2012 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Warriors GM Bob Myers Talks Rush, Roy, Draft

June 22nd, 2012 at 4:47pm CST by Luke Adams

About two months after we first heard that new Warriors GM Bob Myers would "aggressively" try to keep restricted free agent Brandon Rush in Golden State, Myers' comments on Rush today were even more unequivocal. "We have a restricted free agent who we really like, and who we're going to keep," the GM said, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Although Rush is expected to join Klay Thompson, Richard Jefferson, and Dorell Wright as options at the two and three, Myers didn't rule out targeting another veteran shooting guard — Brandon Roy.

Draft Updates: Friday

June 22nd, 2012 at 3:57pm CST by Luke Adams

ESPN.com's Chad Ford will be in his element over the next few days, as the NBA shifts its focus from the Finals to the 2012 draft. Ford's latest Insider-only piece at ESPN.com breaks down the first-round candidates into tiers, from Tier 1 (Anthony Davis) to Tier 6 (14 players, including Evan Fournier, John Jenkins, and Miles Plumlee). Of particular note is Tier 4, where 10 players figure to compete for the final five lottery spots. The tier ranges from the high-upside prospects (Jeremy Lamb, Perry Jones III) to the safer plays (Tyler Zeller, John Henson). As the countdown until draft night continues, we'll round up today's draft notes right here throughout Friday, with the latest updates on top:

Raptors sources tell Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun that John Henson had a very good workout for Toronto, putting him into the mix at eighth overall (Twitter link).
Meyers Leonard headlines the list of prospects scheduled to work out for the Warriors this weekend, according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Earlier updates:

Ford On Pistons, Bucks, Lamb, White, Rockets

June 22nd, 2012 at 12:35pm CST by Luke Adams

We've already linked one Friday piece from ESPN.com's Chad Ford in our daily Draft Updates post, but Ford is back with another Insider-only column full of draft news and rumors. Here are his newest items on the Pistons, Bucks, Rockets, and more….

Amico On Cavs, Bobcats, Lakers, Rockets, Gasol

June 22nd, 2012 at 8:17am CST by Luke Adams

It was SI.com's Sam Amick, not Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio, that first reported yesterday that the Cavaliers and Bobcats could explore a trade involving the second and fourth picks in the draft. But the FOX scribe confirmed Amick's rumor last night, tweeting that the Cavs are trying to pry away the No. 2 pick from the Bobcats. He added (Twitter link) that it appears Cleveland is targeting Bradley Beal, which makes sense. Although I think the Cavs would do well to land Beal, Harrison Barnes, or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, if the team truly covets Beal, trading up may be necessary — I don't think the Florida product gets past the Wizards at No. 3.

Here are a few more notes from Amico, via Twitter:

Draft Updates: Thursday

June 21st, 2012 at 11:02pm CST by Luke Adams

All eyes tonight will be on Game 5 of the NBA Finals, as the Thunder look to stave off elimination in Miami, but exactly one week from now, we'll be gearing up for the 2012 draft. The first draft-related trade of the month was finalized yesterday, when the Wizards sent the No. 46 overall pick to the Hornets along with Rashard Lewis as part of a three-player swap. Will we see another deal consummated today? We'll keep track of the day's latest draft news and rumors right here, with the newest items added up top….

Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com wonders whether Royce White's decision to pull out of his remaining workout has to do with an injury or his fear of flying instead of a promise from the Celtics (Twitter link). Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune pegs White as a candidate to be picked at No. 18 by the Wolves, and lists the second-round hopefuls the team will be working out Friday.
Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal sizes up Andrew Nicholson and the chances he'll go to the Cavs at pick No. 24.
Chad Ford of ESPN.com has tweaked his mock draft in the wake of the latest developments (Insider link).

Earlier updates:

The Celtics appear to have promised Iowa State power forward Royce White that they will draft him at No. 21, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Sam Amick of SI.com tweets that one of his sources is denying the report.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News

reports that despite being red-flagged by NBA doctors, Jared Sullinger is unlikely to slip out of the first round, and he'll probably go no lower than the Cavs' 24th pick.

