The final update.

Following nearly 12 months of evaluation, it’s time to finalize the 2024 big board. Overall, this class has been interesting to scout; while the perceived dearth of star-caliber talent at the top of the draft is unappealing on the surface, it tested my philosophies, and exacerbated the importance of striking the ever-evolving balance between eye test and numbers. Who knows how “right” I’ll end up being with this big board, but this cycle has taught me more about myself as an evaluator than any other.

For the last update, I tiered out my entire board–in total, I ranked 117 players this cycle. Honestly, I struggled to find 100 board-worthy prospects, as the depth trails off quickly after the top 85 or so. Many of the players on the board here are G League or Summer League roster targets opposed to genuine NBA prospects. Here’s how I broke down each tier and the criteria I used to separate groups of players.

• Tier 1 (#1 and #2): Potential All-NBA ceiling, starter-level median outcome
• Tier 2 (#3 through #8): All-Star ceiling, quality role-player level median outcome
• Tier 3 (#9 through #21): Starter-level ceiling, rotation player median outcome
• Tier 4 (#22 through #33): Rotation player high-end outcome, guaranteed contract-worthy
• Tier 5 (#34 through #73): High-end to low-end Two-Way prospects
• Tier 6 (#74 through #88): High-end to low-end Exhibit 10 prospects
• Tier 7 (#89 through #100): Summer League deal prospects

Apart from the tier breakdown, no notes this time around–most of the prospects in the Charlotte Hornets draft range have been covered in previous updates or the numerous scouting reports written by myself and our fearless leader, Jon DeLong. If there’s a prospect you’d like to discuss, just address me in the comments and I’ll reply with my thoughts. We’ll make the final update open-ended.

Thank you all for engaging with our draft content. It means a lot to have a pretty niche topic, all things considered, be so well-received.

At long last…

At The Hive’s 2024 Top-100 Big Board