Southeast Notes: Hornets, Wizards, Giannis, Heat, Isaac

The Hornets were one of the finalists in the draft lottery but wound up with the fourth pick, dropping one spot from their pre-lottery position. However, Charlotte’s front office and coach put a positive spin on the outcome.

“Up until this moment, everyone just (had) a ton of anxiety, just waiting to see where we would be picking,” president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson told the Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone (subscription required). “But now that we know we are picking four, it helps clear some things up in conversations with other teams and continue the process as we are here with the draft prospects at the draft combine. So we are really excited.”

Hornets head coach Charles Lee expressed similar feelings.

“Excitement, clarity,” he said. “I think that this whole time, you are sitting and (wondering) what pick do you get? But I know talking to Jeff, talking to (assistant GM) Dotun (Akinwale) and the entire front office. They’ve talked about how deep of a draft class this is.I think they have a lot of the intangibles, in terms of great work ethic and great competitiveness, and they understand the team game and what it’s going to take to really impact winning at a high level. So, I look forward to kind of getting into the weeds with Dotun, and Jeff and the front office, and figuring out who is that next pick to continue to help us to build. ”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

• The Wizards had miserable lottery luck, falling from No. 2 to No. 6. “We started the day with zero, and we walked away with six. So that’s the mindset we have coming in,” general manager Will Dawkins told Varun Shankar of the Washington Post. “We gained the sixth pick this year, and we also have 18,” he said. “So time to get back to work with our scouts.” The latter pick was the first-rounder acquired from the Grizzlies ahead of the trade deadline. Dawkins is apparently open for business if some team wants to move up in the draft or if the Wizards chose to seek a higher pick by packaging both of theirs. “We’ll look to move … but we’re very comfortable staying where we’re at,” Dawkins said.
• Could the Hawks be a dark-horse candidate to pull off a Giannis Antetokounmpo deal? Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal Constitution believes the franchise should pull out all the stops to make that happen. Cunningham anticipates that the Hawks could offer the Bucks two of their three top players — Trae Young, Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels — plus their two first-round picks this season (Nos. 13 and 22) and up to three more first-round picks through the 2032 draft.
• The Heat aren’t going anywhere — at least in terms of their local broadcasts. They have reached a multiyear agreement with FanDuel Sports Network to remain on FanDuel Sports Network Sun, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets.
• Magic forward Jonathan Isaac appeared in 71 games, the second-most of his career, but he was far from satisfied with his season. His playing time was spotty, partly due to his offensive struggles. He shot 41.4 percent overall and 25.8 percent on threes. Isaac believes he needs improve his stamina, he told Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. “Definitely inconsistent,” he said. “I started to feel a little better towards the end of the season, started to feel a little lighter, a little more agile. So, I’m taking that into the summer to just focus on my game, focus on really getting in shape, shedding some weight and kind of getting back to where I was before.” Isaac has three years left on his contract.