Hornets make sneaky good addition to front office

The Charlotte Hornets continue to change the makeup of the front office.

Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Changes continue in Charlotte as the Hornets recently hired Ryan Lambert as Director of Amateur Scouting, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

Lambert has been with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past decade and has continued to climb the ladder there in the scouting department. He got his start in 2012 as a basketball operations assistant and was in that role for two seasons before being promoted to a college scout. Since 2020, he has served as the organization's senior amateur scout.

This may look like a minor move on the surface, but it could turn out to be one of the most important pieces to the Charlotte Hornets' puzzle. The Thunder have done a terrific job of identifying talent in the draft, regardless of where in the draft order they are picking. The Hornets have had some lottery luck with getting in position to land LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, but outside of that, they've had several swings and misses.

For a small market organization, the Hornets have to rely on the drafting and development of homegrown talent. As much as they'd like to pursue high-level free agents, their time and resources are better served developing the guys in their building.

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