Hornets' Brandon Miller is the real deal, even as Victor Wembanyama is named NBA's top rookie

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There was no suspense, mirroring how things went down just over a year ago when everyone knew it was all about the French phenom.

Victor Wembanyama’s name was the one called on national television on Monday night, completing a whirlwind 12-plus month stretch. The San Antonio Spurs rising star collected his first major piece of hardware on this side of the Atlantic, grabbing the 2023-24 rookie of the year award over Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and someone else Charlotte Hornets fans are extremely familiar with.

Brandon Miller finished third in voting behind Wembanyama and Holmgren, which was expected given Wembanyama’s freakish nature and Holmgren’s solid season as a key contributor for an extremely young team that captured the top seed in the Western Conference. Miller, despite his steady improvement, never had a chance to unseat Wembanyama or even Holmgren in the season-long race for the league’s top accolade for first-year players.

And that’s perfectly fine. Miller still won anyway.

He’s proven himself worthy of being selected behind Wembanyama, rapidly putting any questions about him being the second-best player in the draft and whether he was a better pick than Scoot Henderson to rest. It took a 7-foot-4 freak of nature — who was unanimously selected by the voting panel — and a player who’s technically in his second year for Miller to not get the nod as the best rookie over the past six-plus months.

Full disclosure: The Charlotte Observer had a vote for 11 of the NBA’s award categories, including rookie of the year. Wembanyama, Holmgren and Miller were The Observer’s top three selections and at least 83 others felt the same way.

Still, Miller doesn’t need the season-ending award to validate his first year as a pro. Anyone who followed the 21-year-old’s inaugural campaign is well aware of his talents and an eye-popping growth that led to him garnering the Eastern Conference rookie of the month honors for three straight months. That’s a feat just two others — LaMelo Ball and Raymond Felton — accomplished in the team’s 36-year history.

Miller, unquestionably, morphed into one of the Hornets’ best players.

That wasn’t supposed to be the case, not with a team featuring its fair share of veterans and others earning more than three times his annual salary. But the Hornets’ conga line of injuries sped things up, thrusting Miller into a featured role earlier than anticipated. He blew right past the organization’s plan calling to ease him into the mix slowly and bring him off the bench in a sixth-man type of role.

Instead, with Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward traded to other locales before the deadline, and Ball struggling to put together a full season again, Miller blossomed into a focal point. Opposing scouting reports targeted Miller, throwing a variety of looks at him in an attempt to confuse the 6-foot-8 swingman and throw him off his game.

It didn’t work.

In fact, that extra attention buoyed Miller, accelerating his development and putting him in an even better position heading into his first offseason, which is expected to feature a session with the guy Miller calls his G.O.A.T, Paul George. All those added exhaustive minutes Miller aided in him producing some impressive numbers beyond the 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists he averaged per game.

Miller also had seven games with at least 25 points and five made 3-pointers, tying Cade Cunningham and Trae Young for the third-most by a rookie, trailing just Allen Iverson (eight) and Steph Curry (nine). And Miller’s 1,267 points are the third-most in franchise history for a first-year player, putting him ahead of Rex Chapman.

But he’s not all about offense. The Hornets fell in love with Miller’s two-way skill set during the draft-prep process, pleased by his eagerness to take on challenges defensively. His pride on that side of the ball, along with his condor-like wingspan, earned him some of the Hornets’ top defensive assignments and his vocal nature was refreshing for a team devoid of spirited defensive play.

His skills give the Hornets a glimmer of hope that maybe the future will be filled with more rainbows following all the stormy times over the last eight years during the NBA’s longest postseason drought.

Considering the Hornets’ maddening history of not getting it right with top-tier lottery picks, Miller’s season counts as a win around here. He’s the real deal and if he can stay on his potential trajectory, Wembanyama won’t be the lone memorable member of the 2023 draft class.