(For the purposes of this exercise as we head to draft day, we assume no trades will be made/the draft order is set and we assume we're a fan of the selecting team.) Previous picks: Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio) Scoot Henderson (Charlotte) Brandon Miller (Portland) Amen Thompson (Houston) Cam Whitmore (Detroit) Ausar Thompson (Orlando) Jerace Walker (Indiana) Taylor Hendricks (Washington) Anthony Black (Utah) Gradey Dick (Dallas) Bilal Coulibaly (Orlando) Derek Lively (OKC) Cason Wallace (Toronto) Who do you think New Orleans should take? Tomorrow afternoon I'll set up another poll with the results factored in.
This is where I think the draft really hits a value difference. I don't especially like any of the guys listed. Jordan Hawkins & Noah Clowney are the ones I like best. If I'm the Pels, I take Leonard Miller here.
I'm going with Clowney here. New Orleans seems to still be having serious Zion issues. His injury bug is hampering the effectiveness of Pelicans front line. I think NOLA will draft a big guy to improve defense and rebounding.
I think I lean toward Leonard Miller as well. It's the highest upside swing (save for maybe Nick Smith), and I think he has the flexibility to play with Zion or BI depending on the route the Pelicans decide to take.