Poll: 2013 NBA Draft Take Two (Pick No. 4)
Drafting players is far from an exact science, and many a GM has been second-guessed for his draft night decisions. I’m willing to bet that every team executive has at least one pick that he would like a mulligan for. While life, and the NBA, doesn’t allow for such opportunities, we at Hoops Rumors decided it would be fun to give our readers a second take at picking players, complete with the benefit of hindsight.
The first NBA Draft we’re tackling is 2013’s, the year that the Cavaliers surprised quite a few people when they nabbed UNLV forward Anthony Bennett with the No. 1 overall pick. Quite a number of talented players were in that year’s player pool, including Victor Oladipo, Nerlens Noel, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Rudy Gobert, just to rattle off a few.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll be posting a series of reader polls that will ask you to vote on the player whom you believe should have been selected with each pick. We’ll continue onward with the Hornets, who held the No. 4 overall pick that season. Readers, you are now on the clock! Cast your vote for Charlotte’s pick and check back tomorrow night for the results, as well as for your chance to vote for whom the Suns should have taken at No. 5. But don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the pick and why you voted the way that you did. Also, if I fail to list a player who you think should be selected, feel free to post that in the comments section and I’ll be certain to tally those votes as well.
Draft Results thus far:
- Cavaliers: Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Magic: Victor Oladipo
- Wizards: Nerlens Noel
With the No. 4 Overall Pick the Hornets Select...
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Rudy Gobert 42% (448)
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Michael Carter-Williams 18% (188)
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Alex Len 9% (93)
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Lucas Nogueira 5% (57)
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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 5% (53)
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Ben McLemore 5% (49)
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Cody Zeller 3% (27)
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Mason Plumlee 2% (24)
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Trey Burke 2% (20)
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Tim Hardaway Jr. 2% (19)
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Shabazz Muhammad 2% (16)
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Otto Porter 1% (15)
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Steven Adams 1% (13)
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Anthony Bennett 1% (9)
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Kelly Olynyk 1% (9)
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Gorgui Dieng 1% (9)
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C.J. McCollum 1% (6)
Total votes: 1,055
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Southeast Notes: Richardson, Williams, Gordon
Heat trade candidate Mario Chalmers and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who’s eligible for an extension from the Hornets until October 31st, are among the five players Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders believes must show improvement this coming season. Chalmers will have motivation to bounce back after a poor shooting year that featured his career-worst 29.4% three-point percentage with his contract set to expire at season’s end, while Kidd-Gilchrist has to contend with trade acquisition Nicolas Batum at his position. While we wait to find out whether either of them will break through this coming season, see more from the Southeast Division here:
- The deal that No. 40 pick Josh Richardson signed with the Heat features minimum salaries for all three seasons and no guaranteed money beyond this season’s fully guaranteed salary, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows (Twitter link). His 2016/17 salary becomes guaranteed if he sticks through August 1st, 2016, Pincus adds.
- Elliot Williams received two years at the minimum salary with an $80K partial guarantee for this season and no guaranteed money for 2016/17 in his camp deal with the Hornets, Pincus also reports (Twitter link).
- Aaron Gordon is among the players from the 2014 draft class who appear on the verge of a breakout, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. A fractured bone in Gordon’s left foot helped limit him to 47 games last season and made it tough to see why the Magic invested the No. 4 overall pick in the combo forward.
Eastern Notes: Jerebko, McRae, Dedmon, Hornets
Jonas Jerebko said he got several free agency phone calls after the clock struck midnight on July 1st, but he was glad that one of them came from Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Jerebko, who inked a two-year, $10MM contract with the Celtics, wanted to stay in Boston after being acquired from the Pistons in a February trade. “It was like proof that you had a good year,” Jerebko said of the calls from other organizations. “I had other teams interested, but after talking to Danny and the way we worked stuff out, this is where I wanted to be and we worked it out.” Jerebko averaged 7.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game after the deal, both up from his numbers in Detroit.
There’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Sixers will have Jordan McRae for training camp, tweets Jake Pavorsky of Liberty Ballers. He cites an unidentified league source and says no formal deal has been reached yet.
- Dewayne Dedmon had his non-guaranteed minimum salary become fully guaranteed when the Magic elected not to waive him by Saturday’s deadline, as the schedule of salary guarantee dates shows. Jordan Clarkson, Erick Green and Tyler Johnson all had their guarantees of varying amounts picked up, too, as had been expected.
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Tyler Hansbrough‘s deal with the Hornets is fully guaranteed for one year at the minimum salary, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The camp deal between the Hornets and Elliot Williams covers two seasons at the minimum salary, as Pincus shows (Twitter link).
Southeast Notes: Kaminsky, Hawks’ New Hires
Frank Kaminsky is high on the list of rookies who should be able to contribute to their teams right away, Amin Elhassan of ESPN.com (Insiders only) writes. Elhassan acknowledges that Kaminsky might struggle on the defensive end, but argues that his offense is solid and his game complements Al Jefferson‘s, which should allow the rookie to see significant minutes immediately.
