First I'll start by saying that I am aware we have a new owner, and a new GM. I am VERY hopeful that we have an entirely new scouting department as well. Since 2005 (CP3) the Hornets have got to be one of the worst drafting teams in the league. Let's hope that this years score is a great sign of things to come.
2006:
Rd1 Hilton Armstrong
Rd1 Cedric Simmons
Rd2 Marcus Viniciuos
Are any of these guys still in the league? Honestly, this might be one of the worst drafts of all time? Hilton gave us maybe 30 good minutes ----- in his entire career. I know we traded Simmons for Wesley, but I am just looking at the player selection and scouting ability.
2007:
Rd1 Julian Wright
Rd2 Adam Haluska
Wright was a poor choice. Adam (who the hell are ya?) . Just messing with his name, 2nd rounders are not expected to produce. If you get a good one, fantastic, if you don't oh well
2008:
Rd1 Darrell Arthur
Traded for cash?? We took our entire draft and traded it for cash?
2009:
Rd1 Darren Collison
Collison is a good one. This is the first decent pick we made since CP3 IMO. He will continue to get better and should have a nice long career. Honestly, we could really use him on the team now. His speed with our young horses?
2010:
Rd1 Cole Aldrich
Instantly traded, for Q. Pon and some cash maybe? But as far as player selection. He has done nothing. He will probably be out of the league in another year. Q. Pon never did anything for us as well.
2011:
Rd2 Josh Harrellson
??
So, that is 5 years of drafts after CP3, and only 1 good pick - Collison. That is a pretty bad track record. Now, Demps did not have a lot to work with in 2011 so I'll give him a pass. It appears we had a FANTASTIC draft in 2012. Honestly, I believe that Miller is going to end up being a really good player for us. Love his BBall IQ and he is nailing open jumpers. You don't need to be an elite athlete to be successful, as long as the smarts and intangibles are there.
Has the scouting department been revamped? Who has final say in the draft process? How are we feeling about our future drafting abilities? The NBA isn't like the NFL where you MUST build through the draft, but it is still a very important part of a franchises continued success.