Off season NBA thoughts: Who will the Charlotte Hornets bring in?

NBA Draft is Thursday. Charlotte Hornets will have the second overall pick. Man, everybody was dreaming when there were two envelopes left and Charlotte was in one of them, that they were going to end up with Viktor Wimbenyama, but we should have known better the San Antonio Spurs when they are in that position. They always get the first pick, David Robinson, Tim Duncan.

Two absolute hall of famers, one of them in, one headed in there, and Viktor Wimbenyama should be a generational talent if he can stay healthy. So we know he's going to be the first pick. Now the Hornets are on the clock and what do they do? They could trade the pick and the rumors have been, oh man, would they be interested in Zion Williamson? Well, first of all, if Zion was ever offered, there's almost no way that that trade would not have already been executed. I don't imagine that the value for Zion is so astronomical that the Hornets, if they were interested in making that deal or if they were offered that deal, I think they would have made it because if you can get Zion healthy, you have a, I mean, one of the stars, one of the faces of the league and so much of what this league is built upon are those marketable stars. So I don't believe that Zion has really been in play, but that doesn't mean that there wouldn't be teams who were interested in trading for the second pick in the draft. I believe that the Hornets are more inclined to keep it.

And then it comes down to who do you like? Do you want Scoot Henderson, who's more of a kind of a PowerPoint guard, but not a great shooter? Or do you want Brandon Miller, the kid from Alabama who's 6'9", has a great outside shot, but is really a classic wing player?

And I believe that the answer to that question really depends on a third factor. What do you think LaMelo Ball is? Do you think he is the point guard on a winning team that contends for championships, for divisions, for deep playoff runs? If the answer to that is yes, then I don't think you draft Scoot Henderson. I think you draft Brandon Miller.

Or heck, maybe you trade back in the draft and draft somebody else, acquire another asset and draft somebody else. But if you think the answer is, I don't think LaMelo Ball is that guy, that he's flashy and he's fun to watch, but ultimately, is he a guy that's going to help me win, on top of the fact that he has had his own availability issues, then maybe the pick is Scoot Henderson. I am more in that camp than I am in the he's the guy camp. We'll find out what camp Brendan Whitted is in, at HU Cosell on Twitter, our Hornets, I don't know, expert.

Which camp are you in? Are you in the LaMelo Ball is the guy or LaMelo Ball, great talent, fun to watch, but isn't really that guy? No, he's that guy. He's one of the best passers in the league. He puts up an insane number of threes, but he makes them at a really good clip, 10 and a half and about 37% a game. But yeah, availability has been the biggest bugaboo for him, for the Hornets in general, honestly, during his tenure.

They just can't stay healthy and you can't win if you can't stay healthy. I know a lot of people and the Jordan News broke about him selling his majority stake in the team. And there's been a lot of, yay, I'm so happy. I'm so glad.

I'm not, right? He'll sell off his shares and he'll, for all intents and purposes, really be away from the NBA. And I just, it's the NBA, it's Michael Jordan. I love the idea that he was in business with them because he helped grow the sport to where we see it now, to say nothing of the fact he's a native North Carolinian. And he's the only majority black owner in the league's history.

All that stuff matters. And so, I'm not glad to see him go. If he had had a healthier team, I don't think that we're here.

I think they would have made the playoffs at least two out of the last three years. And if I'm being honest, as soon as that second pick came through and it was Hornets and not the first pick when they didn't get him, I think that was the nail in the coffin. I really, and I don't have any extra sources or reporting on this, but there's a reason. We had heard these murmurs a while ago, and then they just stopped, right?

Where it was like, okay. And then it comes out, okay, he's going to sell his shares after the lottery selection. I don't think that's a coincidence. I think if they get Wimby, there's no way he sells this team.

Even from a financial standpoint, it wouldn't make any sense, right? You suddenly would become must-see TV. You're on national TV all the time because everybody wants to see him. We've been watching him on the league pass whenever he pops up. And he's playing people that we have no idea who he's playing against.

We don't know anything about the league, not in any sort of real way about the league, but we're watching because we've just never seen anything like this. Absolutely zero way, zero way, in my opinion, that he sells the team if that envelope comes up with the Hornets. But yeah, to answer your original question, I think LaMelo is that guy. He's got to stay healthy, and the cast surrounding him, particularly for as great of a pass as yours, they have to stay healthy as well. Two quick things off of that, and I want to move on to some free agent issues. If LaMelo is that guy, is Brandon Miller from Alabama the pick, or do maybe you trade back a little bit and pick somebody in the middle of the lottery and acquire more assets? I think you'd make the pick.

