Hornets draft options down to 3 players + with the 6th pick in the Locked On Mock Draft we select..?

Hornets draft options down to 3 players + with the 6th pick in the Locked On Mock Draft we select..?

looks like the Hornets might be focused on three specific players in the NBA draft we’ll discuss who those guys are then look at our Noto ultimate mock draft history and this yeah that was good that was you by the way a good you are locked on Hornets your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day in a minute cuz we live [Music] it’s lockon hornets part of the locked on podcast Network it’s your team every day thanks for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods and that includes YouTube today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel you can make every moment more as playoffs wind down playoffs are over in the NBA the Sports Stop sporting like we want them to that is true but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started there’s Doug Branson he’s never stopping sporting he’s always sporting find him on his substack every Hornets boox score.com I’m Walker ma listen to me WFNZ every weekday from 12: to 300 p.m. so it looks like the Hornets might be focused on three guys at the top of the draft here Doug whether it be number six whether they trade up to number three with Houston like previous reports suggested in fact we’re getting a little bit of Buzz surrounding the Hornets as to yeah they’re pretty aggressively pursuing number three who are those three guys according to Sam bassini and Jonathan gavone one of the athletic one of ESPN it is Reed Shepard out of Kentucky it is Stefan castle out of the University of Connecticut and it is Dalton connect out of the University of Tennessee three guys Walker that you and I have talked about a lot I guess the surprise here is that there are no surpris right I mean there’s this uh idea of the Hornets needing to upgrade their wing defense and not included in that list are guys like Ron Holland or maybe a Cody Williams a name that would would surprise people in that that they haven’t been mocked to the Hornets very much um so it seems finally it took a while here for the Black Box the mystery box to open up but it seems like now people are finally coalescing around a set of names uh for the Charlotte Hornets and the question is are are they willing to do what it takes to get one of those names meaning are they willing to trade up to three or are they going to be satisfied with staying at six and taking whichever one of these names is available to them right so we’ve heard that Reed Shepard is one of the guys they wanted to pursue to go to number three Stefan Castle also is in that mix I don’t know if they would trade up that they would select uh Dalton connect here Doug if they stayed at number six it would feel like that’s where they would Bank on connect being there and feel comfortable enough selecting him but there’s a real good possibility they wouldn’t get castle or Reed Shepard because they didn’t want to get up give up assets to go get those guys yeah I to me this is how the scenario plays out are you ready for this this is my ultimate speculation uh mock draft scenario for the Charlotte Hornets okay they work the phones they try to get to three for the Houston Rockets uh they try to get there for Reed Shepard if that fails I think they make a run at Detroit and the fifth pick if Stefan Castle is still there to move up one slot just to make sure that they can acquire Stefan Castle maybe that involves a miles Bridge’s signning trade and there’s some extra goodies that come back to Charlotte because you’re only moving up one pick there the the the gifts that you would have to give to Detroit uh don’t don’t have to be that significant and then if they can’t work out any deal and re chipper goes three and Stefan either goes four or five which is a very realistic possibility that both of those guys go in the top five then and only then do you you know get into the warm EMB braces of Dalton connect and and he really is to me like a comfort pick because he’s a guy that’s going to know what he’s knows what he’s doing offensively I think um to me he projects out as somebody that can be an average Defender I don’t think I’m not as low on his defense as everyone else is uh I I think he will you know become a Gordon Hayward level Defender where you’re like all right this guy knows how to do team defense yes he’s going to get busted off the dribble every now and then but generally he’s going to be very good for you and offensively he’s ready to go right now so we have some history of a team with the Charlotte Hornets moving up or back just one spot and that’s back in 2018 when the Clippers decided that they wanted to move up just one spot to select Shay gilis Alexander and then the Hornets traded back and they would eventually select miles Bridges but they did collect a couple of assets and so if you’re looking if you’re looking at a moving up one spot scenario granted that was 12 and 11 we’re talking about six and five so perhaps a little bit more needs to be given up by the Hornets to move up that one spot but