The Celtics offered the Hornets a package that included four first-round picks to entice Charlotte to give up the No. 9 pick, but owner Michael Jordan preferred to select a more known commodity in Kaminsky over stocking up on future picks. Readers of Hoops Rumors offered various and conflicting opinions on whether Charlotte made the right call by keeping its selection in Tuesday’s Community Shootaround.
Here’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The Hawks have hired Michael Blackstone as an assistant GM, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Blackstone previously served as the executive director of basketball operations for the Cavs.
- Atlanta has also hired John Treloar to be the director of player personnel, Vivlamore adds in the same piece. Treloar previously served as the director of player personnel for the Suns and as the coach of the Erie Bayhawks, the Cavs’ D-League affiliate. New Hawks GM Wes Wilcox has worked with both Treloar and Blackstone previously in Cleveland.
- The Hawks also have promoted Jeff Peterson to director of scouting, according to Vivlamore in the same piece.
And-Ones: Faried, Deng, DeRozan
The growing sense around the Nuggets is that the team wants to see if Michael Malone can mentor Kenneth Faried the way he reached DeMarcus Cousins with the Kings, and it seems highly unlikely that Denver will trade the power forward before the start of the season, writes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Heat want to hold on to Luol Deng and see how well the team can play, sources close to the organization tell Kyler, but if Miami underwhelms, Kyler believes Miami would put Deng on the block.
- The Raptors are not entertaining trades for DeMar DeRozan, sources close to the team informed Kyler.
- The additions that the Clippers made this offseason to bolster their bench have made them the NBA’s most improved team heading into the 2015/16 campaign, opines Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). Doolittle also calls out the Hornets and Mavericks as teams that have made positive strides this Summer, while listing the Nets, Sixers, and Suns as franchises that have taken a step back this offseason.
- With the NBA’s salary cap expected to increase dramatically next Summer there are a number of pending free agents who stand to benefit from the windfall, Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) writes. Some under-the-radar players who can expect significant pay increases on their next contracts include Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Hornets), Harrison Barnes (Warriors), Langston Galloway (Knicks), and Jordan Clarkson (Lakers), Pelton opines.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Southeast Notes: Scott, Ennis, Napier
- James Ennis feels confident that he’ll earn his way onto the Heat‘s regular season roster, agent Scott Nichols told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, explaining why he and the Heat decided to nix the clause in Ennis’ contract that would have triggered a 50% partial guarantee on his minimum salary if he remained on the team through Saturday. The move keeps the Heat from having to decide on a $422,530 chunk of salary this weekend, a prospect that may well have spurred the team to cut him, and it also moves up the date on which Ennis’ salary becomes fully guaranteed from December 1st to opening night, Jackson notes.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel still doesn’t see Miami’s 2014 draft-night acquisition of Shabazz Napier as a mistake, even after the Heat traded Napier to the Magic following a so-so rookie year, as Winderman writes in his mailbag column. He heard from one scout that Napier nearly was one of the first 15 picks in the draft. This summer, the Heat had luxury tax concerns and better options at point guard, and that’s what led to the trade with Orlando, Winderman argues. That casts a different light on Napier than that from when an NBA GM told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that the Heat had simply concluded prior to the trade that the point guard “was not good enough”
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist leads a list of intriguing second-tier 2016 free agents that Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com compiles in an Insider-only piece. The elite defense of the 21-year-old Hornets small forward makes it such that he’ll be a valuable starter for years to come if he can merely become an average offensive player, Pelton argues.
Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 7/28/15
The Hornets could have had four first-round picks if they’d just been willing to give up the ninth selection to the Celtics, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe detailed earlier today. Boston also offered four first-rounders to the Heat for pick No. 10, as Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald and ESPN reported last month. Both Charlotte and Miami said no and kept their top 10 picks.
The Heat and the Hornets had no guarantee from the Celtics that any of the four picks would be as high in the order as the ones they already held. Still, the ninth and 10th selections aren’t generally places where superstars come from. Justise Winslow looks like a steal at No. 10 for Miami, but Frank Kaminsky, whom Charlotte took at No. 9, has a limited ceiling. Neither is certain to pan out.
Thus, the question for today: Would you rather your team have one pick in the back half of the lottery, or four picks later in the first-round? Kawhi Leonard, a former No. 15 pick, and Jimmy Butler, once the last pick of the first round, signed deals this month that will give them maximum salaries this coming season, proving that top-flight talent can come from any point in the round. Still, the outlook for lottery picks is generally better than it is for anyone else, and teams picking higher in the order have the power of choice. But sometimes, the best choice involves a trade.
Tell us what you would do if you had a late lottery pick and received an offer for four first-rounders. To comment, simply enter your name and email address, write what you want to say, and submit it; there’s no need to become a registered user. Just make sure you comply with our commenting policy.
