What the Hornets are getting in Tidjane Salaün – At The Hive

The Charlotte Hornets made a somewhat surprising move making French forward Tidjane Salaün the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. He didn’t get a lot of hype over the course of the draft process, but rumors connecting him to the Hornets started swirling in the days leading up to the draft. Despite opportunities to move around in the lottery, the Hornets stood pat and selected the Frenchman.

Salaün played as a sort of wing forward for his French club Cholet Basket, but I think the Hornets plan to use him more as a big forward. In the first press conference following the draft, Lee stated that he envisioned using Salaün as a screener that can pop or catch on the short roll and turn into a play maker. That sounds more like what a team would use a big for than a wing. And you can see why the Hornets are high on his potential if that’s how they want to use him. It’s a much better fit with his skill set than making him more of a three.

Salaün’s most immediate skill is his motor. That helps him make an impact on both sides of the ball, even if his skill set is unpolished at this point. Offensively, he’s always on the move, looking for space to relocate on the 3-point line or to cut to the basket. He scored a healthy amount of buckets cutting baseline when his man would sag off or lose focus. He’s also got a good feel for when to cut through the middle of the floor when the ball is on the wing or in the corners. That’s a great fit with LaMelo Ball and is a good complement to Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges, who are underrated passers to cutters.

He gives good effort defensively, but he needs some more refinement on this end. He had ups and downs, but one of the more obvious recurring problems he had with Cholet Basket was staying in front of shifty ball handlers. He has a tendency to overcommit on the first move, which leaves him susceptible to getting crossed up and opening up driving angles off counters. The Hornets can mitigate that by playing him against bigger players, like 4s and 5s. He’s a better defender off the ball, particularly at getting his hands into passing lanes for steals. He wasn’t a prolific shot blocker, but he does make an effort to contest shots and make life difficult for the opposing offense.

He’s not purely an effort guy though. He’s a confident outside shooter with a good looking shot. The 3-point percentage wasn’t terribly impressive, but it’s respectable for an 18 year old playing his first professional season against grown men. Like I said above, he has a good knack for finding open spaces for spot up opportunities and he’s always ready to shoot. I expect that his 3-point percentage will improve over what he did in his one professional season in France. If he’s playing bigger, he’ll get more open looks as well.

All that said, Salaün is still a raw prospect, which comes with the territory of drafting an 18 year old. His fundamentals are improving but not quite there yet. He’s not a good ball handler or creator and has struggles finishing through traffic, especially off the dribble. He shows the occasional flash of shot creation off the dribble, but it’s rather wild and ends in really bad misses more often than not.

The Hornets would be very wise to size Salaün up from the position he was playing in France. He’s probably more of a big forward that can play small ball five, like PJ Washington, than a 3/4 hybrid like Miles Bridges. Playing big mitigates his weaknesses as a ball handler and creator and allows him to focus on what he does best–finish plays.