Thursday night’s NBA Draft in Brooklyn may have given the Charlotte Hornets some painful memories. Last year, the Hornets had the 11th pick in the first round which they used to select Kentucky Wildcats hotshot Malik Monk. But if everything were up to Steve Clifford, who was still then the Hornets’ head coach, Charlotte would have gotten the services of Louisville Cardinals standout Donovan Mitchell, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Zach Lowe during a recent episode of The Lowe Podcast (h/t Dan Feldman of NBC Sports).
Givony:
“Charlotte, I had them projected to take Donovan Mitchell, because I heard that Clifford was on the table in the war room saying, “We need to draft Donovan Mitchell.” And he was overruled on that, and they took Malik Monk instead. And it’s interesting how that played out in hindsight.”
Lowe:
“Cliff was 100 percent trying to get them to take Donovan Mitchell.”
Hindsight is 20/20, but it must have still given the Hornets, particularly Steve Clifford, some sleepless nights over the course of the 2017-18 season, knowing that while Donovan Mitchell was having an unbelievable rookie campaign in Salt Lake City, their own first-round selection in Monk was slow in learning the ropes in the pros. Mitchell averaged 20.5 points per game for the Utah Jazz while leading the team all the way into the second round of the playoffs. Monk, on the other hand, played only 13.6 minutes per game and put up paltry numbers of 6.7 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists.
The Jazz selected Mitchell 13th overall last year — courtesy of the Denver Nuggets — which was perhaps one of the best decisions the Utah franchise ever made. The good news for the Hornets is that Monk is coming into his second year, and still has a lot of potential.
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