Analysis: Hornets pairing James Bouknight with LaMelo Ball makes Charlotte a threat

It was clear with how the 2020-21 season ended, the Charlotte Hornets remained a few pieces away from being a playoff-caliber team.

Sure, injuries to LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward hampered their season. But the best teams are deep enough to overcome it. Or at least good enough to overcome a freefall from fourth place in the East to 10th. The Hornets were not.

Thursday night, the Hornets addressed that by adding James Bouknight, who general manager Mitch Kupchak said he had rated much higher than No. 11, and Kai Jones at No. 19, who they also considered with the 11th pick.

The Hornets also could have chosen Turkish center Alperen Sengun at 11; he was still on the board when the Hornets were on the clock. Bouknight, however, was easily the best available player. Most draft experts had Bouknight pegged as a top-seven pick.

The additions of Bouknight and Jones to pair with Ball, the reigning rookie of the year, mean the Hornets should only get faster. The two first-round picks are known for their athleticism and ability to get up and down the floor.

Getting Bouknight, Jones in NBA draft puts Hornets in position to end playoff drought

And with Ball running the point, Spectrum Center could look like “Lob City,” or “Showtime,” as Jones said earlier this month after his individual workout with the Hornets.

Bouknight, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound shooting guard, also fills one of the Hornets’ biggest voids. Malik Monk, who averaged 11.7 points per game, was arguably one of the Hornets’ top two players off the bench, along with Miles Bridges. But he’s expected to leave in free agency and the Hornets need to make up for his loss.

Enter Bouknight, a flat-out scorer at UConn. He averaged 18.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game during his sophomore season at UConn. He will have to work on his 3-point shooting after connecting on a woeful 29% last season from a line that’s more than a foot closer to the basket than it will be in the NBA.

If there’s reason for hope with his shooting, consider how Ball’s 3-point shot was highly criticized entering his rookie year. He made 35.2% of his attempts last season — not great, but good enough to keep defenders honest.

Similar to LaMelo Ball

Bouknight described his game as “unique” and “creative.”

He said he’s someone you can give the ball to and “go get a basket.” In other words, he’s a shot-creator, and in the NBA where much of the game is one-on-one and predicated on players’ ability to score, creating your own shot is important.

When Ball and Hayward were both out with injuries, the only shot creators the Hornets had were Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham. And if either were off the floor, the Hornets struggled to generate many points.

Bouknight makes the Hornets instantly better in that category, and onus is not all on Ball to create shots for his teammates on every possession.

Bouknight said he sees a lot of similarities between him and Ball.

Not with their playing style, but how they approach the game. And he thinks they complement each other well.

“We both are exciting to watch,” Bouknight said. “We both play with a different type of swag, a different type of flair to us. And we both want to win. At the end of the day, we both want to compete and we both want to win. We want to make the playoffs. So this is going to be fun for us.”

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Hornets have a bright future

The phones in the Hornets’ draft room were buzzing non-stop Thursday night just 20 minutes before Charlotte was to make its first pick.

As Kupchak described it, the demand for the 11th pick in the NBA draft was “off the charts,” and so was the temptation to trade it.

But the Hornets got a pleasant surprise when Bouknight somehow fell into their lap. With Rozier entering the final year of his three-year, $56.7 million contract, the Hornets didn’t have a long-term answer at shooting guard.

They do now, and ESPN’s Mike Schmitz went so far as to suggest the Hornets won the draft.

The future is bright for the Hornets if Bouknight and Ball can continue to develop.

“It’s a blessing,” Bouknight said. “When I went up on my visit, I got to speak to the staff and the front office. And they’re great people, you know, they really care. They’re really invested in the organization and really invested in winning. And I think I’m gonna fit right in.”

“I think we’re going to be a really special team.”

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Charlotte Hornets 2021 NBA draft picks

▪ No. 11: James Bouknight, guard, UConn.

▪ No. 19: Kai Jones, big, Texas. (Draft rights from Knicks.)

▪ No. 37: JT Thor, big, Auburn. (Draft rights from Pistons.)

▪ No. 56: Scottie Lewis, guard, Florida.