Charlotte initially selected SGA traded him to the clippers for the 12th overall selection and second round picks in 2020 and 2021 so you swap picks and then you got a couple of second Rounders maybe the Hornets would have to give up more in that scenario that you suggest if you wanted to secure castle at number five before somebody else jumps further and then selects him at number five with Detroit you know what’s interesting about this whole thing is that if the Hornets do end up with a reed Shepard or Stefan Castle they are going to come out of this thing as as The Darlings of the NBA draft punditry because if you look across Vini the the the No Ceilings uh draft guides and if you look at everything that gavone and woo have been talking about like this all of the stats folks love Reed Shepard they don’t love Castle as much but then you you’ll read guys like vasini say or or or there was somebody else that had uh Pelton Kevin Pelton had Stefan castle at 10 in his stats only projections but said the more he watches Castle the more he thinks Castle is going to beat that and be more of a top five Prospect in this draft so if they are able to acquire one of these players I guarantee you that people will say that the Charlotte Hornets won the draft because other guys like Alex SAR and Donovan kingan and Reay the guys who are actually in uh in a contest here for the top two picks they’re actually Strangely I think across the board being rated lower it’s it’s this weird and it maybe it makes sense because this draft is weaker but like it it’s this weird divide between the punditry and then all the consensus that we’re seeing around the mock drafts and where teams are in terms of Atlanta and Washington it’s it’s just kind of wonky right now so if the Hornets are able to get one of these guys I’m telling you people will say oh this new regime they know what they’re doing you bring up S Vini I is s Vini viewed as the best draft evaluator in the game right now Jonathan gavone is up there I know Jeremy woo they are the popular names it feels like the Hipster pick but also is seen on a mainstream level is Sam Vini that’s I think that the Hipster draft analysis is No Ceilings I think the folks that it’s kind of the alt you know and then I think gavon is certainly tops I mean Vini It’s Not a Hipster I mean he works for the athletic I mean that’s yeah I know not hipster but it’s like it’s almost like the but but we know what gavon does you know like I know what gavon I’m hip to gon’s game people I’m way ahead of the curve on phony gavone Now Kevin Pelt is your is your stats nerd and then Kevin oon man is your gossip C okay we got we got it figured out anyways Vini has TMZ that’s Kevin okon man is the TMZ of draft coverage I mean I mean I that it might even be gony to be honest with you either way Vini has Reed Shepard number two on his rankings and Stefan Castle number three who are two of the three that we have uh here linked to the Hornets don’t connect nine on this list so still pretty high considering some of the concerns that other people have defensively and perhaps thinking that he’s only a one trick pony microwave off of the bench I like the players in the group for sure and I meant to mention this to you when when I was on you were filling in for Kyle Bailey on Friday and I was on your show and you were asking me about or you or Wes was asking me about Reed Shepard and I was you know waxing poetic about how stats guys love Reed Shephard because if you look at his points per possession across these different pick and roll ball handlers spot up off the dribble like his numbers are off the charts now he didn’t get as much volume with a stat Kentucky team but when he had the ball in his hands offensively he was just out of this world and that’s why the stats folks love Reed Shepard and I think it’s interesting to note that one of the first hes that this front office made was Patrick harol who was I his title is Vice President of like basketball analytics and insights like it’s very much he he’s a a Yale guy you know uh ivy league guy who’s coming in sports science Sports analytics you know all of that stuff I think that’s a focus for for this front office and so it’s it doesn’t shock me at all that they love Reed Shepard well especially if you’re considering this regime being of new age thinking and then going after the guy that the advanced metrics point to more so all you needed was the athleticism despite how small he was to help even further solidify this is the right pick and then he breaks out with a 42 Max vert at the combine which was tied I believe with Deon Carter for the best Max vert that we saw at the combine so one Reed Shepard posted that number and you had all of the phenomenal and Doug not not only are they phenomenal it maybe you would I’m not calling him the best shooter we’ve ever seen come out of the draft or even in the top 20 I’m sure there are better volume stats for other people that just went crazy there might be that out there but as far as just the percentages it’s going to be H it’s going to be really hard to see 50% on four attempts again it’s going to be really hard to see some