Meet James Bouknight. Five things to know about the Hornets’ draft pick

With the 11th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets selected Connecticut guard James Bouknight.

Bouknight is the first lottery pick to come out of UConn since current NBA stars Andre Drummond and Jeremy Lamb were drafted early in 2012. Now, with Bouknight headed to Buzz City, Charlotte fans can salivate over their lottery-laden backcourt that already includes 2021 Rookie of the Year, LaMelo Ball.

But if you’re not a fan of college basketball, you might not know a lot about Charlotte’s newest star. Here are five things to know about newly minted Hornet James Bouknight.

HE IS A SCORING MACHINE

It goes without saying that you have to be good at basketball to be a lottery pick in the NBA draft, whether that’s defending, passing, dribbling or scoring. And James Bouknight is very great at scoring.

In his first year as a Husky, Bouknight averaged 13.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. In his second year, he exploded, leading the team by averaging 18.7 points per game, along with coming third on the team with 5.7 rebounds per game. In that sophomore season, he failed to hit double-digit points in a game just once — once.

Included among those high-scoring affairs was a 40-point bonanza against Creighton in Dec.2020, as well as 20-point games against the likes of Villanova, Georgetown and Marquette. In Bouknight, the Hornets are getting someone who is adept at putting the ball in the hoop.

HE HAS EXPERIENCE OVERCOMING INJURIES

The Hornets are no stranger to injuries, with many of the team’s key pieces sustaining knocks throughout the season, most notably Gordon Hayward’s injured foot in April. Bouknight has also had experience dealing with injuries, tearing the meniscus in his left knee in Feb. 2018 while a junior in high school. The injury was severe enough to require surgery.

So did that hamper Bouknight’s performances or decrease his recruitment stock going into his senior year? No — it may have bolstered it. After returning to action in July, he showed in his first game back at Hoop Group Summer Jam Fest, scoring 33 points.

He also missed more than a month of his sophomore season at UConn, with an elbow injury taking him out from Jan. 5 to Feb 16. That didn’t slow him down, either, scoring 18 points in his return against Providence. In Bouknight, the Hornets are getting someone who has dealt with injury trouble and come back stronger than before.

HE COMES FROM A BASKETBALL HOTBED

Bouknight was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., playing as a kid on the courts of neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Chelsea in Manhattan — courts in the same neighborhoods that have raised elite college and NBA players for years. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Bouknight said that he didn’t learn basketball from a teacher or start with fundamentals, but just playing at parks as a way to stay “out of the house and out of trouble.”

However he learned basketball, it worked. He played at Manhattan’s La Salle Academy for two years — the same high school attended by former NBA stars Metta World Peace and God Shammgod — before transferring to the MacDuffie School for his last two years of high school. In his junior season, he averaged 19.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game before getting injured. In Bouknight, the Hornets are getting someone who has basketball in his blood.

HE HAS A LOT OF IMPROVING TO DO

Though the sheer volume of points Bouknight scores jump off the stat sheet like a frog on a lilypad, it doesn’t tell you much about his efficiency, which leaves something to be desired.

When you look beyond the 3-point line Bouknight averaged just 29.3% shootiung. Even his free-throw percentage is only decent at 77.8%.

He clearly has the talent to score but has to make sure his shots don’t become turnovers. Granted, his teammates and coaches say he’s got pinpoint accuracy in practice, so maybe it’s a case of even more work in the gym. In Bouknight, the Hornets are getting someone who is a tremendous scoring threat but needs to work on his aim.

HE IS TIRED OF BEING SLEPT ON

Despite his efficiency issues, Bouknight was expected to go in the top 10, if not top eight, of the players selected on draft night. Instead, he fell to the Hornets at 11. If you were watching the broadcast, you could even hear the commentators’ surprise when the Memphis Grizzlies picked Stanford’s Ziaire Williams at 10.

In an interview after being selected, Bouknight said he was counting each pick in his head, his frustration growing every time he wasn’t selected. It’s added to the “chip on my shoulder” Bouknight said he plays with, and he’s tired of being slept on.

“It’s nothing different,” Bouknight told reporters. “My whole life I’ve been slept on. Charlotte took this chance, and I’m not going to let them down.”