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:
- The Suns, picking 13th overall, will bring Kendall Marshall and Arnett Moultrie in for a second look, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
- According to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, the pressure is on new Warriors GM Bob Myers to make a good first impression with the seventh overall pick in the draft.
- In a pair of articles for the National Post, Eric Koreen examines the Raptors' options at No. 8, concluding that it's still impossible to say which prospect will land in Toronto.
- Wendell Maxey of Ridiculous Upside looks into the draft-night possibilities for Tomas Satoransky, including the chances of him being selected in the second round and "stashed" in Europe.
- The Hawks' PR Twitter account passes along today's list of prospects working out for the team, including Andrew Nicholson.
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