The Charlotte Hornets have a pair of picks at the top of the second round, and that’s a prime spot to pluck a role player or two for the bench. They got rid of Nick Richards at the trade deadline and Jusuf Nurkic isn’t a long term option. On top of that, the team’s opinion on Mark Williams is hard to gauge given they tried to offload him at the trade deadline. It sounds like a center would be a good pick. Ryan Kalkbrenner is a center of Creighton that could step in and help immediately regardless of what other plans the Hornets have at center.
Measurements
Height: 7’1″
Wingspan: 7’6″
Standing reach: 9’4″
Weight: 257.4 pounds
Vertical: 29″ no step, 33″ max
Strengths
Size, shot blocking, finishing abililty
Ryan Kalkbrenner is a massive human being. He measured at 7’1″ without shoes on and has a standing reach just a couple of inches shy of Victor Wembanyama. Even with some agility and mobility limitations, his size and reach alone make him a force defensively. He has a very similar stature and physical profile to Brook Lopez coming out of Stanford.
Kalkbrenner led the Big East in blocks per game each of his last three seasons and won Defensive Player of the Year in that conference in all four of his years as a starter. He has a good vertical for a player of his size, which combined with his reach gives him a tremendous shot blocking radius. Despite being such a good shot blocker, Kalkbrenner fouled at an exceptionally low rate, which is very rare for a big man providing so much help defense.
The offensive bag isn’t deep, but it’s effective. Kalkbrenner has tremendous touch around that basket and can finish over length. He has great hands and terrific touch when he’s forced to finish away from the rim, but he doesn’t have to do that as often as most. He gets off the floor quickly, and he has some bounce to make him a huge lob target. He has some impressive moments catching lobs and finding the rim even when moving downhill quickly on the break or rolling in the pick-and-roll. He made over 70% of his 2-point attempts in each of his last three seasons, which is a truly absurd number for a player with relatively high usage.
There is also some burgeoning 3-point shooting in Kalkbrenner’s game. He doesn’t go to it often, but he fired away more 3-pointers as his college career progressed. He’s not overly efficient from deep and his free throw shooting doesn’t give great indicators, but he’s at least willing to take a three or two to keep the defense honest and could eventually be enough of a threat to stretch defenses a bit.
Question Marks
Mobility, rebounding, offensive repertoire, age/upside
While Kalkbrenner was a dominant defensive force in college, he’s rather limited in the way he can defend. He doesn’t have the foot speed to switch onto smaller players and will probably struggle with perimeter oriented bigs. He’s going to be relegated to drop coverage in the pick and roll, which can work, but it does limit a team’s defensive versatility.
For as big and athletic as Kalbrenner is, he’s never been a great rebounder. He averaged a career high in that category as a fifth year senior, but it was still only 8.7 rebounds per game. He’s not aggressive attacking the defensive glass has a tendency to stop working after his initial attempt to box out. Since he’s not going to be a switchable defender, he’s going to be the low defender often, so he can’t afford to be a sieve for offensive rebounders.
Kalkbrenner is a fifth year senior that will turn 24 about halfway through his rookie season. To his credit, he was a pretty productive player as early as his sophomore year, but there also hasn’t been an exaggerated developmental arc to suggest there’s a lot more in the tank in terms of improvement to his game. He has a very simple offensive skill set; he mostly just finishes plays that are fed to him and has a very rudimentary post up game that’s built almost entirely off his size. He’s got a good foundation to be a role player, but you’re essentially accepting that as his likely ceiling.
Overall Outlook
The Hornets are seemingly trying to follow the Celtics five out offensive model. They signaled that by trading away Nick Richards and trying to trade Mark Williams without a viable replacement on the roster. While Kalkbrenner isn’t a sure bet to be a true stretch big, he offers more as a shooter than the Hornets have had at the five spot and at the very least provides more long term center depth. Jakob Poeltl has been the comparison I’ve seen the most for him, and that would be a steal of a pick in the second round.