Charlotte Hornets mock draft roundup, June edition – At The Hive

Last week was the deadline for players to withdraw their names from draft consideration, meaning we have locked in the pool of draftable players. With that, a lot of outlets around the Internet have released new versions of their mock draft (and At The Hive released a big board). I’ve curated a list of some of the more prominent ones so we can discuss what the people think the Hornets will do in a couple of weeks.

ESPN

6: Rob Dillingham, guard, Kentucky
42: Ulrich Chomche, big, NBA Academy Showcase (Africa)

Dillingham is a scoring combo guard. ESPN’s Jeremy Woo likes the fit between Dillingham and Ball, but I question whether or not it’s a good idea to pair a small, non-defending guard along side LaMelo Ball, who has his own question marks defensively. It’s like turning back the clock on the Terry Rozier pairing, which had its successes but maybe isn’t something the Hornets are trying to replicate.

Chomche has been playing professionally in the Basketball Africa League since he was 16. He is an athletic big that has the potential to fit the coveted shot blocker/3-point maker archetype.

The Athletic

6: Dalton Knecht, wing, Tennessee
42: Melvin Ajinça, wing, Saint Quentin (France)

Knecht lit the college basketball world ablaze last season with his explosive scoring and shot making. He’ll be a 23 year old rookie and was a poor defender in college, so he’ll have to really shine as a scorer to make it work in the NBA.

How serendipitous that I just wrote about Ajinça yesterday.

The Ringer

6: Stephon Castle, guard, UConn
42: Justin Edwards, wing, Kentucky

This is the right kind of guard to try to slot in next to LaMelo Ball, in my opinion. Castle is a gritty defender that has shown flashes of shot making. He wasn’t asked to run the show at UConn, but he potentially has the tools to do that in his bag should he be relied on in that way at the next level. We’ve written about him too.

Edwards was the number three prospect in the 2023 class and the top ranked small forward. I’m a big fan of using a second round pick to buy low on a top end prospect that underperformed in one season in college, especially when that college is Kentucky, which has been a factory for players that turn out to be much better pros than college players.

CBS Sports

6: Stephon Castle, guard, UConn

Another Castle pick.

Fox Sports

6: Reed Sheppard, guard, Kentucky

Sheppard fits a similar mold as Castle. Sheppard doesn’t have the physical tools that Castle does to help him on the defensive end, but he put up some unreal defensive stats at Kentucky and figures to be a pest of a defender on the perimeter. What he’s lacking in physical dominance he makes up for with deadeye shooting; he converted over 50% of his 3-point attempts as a freshman at Kentucky.

Bleacher Report

6: Stephon Castle. guard, UConn
42: Nikola Djurisic, wing, Mega MIS (Serbia)

People are hopping aboard the Castle train.

People in Serbia love naming their children Nikola and the NBA loves to draft them. Djurisic is kind of a European stereotype. He’s a tall, deadeye shooter that has question marks on the defensive side of the ball.

Tankathon

6: Donovan Clingan, big, UConn
42: Cam Christie, wing, Minnesota

I’ve seen a rather sizeable handful of people in the Hornets fan-o-sphere that like the idea of taking Clingan. I personally don’t get it. He’s redundant with Mark Williams, who at worst looks to be good enough as a rim protecting, vertical spacing center. That player helps teams, but it doesn’t seem like something you go out of your way to make a building block when there are other gaping needs and a player that already fills that role. The best player in Clingan’s mold is Rudy Gobert, who is a multi-time defensive player of the year that’s turned into a playoff liability for two different franchises.

Anyway, Cam Christie is brother of Max Christie, who’s started to become a solid rotational piece for the Lakers. He’s a shooter through and through.

NBA Draft Net

6: Stephon Castle, guard, UConn
42: Justin Edwards, wing, Kentucky

I always like to include NBA Draft Net in here because they’ll have some off the wall stuff that’ll make you think. They have a couple of weird ones this go around, but nothing that affects the Hornets. Just a couple of names we’ve already seen.