Originally Posted by
Biasvasospasm
My personal Hornets preference board, assuming a pick between 4-10 (Shabazz, Noel, McLemore gone)
1. Smart
2. Porter
3. Burke
4. Zeller
5. Len
6. Carter-Willams
Personally think Smart might be the highest upside player in this draft, and the best long-term fit for this team. His explosiveness and build remind me of Westbrook, Wade, Bledsoe, and Rose, and he'd be pretty great pairing with Gordon. His jumper isn't great, but definitely isn't as broken as Westbrook's was coming out. I think he's also more of a natural passer coming out than Westbrook, although to be fair Westbrook is in a class of his own as an athlete. I love his tertiaries as a point guard, which is important because Gordon doesn't give you much of that. He's still a bit of a gambler in defense, but has all the tools to be an on-ball bully like the guys I mentioned above. For this team, I might like him better than Shabazz and Noel, but that might be recently effect. I wouldn't be surprised if he's getting top 3 discussion by tournament time, and if we end up getting up there I'd think long and hard about him.
I've talked about why I love Porter for this team already. Think he's a perfect glue guy on a championship contender. Does so many things well and a few elite (rebounding, midrange) and just fills up the stat sheet. So smart, takes only good shots, great passer for his position, makes a ton of plays on defense while rarely fouling.
I'm conflicted about Burke. Best floor general in this draft, but I worry about the size of our backcourt defensively and rebounding going forward playing him and Gordon together. Would be happy coming out of this draft with him