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Charlotte Hornets: The Tim Duncan Scenario Guys

By John Woodcock

Apr 5, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford gestures from the sidelines in the first half against the Miami Heat at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford gestures from the sidelines in the first half against the Miami Heat at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 5, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford gestures from the sidelines in the first half against the Miami Heat at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

The Charlotte Hornets need an injection from this year’s draft. Why not start from the least realistic spot?

The Charlotte Hornets season is soon to be over. It is very likely that they would finish the season in the ninth or tenth spot in the Eastern Conference. That puts them in the lottery, but their most likely result would be the twelfth spot in the draft. That’s nice and all, but the Hornets need something more out of this draft than the twelfth pick.

Trading up is not what I am talking about. Who would the Hornets dangle to move up? Sure, there are players on the roster that the Hornets don’t need, but other teams may not want them either.

Instead let’s turn the clock back twenty years to the year 1997. The Boston Celtics under Rick Pitino were tanking their season in the hopes of gaming the lottery system to end up with Wake Forest Demon Deacons center Tim Duncan.

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    • That effort failed when the lottery draw was made. Instead of the last place Celtics, the San Antonio Spurs got the first pick in the draft. The Spurs were an annual playoff team that had just missed the playoffs that year and had a tiny percent chance of winning the lottery. No matter, they came to Charlotte (site of the draft) and drafted Duncan. Then they went on to five championships in the next nineteen seasons.

    The lesson was that tanking doesn’t get you what you want (although the Bobcats famously learned that one after following a historically bad season with not getting the first round pick). The other lesson is that a brief trip to the lottery could change everything for a team just getting by.

    Let’s say that the Hornets improbably win the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery. What would they do with the pick? The team needs more efficient performance. They could use potential upgrades at power forward, small forward, or center if they existed. They also need a more productive backup point guard, which is not something you use the number one pick on (Baron Davis sort of started that way).

    No, the Hornets should look at several different options if they were to win the number one pick through the NBA Draft Lottery. Let’s look at some of them here. They will be presented in order of appearance on NBADraft.net’s most recent mock draft, not necessarily in order of desirability.

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