No. 16 — Charlotte Hornets: Rui Hachimura, F
School: Gonzaga | Class: Junior | Height: 6’8″ | Weight: 230 | Age: 20
The second Gonzaga Bulldog, Hachimura provides the financially-strapped Hornets a young (not too expensive) player that sures up one of the weaker positions on the roster: power forward. Hachimura does everything well, not great, well.
He’s produced off the bench and as a starter. He can defend and shoot. He’ll probably remind Michael Jordan of a friendly version of Charles Oakley. And his 20 ppg will offer Charlotte something else: someone not named “Kemba Walker” who can actually score points regularly.
A good thing for a team that should be trying to build off it’s first trip to the playoffs in 3 years. — Jonathan Matthes