Link to NBA draft profile.
It always works out this way, doesn’t it? After following and pulling hard for the Charlotte Hornets for years…the franchise finally drafts a Wolfpacker that is going to make a significant contribution to the franchise…when they are playing Oklahoma City instead of Charlotte!
Poor Cedric…although he gets picked #15 (after being projected higher), he gets picked by one of the worst franchises in all of of sports – the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. Anyone who followed the Hornets or lived in Charlotte in the late 1990s and has experienced George Shinn completely understands this point.
The actual Hornets squad, however, was only a few games away from the playoffs because of the play of Chris Paul and the energy provided by the Oklahoma City fans. (So…is the franchise the New Orleans Hornets or the Oklahoma City Hornets? It’s just another potentially crippling decision that Shinn will have to make in the future. Does anyone want Shinn making real decisions?)
We will elevate a comment from our comments section to tie this together for the readers who incorrectly think that we are being negative about Cedric when we are really just being negative about George Shinn:
Defensively, NO/OK could make a huge leap up the leauge. Armstrong, Simmons, and Brown are all strong already on D. With Jackson, Fizer and Raleighs own David West there is a good opportunity for Scott to find the right combo’s on the floor to balance scoring and defense from his frontline. Paul and Mason are pretty underated as far as backcourts go IMHO. I agree SFN with Shinn comments, but putting the past and future aside for a minute, it is simply a good opportunity for Ced to make an impact in the NBA this year. Congrats, and good luck Big Ced.
If you listen to some of the experts, the Hornets draft was so good that it may be what they needed to propel them into the playoffs very soon. (Link to Fox Sports Winners & Losers)
The New Orleans Times-Picayune called Simmons “serviceable” in this piece on the NBA Draft:
Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons.
Excited? Goose-pimply?
No?
Well, if Armstrong, the No. 12 overall pick in the first round of the NBA draft Wednesday night, and Simmons, No. 15, weren’t the starriest picks or the sexiest picks, they at least figure to be serviceable ones for the Hornets. They are players who can be plugged into the rotation, not expected to start immediately but, obviously, given every opportunity to prove their worth.
“Not right now,” Coach Byron Scott said, when asked if either would walk into the starting lineup. “I think both of them have the potential of being a starter.”
“These were the two highest names on our board (at Nos. 12 and 15),” General Manager Jeff Bower said.
Maybe no team in the NBA needed to get bigger more desperately than New Orleans, which has tried — with little success — to plug square peg P.J. Brown into its round hole at center the past two seasons.
If you are interested in some amazing overall draft coverage, then this link to True Hoop will keep you busy for a few days.
Please do us a favor and share any interesting links and commentary regarding Cedric’s pick in the comments section below. For kicks, we thought that we would flash back to some of the comments regarding Julius Hodge’s selection by the Denver Nuggets last year.
