The Charlotte Hornets are the Lob City spin-off this league desperately needs.
The Hornets' may have not won Thursday night's Draft, but they have firmly established their identity for the next decade–and it's thrilling.
The Charlotte Hornets are going to be fun. Fun like capital F, 100 miles an hour, line-dancing and jiving at Coyote Joe’s Saloon till the break of dawn fun. A few other teams may have a case for having performed better during the Draft, but it really felt like no other organization solidified their identity more than Charlotte did Thursday night.
James Bouknight is an electric scorer and an immediate candidate for the Dion Waiters Irrational Confidence Club™. He provides the kind of primary scoring ability that can take some pressure off of LaMelo Ball and shift the Hornets’ offense into hyper-drive. Charlotte is banking on Bouknight developing into a more consistent spot-up shooter and ultimately becoming the class’ most potent scoring threat in the mold of, say, Devin Booker.
Almost nobody in this Draft class is as adept using hesitations and body feints to create day-light in the midrange, and even fewer are as capable hitting contested jump-shots. He jumps off the page as a pro-level scorer, and can do it at all three levels. Couple that with his oh-my-god athleticism and you likely have the best value pick in the draft outside of Suggs at 5 (highway robbery, by the way).
Oh, and he occasionally does shit like this:
Yeah.
Outside of his obvious scoring talent, what I think is more important is that Bouknight possesses the necessary mentality to thrive alongside LaMelo Ball. Almost nobody else in the league puts as much pressure on the basketball offensively as LaMelo, and finding guys to succeed alongside that pressure means finding players who can blossom within his orchestrated chaos. Bouknight feels the perfect version of that player.
Watching him play (and actually having played against him), you get the sense that he really thinks he’s going to score every single time he touches the basketball. Where he catches it, when he catches it, and how he catches it are irrelevant; Bouknight is a bucket-getter in the purist sense. That’s particularly valuable when you’re catching 90-foot lobs and underhand skip passes from someone like LaMelo–Bouknight doesn’t need to adjust, he’s in his element.
Speaking of not needing to adjust, the Hornets’ most savvy move of the night (and perhaps of the entire Draft) was their trading up to select Kai Jones at 19. Jones, even more so than Bouknight, embodies the kind of style that Charlotte is seemingly attempting to build towards. Drafting him solidified their identity as a high-octane, transitional freight train in the memory of Chris Paul’s Lob City.
Jones epitomizes this primarily because of his most obvious strength; his motor. Kai Jones was–in my opinion–the most entertaining player coming into this Draft. Watching the 6’11 center break out into an olympic-sprint off a defensive rebound and finish it off with a jaw-dropping lob on the other end is a joy like no other, and pairing him with Ball means that there’s a whole lot more where that came from.
But seriously, look at him go;
The Bahamian native steps into the league as already one of the best rim-runners and lob-threats available–a star in arguably the two most valuable skills for second-tier big men in the modern NBA.
What drives his upside from fun to fascinating is his potential as a shot creator and defensive dynamo at 6’11. Jones appears to be very fluid off the bounce and displays incredible mobility when driving to the rim. Couple that with unrelenting defensive effort and top-tier lateral mobility and you have a guy that could end up being one of the most valued specialists at his position.
Look, it’s not all pretty for Jones all the time. His shot mechanics need serious repair–particularly his lower body, which comes off as inconsistent at best. Even more worrying is his defensive IQ; for all his outstanding efforts on that end, Jones has likely one of the worst IQs in the entire Draft. He’s out of position more often than not and gambles on plays that leave you nauseated; it really highlights that this is a kid who only started playing four years ago.
But that might also be the best part of his game. Jones plays with the joy of somebody who only discovered Basketball’s brilliance recently. His unrelenting motor and non-stop intensity feel innocent in the way that reminds us all why we fell in love with the game, it’s pure.
Look, this Lob City spinoff in Charlotte could fail miserably. Bouknight could prove to be an inconsistent, inefficient shot chucker (known affectionately as the Rudy Gay Standard™). Jones could never develop beyond a low-IQ lob threat, and descend to the way of veteran minimum after veteran minimum, but still I don’t think any of that matters right now.
This Charlotte team is going to likely be the most exciting in the league, and the Hornets’ organization–like most everybody else–is all in on LaMelo Ball as a franchise centerpiece. The Hornets’ did a masterful job in the Draft; they’ve established an identity and we–as fans–get to watch a young team come together and maybe actually contend. This is a privilege that’s becoming a rarity in today’s NBA and I, for one, am all in.
Like Bouknight said, “we’re gonna be Box Office.”
No talk of terry, devonte graham pj or bridges future?