Detroit Pistons: How will other team needs effect their pick?

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Miles Bridges #0 of the Charlotte Hornets drives against Christian Wood #35 of the Detroit Pistons (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /

#8 Charlotte Hornets

Pick Odds: Pick 1 (6%), Pick 2 (6.3%), Pick 3 (6.7%), Pick 4 (7.2%), Pick 8 (34.5%), Pick 9 (32.1%), Pick 10 (6.8%), Pick 11 (0.4%), Average pick of 7
Biggest Needs: Center, Point Guard, Wing
Big Board: James Wiseman, Onyeka Okongwu, Anthony Edwards, Deni Avdija

Finally, we have one of the surprise performers of the 2020 NBA season the Hornets. Every single person who knew anything about the NBA, including myself, had Charlotte finishing last in the East by a considerable margin thanks to them letting Kemba Walker walk and replacing him with Terry Rozier III.

The young core of the Hornets is sneakily one of the better ones in the NBA as shown by their success this season, all be it going 23-42, that better than the predictions of them winning around 15 games out of 82.

The Hornets young core consists of Devonte’ Graham, Miles Bridges, PJ Washington, Malik Monk, Dwyane Bacon, Jalen McDaniels, and the Martin twins, Caleb and Cody.

One thing that you notice here is that those are mostly shooting guards and forwards so their needs would be point guard and center.

Having as much money invested in Terry Rozier III as the Hornets do, and the fact that Devonte’ Graham was a candidate for Most Improved Player this year, the point guard need is secondary behind the need for a center.

As us Pistons fans know, Andre Drummond was linked to the Hornets the last few trade deadlines, as they’ve needed a center for a while. No disrespect to Charlotte’s centers but Bismack Biyombo and Cody Zeller both aren’t starting caliber centers in the NBA, so they should go center in this draft.

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With the center position having the lowest value its ever had, the Hornets and the Warriors seem to be the only two teams interested in the position group. The Warriors should have a higher pick than the Hornets in all likelihood so their pick will likely be made for them.

Odds are that James Wiseman will be the selection from the Warriors so Onyeka Okongwu would probably be the pick.

Onyeka has gotten a lot of comparisons to Bam Adebayo during his one year at the University of Southern California, but like a lot of center prospects’ highlight videos it really was just 5-10 minutes of him dunking.

He showed a lot of talent on the defensive end and is a very good rim protector for his size so I would compare him to more of a Montrezl Harrell, a high energy undersized center. While I still think Wiseman is the better prospect, Onyeka is right behind him.

The only other scenario that I could see playing out is the Hornets opting for another wing and having PJ Washington play center in a small ball, spread the floor mentality.

Deni Avdija and Obi Toppin would be the best possible fits on this team if they go that route, but Anthony Edwards has to be their guy. One of my personal favorite prospects in the upcoming class, Edwards has gotten comparisons to Dwyane Wade, Donovan Mitchell, and Victor Oladipo.

His ability to shoot the ball, combined with his freak athleticism and finishing ability makes me see him as a Donovan Mitchell clone who will win you games and still be on the Sportscenter Top 10.