Why the Hornets can't continue to solely depend on the draft to save themselves

The Hornets have found themselves in a similar position over the years, and that's been in a place most teams don't typically like to be in, which is out of the playoffs and in the draft lottery.

It seems as if the Hornets are content with drafting players in the lottery and hoping to develop them and build the roster through those draft selections. Although that may be a nice way to build a roster of young and promising players, it can also be a recipe for disaster if you depend on it too much.

Unfortunately, it feels as if the Hornets are heading into that direction of where they rely too much on how the lottery goes or their draft selections to improve the roster. If there's any team that should know how the lottery can be, it should be the Hornets, as they haven't been rewarded the first pick since the 1991 season.

Now don't get it twisted, there are a bunch of teams that have built solid rosters through the draft like the Thunder, Nuggets, and other teams, but they've also been known to make key additions in free agency or through trade to boost the performance of their team.

If you look at the Nuggets and the Thunder, they didn't just draft players and sit back and wait for the next draft to acquire better talent; they went out and got players that could help develop their youth and help their chances to win.

For example, the Thunder signed Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein last offseason, who have been huge additions in their playoff run.

The Nuggets acquired Aaron Gordon through a trade, who's been a huge piece to their success in the past couple of seasons, while also helping them win a championship. They also signed Bruce Brown, who was a major addition at the time to give them a ring.

Other teams like the Rockets, Timberwolves, Pistons, and Magic have all done similar things by drafting well and adding veteran talent around their young rosters to put themselves in a position to make the playoffs and compete for something more.

The Hornets have tried to follow the steps of some of these organizations by drafting building block players through the draft and not making huge moves to acquire stars. However, the difference between Charlotte and these other teams seems to be that they rely on the draft more than those teams.

One thing that comes to play is the Hornets aren't much of a free agent destination team. In fact, they're likely one of the least likely teams to sign free agents due to being a small market team with little success in the last decade. All that means is they're likely going to have to acquire some players through trade.

The Hornets' new management seems to have a better idea of how important trades are to boost the roster, but there is still a lot more work to do on that front. There's no question the team needs more veteran additions that can actually positively impact the team on the court.

Signing Taj Gibson is great and all for development, but it's not going to help boost the performance of the team when he doesn't have much left to give on the court.

Short story short, the Hornets can't sit back and wait for the players they draft to turn the franchise around, and they certainly can't expect the lottery to give them some luck.

Eventually, some of the players they drafted will need contract extensions, and then the Hornets will have to start all over again. It's time for the organization to put players on this team who have veteran experience, but can still make an impact on the court.

Whether it's through trade or free agency, the Hornets have to make a change now, or they'll constantly be a team that isn't taken seriously.

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