of the percentages the true shooting’s at 7 like I mean that’s that’s laughable I that’s that’s the stuff here that or analytics nerds are going to absolutely love and there’s a real history of prioritizing analytics in the draft and that working out like there’s a real history of that Jaylen Williams is one that comes to mind for me Doug he was he was my favorite player in the draft a couple of years ago and I just thought the Hornets had to select Duren or Mark Williams whoever fell they needed a big guy at that time Jaylen Williams was already off the board he was taking I think one selection before the Hornets could pick but he had good stats Devon fael he also had really good analytics so then it feels like for me when I get some of these things wrong I I look at some of those Advanced metrics that I ignored and when I ignore him it it tends for me at least Doug to where if I ignore him that’s where I get the prospect wrong like some of the guys that have missed out on zy Williams huge fan huge huge fan of Z Williams right oh yeah so there you go right but like there was some real concerns with some of the stuff yeah I had some stats that I wanted to point out as to why I like them so much but clearly hasn’t worked out and it’s so to where here we are three years down the line not going to work scoot Henderson I I still think he’s going to work but I did avoid some of the advanced numbers towards him right as Brandon Miller did have a lot of the nice stuff at least from the perimeter shooting at The Rim it wasn’t great so I think with uncertainty like I go back to a foundation of yeah I mean this is where it’s worked before so if this is where it’s worked before especially with a giraffe that’s considered weak and everything is so finicky that’s where I’m going to make my bed that’s where I’m going to get all comfy cozy and just select Reed Shepard if he’s there or Stefan Castle who finishes really well at The Rim despite some of the perimeter numbers not being good for him like that this is where I start to get as comfortable as possible yeah there must be something there right because you look at his you look at his size and you go this guy why is this guy in contention for a top three pick I mean and he came off the bench at at Kentucky and so there must be something there that people see that they’re like a cal Perry was ridiculous for leaving this guy on the bench and and so yeah look so often when we do draft analysis we like zero in on on a guy’s individual uh performance when this is a team game and Brandon Miller excelled for the Hornets not because like he was just this outstanding individual player he excelled for the Hornets because when the ball was in his hands he made the right decision whether it was for himself or for other players that’s the thing that Clifford talked about most when he was extoling the virtues of Brandon Miller was that he made great decisions he allowed the team to play good basketball whether he was the sort of focus of the play or not and so you know I wonder if there’s a little bit of that element for Reed as well that there are multiple things that he can do offensively and he’s got the athleticism to hang defensively while while he builds his body let’s move on coming up next on the lock on Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet we did make our selection with that mock draft after Doug was working the phone constantly trying to make a deal and trying to get something done we probably waited for like 18 hours before we made a final decision at what to do with the number six pick find out what we decided to do coming up next this episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has you uh has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or you get your money back because with eBay motors your burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die at uh alive I’m doing a really good job eBay Motors keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers more lock on Hornets ahead before we move on to the ultimate mock draft dog you have a question for me regarding the three names Reed Shepard Stefan Castle D connect have all been linked at do you think that that list of names indicates that this front office is approaching this draft from the perspective of give me the best player available to me at the pick or or do you think that this n this list of names indicates that they are thinking more about fit o um I think that they are looking at it just based off of Best Player available it it’s one of those things though where I do think they kind of coincide the only thing that I would disagree with that last statement with is if Donovan kingan was in the mix who I do think is a really good Prospect doesn’t necessarily fit with the Hornets if you are banking on Mark Williams being your center for the future so it would make sense that okay if kingan is in the same realm of a reed Shepard or Stefan Castle just in your mind that you would go with the guy who could be on the floor with Mark Williams at the same time rather than go with the guy who can’t so for me I think it does kind of coincide here with the exception