sort of explosiveness or bust or Iād be higher on him, but you could do much worse at SG.
Jalen Johnson - big forwards with his passing ability are a rare pedigree. I have no idea if heāll ever be effective in the halfcourt offense, but again heās a good talent at 11.
Ziaire Williams - Shoot for the stars. Shoot for the stars!
Josh Giddey - Might be redundant with LaMelo but Iāll always have a thing for big guards that can pass.
Picks most would hate but I wouldnāt
Davion Mitchell - we definitely already have our share of undersized players, but this dude is just good at basketball lmao. I also think he has a killer/dog mentality that our locker room is missing. I love the story about how before the national championship game he just stared Gonzaga down, then went out and scored like 9 points in the first 5 minutes.
Kispert - one of the best shooters to ever enter the league. Nothing wrong with hitting an easy single or double, but I agree we should go for more high upside talent.
Guys that arenāt in our range but I think should be
Miles McBride - maybe the best on ball defender in the draft, say it wouldnāt be nice having him to guard players like Trae. Also packs an offensive punch.
Sharife Cooper - insane handle and creator.
Donāt think I want
Kai Jones - I get the appeal but he just seems so out of control.
This is a list of scares me. I get Sengun in a particular context (feel some deja vu of prior drafts saying that). But my eye test says heās barely 6ā8" and any dreams that heās Jokic v2 is only if you see version 2s as smaller in both height and size in the lane. Now if we have some deal sending PJ out then I get him as a 4 (and pretty much only a 4) with a big like Turner or some other rim defender coming in. Outside of that, I am a super hard pass.
Jalen got me curious when I saw the Plowright aggregate putting him amongst Hornets twitterati in the top 3rd. But reading up on him and the concerns of him not finishing seasons multiple times has me worried that noone has been able to put together a full book on him. Itās all speculative and thatās not where we should be IMO.
Cooper is in some ways really neat but I feel we finally donāt have concerns about mismatches due to height at guard and it would be unfortunate to put ourselves back into that mix when we donāt āneedā to be.
Iām mostly worried about drafting whoever has the POTENTIAL to be an elite second or third option on a team with LaMelo in 3-4 years. I like PJ, I do. But heās not the type of player that you alter your big board for. Like, if weāre on the clock at 11 and Sengun is by far Mitchās BPA you take Sengun and figure the rest out later. I doubt this is likely because we havenāt even worked out Sengun yet but just an example.
I honestly think Sengun is boomer or bust. I could see him becoming a 20-10 machine or being out of the league in 5 years. This guy on Reddit runs an algorithm projecting outcomes and the algorithm had Sengun as the most promising player in this class and it wasnāt even close. Not that this means anything, but there are analytics and numbers people absolutely in love with him that think he can be a star. Itās enough to make me interested.
This team needs another draft triple or home run. Whomever you think has the highest ceiling, you should draft and hope that the talent (and apparent maturity) of melo and the leadership of both Hayward and rozier bring that out
2 Likes
Coming back to Bouknight, I donāt see him being there at 11ā¦ Hopefully that 29% from 3 last year will scare some teams off, seems to be whatās scaring people off at the minute.
From what I see his shot passes the eye test to me, shot almost 35% from 3 in his first year and 80% from the stripe over his 2 years, was taking some questionable shots this year and had issues with his elbow by all accounts.
Also heās strong as hell at the rim, heāll be living at the free throw line in the nba.
Between my last post and now having done some more reading, watched more film - Iām fully invested, tunnel vision, heās my guy. 
i think you are right. but in terms of ceiling AND need, he is the #1 i keep looking at. sure he could end up being jeremy lamb/jordan clarkson, he can also end up being a sure fire top sg in the league too.
I would be happy with Bouknight, Moody, or K. Johnson - I see them all as having really good potential to translate to the NBA. I still have Moody ahead but any of my top 5 will make me quite content on the 29th. I guess in my book, one of them will be there at 11 and thatās exciting.
1 Like
The Iām Celebrating in the Draft Thread Picks
Moses Moody - Donāt think heāll be a star, but I do think that heāll be Mikel Bridges 2.0 which is very solid.
James Bouknight - I worry about his defense, but the guy has a shot at being a star.
.
I can talk Myself into it aka the Miles Bridges
Franz Wagner - Skillset looks good and he has size.
Trey Murphy - I worry about his handle, but for catch and shoot heās fine.
.
Slightly Disappointed but Still Intrigued
Alperen Sengun - How many PF types does this team need? I can see him at center, but heās a bit small to play against some of this yearās good playoff teams.
Kai Jones - Looks super raw to me. Would rather have a more finished product.
Jalen Johnson - How many teams can a guy quit on before heās out of strikes? Basketball is a team game, and winning teams canāt have guys who mostly look out for themsevels.
Jaden Springer - Just seems like an interesting prospect, though I wish he were taller.
Tre Mann - I think 11 is way early for him, but heās a good trade down target.
.
No. Just donāt.
Davion Mitchell
Usman Garuba
Josh Giddey
Keon Johnson
Corey Kispert
As I stated above, I wouldnāt be opposed to trading back. What would be fair compensation for the 11th pick?
I wonder if the better option would be to trade a top 10 protected next year + both 2nds to OKC for #16.
Particularly if Kai Jones or seguen are available.
Potentially walking away from the draft with one of boughnight/Johnson/moody and a big
2 Likes
OKC open for businessā¦this year 3 1rst, 3 2nds (33&34, 55) a lot of picks next few years. Thinking trade down option but could punt picks for the right price. But please donāt Ajinca this with that pick.
Also, OKC only got 2 bigs on roster and ones a RFA. We only late 2nds.
If we take big at 11, FO moving Carey or Nick. Heck even no big 11, should move one of those develops guaranteed deals.
I think Iāve now reached the point where if none of Wagner, Moody or Bouknight are there at #11, I want the mooted #11 for #16 & #18 trade to become a reality.
There are so many players I find it hard to order in preference after those 3 that Iād want to double down and spread the risk.
1 Like
That would be extremely tempting for the exact reasons you mentioned. Iād hate to give up a future first and wish there was a way to get it done without that. but hopefully weād be a playoff team which makes it less valuable and I feel like thereās enough talent in this draft that we could come away with a wing and a big with nice upside.
7 days and countingā¦ Bouknight feature: The Journey - Episode 1 | 2021 NBA Pre-Draft Documentary - YouTube
Just reading things here and there combined with looking at who is working out who, it seems that seguen and bouknight are going to be gone before the hornets draft
Rumors are that the Warriors are hot over Bouknight
Shudder