Draft Express Reveals a 'Very, Very' Important Part of the Hornets' Draft Process

According to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, the Charlotte Hornets apparently place a great deal of importance on draft workout performances.

"Honestly it's a near consensus in the gym (Non-Hornets NBA personnel at the combine) that Charlotte are going to take Brandon Miller. I'm not ready to go that far because knowing Mitch Kupchak the workout is going to be very, very important. Scoot Henderson has the chance to go in there and blow the doors off."

Every team works players out during the draft, but it seems Givony clearly has intel that Charlotte places more value than most on how a player performs in a workout. This chimes with what we heard during the 2020 Draft when the Hornets selected LaMelo Ball.

As the story goes, a few weeks before the 2020 draft Kupchak, Borrego, and assistant GM Buzz Peterson flew to Los Angeles to meet with Ball. Kupchak was a little skeptical about Ball’s unorthodox shooting mechanics, including a low release point. But during an hour-long workout, Ball drilled enough threes to make Kupchak believe he could make them at the NBA level.

Conventional NBA wisdom suggests we shouldn't overreact to "Workout Szn". We've seen many athletic marvels who can suddenly shoot the ball when there's nobody around. Being able to leverage their skills in real-time in a fast-paced, physical game environment is different. You can imagine Kai Jones and James Bouknight were workout wonders with their athleticism and shot-making, but so far they have struggled to make an impact with the Hornets.

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