Hornets Notes: Miller, Williams, Draft, Lee

After a productive rookie year, Hornets swingman Brandon Miller knows how he’s going to spend his first NBA offseason. “Weight room and eating,” he told Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer, explaining that he wants to get bigger and stronger to better handle the physical nature of the NBA.

“I’m ready to start another season right now,” Miller said. “I think my main focus this summer is to just keep putting on weight. I kind of want to build muscle mass just to be prepared for next season.”

A year ago, the Hornets were debating whether to take Miller or Scoot Henderson with the second overall pick, and the decision came down to the wire as both players made a final trip to Charlotte shortly before draft night. Miller rewarded the organization’s faith in him by appearing in 74 games and averaging 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 44% from the field and 37.3% from three-point range. He became the sixth player in Hornets history to earn first-team All-Rookie honors.

Miller talked to Boone about wanting to become more of a leader now that he has a full year of NBA experience. He also plans to spend part of the summer working out with Clippers star Paul George, a player to whom Miller has often been compared.

“I think just being on the same court with him,” Miller said, “working out together, I think that’s a blessing, just being there with your favorite player, working with him, getting better, competing with him. So, it’s all going to be fun and a great summer.”

There’s more from Charlotte:

• Appearing on the TruTV broadcast of Friday’s playoff game, Grant Williams confirmed that Dallas considered sending him to the Bucks at the trade deadline before finalizing a deal with the Hornets, relays Brian Robb of MassLive. “It’s one of those things where we kind of worked our way, figured out what team that would look the best I feel like and Charlotte was the best opportunity,” Williams said. “I think the only other team that probably would have been an option was Milwaukee but that deal kind of fell through. Things happen.” Reporting at the time suggested there were exploratory talks between Dallas and Milwaukee involving Bobby Portis, but those discussions didn’t get serious.
• After falling to sixth in the draft lottery, the Hornets’ best option is to trade the pick to the highest bidder, Boone contends in a separate story. With an eight-year string of missing the playoffs, Boone believes there’s an urgency to turn around the team’s fortunes right away, which is more likely to happen with a veteran player than a young project. Boone also notes that the franchise is renovating its arena and raising ticket prices, so something has to be done to spark the fans’ interest.
• The team’s top priority for the summer involves building up a support staff for new head coach Charles Lee and making sure the entire organization is in sync with his philosophies, Boone states in a mailbag column. Boone expects Lee’s coaching staff to be completed fairly quickly, saying it won’t be like when Steve Clifford was brought back and assistants were still being hired after Summer League.
• With Gordon Hayward and P.J. Washington both being moved at the trade deadline, finding another wing is the biggest positional need this offseason, Boone adds. He said the Hornets believe in positionless basketball, so whoever add sign will likely have the responsibilities of both a shooting guard and small forward.