Is it too early to talk about the 2013 NBA Draft?

[WisconsinHornet]

Friends, we are only 196 days away from the 2013 NBA Draft! Currently our Hornets have the 4th worst record in the league, but do not despair! Our next 7 games are very difficult (including a 4-game stretch on the road) and we could easily be in 2nd place by the time the calendar strikes 2013...

Here are the current top 5 projections from NBADraft.net

1. Washington - Cody Zeller C
2. Toronto - Nerlins Noel C
3. Cleveland - Ben McLemore
4. New Orleans - Shabazz Muhammad
5. Detroit - Marcus Smart

I know that on basketball forums a lot of posters want to "show off" their scouting abilities and find some unknown guy further down the draft board, but year after year NBADraft.net is top notch with their projections and fluidly move guys up and down their big board based on their play and teams' needs. We're so bad that we're almost certainly going to have a top 6 pick, so let's not have you spout off some middling prospect who's currently 17th just so you can look intelligent. Going of their list of realistic candidates, I'd rank them this way in order of desirability:

1. Nerlins Noel
2. Shabazz Muhammad
3. Ben McLemore
4. Marcus Smart
5. Cody Zeller
6. Archie Goodwin

Noel paired with Anthony Davis would be sick - such a natural fit in so many ways.. their UK ties, his name, their defensive abilities, their athleticism, their length, etc. It would be like having Tyson Chandler and Tim Duncan in their primes on the same team - are you freaking kidding me?!?! We could easily afford to play Ryno at the 3 for a good bit of the time and have the two big guys mask his defensive liabilities considerably. Random FA Point Guard, Gordon, Anderson, Davis, and Noel with Rivers as 6th man would be insane. If Rivers could handle the point with Gordon helping out that would be an amazingly fun starting 5 to watch.

People who are anti-losing are so short-sighted. If you root for us to win another game until we're safely locked into a top 4 draft pick I question your fanhood - seriously. Ask Indianapolis Colts fans how they're enjoying this season and how they will enjoy the next 15 seasons. Ask them if they enjoyed Peyton Manning's 14 seasons as their starting QB and former #1 overall pick (For the record - that's 29 years of insanely fun football sandwiching a single 1-15 season. That's all it took. We could be the Colts of the NBA). Ask Oklahoma City Thunder fans if they're upset they didn't win 10 extra meaningless games in 2009, or if they're happy with that season and looking forward to COMPETING FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS IN A SOLD OUT ARENA FOR THE NEXT TWELVE YEARS.

[nolaslim213]

Never too early for Draft talk. Too early for Mock Drafts? Sure, but never draft talk!

EDIT: That said, I'm not a huge fan of Noel paired with Davis. I want another offensive weapon to pair with him, and Noel is too limited on that end. There are a few skilled Centers that will go in the lottery this year, but for me, the best case scenario would be Muhammad. He is too skilled at the 3 to pass on, and we have a desperate need for a scoring SF.

[Imnos 2]

I think that we wont have a shot at any of these guys. Once EG gets back we will be winning many more games. IF he plays from the time he gets back to the end of the season we will be hovering around .500... This team isnt that far away. Despite what people think this team is pretty good. And that will become evident once he gets back. Almost everything about this team is built around what Gordon brings on the offensive side of the ball.

[bojangles837]

Rudy gobert

[WisconsinHornet]

IF he plays from the time he gets back to the end of the season we will be hovering around .500... This team isnt that far away. Despite what people think this team is pretty good. And that will become evident once he gets back. Almost everything about this team is built around what Gordon brings on the offensive side of the ball.

Have you looked at the standings recently? We'll probably be 6-22 or so when January gets here. IF EG10 comes back on January 1, 2013 (huge if) and IF he stays healthy (huger if) and IF he plays lights out there's still no way we finish anywhere close to .500. To do that we'd have to play like .650 basketball for the remainder of the season which is "top 5 team in the West" caliber basketball. Not gonna happen.

[BallSoHard]

Never too early for Draft talk. Too early for Mock Drafts? Sure, but never draft talk!

EDIT: That said, I'm not a huge fan of Noel paired with Davis. I want another offensive weapon to pair with him, and Noel is too limited on that end. There are a few skilled Centers that will go in the lottery this year, but for me, the best case scenario would be Muhammad. He is too skilled at the 3 to pass on, and we have a desperate need for a scoring SF.

Agree'd ! Thats like the third time we've agree'd on something.

I don't Hate Noel with him, but I think there's a lot of overlap.

[Davisistheman]

Have you looked at the standings recently? We'll probably be 6-22 or so when January gets here. IF EG10 comes back on January 1, 2013 (huge if) and IF he stays healthy (huger if) and IF he plays lights out there's still no way we finish anywhere close to .500. To do that we'd have to play like .650 basketball for the remainder of the season which is "top 5 team in the West" caliber basketball. Not gonna happen.

Huger?? lol!

[WisconsinHornet]

Agree'd ! Thats like the third time we've agree'd on something.

I don't Hate Noel with him, but I think there's a lot of overlap.

I agree with you guys about the potential overlap and Shabazz is a VERY close #2 to me. However, with Monty's style of coaching and with that size/length, I could easily see us being like the Van Gundy Knicks and just dominating on defense, mucking up the game and holding our opponents to a season average in the 80's. Wouldn't be insanely fun to watch for casual fans, but would be insanely effective in practice (and this is a city/region that historically loves defense - starting with LSU in 1958 with the Bandits, then the Dome Patrol in the 80's/90's, then LSU of this generation. I think we'd embrace a "Bad Boys" or "Ewing/Van Gundy Knicks" type of team.

