Next Post:
»

Hornets poor drafts contribute to lack of depth, cap space

By:
Published: February 14, 2011

Okay.  We all know that the Hornets have had some poor drafts in the past.  Names such as Hilton Armstrong, Cedric Simmons, and Marcus Vinicius come to mind.  Oh, I almost forgot Julian Wright.  However, there are other ramifications of these picks than just a wasted roster spot.  There are the good NBA players that the Hornets could have picked instead. 

Instead of Armstrong, how would Thabo Sefolosha or Ronnie Brewer look?

Instead of Simmons, how would Rajon Rondo sound?

Heard of Paul Millsap?  He was taken four spots AFTER the Hornets drafted Vinicius. 

I thought that the Hornets would draft Nick Young in 2007.  Instead, it was Julian Wright, who thankfully is no longer on the team.  Young, on the other hand, is developing into an effective scorer for the Wizards. 

 

Missing on your draft picks affects depth, but it also provides a missed opportunity to develop young talent with cheap labor. 

Take Darrell Arthur for instance, who the Hornets actually drafted in 2008….

*Arthur had 24 points (8-11 FG, 8-10 FT), six rebounds, two blocks and a steal off the bench in the Grizzlies’ win over the Nuggets on Sunday (31 minutes played.

Darrell is averaging 8.6 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game.  He is only 22 years old.  How much is he making in salary?  $1,123,680, which is chump change in the NBA.  Do you think the Hornets could have used him this year?  Instead, he was sold for cash which created the flexibility to sign James Posey and his $6,000,000/year contract which strangled the Hornets front office until he was a salary cap throw-in to the Ariza-Darren Collison deal.  Whew!  Who knows what the Hornets could have done if Arthur was a Hornet.  Maybe the Hornets could have offered Ariza a free-agent contract before last season with that savings and then wouldn’t have had to trade Collison, one of the Hornets’ draft hits which would have saved the draft pick that was used to acquire Bayless earlier this season. Unlikely, but maybe. 

And finally … J.R. Smith. 

Geaux Hornets!

 

 

*espn.com

 

13 Comments

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.