James Bouknight, JT Thor Show Flashes of Their Potential in Loss to Sixers

Prior to Monday night, Hornets rookie guard James Bouknight had appeared in only eight games this season. Most of his playing time came at the end of games where the outcome had already been decided. He's also spent a lot of time down in the G-League with Greensboro Swarm which has allowed him to play and develop instead of sitting on the bench in Charlotte behind LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, and Ish Smith.

With the Hornets down five guys due to being in the NBA's Health & Safety protocol, Charlotte had to call upon Bouknight to produce quality minutes in the absence of Ball and Rozier. He got off to a bit of a slow start defensively picking up a couple of bad fouls and trailing his man. As the game went on, you could see things were starting to slow down for him and he was gaining confidence on both ends of the floor, particularly on offense.

In the second quarter, he did a tremendous job of keeping one possession alive by snagging a pair of offensive rebounds with the second board leading to a three by fellow rookie, JT Thor. Both Bouknight and Thor landed on SportsCenter's Top 10 with monstrous dunks that had everyone inside Spectrum Center on their feet. Thor (No. 7 on SC hammered a dunk over Andre Drummond and in the fourth quarter, Bouknight (No. 2 on SC) sent home a strong putback dunk off a missed shot from Gordon Hayward.

JT THOR WITH THE HAMMER FOR HIS FIRST CAREER NBA BUCKET 🔨 pic.twitter.com/oUIstcj5vD
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) December 7, 2021

MY GOODNESS....#AllFly | @hornets pic.twitter.com/HCNOoOsa63
— Bally Sports: Hornets (@HornetsOnBally) December 7, 2021

“They both gave great energy. That is why we drafted them, they showed great energy, and that they belong out there on the court," head coach James Borrego said when talking about Bouknight and Thor. "It is only going to get better from here. Hopefully, that is a boost in confidence, not only for me but for them, that they can play at this level and at a very high level. Great plays tonight by both, JT (Thor) obviously big with a lot of length attacking the rim, and for Bouk, getting downhill and attacking the rim, finishing plays, and cleaning up missed shots. I thought Bouk played extremely well and he made us better out there and now it is about getting better and getting back out there on Wednesday night.”

Bouknight finished the night with 11 points, five rebounds, and one assist while Thor notched eight points, two rebounds, and two assists. It'll be interesting to see how Borrego handles the rotation once Ball and Rozier return to the court with the emergence of the youngsters. Bouknight could eventually work his way into Ish Smith's role as the backup point but it may take a little while. As for Thor, he's going to be a guy they will continue to develop in Greensboro, I would assume. The deeper we get into the season, Thor may work his way back to Charlotte permanently where he will find a role off the bench.

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