Rationalizing a potential marriage between Ace Bailey and the Charlotte Hornets

'With the fourth pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets select...Ace Bailey, Rutgers.' Take a deep look into your mind's eye and imagine your reaction if you hear Adam Silver utter those words in just over two weeks.

How would you feel? Excited? Disappointed? Frustrated? All valid emotions that would take time for Hornets fans to process.

While not everyone would laud the pick, it's essential to realize that Charlotte drafting Ace Bailey is absolutely on the table .

The mercurial wing prospect has been scrutinized from every angle in the draft process, and those on both sides of the aisle when it comes to projecting Bailey's future have valid points in their favor.

Those who believe Bailey will wind up returning less value than his allotted draft spot can point to a number of flaws in his game.

His lack of wiggle, his reliance on contested jumpers, his inability to finish through contact, his high hips, his exuberant hubris: all qualities that scream BUST across the marquee that is Bailey's draft profile.

On top of those concerns, Bailey's shot profile (his 200 non-rim two-point attempts were his most frequently attempted shots as a freshman at Rutgers) doesn't jibe with Charles Lee's modern 'dunks and threes' style.

However, the crew that see Bailey as a future superstar have solid ground to stand on as well.

The size, the athleticism, the contested shot-making ability, the off-ball defensive tools: if Bailey buys into a complimentary role on an NBA team, he could develop into one of the league's premier secondary options.

While I believe each of Kon Knueppel, Tre Johnson, and VJ Edgecombe would all be solid picks for Charlotte, I could also be talked into the vision of Airious in purple and teal.

I made the case here that Charlotte should stay away from the Rutgers product come draft night , but I've changed my tune in the past few weeks.

If Bailey buys into becoming a role player that does the little things well early in his career, that will allow him the runway to develop the necessary on-ball skills that he currently lacks.

The best situation for Ace is to get drafted by an NBA team that already employs multiple on-ball creators (like LaMelo Ball, Tre Mann, and Brandon Miller, for example), so he can rack up off-ball repetitions as an ancillary member of an offense.

Allowing Bailey to crash the glass, knock down catch-and-shoot jumpers, and learn how to play hard-nosed defense without the burden of creating offense is exactly what he needs early in his career.

The contested shot-making skill will always be there to bail out his team's offense at the end of the shot clock; it's everything else that needs work, and Charlotte would slot him into their starting lineup between Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges with the freedom to be a star in his limited role as he colors in the true superstar outline he's shown at every stop in his basketball career.

While I agree the fit in Charlotte is a bit awkward due to the overlapping skillsets of Bailey and Brandon Miller, the concerns about slotting Ace into Charlotte's starting five are slightly overblown.

Adding Ace won't fix Charlotte's rim pressure problems, but his gravity as a cutter, off-ball mover, and long-range sniper will give Charles Lee a dimension that Josh Green didn't afford the Hornets.

His mid-range shooting ability will break up the monotonous approach Charlotte's poor offense devolved into on many an occasion last season, giving them another pitch to throw when the shot clock gets tight.

The key for Bailey is to buy into his role as an off-ball player, and without spending time in his brain to learn how he ticks, it's impossible to know if he'd be willing to do so.

His media availability at the NBA Combine that saw him compare his game to ' KD, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, and T-Mac ' dims the hope that he would be willing to play a supporting role in the Association, but if Charlotte believes in their player development program (which it seems like they do if you look at who they drafted in 2024 ), they are the prime candidates to squeeze out every ounce of talent that Ace has.

Look: the NBA Draft is an inexact science.

Projecting the futures of 18-20-year-olds based off of college film, advanced statistics, closed-door workouts, and in-person interviews is a nearly impossible task that nobody has perfected.

Each of Charlotte's primary options at number four: Bailey, Knueppel, Johnson, and Edgecombe, have major question marks on their resumes.

Could you blame Charlotte if they gambled on the 6'8" supernova scorer with more upside than any non-Flagg player in the class? I couldn't.

While I continue to have my reservations about Bailey, Charlotte's decision to draft him would undeniably have merit.

- MORE STORIES FROM HORNETS ON SI - Its time the Charlotte Hornets gave LaMelo Ball a true veteran to lean on Draft day jackpot? Duke sharpshooter could bring max value to Hornets On the move again? Mark Williams among top players who could be traded this offseason No big moves, no big deal? Why the Hornets are likely to stay quiet this summer.

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