of Donovan kingan but Ron Holland right Devin Carter even with some of these names that I like buis is going to be gone just anybody in that mix it it seems like these would be the players that were the best player available Doug what do you think uh I agree I think I think they are thinking BPA more than fit because I think if they were thinking fits you would have a Cody Williams or a Ron Holland somebody that would qualify as like o I need a wing Defender let me go out and get a wing Defender uh I there there is a little bit of fit talk there with klling and I do agree but I think mostly this is the about best player available because Reed Shepard to me because of his size I I think he would fit next to lamelo ball and that lamelo ball is taller but it doesn’t it doesn’t allow you to immediately play or start to slot Brandon Miller at two you’ve got to wait a little while longer and I almost wonder too if like Reed Shepard is somebody that you can develop as you’re going to go through these lean years as a coach Charles Lee has already sort of hinted at that you can develop as a starter level player and then as you continue to build your roster turn Reed Shepard into like the Ultimate sixthman Weapon on a playoff contending team that’s that’s kind of what I wonder so so you’re saying does he answer yes to the Josh giddy question does he answer okay I will go to the bin this a lot of questions around Josh G the the the question is are you comfortable going to the bench as we continue to build this playoff Contender and if Reed Shepard says no Then you trade him and if he says yes I’m comfortable with that then you bring in somebody talented off of the bench whereas giddy said no I’m not very comfortable with it and so he get shipped off to Chicago for Alex Caruso if if that’s the scenario you pose if that plays out in three years time how does Reed Shepard answer that question then we’ll see from there well that’s in the immortal words of Homer Simpson that’s a future Homer problem that is a future Homer problem um you want to go through this mock draft and go through some of the history that we have here uh yeah so listen if you uh listen last week you know uh that we really were sort of back and forth on what we should do in the ultimate mock draft there’s not going to be a show this year but we still went through the process of doing the draft because we’ve been doing it since 2017 and Alex SAR went one Donovan kingan went two Houston uh and and the folks there at the locked on Rockets podcast didn’t really even go through any trade dos I was surprised by that they just really wanted to play the game unlike the actual Houston team that seems to be very willing to deal uh they decided to go ahead and take re Shepard number three overall Zachary Reet dropped to four for the Spurs buis goes to lock on Pistons so here we were at six we went back and forth with the locked on Nets podcast over male Bridges um I offered uh a a set of young players and uh the cap relief provided by Davis bons and three picks that included two that weren’t ours and lockon came back and said look we want more young players and we want either more picks overall or more of your picks which makes sense right because I was offering Mavs and heat picks and he was like no we would actually like to bank on the Hornets being bad and I’m like you know what that’s a good that’s a good uh good call good dming nice job yeah he was throwing Brandon Miller’s name in there and I’m like look Brandon Miller’s off limits I said lamelo Ball’s off limits now I didn’t say say that Mark Williams was off limits I wanted to see if he would counter with that he actually didn’t it didn’t seem like he was very interested in Mark Williams I don’t know that I would have you and I talked about this we weren’t sure that we were going to do that because we didn’t feel like the risk of of losing that level of Center that Mark could become and the contract itself which is very cheap right now would be worth uh the price of Mel Bridges not on top of three picks if if you wanted Mark the only way we’d make that happen is if you only gave up two and then Mark but even then I’m yeah I want to hold I at least want to hold on to Mark I want to see this thing through and then if it blows up in a fantastic way in my face then I’ll have to live with that L but I’ve seen enough for me to still want to continue that Journey with Mark at starting center right and so ultimately and ultimately I think it would have been difficult to give up four picks for a player that yes durable yes two-way yes long arms yes great shooter three and D but it’s not not me an All-Star game right I mean you know I mean there you know so it’s I can’t go Drew holiday I can’t go Rudy goar level uh for Mel Bridges so I stuck with three picks I did include a second one of our picks so I think it was um a 2027 a 2025 and then one of the the Mavs pick and um ultimately he thought about it a long time thought he was going to take the deal didn’t take the deal so we decided to to take Stefan castle out of the University of Connecticut yeah we got our guy and and I think that’s what the Hornets