I think you keep your pick. And is Brandon Miller that guy? I'd pick Miller. I think that he just naturally fits a little bit better. I know that Scoot and LaMelo have played together previously in some other iterations, but I don't love the idea of taking the ball out of LaMelo's hands more. Not because he can't play off ball, but because you're cutting yourself off at the knees a little bit because now that passer isn't going to have the ball in his hands that much, and you know that Scoot needs it because he is limited as a shooter.

It's going to hurt your spacing. I take Miller or not. I'd also be okay if Scoot turns out to be really good and you get, you know, Brandon Miller ends up being, you know, a slightly lesser version, but plays better and your team is better overall with that.

Yeah, look, six-nine shooters. I mean, if he can step into the league and be a good shooter, then you're probably in pretty good shape with that. Why do you think Jordan's reign as owner was so unsuccessful? Why was it so hard to attract quality free agents? It's a really have or have not league, man. Like, it really is unfortunate, but if you're at one of these, you know, there are a handful of destinations that are places people have a real desire to go to. It's LA, it's Miami, New York to a certain extent, although I think that has changed a little bit. Well, but the Nets though, right? Like, not the Knicks, but the Nets though. Like, they've been able to get people that want to go there. Chicago, maybe, but like, for the most part, these free agents aren't interested in going to but a handful of places.

And so if you're in another spot, look, the Nuggets just won. So it's not impossible to win at one of these other destinations, but you have to draft. Like, that's how they built their team with, through the draft, a great draft. Jokic, obviously, is a second round pick, which is insane, right? Like, that's just, look, sometimes you get lucky, right? They got lucky.

Obviously, their scholarly department thought he was good, but they wouldn't have let him last too, but as long as they did, they thought he was that. Right, exactly. So like, but that's how you have to do it. Or to push the ball a little bit further more, if you're the Hornets, maybe take a chance on a guy like Zion, right? Like, a guy that has serious injury concerns and serious talent that has shown both in the league at stretches. And so that's how you have to get talent that otherwise wouldn't go there. Like, you have to really be creative.

If you're going to make these sorts of moves as one of these small market teams, you have to. And that wasn't on Jordan. I was hoping that Jordan would be able to use the, hey, I'm Michael Jordan, you can play for me thing. But also, with from being real, Jordan's personality has never been like the most friendly and accommodating either.

And so like that wasn't, that's not really his bag, right? Like maybe Magic, you know, like we saw Magic Johnson in his capacity. He was able to help shepherd LeBron to LA, but that's Magic Johnson, who was more of a known as an affable, kind, nice, you know, even the last dance was just kind of like, yeah, I mean, he was a great winner, but not because of his personality.

Right. I mean, Magic is like the Walmart greeter, man. Magic is everywhere just shaking hands.

He's like, he's a welcoming guy. He was a terrible coach and maybe a worse executive, but as just a face of your team, very, very different. Like, he don't get LeBron there and that got him a ring. Like you can make the argument like, if he's not there, maybe he doesn't go. Maybe if LeBron just wants to be in LA for his media concerns and you know.

Let me get a couple of other things. I also think, I'm not sure that Jordan was like, maybe there was too much work involved to really run the team and Jordan, we know likes to do his own thing. He likes to play golf. He likes to, he's in the big rock, right? He was, he had a boat in big rock.

He owns a NASCAR. I actually thought it worked better when he took his hands off. Maybe. Right. Where he was less involved in stuff like that. You know, for his many shortcomings, he really had taken a step back in terms of day-to-day stuff. He was no longer coming downstairs to beat up on his players in one-on-one stuff, which again, not great, right? Like this is a very obvious thing not to do, but like when he started taking the step back, that's when they started to make these essentials. The other part is, Bob Johnson didn't do me favors with what he was coming into either, right? Like he had to really do a lot of like, there was a lot of just structural things that they needed to do to become an NBA quality sort of a team franchise. And Jordan did those things.