The picks between No. 27 and No. 29, held by the Heat, Thunder and Bulls, are "very available" for other teams looking to trade for a late first-round selection, a league executive tells Deveney.
We rounded up news from Sam Amick of SI.com in an earlier post, including word on a potential swap of the second and fourth picks.
Jonathan Feigen says the Rockets are trying to trade the 14th and 16th picks, as we noted earlier, and also gives us his own mock draft.
The Sixers will work out Arnett Moultrie, Tyler Zeller, Perry Jones, John Henson and Andrew Nicholson on Saturday, John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer says via Twitter, and Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune tweets a list of possible second-rounders working out Friday for the Jazz.
Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com has the third version of his mock draft. He opines that the No. 7 pick would be a lot for the Warriors to give up in a rumored deal with the Bulls for Luol Deng (Twitter link).
The Blazers are shopping both of their first-round picks, at No. 6 and No. 11, but no deal is imminent, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Still, new GM Neil Olshey says, "My gut today is that we would keep the picks," according to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com (Twitter link).
The Warriors plan on keeping the seventh pick, and even though they already have two first-round selections, they'd like to add a third, says Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (Twitter links).
The Bobcats will work out six players tomorrow, including Thomas Robinson and Andre Drummond, the team announced. Second-round hopefuls Kent Bazemore, Chris Cooper, Ramone Moore and Josh Owens are the other prospects involved.
John Canzano of the Oregonian heard from one GM who believes the Blazers will draft Damian Lillard at No. 6 rather than risk him being taken before their 11th pick (Twitter link). ESPN.com's Chad Ford tweets that he's hearing similar rumblings.
In an Insider piece for ESPN.com, Ford takes a look at how this month's workouts might have affected the draft stock of the top few prospects on the board.
A day after the Times-Picayune's John DeShazier suggested the Emeka Okafor/Trevor Ariza trade could open up the door for the Hornets to draft Tyler Zeller, his colleague John Reid reports that New Orleans is in fact seriously considering Zeller at No. 10.
That Hornets/Wizards deal could also increase the chances of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist falling to the Cavaliers at No. 4, says Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.
As Jay Satur of Raptors.com notes, The Raptors have a number of top prospects in town for today's workout, including John Henson, Jared Sullinger, Perry Jones III, and Terrence Jones.
Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic explores the Suns' backup plan for the 13th pick if there are no shooting guards they like on the board.
Thomas Robinson and Andre Drummond worked out against each other in Cleveland yesterday, with Robinson clearly coming out on top, tweets Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com.
The Timberwolves will work out six players tomorrow, including Quincy Acy for a second time, the team announced via Twitter.
Baylor's Quincy Miller thinks he'd be a great fit for the Nuggets, according to Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post.
The Hawks' PR Twitter feed has the details on the team's workouts today (Twitter link).

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Warriors Rumors: Drummond, Deng, Waiters, Ross

June 21st, 2012 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

Reports continue to suggest that the Trail Blazers are enamored by Damian Lillard, enough to draft him sixth overall. Such a move would mean that one of the players initially viewed as a consensus top-six pick, Andre Drummond, could be available when the Warriors picked seventh overall. According to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News, there could be a very interesting debate among Warriors execs if Drummond was on the board at No. 7. For what it's worth, our mock draft earlier this week had Lillard to Portland at six and Drummond slipping to the Raptors at eight.

Let's round up a few more Warriors-related rumors from Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group….

Rockets Working On Trade Involving Dalembert

June 21st, 2012 at 2:13pm CST by Luke Adams

2:13pm: A source tells Sam Amick that everyone should "slow down" on the Dalembert rumblings, which are coming from other teams rather than the Rockets (Twitter link). Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle also hears that a deal is "not happening" at the moment (Twitter link). Still, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld says it sounds like Houston is "really open for business," even beyond Dalembert (Twitter link).

1:46pm: SI.com's Sam Amick (Sulia link) suggests the Rockets are shopping Dalembert and a first-rounder in an attempt to move up in the draft, rather than to acquire a veteran.

Jazz Rumors: Lillard, Millsap, Howard

June 21st, 2012 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Jazz don't currently have a first-round pick in next week's draft, having sent their pick to the Timberwolves. However, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll stand idly by during draft night. According to Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune, the Jazz have long coveted Weber State point guard Damian Lillard, and could consider trading up on draft night, depending on how far Lillard falls and what trade packages are available (Twitter links). Here are a few more Jazz updates from Smith:

Draft Updates: Wednesday

June 20th, 2012 at 6:32pm CST by Luke Adams

With eight days left until June 28th, mock drafts continue to roll in, with the latest coming from Tom Zeller of SBNation.com, who projects surprisingly high selections for Kendall Marshall and Evan Fournier, among others. You can find Hoops Rumors' mock draft right here, and you can follow today's draft notes in this post, with the newest updates added up top throughout the day….

The Nuggets are expected to work out Michael Eric, Evan Fournier, John Jenkins, Doron Lamb, Ramone Moore, and Izzet Turkyilmaz on Thursday, tweets FoxSports.com's Chris Tomasson.
Mike Tokito from The Oregonian highlights a few prospects that worked out at the Trail Blazer's facility today, including Austin Rivers and Kendall Marshall.

Kyler’s Latest: Sullinger, Waiters, Lillard, Gasol

June 20th, 2012 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

We're tracking the majority of today's draft updates in a single post right here, but Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld tweeted out a number of draft-related rumors this afternoon that are worthy of their own post. Here's the latest from Kyler on Jared Sullinger, Dion Waiters, Damian Lillard, and more, along with one non-draft item….