Southeast Notes: Magic, Napier, Hornets, Williams
The Magic have amassed just 68 wins in the 246 games that they’ve played since Dwight Howard last suited up for Orlando, but the player and personnel additions made by the team this offseason are providing a sense of hope throughout the organization, as Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders details. Even with a weak Eastern Conference, it’ll be tough the Magic to sneak into the playoffs next season, but a look at all the young talent on the club gives fans plenty to be excited about. Orlando is currently rostering 10 players under 25 years old, including the newly acquired Shabazz Napier, whose recent trade we detail further in tonight’s look at the Southeast Division:
- The 2016 second-round pick going from the Magic to the Heat in the Napier trade is Orlando’s own, and it’s top-55 protected, as RealGM shows. In the likely event that the pick doesn’t convey to the Heat this year, the Magic don’t owe Miami anything.
- The Heat sent their own unprotected 2020 second-round pick to the Celtics in the Zoran Dragic trade, and the 2019 top-55 protected second-rounder going to Miami in the deal is Boston’s own, according to RealGM. The Celtics skip out on their debt if that pick falls within the protected range.
- Elliot Williams is no certainty to make the Hornets’ regular season team after signing a deal to join the team for training camp, but he feels a little more comfortable about his chances of sticking with the organization because GM Rich Cho and assistant GM Chad Buchanan were both with the Blazers when Williams played there, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer notes.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Hornets Sign Elliot Williams For Camp
TUESDAY, 12:04pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
MONDAY, 4:47pm: The Hornets will sign former first-round pick Elliot Williams to a training camp deal, a source tells Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link). Williams was with Charlotte on a 10-day contract this past season, but the team let him go to make room for Mo Williams, who’s since moved on to the Cavs. The terms of the deal aren’t immediately clear, but while Charlotte has its full $5.464MM mid-level exception available, it seems likely it will be a minimum-salary arrangement.
Elliot Williams reportedly worked out earlier this month for the Knicks and Spurs, but instead it appears he’s circling back to the Hornets, where GM Rich Cho is a familiar face from their time together with the Trail Blazers organization, Bonnell notes (on Twitter). The 22nd overall pick from 2010 has struggled to find his footing in the NBA, appearing last season only on a series of five 10-day contracts split between Charlotte, the Jazz and the Pelicans. The now 26-year-old shooting guard put up 2.8 points in 9.2 minutes per game across 13 appearances in 2014/15. He saw more extensive action in 2013/14 with the Sixers, with whom he put up 6.0 PPG in 17.3 MPG.
Charlotte had already been carrying 15 players, at least 13 of whom have fully guaranteed deals, as our Hornets roster page shows. Rookie Aaron Harrison, who’s on a deal that’s partially guaranteed for $75K, would seem Williams’ prime competitor for an opening-night roster spot.
What do you think of Williams’ chances to stick with the Hornets for the regular season? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Hornets Rumors: Batum, Zeller, Cho, Clifford
The Celtics offered the Hornets a package that included four first-round picks to entice Charlotte to give up the No. 9 pick last month, sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Boston was willing to give up its own pick at No. 16, the No. 15 pick that they would tentatively have acquired from the Hawks, an unprotected future first-round pick from the Nets (presumably the 2018 pick Brooklyn owes Boston) and a future first-rounder from either the Grizzlies or the Timberwolves (presumably the ones those teams already owe Boston), as Lowe details. Some front office members in Charlotte liked the idea, but owner Michael Jordan preferred to roll with Frank Kaminsky, whom the Hornets took at No. 9, several sources said to Lowe. The Grantland scribe delves into the implications of that choice, and he touches on more, too, as we highlight amid the latest from the Queen City:
- Nicolas Batum‘s camp has been talking about how much he’d like to play with the Raptors, given the international appeal of Toronto, several league sources tell Lowe. The native of France, whom the Hornets traded for last month, is set to become a free agent after this coming season.
- The Hornets have been willing to talk about Cody Zeller when they discuss trades with other teams, sources tell Lowe. That jibes with a report from shortly before the draft that Charlotte was aggressively shopping the big man.
- GM Rich Cho and coach Steve Clifford have had a chilly relationship since last year’s departure of president of basketball operations Rod Higgins, sources familiar with the situation tell Lowe, yet Cho, Clifford and Hornets vice chairman Curtis Polk all downplay the notion. “I would say it’s a good relationship now,” Cho says. “I value his input. We’re not always going to agree, but I wouldn’t expect to.”
- Polk, Jordan, Cho, assistant GM Chad Buchanan and director of player personnel Larry Jordan, Michael’s brother, are the primary decision-makers for the team, according to Lowe.
- Charlotte shopped Noah Vonleh and the No. 9 pick in a package to try to move up in the draft before abandoning that pursuit and trading Vonleh in the Batum deal, as Lowe details.
- The Hornets had interest in Rodney Hood going into last year’s draft, Lowe hears. Hood wound up going at No. 23 to Utah, and Charlotte had an opportunity to move down into a spot where it might have nabbed him instead of Vonleh, as Lowe explains.
- Hornets brass likes Elliot Williams, whom the Hornets have reportedly agreed to sign to a camp deal, but they see him as an insurance policy and don’t view him as a replacement for backup point guard Brian Roberts, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter links).