After a disappointing rookie season, Tidjane Salaun came back from the G-League and showed the team that drafted him why he was worth being selected sixth overall.
Make no mistake, the Charlotte Hornets are still in a transitional period.
They’ve made countless attempts to make their team into a perennial contender, but it hasn’t worked out the way they had hoped.
This recent draft class is much talked about with Kon Knueppel, Liam McNeeley, Sion James and Ryan Kalkbrenner, but what about the draft prior?
We’ve seen point guard KJ Simpson, who was drafted in the second round, hold a decent role with Charlotte, but what about the Hornets’ first round pick?
Forward, Tidjane Salaun was drafted by Charlotte in the first round, sixth overall, and even though he played more than half of his games in his rookie season, while starting in 10 of them, but for the most part, Salaun’s rookie season was less than spectacular.
He averaged 5.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and under an assist per game on 33% shooting.
That’s right, you read that right. He made 1.9 shots per game on 5.8 attempts, while taking 205 3-pointers and making 55 of them.
That’s what we call “abysmal basketball.”
Luckily, just being 19 years old at the time, there was plenty of room for growth.
And surely, there was a reason why Salaun was drafted sixth overall, over players like Donovan Clingan, Zach Edey, Matas Buzelis and Yves Missi.
The 2024 Draft wasn’t eye-popping by any means, but the players previously listed have been bright spots. But now, Salaun is looking to establish himself as a legitimate option during his professional career in North America.
After a less-than-stellar start to the 25-26 season, Salaun was sent down to Greensboro, to get an opportunity to gain some momentum in the G-League. And boy did he ever.
In 10 games played, Salaun averaged 16.6 points per game, 7.8 rebounds and shot 37% from 3-point land. That was good enough for GM Jeff Peterson and head coach Charles Lee to bring him back up.
Salaun started off hot during his time back with the pros. He’s established himself as a legitimate threat from beyond the arc, shooting 48% from 3 in the six games back. Though he’s quieted down his scoring over the past three games, he proved that he can be a reliable option should the ball run through him in certain sets.
It may be a longer drawn out process for Charlotte, but the Hornets have time, as they try to figure out where they want to be.
Good news for both though, so does Salaun.