would do too ultimately I think they’re going to take a lot of calls on the pick uh but if Castle is there they’re not going to run to the podium I think they are going to talk about it but then after all the deals fall through they’re going to run and make castle the pick okay so Stefan Castle right going over his strengths we know defensively the guy is maybe the best player in the draft on that end of the floor with the exception of maybe Donovan kingan if you like the protecting the roll stuff uh protecting the rim stuff and Devin Carter at the point of attack but I think overall Defender Castle is the guy that you envision putting on the opposition’s best offensive player and trying to contain him as much as you possibly can offensively really good cutter I think he times his Cuts well he did finish pretty well at The Rim last year if you look at Sam bassini’s right up on castle with those percentages he made 61.1% of his shots at The Rim 57.1% in halfcourt settings but the percentages did get even better as he got healthier following his knee injury low turnover rate too so took care of the basketball when he did have the ball in his hands and we know it wasn’t an exceptional usage rate because Yukon was just loaded everywhere you look and it was more so Tristan Newton and cam Spencer taking care of the basketball in the back court and then having Castle just kind of you know fill in where the cracks were in the defense and then score from there I like Castle a lot Doug like when we did these rankings I I had Reed Shepard number one Castle number two but really if I were to just do the tier ranking thing I would have both of those guys in a tier by themselves and then we drop one before we would get to like my third favorite player within the Hornets realm in Devin Carter so it’s castle and Reed for me and then you take that next tier back and then you get to some of the other players but I’d be happy with either one of those guys specifically yeah for sure I mean good good playmaking skill I think takes a little bit of pressure off of Brandon Miller in that respect and and allows him to do some stuff offensively that doesn’t revolve around playmaking and and I but the big thing for me with Castle is that when you watch him on both ends of the floor he is such a physical player and he has the size he’s 210 pounds like he has and 66 like he’s the size to be a physical player which is something that Brandon Miller I think can develop into lamelo ball is not it’s just not that he’s not a a physical player he’s a finesse player and and a beautiful finesse player but a finesse player and so to pair someone alongside him that can be physical on both ends of the floor I think is something I would say the Hornets desperately need and and why you know if they don’t get Reed Shepard Castle is the perfect consolation prize because he fits that bill uh so well yeah I would I would go back and forth on who I like I mean Doug if you watch his screen navigation even when he not even gets put in jail and and maybe some of this is college ball handlers just not being smart enough or crafty enough at putting the guys in jail pitting them on their hip but even so okay the ball handler still has the advantage driving to the rim because of a screen set and his recovery is still just stupid good like the fact that he has the timing and the anticipation and the length 69 wingspan 37 in vertical sub1 agility in the lane like there’s a lot to like and no he’s not uh a crazy explosive athlete but he’s still good enough to get the job done absolutely on that end of the floor I really like him especially with the way that he can defend like that’s the calling card for him but I don’t think where I see a lot on the famous WFNZ text line lots of people writing on Twitter I don’t want to get another mkg so many people are so scared of drafting a defensive-minded player that can’t shoot like one I hate that for mkg I think some of that’s unfair but yeah he certainly didn’t live up to the number two Billing at the same time castle to me isn’t that like I I do think we’re not going to see the meme of Castle shooting like this with two elbows on one side of his body it’s not that as far as a shooting uh form it’s not great but it’s not mkg level no and but I will say that the most important coach on the bench if you take Castle is going to be Chris jent who has history helping to transform uh Lebron james’ outside shot from from something that nobody respected around the league they they were all dropping back to make sure that LeBron James didn’t didn’t crush them at the rim and they were just going to allow him to shoot threes to something you actually had to defend against and really you know uh Lebron James was going to be King James regardless but it really did turn him into an Unstoppable Force because what how are you going to defend that guy if he could shoot and destroy you at The Rim so Chris jent becomes extremely important glad they made that higher but on the shooting piece here’s the thing even if he doesn’t like develop into a threatening three-point shooter and just somebody that that can hit it occasionally I’m