The Missing Piece: Hornets Draft Board

The season long series gives an indepth review of the top draft prospects for the Hornets for those of you that don't follow college ball. The article's well worth the read with more players and more detail, but here's a little bit of the top 6. LINK /

1) Ben McLemore, SG, Kansas - He combines a lethal shooting stroke with unbelievable athleticism and a high basketball IQ. His ceiling is Andre Iguodala’s open floor game combined with Ray Allen’s perimeter game. Basically, if he reaches his ceiling, he will be unguardable.

2) Marcus Smart, G, Oklahoma State - On the defensive end, Smart compares favorably to Westbrook coming out of college...He has to work on his perimeter shot and on limiting his turnovers, but history has shown that these are the two easiest areas for a perimeter player to improve upon. Once he does that, he will join Westbrook, Irving, and Rose in that elite class of young point guards.

3) Nerlens Noel, PF/C, Kentucky - Nerlens Noel is Larry Sanders with a higher upside on the offensive side of the ball. No, he does not fit a need for the Hornets immediately and it is even hard to project him and Davis together long-term, but the Hornets should not pass on him if Smart and McLemore are gone, regardless.

4) (tie) Otto Porter, SF, Georgetown - When you project Porter to the pros, you envision him falling somewhere in between Nicolas Batum and Paul George. He is long and athletic like both of those guys, with the ability to change a game on both ends. He has also shown the ability to knock down shots from deep, which is a major part of both Batum’s and George’s game, while showing the ability to attack the rim as well.

4) (tie) Victor Oladipo, SG, Indiana - Oladipo is one of the most disruptive on-ball defenders to come out in the last few years...He is extremely similar in this manner to Boston’s Avery Bradley, but he is longer than Bradley and has even better hands. On the offensive side of the court, he is a work in progress, but if he continues to improve at the rate he has over the past two years, his offense might one day surpass his defense.

6) Shabazz Muhammed, SF, UCLA - Shabazz is a very good defender, with the potential to be great, who does two things extremely well on the offensive end – he gets buckets and he tears down offensive rebounds. In a lot of ways, he is very similar to Carmelo Anthony in that respect. Anthony was a much better overall rebounder due to his sheer size, but like Muhammed, he attacked the glass and scored in bunches while giving Syracuse little else in his freshman season.