During last nights NBA Draft, the New Orleans Hornets capitalized on their opportunities, and in turn have put them in a great sport for the future. While it didn’t take much brain power to figure out that Anthony Davis and his iconic uni-brow were going #1, a little more thinking and strategy had to go into making their #10 pick, and they did well in selecting Austin Rivers.

While it might be obvious that the Duke player has the potential in being a solid player, the Hornets have also set them up with providing themselves with a strong future in the guard and center spot. Their first two picks, have set themselves up with both great offensive potential in Rivers, and defensive potential with Davis. Davis will obviously be a player that won’t need much time to adapt to playing in the NBA while Rivers has a great opportunity to play behind both Eric Gordon and Jarrett Jack while he adapts and matures to the level of the NBA.

These two picks definitely give the potential for an exciting future, and give their fans the opportunity to provide at least a partial band-aid to Chris Paul booking it out of there for LA. At the very least, Davis’ Kentucky championship can provide the Hornets with the only championship ring many of them have ever seen.

Would-be starters Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson are out of the NBA All-Star Game.

Jason Kidd of the hometown Dallas Mavericks has been chosen to replace Bryant. New York’s David Lee is replacing Iverson.

An ankle injury has prevented Bryant from playing in the Los Angeles Lakers’ past three games. Iverson has missed Philadelphia’s last five games because one of his young children is ill.

Both informed the league on Thursday that they needed to withdraw from Sunday’s game, sources said.

NBA commissioner David Stern, who makes all selections on All-Star injury replacements, then chose Kidd to make his 10th All-Star appearance. Kidd — who ranks fifth in the league in assists (9.3 per game) — had already left Dallas to begin an All-Star break vacation in the Phoenix area and is expected to fly back to Dallas on Friday.

Click here to read the full article – By Marc Stein of ESPN.com