Could Ryan Kalkbrenner be the center the Hornets are looking for?

Finding a great center in the NBA is harder than it seems.

While there are 30 starting centers across the league, only a handful of them are considered "great." Only a few more of them are considered good, and the rest are serviceable enough.

Last season, the Charlotte Hornets had multiple players who could be considered starting centers. Mark Williams got the nod, but Jusuf Nurkic and Moussa Diabate easily could also be looked at as starting caliber centers.

As the offseason began, the Hornets quickly moved on from two of the centers, sending Williams to Phoenix and Nurkic to Utah. Their center rotation went from three guys who could fill the starting role when needed, to Moussa Diabate, the 34th overall pick in Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Mason Plumlee.

The center position has absolutely been a big topic of discussion amongst the fanbase, who believe the squad is a center away from being in playoff contention. Names like Nikola Vucevic, Nic Claxton, and Robert Williams have come up in fan discussions as a potential piece for the Hornets at the center position.

Sure, acquiring someone would make sense to push for playoff contention. After the Summer League, however, maybe the center the team needs is already on the roster.

After the first few games of Summer League, Ryan Kalkbrenner looked like he needed to spend some time in Greensboro to develop.

His footwork was rough, his hands were not great, he had trouble posting up bigger players. His paint defense was a struggle as well, despite the seven total blocks he put up in the two games.

After that, though, it's been night and day. Kalkbrenner looks NBA ready. He averaged 10.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and .8 blocks a game. He also looked more confident in his three ball, despite shooting 2-6 from deep across the games. His footwork looked improve, his two-man game with Kon Knueppel was near unstoppable, and he was affecting shots around the rim constantly, despite averaging less than a block a night.

In short, Kalk improved every single game and looked NBA-ready in his last performance, where he put up 15 points and nine rebounds. He only had a block, but affected more shots around the rim than his box score shows.

When it comes to the Hornets roster, though, Moussa Diabate is likely the starting center. So, why am I talking about how Kalkbrenner is the center of the future when Diabate is only a year older than Kalk, and more talented at the moment? Well, Moussa projects long term to be a power forward. He has the skillset of a center; however, unless he's put on significant weight, it's hard to imagine him as a center. He's only 6'9, so he's already undersized for the center position.

Both he and Kalkbrenner do need to put on weight for the long term, though. At 7'2" with a developing jumpshot, Kalkbrenner has the skills to be a center in the NBA for a long time. He had difficulties posting up players, which with more weight could be an easy fix.

Kalkbrenner would be the perfect center for Charles Lee's offense. A pick and roll guy, who can shoot, and is an excellent paint defender. If he's able to add size and strengthen his post-up game, the sky is the limit.

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