fine with that because drafting mkg was a problem for the Bobcats because they didn’t have a lamelo ball level offensive player they didn’t have a Brandon Miller level off they didn’t have a pairing of lamelo ball and uh and Brandon Miller they had Kimo Walker but Kimo wasn’t enough I mean they you know this team has some offensive weapons such that can offset that to a certain extent I think it would require if he never develops a shot it does limit his potential and in and in the same way that I said that you know Reed Shepard could develop into this offensive super weapon off the bench on a playoff level team you could build up to that I think you would be if if he never develops a 37% you know jump shot from outside yeah you would almost if you were going to compete in the playoffs you would almost be forced to turn him into a Ben defensive weapon because if you were going to stick with Mark Williams Because you you cannot play you know three out two in like you you cannot have two players that are playing a majority of your minutes who defenses don’t have to respect from outside not today you can’t do it today you could do it by the way back when mkg was playing you can’t do it now one more segment to go coming up next on the lockdown Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet let’s look at our history in the mock draft and then maybe touch on The Bob cats expansion draft maybe parlay that into another episode because there’s a lot to chew on with the Sam pearly piece on hornets.com so still to come lots more content locked on horn yeah like the Bobcats that might get bummed for a show yeah sorry this episode is brought to you by FanDuel I love sports I love them so much I never want them to really stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer games and the sports aren’t sporting like I want them to and now it’s harder to create content not only with Niche podcasts like this one where we talk about one team 5 days a week but also my other job where I have to talk about a whole bunch of other stuff every single weekday I need the sports to sport again but at least FanDuel has me covered FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whatever I want to all I have to do is open the app and dream up bats anytime I’m in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball more lockdown Hornets [Music] ahead Doug just because we weren’t able to pull off a trade with this year’s modcraft it doesn’t mean that we’ve never been able to I don’t know if I I think I have I think I have one time with the net like with the Nets oddly enough maybe a couple of years ago but you started with a trade when David Walker was hosting and you guys made a trade in 2017 let’s start with some of the mock draft history what do you have so far yeah so this mock draft goes all the way back to the 2017 draft that was the folz ball Josh Jackson draft the Donovan Mitchell draft and so the Hornets were picking 11 and Jason Tatum fell all the way to eight in this draft to the Knicks that was a huge so we all terrible yeah monk uh who the Hornets actually ended up drafting uh he went seven so monk uh raced up the the board there I think yeah that went to the t-wolves Via trade all right so the Hornets we decided to trade we didn’t know we were kind of in between taking Mitchell and trading and we traded probably should have taken Mitchell um we traded though Jeremy Lamb and the 11 pick to the Raptors for for Corey Joseph uh baby Nera and the 23rd pick now I know your vomiting in your mouth a little bit you have to understand you have to understand a couple of things at the time the Hornets were desperate for a backup point guard option and I thought Corey Joseph would have provided the perfect opport and and look if you look at his stats he didn’t have like a terrible couple years after that I think he would have plugged in well and then you have to understand this that at the 23rd pick the Hornets were able to draft I kid you not John Collins with the 23rd pick that’s pretty amazing so John Collins worthwhile selection at 23 it’s still um a pretty bad trade with selecting John Collins but at least you made the most of it as much as you could if you select some bust there at 23 then it’s all the mo more worse so at least you’re able to salvage a little bit of value there so that’s we should we should have just and this taught us very early that we should have just kept it simple uh but we unfortunately it took us a I don’t know that we’ well I guess we learned the lesson in this draft we took Stefan castle that was the the you know we didn’t think about it too much all right let’s move on to 2018 now you were involved in this one this was the donic Aon uh jiren Jackson draft uh the Hornets would trade as you mentioned earlier in the show they would trade with the Clippers move down to select miles Bridges and um that you know it’s strange in this draft that actually happened um it just didn’t happen with Charlotte LA and Dallas swapped and La still select Ed Shay gilges and Dallas selected miles Bridges so in this alternate reality the Hornets oh no do you remember who we selected we didn’t