Everything Hornets GM Mitch Kupchak Said Following the NBA Draft
On selecting Nick Smith Jr. with the 27th overall pick…
“Nick Smith, we had him much higher in the draft. He’s young, he’s got great size, he’s a shooter. In our league, that’s at a premium. He’s athletic. Last week, I spoke to his coach, Eric Musselman, who I had in Los Angeles and we’re friends. We spoke about all his players at Arkansas, and Nick was one of them who he spoke very highly of. Of course you’ve always got to wait three or four years to look back and then you really find out how good your draft was, but we feel very fortunate to get Nick where we did.”
On selecting Amari Bailey with the 41st overall pick…
“At 41, we had him much higher. Another young, ball-handling guard. He played at a big time program and had a very good Chicago pre-draft. He’s another young player who we’ll bring him to summer league, and he’ll get time there. He’ll come to training camp and probably end up falling into our developmental program, but you don’t know. We’ll learn more during summer league. We’re pleased to have the draft that we did.”
On Smith Jr. being projected as a lottery pick before the college season…
“If you look at the mock drafts, I would guess he was probably in the top 15, but I don’t look at those things too much…. I think we had him in the top 16. He missed some time this year with an injury, but we looked into it and we feel comfortable. He came back and played.”
On his assessment of the draft tonight…
“We’re very pleased. But you have to remember that you look back on it in four years and then you find out how you really did. I can’t remember a draft that I left where I wasn’t very happy, but they’re not all great drafts when you look back at it in four years. We’re pleased to have the draft we did. For our plan, which is to build the team through the G League, drafting, maybe making a savvy trade, if there’s a free agent that makes sense, of course we’ll do that, but we look to build through the draft. We added four players into the system. They might not all be on our roster next year, the Hornets roster, but with the new rules and having a third two-way, it’s getting closer and closer to what baseball does with the minor league system. It’s really important, especially for a market like ours, to build through the draft and get players and talent in the system.”
On how the draft sets up the rest of the offseason…
“Well, we’ve got a lot of work. The next threshold is July 1st. We’ve got a couple of restricted free agents. That’s the next thing. To get through the draft, we’re pleased. We’ve got a couple days now to get the kids in, have a press conference, have a little fun with them, and then we’ll start to continue to focus on July 1st, which is our free agents and then any other needs we may have.”
On drafting younger players…
“It’s tougher. For a general manager, it’s better to draft a four-year kid who’s 22 years old and you’ve got four years to look at the kid. When you’re 22, 23, you’re grown up and a lot more mature and professional. The way it’s gone the last 20 years, you end up drafting young kids, young adults, young men at 19, maybe 20 years old, especially in the lottery and most of the first round, and it takes time. You have to make a decision early on as to potential. Sometimes it’ll take three or four years to develop a player. That’s why I think it’s important to get players into the system. Our scouts and coaches in Greensboro, if you look at their record with Devonte’ (Graham), the Martin brothers, Jalen McDaniels, Nick Richards, Mark Williams, they’ve done a good job drafting young talent and developing them in the G League. That’s not to say all of the players we draft will be in the G League, but even last year, Mark Williams was in the G League. He came out of the G League and finished the season really, really strong. We look at him as one of our most valuable pieces right now. You end up drafting young men, and you do have to wait for them to develop. You’re hopeful that whatever you saw continues to grow and they turn into a good player who can help you down the road.”
On veteran leadership assisting in the growth of the younger players…
“I think we have a good mix. I’m not sure if we have that leader, that one veteran. I think you can look at a couple guys on our team and you might say in a year or two, they’ll grow into being leaders. But we don’t have that one person. For the last couple years, it’s fallen to the coach to be the leader. We’re looking for somebody in the locker room that can fill that role. We’re still going to have some needs to fill going into free agency other than the obvious two that are restricted. We’ll probably need some help in the backcourt. Can you get a leader, somebody that can play and also be a force in the locker room? That would be helpful. The best thing to do is to get a player that’s going to be your leader, and right now that’s one thing where we have a couple guys who are growing in that direction, and maybe this is the year they emerge, but we don’t have that person right now.”
On P.J. Washington Jr….
“I think it goes without saying with P.J. that every year he’s gotten better. Last year, he had a very, very good year. Over the course of the four years, he’s really grown up and turned into quite the professional. We’re very pleased with his play on the court and off the court. He’s really matured into a nice young man and a good player.”
On LaMelo Ball attending draft workouts…
“We didn’t ask his unsolicited opinion, but I did tell him when the guys were working out. He’s in here every day running, shooting, getting treatment and lifting weights. I see him every day and you always have conversations, ‘How’s it going? How are you doing? How’s the draft?’ Several of our players came by and watched the workouts. That’s not something I recall ‘Melo doing in the past. He sat with our coaches, players and he was paying attention. He seemed at home. He was hanging out with players and ownership. He wasn’t involved in the process or the decision.”
On Ball’s recovery…
“His bone was 100 percent healed six weeks ago. He’s been on the basketball court for four to six weeks, running and jumping on the court. He has not done any scrimmages yet. He hasn’t done any one-on-one or any two-on-two. He could, but what’s the rush? We’re not even to July 1st yet. He’s not ahead of schedule – this is exactly what the doctors expected – but we’re good. It’s natural for a point guard to assume a leadership position. They have the ball, they’re up front. That’s not to say a wing or a big can’t, but it’s natural for somebody that’s in the backcourt. That’s our hope that he will grow into that. I think he’s only 21. Could you lead an NBA franchise at 21? Is that possible? He’s been here four years and he’s only 21. He’s showing signs of doing it. Terry (Rozier) last year gave us a lot of leadership, but you know that one guy that has that presence, it just hasn’t happened yet, and it falls to the coach. We have to address it.”
On preemptively replacing players who may leave in free agency…
“Nobody can really leave because they’re restricted free agents. Now we do have a couple guys that are unrestricted, but typically once we get guys here in Charlotte, they love it here and they don’t end up leaving here during the offseason. This is a great city and I think our players enjoy being here. Having said that, there’s a couple players that we are going to have to figure out if we can bring them back, and it’s going to be a matter of a negotiation. Part of the reason we drafted the way we did, assuming that we bring back a lot of guys as free agents, we’re going to have a lot of players on the roster. So we have to manage our roster as well.”
On Brandon Miller’s talent level…
“By taking him two I think that speaks the world of what I think of him. I know that there were other choices, but this kid is a dynamic wing, he’s got great size, athletic ability and shooting ability. You’ll see him bring it up the court, you’ll see him attack the rim. Like I said, one of the better shooters in the draft as an outgoing freshman, and in our league to get a player like that, we think he’s going to be a heck of a player. It wasn’t the easiest of decisions. There was a lot of spirited debate. I’ve always liked the kid, but to get a dynamic wing like that in this league, we think we’re fortunate.”
On what made him comfortable selecting Miller…
“With all our picks, especially high picks, we do a lot of due diligence. When you’ve got the number two pick, especially when there’s been an incident – that’s not to say we wouldn’t do as much background research with someone else – but we’re aware of it. I can’t begin to tell you all the people we’ve talked to. Buzz (Peterson) and I went to Birmingham and Tuscaloosa to chat with them. We talked to a lot of people in the legal system to get a comfortable level of what took place beyond what we read. I don’t know if everyone in here knows what took place – you know what you read. We thought it was important for us to get as much information as possible firsthand. We drafted him, so that tells you that we’re comfortable.”
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