2023 NBA Draft Roundtable: Volume One
Each week, our staff will be diving into an interesting topic surrounding this crucial draft for the Charlotte Hornets. With five picks in the top 45, the Hornets really have a chance to inject some young talent into their roster and get right back into playoff contention. They have the 27th pick in this draft via Denver, and there will be plenty of intriguing prospects to add to the team. With that being said, let's dive into the sleeper targets we have identified for that pick.
Schuyler Callihan: Terquavion Smith Jr. - NC State, Guard
The Hornets brought Smith in for a workout last year, and I expect them to do the same in this year’s pre-draft process. If Charlotte decides to go with a frontcourt option with their lottery pick, Smith makes a ton of sense here at 27 even though most consider him to be an early second-round pick. He’ll probably spend much of his first year in the G-League sharpening his game and working on becoming more selective with his shots. But with Terry Rozier under contract through the 2025-26 season, there’s no rush for the 20-year-old to be an impactful depth piece in the Charlotte backcourt.
James Plowright: Marcus Sasser - Houston, Guard
Sasser was arguably Houston’s best player despite having a consensus top 8 lottery pick in Jarace Walker on the team.
Let’s start with Sasser’s strengths, he’s an outstanding shooter, whether that’s spotting up or generating his own shot off the bounce. Over his 4 year college career Sasser shot 37% from three on high volume with a high grade of difficulty. He’s a good PnR ball handler who played alongside another point guard in college which dampened his assist numbers. On the defensive end he’s a ball pressure menace who uses a 6’7 wingspan to great effect.
The only reason he’s projected to be available at #27 is due to being 22 years old and measuring in as a smaller guard at 6’3. His rim finishing is also a weakness, but Sasser is so smart he’s rarely caught forcing shots he’s not comfortable with.
Overall, with Dennis Smith Jr being an UFA, Charlotte has the chance to pick up their long term backup point guard of the future who also has potential to share the court with LaMelo at times.
Jon Yeager: Brandin Podziemski - Santa Clara, Guard
Charlotte has their starting backcourt set going into next season with LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, but they always have room to add to their depth off the bench. If they decide to bring back Dennis Smith Jr and Cody Martin returns from his injury plagued season, they have two excellent defensive minded guards in their second lineup. Something that could potentially be missing is a guard who brings a scoring punch to that second unit, and that is where Brandin Podziemski can prove to be useful for Charlotte.
The 20 year-old sophomore began his collegiate career at Illinois where he only received less than 70 minutes of time on the floor. This past season, he transferred to Santa Clara where he saw his minutes and production rise tremendously. He started all 32 games for the Broncos and saw himself become the most important offensive piece on the team.
His biggest strength coming into the NBA will be his catch and shoot ability. He shot 43% from three at Santa Clara on almost six attempts per game. He knocked down 44% of his catch and shoot attempts from distance. The smooth-shooting lefty has flashed NBA range as well on his attempts and has a fairly quick release to get his shot off in a hurry. He has also showcased the ability to hit shots off of movement and pull-ups from the mid-range and beyond the arc.
He has also flashed the ability to create for teammates when being the PnR operator or working off of a dribble hand-off. He finished last season with a 20.5 assist percentage compared to just a 12% turnover percentage. As a guy who will be relied upon to be a second or third initiator on offense, that is a pretty solid assist to turnover ratio especially considering how much he was relied on last season. He can handle the ball in transition and hit open players cutting to the rim for easy buckets.
Podziemski's biggest area of improvement would be getting to the rim with more effectiveness. He has a pretty slow first step and defenders are able to contain easily on some possessions when going one-on-one. He too often picks up his dribble in the middle of lane and forces tough shots because he couldn't separate.
Despite that, Podziemski would be a tremendous add to this Charlotte roster with what he can do from a shooting standpoint and operating as a second or third initiator off of ball screens or DHOs.
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