select sh gilis or miles no I have zero clue well this is when uh you were early onto the show so I still had a little bit more pull on the show and so I played my card and said I want to take Lonnie Walker the fourth oh that’s right oh yes I remember yeah of course of course I remember lying yeah I I forgot about that uh who went after him so then then it was Shay and then it was Miles and then it was Z Smith Robert Williams herder went 17 oh so you’re saying wait I’m sorry SGA went after Lonnie and Miles went after Lonnie yeah yeah so what I’m saying is the swap happened it just happened um a pick later so the Clippers moved up and swap with that s okay sorry okay oh that’s a tough one that’s a brutal one okay um all right so that’s 18 we’re not doing great I although I’ll still stand by the 2017 results on um all right let’s move quick here so 2019 um we traded again uh this time we traded with uh Brooklyn this was the Zion Morant draft the Hornets had the 12th pick there was no one that I as I recall there was no one that we really liked and so we traded uh the 12th pick for two first round picks the 17th and the 27th pick so uh Brooklyn decided to take seu deoya with the 12th pick and with the 17th pick we we took b b oh dude that was your guy talk about somebody we didn’t really love you did love you some b b that was your boy I did oops all right 27th pick we selected Kellon Johnson which I think was a Savvy pick that’s a good pick okay I think he went way higher in the actual in the actual draft or at least at least he got a big second contract I don’t know how great he is now but like good enough at 27 to where it was worthwhile so all right solid uh PJ went 21 and Grant went 22 in that draft okay so there you go all right 2020 mock draft of the Charlotte Hornets we were the third pick that was obviously the the lamelo ball pick but ball went number one overall to Minnesota Anthony Edwards went to Golden State I’m sure Golden State wished that had happened Charlotte um we did not take James wisman we had a lot of debate at the time about that we opted to take Ona a kongu yeah who I think you know of those options obviously we weren’t we weren’t hip to halberton not a lot of people were he went in this draft about where he went in the actual draft but aung wo it’s TBD on him I mean he’s obviously I don’t think he’s going to be a star but I think he’s he’s got some me better than James wisman so at least we we we did make the right pick there who are the players uh after him uh so Killian Hayes auro vasel wisan Hal Burton toen I don’t think there I loved Vel man I I’m sure out of it yeah I’m sure dude I did love me some Devon vasel and uh but but I did like inongo as well I like understanding that they needed a center I probably you probably didn’t need to talk me into it all that much I I’m reading the notes here and uh apparently we did negotiate with San Antonio a a trade that revolved around uh D rozan and 11 for a Kwo now 11 was Patrick Williams uh pushy went 17 so I’m I’m probably glad that trade did materialize yeah oh of course yeah I I I wouldn’t have wanted Demar Rosa that doesn’t sound like 2019 or 2020 mail let’s move on who’s the next one what’s the next mock look like all right 21 this was the draft that I was not involved in you and NADA took care of this one this was where the Hornet selected book Knight um and you selected I said this name was going to come up again uh you selected zire Williams all in on him dude I Lov zier so much I just saw the positional archetype the guy that could develop as a wing defensively oh I loved him that’s my biggest Miss that’s my biggest Miss yeah the shooting never came for him enough had some Moments by the way his rookie year like it looked like he’d be pretty good um or at least the potential and then it just never materialized but Z Williams that is not a not a pick that is all me baby and that is probably my worst pick as far as like the fervor that I had for someone that didn’t work out you know what’s hilarious about this Mock Draft so obviously we’re looking back on this draft now after everything that happened with Kai Jones and book Knight and really and JT Thor too we look back on that draft and go wow that was an apocalyptically bad draft um really set the franchise back terrible and yet if you look at this mock draft Kai Jones Goes 12 book Knight goes 14 JT Thor goes 24 to the Houston Rockets like just based on this I’m sure after you had to be looking at the Hornet draft and and and the analysis that you andata did after looking at this mock draft you had to be thrilled with how much talent you were able to acquire versus where the pundits were well well Doug if you’ll remember I didn’t have NADA on a post-draft episode I had Doug Branson I had Doug Bron from a Dallas air was it Dallas airport yeah because we were doing the locked on uh NBA show and you and I weren’t exactly thrilled with the way that the draft the real draft by the way panned out you and I both like Jaylen Johnson better um who else did we like I forget some of the other guys that we liked but yeah I know we were like okay we’re okay we’ll see but yeah I think