Steinbach Has Every Tool Needed to Prove Doubters Wrong

Ladies and gentlemen: We got ‘em.

While drafting Washington F/C Hannes Steinbach doesn’t *quite* equate to the importance of Paul Bremer announcing the capture of Saddam Hussein live on television – In a Hornets sense? Capturing Steinbach was just as big a deal to Charlotte’s security as Hussein’s was to the United States.

Well – close, at least.

Charlotte desperately needed frontcourt help like the Army needs its soldiers, and Charlotte may have gotten both a soldier AND frontcourt help tonight with German C/F Hannes Steinbach.

It wasn’t my number one-ranked Hornets’ Big Board prospect, but Hannes Steinbach sat second in terms of my favorite fits with this team. He’s played pro; he was THE best statistical rebounder in all of college basketball last year on a struggling Washington Huskies team. Hannes also has the best footwork of any big man not named Cam Boozer or Caleb Wilson in the entire draft.

If you loved Al Jefferson, Charlotte fans… I have a good feeling you’ll be loving Steinbach and the way he operates in the post, too. He shores up Charlotte’s top-heavy rebounding roster so that Moussa isn’t fighting for his life alone each night. Steinbach is also a MUCH better defender than he gets credit for – hard to measure out as a good defender when your team is bad – and he’s the offensive curveball at the Center position Charlotte desperately needs.

I’ve been of the opinion for a while now that Steinbach’s time spent playing professionally in his hometown of Wurzberg at such a young age, pre-Washington, only helped further what he’s capable of moving forward.

“Wurzburg helped me a lot,” Steinbach said when I asked how his pro experience would help his NBA adjustment. “Just like, things, you know, to play with pros against pros, against physical guys and more experienced guys than myself. I think that experience will definitely help me adjust to the NBA a little bit, and yeah, just knowing how to play against older and more experienced guys (was how playing overseas will help me adjust).”

Not only does he complement the frontcourt guys Charlotte already has – he will make them better. Make their niches even more defined… because Steinbach provides the Hornets with something really unique:

A high-post hub who, while maybe not an elite playmaker, gives you just about every other thing you could want offensively. Literally everything else.

“Yeah, yeah, it's a great, great point,” Jeff Peterson said when I asked him about Hannes’ offensive game and how it’s completely different from anything else the Hornets have at that position currently.

“He certainly does bring a different look,” Peterson said. “He's a little bit more versatile on the offensive end of the floor (than Diabate or Kalkbrenner); he's comfortable playing in space. (There were) Several games that I went to of his this season where he's catching the ball on the break and pushing it (up the floor), and he's unselfish; he's a willing passer, very good at just thinking the game, and, you know, trying to get his teammates involved from that position. So, yeah, excited to give him a shot to again give us a different look on the offensive end, for sure.”

All with the very last pick in the lottery at No. 14.

What more could you ask for from a team that just won 44 games and is on the cusp of doing something it hasn’t done in a decade or more?

Steinbach is just as excited to get to Charlotte as fans are to see how the German fits in the Hive.

“The interview process (with Charlotte) was very great,” Steinbach told the media. “I really liked talking to the whole group in the front office. I really liked talking to Coach Lee. Yeah. I’m very, very excited to get to Charlotte.”

Steinbach comes from basketball roots, too:

Steinbach’s father played professionally in Wurzburg, Germany, alongside Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, and the fellow German Nowitzki is a close family friend of the Steinbach’s.

“I think that Dirk, in general, showed the whole German basketball community that it's possible to succeed as a German in the NBA,” Steinbach said of Nowitzki’s influence on him. “And my dad just kind of brought me into basketball (after), and then just like seeing that Dirk succeeded in the NBA at that level just like gave me that amount and level of confidence that I could make it, as well.”

The one-time champion, NBA Hall of Famer, and most importantly (in our case, at least), family friend to the Steinbach’s has jokes, too.

“I never really saw (my dad) in his prime,” Steinbach said. “But I've heard he was a very good rebounder; (a) very strong, big man. So, not fun to play against (my dad).”

Nowitzki didn’t seem to think so – Steinbach told us this jokingly after being asked about the conversation Dirk was having with him on TV after the announcement he was drafted:

“(Dirk) was just saying that he’s very excited (that) another German guy from Wurzburg made it to the NBA. Then he was saying he’s glad I didn’t get my father’s hands and athleticism, because he thinks mine is better than his.”

I mean, it couldn’t be clearer to me that Nowitzki and Steinbach’s father are actually friends if they’re joking with each other like this, right? Talk about having an elite mentor…

Steinbach has one in Dirk, that much was clear. While his game doesn’t quite model his hometown NBA alumnus, Steinbach has the potential to be his own version of dangerous with the basketball.

He’s not trying to be Nowitzki – he’s trying to be Hannes Steinbach.

Hannes is somebody who's obviously super gifted,” Steinbach’s new teammate and Hornets’ No. 18 overall pick Christian Anderson, said of Steinbach, who was his former German national teammate, as well. These guys know each other's games like you almost never see in the NBA Draft, with guys coming from separate colleges.