I agree that Muhammad is a better pure basketball fit and the 3 is obviously a greater need than the 5 for us (unless Noel would allow us to slide Anderson to the 3 on a more full-time basis).

I'd leave this decision to the experts but I guess I should say that I have a suspicion that Monty and Dell would side with you guys.

[Nsingh93]

I feel Noel is super raw and he should stay another year in college.

[BallSoHard]

I feel Noel is super raw and he should stay another year in college.

Why ? He will be a top 5 pick. Ask sully about Staying in college.

[Pelicans78]

Drummond was pretty raw coming out of college, but he's been productive off the bench this season.

[AD23forMVP]

Dario Saric is a really interesting prospect. Watch the video at the bottom of the link.

http://www.eurohopes.com/player/1123/darijo-saric/

Especially the passing segment, just imagining Ryno or Davis being on the other end.

[Nsingh93]

Why ? He will be a top 5 pick. Ask sully about Staying in college.

Agreed he is a top 5 pick, It's just a gut feeling I get when watching him, just doesn't look like his skill set right now can transition into the NBA

[RaisingTheBar]

With a record of 5-16, it's definitely not too early.

[HornetGuru]

cody zeller or shabazz please

[BallSoHard]

Agreed he is a top 5 pick, It's just a gut feeling I get when watching him, just doesn't look like his skill set right now can transition into the NBA

Hard to tell anyone to stay in college to pass up millions per year when he can just do that polishing in the NBA making millions and do it as a job. I hear you, and in a perfect world it should happen; but I would have left college after a year if i had millions waiting lol.

[Nsingh93]

Hard to tell anyone to stay in college to pass up millions per year when he can just do that polishing in the NBA making millions and do it as a job. I hear you, and in a perfect world it should happen; but I would have left college after a year if i had millions waiting lol.

Oh believe me I know all about that situation I just wrote a term paper on that. I agree he won't pass up his opportunity to be a top 5 pick, but I just don't think it'll benefit him when it comes to his production, it will benefit him in the pocket books though.

[AD23forMVP]

I'm not a fan of having Davis and Noel as our bigs.

[FlyGirl]

People who are anti-losing are so short-sighted. If you root for us to win another game until we're safely locked into a top 4 draft pick I question your fanhood - seriously. Ask Indianapolis Colts fans how they're enjoying this season and how they will enjoy the next 15 seasons. Ask them if they enjoyed Peyton Manning's 14 seasons as their starting QB and former #1 overall pick (For the record - that's 29 years of insanely fun football sandwiching a single 1-15 season. That's all it took. We could be the Colts of the NBA). Ask Oklahoma City Thunder fans if they're upset they didn't win 10 extra meaningless games in 2009, or if they're happy with that season and looking forward to COMPETING FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS IN A SOLD OUT ARENA FOR THE NEXT TWELVE YEARS.

We understand you are for losing so if you want to root for losing, go right ahead but no need to call people who are against it 'short sighted'. Some people just don't like seeing their teams lose. No need to question anyone's fanhood either.

[WisconsinHornet]

Oh believe me I know all about that situation I just wrote a term paper on that. I agree he won't pass up his opportunity to be a top 5 pick, but I just don't think it'll benefit him when it comes to his production, it will benefit him in the pocket books though.

I think the NBA (and NFL for that matter) are both doing a MUCH better job in recent years of easing the transition for young kids into the pros. Teams are much more empowered to look after the young players after years of seeing how things can go wrong. You can't help everybody, but a guy like JR Smith is a perfect example of how even the most immature and unready teens are more likely these days to get the support system they need to better pan out and make it.

[WisconsinHornet]

We understand you are for losing so if you want to root for losing, go right ahead but no need to call people who are against it 'short sighted'. Some people just don't like seeing their teams lose.

Fair point I was kinda being blustery just to goof around. I'll tame it down a bit ok?

[FlyGirl]

Fair point I was kinda being blustery just to goof around. I'll tame it down a bit ok?

Cool. I think some of us here know your stance by now on winning and losing this season.

[Imnos 2]

Have you looked at the standings recently? We'll probably be 6-22 or so when January gets here. IF EG10 comes back on January 1, 2013 (huge if) and IF he stays healthy (huger if) and IF he plays lights out there's still no way we finish anywhere close to .500. To do that we'd have to play like .650 basketball for the remainder of the season which is "top 5 team in the West" caliber basketball. Not gonna happen.

My only response to this is, look at the games we lost. The points we lost by. Again IF EG is healthy more than half of those loses would be wins. Lets look at recent games. The Wizards and the Thunder games. Those both would be wins with EG. And thats not being overly optimistic or homerish, its reality. This team fights every single night and they lose close games or the huge amount of points we lose by would be significantly closer IF EG was there. Is 16 games under 500 or whatever difficult to easy to fix? No, but this team will be much better and will win more games with EG. Thats a reality.

[BallSoHard]

I'm not a fan of having Davis and Noel as our bigs.

If we're #5 and he's there, I wouldn't complain about having both of them. If we had a shot at a PG or a Shabazz type player, it'd be upset.

[Miss_318]

I'm not a fan of having Davis and Noel as our bigs.

I agree...Noel has potential but he seems to be even skinnier that Davis...two frail guys as you're starting 4 & 5 doesn't seem logical at this point & time. We need scorers....our front court is strong enough IMO to stay as it is. Guard or a wing is what we need. This team has no consistant scoring...and even if EG gets back and stays there is no guarentee he's always going to be on the court because history says other wise. We need someone with consistant scoring ability to help offset when EG isn't on the court because until Davis is able to get some consistant post moves down and score down low traditionally...its going to be really hard for us to win any games...no matter how good our defense is or not.