either one of us were huge fans of that one when it came in yeah Jaylen Johnson was my guy in that draft for sure um I thought Davon Mitchell would be very good uh fron Vagner was one pick away I don’t know if that if he was available I like fron yeah yeah if you would have got when James when James plow right had all of the Hornet media rankings uh vogner might have been number one like as a consensus where he was so frequently in the top five for everybody but other people had other prospects number one Vagner is what Hornet’s Twitter like like the most as a collective all right so moving on uh 2022 draft this was the uh Duren Mark Williams debacle um so the Hornets we had the 13th and the 15th pick and in the 13th slot we selected Mark Williams who went 15th in the actual draft now instead of trading they traded the 13th pick we traded the 15th pick actually to San Antonio and we traded back to the 20th pick I’m not seeing what we got in return unfortunately we get must have gotten something in return yeah maybe that’s future or whatever I don’t know I don’t know we traded back to 20 and got Jaylen Williams I’m not sure if we got a player yeah that was good that was you by the way that was a pick cuz you liked him and I didn’t and and I was like well this is you know this is your pick so yeah that was good Mark Williams Jaylen Williams if only that was reality Doug if only that was reality killer i’ been killer if the Hornets didn’t trade the a first round pick for a uh significantly worse first round pick in fact I tried to I tried to trade Nick Smith Jr to the Nets um and couldn’t do it so wait that draft we get Mark we move back get assets and still end up because I feel like if we had gotten a player we would have named the player here the do so we probably did get future we were probably in future building mode okay man I’m that’s making me hot and bothered all right the the next one maybe not so much what what are the ne what’s the next one well you know what we did in 2023 B we were we were fully aboard the scoot wagon we were not trading that pig we took no offers no phone calls we ran to the we sprinted to the podium yeah and uh and with uh sweaty uh sweaty palms and sweaty brows we uh out of breath we selected scoot Henderson number two overall Brandon Miller went three the Thompson Twins it La that that’s a it’s so weird this draft this 2024 draft because 2023 other than Scoot and Brandon flip-flopping was so locked in and and cam Whitmore goes eight in this one he falls so there were a couple of movers and shakers but like generally you understood where guys were in that draft it’s because it was good right so you just took the next player available it felt like there was a pretty well decided order outside of scoot in Brandon and Brandon Miller I’d say reality got that one right as previously probably didn’t get it right in a couple of those scenarios last year they got it right selecting Brandon excellent pick now Nick Smith Jun went 14th to the Pelicans so was not available for our second first round pick last year uh 27 overall and we picked DQ Whitehead and I think that was your pick I liked him yeah and so he’s still got some work he’s in the Brooklyn Nets organization still working his way up so we haven’t really seen what he is or isn’t yet other than he hasn’t been able to crack the rotation there in Brooklyn we did uh pass on Brandon psky who went 30th overall to the CL that would have been that would have been the one for sure um Whitehead probably battling some injuries too I know he did out of college so we’ll see all right that was fun yeah that you know what not as bad like I think there was some salvaging with some of the picks that we had I think Kellin at 27 pretty solid um certainly two years ago that was good John Collins in the 20s I mean I’m I’m sorry perfect he got I can’t remember where he landed if he was like at the top 10 or right outside the top 10 in that actual draft but like no it was a little bit later but it was uh it was higher than what I think it was like 17 but I hold on I you got to look this up where he was drafted cuz I don’t think it was that low no it was it it was something it wasn’t like 11 or 10 all right pick 19 my fault my fault pick 19 all right but but still hey still good value yeah you won that trade uh forget Donovan Mitchell that’ll do it for lockdown Hornets thanks for making us your first listen we’re free and available anywhere you get your pods including YouTube so check us out there and subscribe also make sure you subscribe and check out Doug substack every Hornets boox score.com listen to me Walker mail every weekday on WFNZ from 12: to 3:00 p.m. have a great rest of your day we’ll be back with you tomorrow [Music]

After working the phones for over 18 hours, Doug and Walker weren’t able to trade the 6th overall pick in the Locked On Ultimate Mock Draft. The guys go over why they made the selection at number 6 and why their player can help the Hornets. Who are the names linked to Charlotte right now? Plus, LOH goes through their previous draft history. Some bad, some good.

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