“(He can) rebound the ball; (he) led the Big 10 in offensive and defensive rebounds,” Anderson said. “So he has a good knack for the ball and going (and) getting his hands on it. Super big hands. So, and then, he has a super good feel for the game. You know, playing and getting to open spots, just knowing where to be at all times. I feel like he's super, super cerebral in that part. And defending, he's super strong (there). So he's basically like a bull that has offense and defense, and he's also had chips on his shoulder, you know, he's always been an underdog, in a sense, kind of like myself.

“But he's one of the best players I've played with, for sure, and we won so many games together, and I can't wait to win some more.”

I can vividly picture General Manager Jeff Peterson’s grin getting bigger and more grandiose the closer Charlotte got to picking eighteenth and knew they could secure both of these guys on the same team once again. You can’t buy that kind of chemistry, and Jeff Peterson rang that sentiment home about Steinbach and Anderson’s former time playing together.

“I wouldn't say (their prior experience together) necessarily influenced (us to pick them both), but it's certainly an added bonus,” Peterson said. “Again, you know, I think it's one of those things: Whenever you can add some level of chemistry, that's always a good thing. So, you know, we kind of got fortunate, 1. That Hannes was there when we picked (at 14), and then you know Christian was still on the board (at 18), so again we were fortunate that both of them were there.”

Beautiful happenstances don’t come around like this often in the NBA, and I think for both players, having each other will help ease both their transitions in a way that’s hard to explain.

Steinbach alone, without knowing anyone? Language barrier that takes a bit of time to adjust. New home all the way across the United States.

Same for Anderson – while he’s much closer to his hometown of Atlanta, GA, by being in Charlotte, I feel like the same still applies. Minus the language barrier, of course… Going at it alone without a familiar face still would’ve been a harder challenge for Anderson than doing it as he will be as a rookie with Steinbach.

“(I’m) very excited to team up with (Christian Anderson) again,” Steinbach said. “He’s a great point guard; he can really pass, as well as create his own shot. (He) has a deep three-ball; so yeah. Very talented player the Hornets are getting.”

While it won’t be as easy a path to playing time as it was or last year’s Hornets’ rookie class, the challenge is something both of the draftees are up for. It’s hard NOT to be up for the challenge when both rookies thrive best when they have a playmaker like LaMelo Ball ready to start spoon-feeding them assists when they inevitably have the opportunity to play alongside one another.

Honestly, in my opinion, it felt like the press conference question Steinbach was the MOST audibly excited to answer was one about adjusting to playing with LaMelo Ball from our own Matt Alquiza:

“(I’m) very excited for that (to play with a passer like LaMelo),” Steinbach said. “Just like – as you said – he’s one of the most creative passers in the NBA, and just being able to play with a guy like that is very exciting for me.”

Not just catching passes from LaMelo at the rim, either; despite what most draft guides may have you believing about Hannes. He answered multiple questions where it was clear that making his jumpshot work in the NBA was a massive priority for him.

Not just priority, but something he seemed adamant he would make happen. I tend to believe him, too. He has too much feel for the game for me to think otherwise right now.

“I definitely see myself as somebody who spreads the floor and shoots the three-ball in the NBA. So yeah, definitely just improving on that and getting better at (my shooting),” Steinbach said to end the press conference.

He added earlier in the presser, “I definitely bring rebounding as my basketball ability, and I definitely want to improve my shooting and be able to provide spacing for a team.”

Are there still holes this Hornets roster has to fill? Absolutely. Defense will be a priority alongside bringing back Coby White as your sixth man this offseason.

But you only have what’s available on the board to you when your draft timer starts ticking.

Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara, Yaxel Lendebourg: Gone before the Hornets could blink.

The idea of a defensive stopper was nice. Yet, there’s a part of me that thinks Hannes has way more to give in that area.

Seriously, how great can you be on defense as a college freshman when you played on a 16-17 team (Washington) that plays in one of the deepest and most tradition-rich college basketball conferences in the country?

I don’t think it was for a lack of effort.

But as a big man, sometimes you’re only as good as the defender who’s in front of you. I can’t tell you with any level of sincerity that Steinbach had many good defenders out in front of him helping the German big properly navigate his path in pick-and-roll coverage, help defense, drops, hedges (hard or soft)… whatever.

I will tell you, though:

Hannes can make a leap defensively and be a decent factor on that end. Not elite, but more than competent. That should be plenty, given how his offensive impact projects out in the future.

I’m not sure if I ever believed any of the three defense-first Michigan guys, on the other hand, could have ever become “more than competent” offensively.

I love the way Steinbach fits, and it’ll take some time to adjust… but not as much as some of his biggest X haters seem to believe. Charlotte swung big, positionally, and at Steinbach, the player. He has everything to prove, and every reason to be as motivated as possible to get better.

What? Do you think Dirk Nowitzki’s just going to let this kid be BAD?

Yeah. I didn’t think so.

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