Charlotte Hornets: Diamond Stone in town today
The Charlotte Hornets may have tipped their hand a little with the presence of Diamond Stone in their first draft workout.
The Charlotte Hornets begin their draft workouts later today. They will be bringing six NBA Draft eligible players to town. Despite the number, there is only one is who is a projected NBA first round pick at the moment. That would be Maryland’s Diamond Stone.
Stone registered three triple-doubles in his only season of action for the Terrapins. The ‘one and done’ freshman averaged only a little over half a game’s worth of minutes. Despite that he managed to put up twelve points and five rebounds per game. He is a center and not a European jump shooting center.
Stone’s showcase here makes me feel a bit better. The team really threw a curve ball by interviewing wing players at the NBA Draft combine while the need for rim protection seemed to go unnoticed. Stone would be a rim protection guy. He blocked fifty-six shots last season, the third best single season effort in Maryland history.
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Again this strategy fits with two problems that the Hornets have right now. They need a shot blocker and it needs to be done on the cheap. This points toward drafting one since all Hornets cap money will likely end up in the hands of Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, and Jeremy Lin. As contract offers appear to those players, then maybe we will get a better idea of what the Hornets will have left to spend.
Though Stone is the big ticket, he is not the only player the Hornets are bringing in. These are likely scouting exercises to see if the team wants to sign undrafted rookies like they did with Aaron Harrison last year.
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The other attendees are:
Montay Brandon of Florida State
Retin Obasohan of Alabama
Goodluck Okonohboh of UNLV
Tim Quarterman of LSU
Adam Smith of Georgia Tech
Okonohboh will be the other big man for Stone to work against. The remainder of the guys are guards. As a group they have gotten awards for defense and assists.
It will be interesting to see who the Hornets bring to town next. For now those Diamond Stone mock drafters are probably patting themselves on the back (Note: I was not one of those yet).