NBA Draft 2014 Pick 9: Noah Vonleh, Charlotte Hornets

Noah Vonleh was the 9th pick in the NBA 2014 Draft. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets, here at SportsFansSpeak we want to breakdown his game so you have an idea of what he can bring to a team like the Hornets. This pick makes sense for the Hornets as they lost two of their big men, Josh McRoberts and Anthony Tolliver. Vonleh will help add some depth to this Hornet roster.

One of Vonleh's strengths is his age. He is only 18 years old and won't be turning 19 till August of this year. A big factor for the Hornets was his youth. He still has a lot of time to develop physically and mentally and the Hornets will be able to mold him into the player they want him to be. This pick is a pick for the future as the Hornets are looking to add young talent to an already young and promising team.

An aspect of Vonleh's game I believe will transition very well to the NBA is his rebounding ability. Vonleh uses his superior size to be an effective rebounder. With a wingspan of 7 feet 5 inches, standing reach of 9 feet, and a vertical of 37 inches it's hard to get around or above him. He does an excellent job of hustling for the ball. The Hornets last season struggled to rebound the ball. Their leading rebounder was Al Jefferson averaging 10 rebounds a game, but the next big man on the Hornets' roster only averaged 4.8 rebounds a game. Vonleh should be a big help to Big Al crashing the boards, in college Vonleh averaged 9 rebounds a game. A tandem of Vonleh and Big Al crashing the boards will help in getting more rebounds for this squad.

Something that concerns me with Vonleh is his shot selection. More often than not, Vonleh, becomes selfish with the ball. In college he shot a respectable 52% but during the Summer League he shot a terrible 28%. It's only the Summer League but he needs to work on his shot selection, through 7 games he put up 74 shots and only making 21 of those attempts. Something that will help him overcome this issue is his commitment to studying the game. He is still young and his basketball IQ shows that. The more he studies the easier it will be for him to make simple plays. During the Summer League he didn't even average half an assist a game. There is a lot of room for improvement and once he starts to distribute he will find open looks for himself.

Vonleh's game is very exciting to watch and he has the potential to become one of the best big men from this draft class. I think Al Jefferson will be a big help in his development. He will help Vonleh to understand the flow of the game and to help him mature and become a leader. Vonleh is a big risk as we don't know what kind of player he will become but I believe he has a great work ethic and he will blossom into a very well rounded player.