Even though it's still way too early to draw major conclusions about players who entered the league in June, it's hard not to think about how nice it'd be if the Los Angeles Clippers had Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Hornets took the seven-foot-one center off the board four picks after the Clippers selected Yanic Konan Niederhauser.
Everyone only thought that Charlotte had a big question mark at center, but so far, Kalkbrenner (shoutout to Moussa Diabate, too) is averaging 9.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game in 26.5 minutes, shooting 83.3% from the field and 81.8% from the free-throw line. The 23-year-old has started in all 12 games he's played.
Kalkbrenner hit 42 of the 52 shots that he took during the Hornets' first 10 games of the season, making NBA history with the highest field goal percentage (80.8%) during that stretch. You know who he surpassed? None other than Yao Ming.
You can't hold the Kalkbrenner hype against Niederhauser, but looking at his numbers isn't encouraging. He's averaging 3.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in 4.4 minutes, shooting 87.5% from the field, but that's on an average of 1.6 attempts in five games. The Clippers assigned him to the G League, where he has performed well through two games.
Ryan Kalkbrenner is making the Clippers regret not drafting him
There isn't a lot (as in anything) to be hopeful about right now when it comes to LA, not after fans learned that Kawhi Leonard is dealing with more than an ankle sprain. Bradley Beal is done for the season, too. The Clippers are 3-8, 12th in the West, and appear to be headed nowhere.
Fans need something to find joy in, and Kalkbrenner could be that. He's old for a rookie, but LA doesn't have much youth on its roster. It turns out that having the oldest roster in league history does you no favors, not when other teams are running circles around you.
It's easy to look back on the draft and say that this team should've drafted a different player instead of the one they did draft, who may or may not be a bust (that's not a shot at Niederhauser, as again, we're only a few weeks into the season).
What seems like an obvious choice now wasn't so obvious then, but Kalkbrenner is off to such a hot start that he's making a lot of teams, including the Clippers, look silly. He would already be ahead of Brook Lopez on the depth chart.