NBA Mock Draft: Charlotte Hornets Acquire Harrison Barnes For Pick #24

NBA Mock Draft Pick #24, Jordan Adams, Guard, UCLA

SB Nation's Hornets blog At The Hive explains their decision to trade the pick:

The Charlotte Hornets have traded the 24th overall pick to the Golden State Warriors for Harrison Barnes. Despite selecting McDermott earlier, I couldn't pass this trade up. This would set the Hornets up with a great deal of flexibility in young forwards. I really like Barnes' versatility on offense and defense, and think he could bounce back in a new place after his regression last season. The deal wouldn't be officially completed until July 10 due to cap holds, we must note.

From Warriors side at Golden State of Mind: We decided to shop Harrison Barnes for a pretty simple reason: looking at the numbers, we figured that we could find a player in the draft who could replace his production without worrying about the rookie contract expiring in two years. We made a list of a handful of attainable prospects, aimed to trade for a pick in case one of them dropped, and negotiated a trade contingent on one of them being there. As it turned out, one player we identified was available: Jordan Adams.

Now let's get the biggest knock on Adams out of the way: he's not athletic. There's no sugar coating that he's not an above-the-rim type of guard. However, he does possess very quick hands, moves fairly well laterally on defense, and has an deceptively long 6'10" wingspan, all of which enabled him to generate 3.3 steals per pace-adjusted 40 minutes, a figure which topped all eligible players for this year's draft according to DraftExpress.

Somewhat incredibly, Adams rated 5th in Kevin Pelton's WARP projection system this year, largely due to his high steal rate and scoring efficiency - Adams just seems to know how to score, especially off the ball, with great touch around the basket.Beyond the numbers, Adams apparently lost 20 pounds between the end of UCLA's season and the combine. Perhaps, when a team gets him in a professional strength training program and fitness routine, his athleticism will improve. In a way, that actually represents upside.

We realize this is a gamble but let's face it, if Adams was an elite athlete, he might be a top 10 pick. Instead, he's likely to go somewhere late in the first round, which may represent quite a lot of value; the way we see it is that we get an undervalued player for a player we were no longer high on while getting potentially equivalent value on a rookie contract.

More: Full NBA Draft Coverage

1 Cleveland Cavaliers: ANDREW WIGGINS 
2 Milwaukee Bucks JABARI PARKER
3 Philadelphia 76ers DANTE EXUM
4 Orlando Magic JULIUS RANDLE
5 Utah Jazz JOEL EMBIID
6 Minnesota Timberwolves (Via Celtics) AARON GORDON
7 Los Angeles Lakers NOAH VONLEH
8 Philadelphia 76ers (via Kings) DARIO SARIC
9 Charlotte Hornets DOUG MCDERMOTT
10 Chicago Bulls (via 76ers) MARCUS SMART
11 Denver Nuggets ZACH LAVINE 
12 Orlando Magic TYLER ENNIS
13 Phoenix Suns (via Timberwolves) ADREIAN PAYNE
14 Phoenix Suns NIK STAUSKAS
15 Atlanta Hawks GARY HARRIS
16 Sacramento Kings (via Chicago Bulls) ELFRID PAYTON
17 Orlando Magic (via Boston Celtics) JUSUF NURKIC
18 Minnesota Timberwolves (via Phoenix Suns) KYLE ANDERSON
19 Philadelphia 76ers (via Chicago Bulls) JAMES YOUNG
20 Dallas Mavericks (via Toronto Raptors) CLINT CAPELA
21 Oklahoma City Thunder PJ HAIRSTON
22 Memphis Grizzlies RODNEY HOOD
23 Utah Jazz CLEANTHONY EARLY
24 Golden State Warriors (via Charlotte Hornets) JORDAN ADAMS 
25 Houston Rockets
26 Miami Heat
27 Phoenix Suns
28 Los Angeles Clippers
29 Oklahoma City Thunder
30 San Antonio Spurs