So no, his record is going to be poor and people can be excited that he's gone, but like I'm not there. And I'm not going to be there probably for a while until we see something shape different with the Hornets. Couple of more minutes with Brendan Whitted at H.U. Cosell on Twitter. Draymond Green opted out. I talked about this yesterday.

I think I talked about it with our friend Brian Geisinger. He's in the Draymond can still ball and worth a long-term contract. I must be missing something because I think he's coming to the end and I may be like him for one, maybe two more years, but not really beyond that. What are your thoughts on Draymond and potentially getting a long-term contract, Golden State or otherwise? You know, I love BG. We actually got a chance to see the final NBA finals game together.

Shout out to my mans, but I'm a lot close to your camp. Like I just don't, I don't see it. Offensively he's just regressed so much. And I think his is an interesting contract situation because I don't think he's as valuable on court for any other team as he is with the Warriors. Because as great of a defender as he is, he's taken a little bit of a step back there too. Mostly because I just think playing against guys, like remember two years ago when they won the, when they won the finals, he was guarding Jokic in the post bomb.

So like, he's a six, six, 200, you know, like 40 pounds. Like you're not supposed to be playing center position at that size and that wears on you. But like he used to be a much more capable offensive player. And the, the, the ringing idea I have now in my head is that he's, you know, mostly just playing dribble handoffs, you know, he'll, he'll, he's still a quality passer, just his shooting has regressed so much defensively.

He's still helpful, but he's more helpful as a defensive coordinator, like putting, make sure guys are in the right position, which has a lot of value. I do not mean to understate that, but in terms of, Hey, you're, it's not a cornerstone guy, right? We saw when Steph went out and clay was out, you know, the famous Charles, Charles Barkley, he was putting up single doubles.

I mean, triple C, triple singles. That was, no, that was where Draymond was not going to be able to contribute like that, but on that warrior's team, super helpful, but anywhere else, it's just, it's just super, super limited. I think about where he would be maybe most helpful and that'll be on a young team, but he wouldn't want to be a part of the rebuild. And that's the thing for Draymond, like in terms of getting, getting paid, he has a better chance of getting paid in golden state.

I think than he does anywhere else. And I say that knowing that it takes just one team. It takes just one team to make me look stupid. I could see Detroit because Detroit is so far away and they need so much leadership and they are so young. I could almost see Detroit coming in and saying, we don't care if we are overpaying for Draymond Green, because he is going to help our younger guys learn what it takes. I could see that, but from, for the most part, I see him as, hey, let's just use the Lakers as an example.

Come on down here. And I'm not even saying he's a great fit there, but come on down here. We'll give you, you know, $25 million this year, but it's a one-year deal. Like I don't see him getting a long-term big money deal anywhere else. I see him maybe playing for a mid-level exception type of a contract.

I got to move on one, one more thing. I mean, before I let you go, there are two scoring point guards that are probably available, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard. This isn't even about which one is better than the other. I think Kyrie is probably better, but Damian is more available game in and game out. You don't have to give up anything pretty much if you want Kyrie Irving. You have to give up a lot for Damian Lillard.

Considering that they're similar style players, who would you rather have given the cost? Each week we dive into the mind of the con artist, uncovering the secrets behind the biggest Ponzi schemes you've never heard about. We're not talking about Bernie Madoff or Charles Ponzi. That's right. Those guys have been covered to death. The Ponzi playbook will focus on those fraudsters who have swindled millions from unsuspecting investors.

Subscribe to the Ponzi playbook wherever you get your podcasts. Right. Like that's that's what it is because apparently Phoenix asked and reached out to Dallas about a sign and trade situation. I just don't I don't think that they're willing to give him up because they do have the right to to to resign and go and give him the most money, which I think ultimately is he's going to end up taking Dallas's money.

But yeah, man, like, yeah, that was a really good question. But Lillard, I think I would want just everything else the same. I want Lillard. He's got to decide what he wants, though.

Like, I mean, it's kind of weird that we keep doing this. This is like an annual thing now to see if Lillard is going to kind of actually test the waters or you're just going to kind of bite around the edges of it. Yeah, I think he's a little bit like like Russell Westbrook. He really wants to stay. Westbrook wanted to stay in Oklahoma City, but ultimately they were so far away from winning that he had to go.

And I think the same thing with Damian Lillard at H.U. Coast Sale on Twitter. Brendan Woodard, appreciate your time, my friend. I'll talk to you soon. Absolutely.