I Built a Draft Model to Figure Out Who The Hornets Want

The Hornets are an analytically-minded organization. So I used data to figure out who they could have interest in come NBA Draft time.

The Charlotte Hornets have completely revamped the analytical side of their organization since new ownership came into the picture. Behind Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin (who I will be referring to as “Schlotkin” after Locked On Hornets’ Doug Branson coined the term), Jeff Peterson has adopted new-age basketball analytics.

They’ve even gone as far as utilizing AI within their draft process, as was widely covered back in February.

That’s not to say that the current Hornets brain trust is a slave to the numbers: that certainly isn’t the case: I’ll back up that stance in this article, as well.

But analytics are certainly a central figure in their talent evaluation, even if it’s not the invisible hand guiding how their team-specific big board looks.

In this article, I’m going to do a few things:

1. Create an analytics model based on known traits the Hornets prioritize.

2. Analyze where the model and where the 2025 Hornets’ draft class would have landed within it.

3. Use the model to predict who the Hornets could be targeting in this year’s draft class.

4. Look over the model’s flaws and where I could see the Hornets diverging from it.

Let’s get into it.