The 2014 NBA Draft is more than six months away, but with the college season in full swing we should begin to see an increasing number of draft updates. Here is the latest that has come across the wire regarding June’s draft:
- For Insiders only, ESPN’s Chad Ford has released the fourth version of his Big Board in which he says there are six players that would currently garner consideration for the No. 1 pick. The draft is loaded with freshmen, as seven of Ford’s top 10 and 11 of the top 20 are in their first year.
- A handful of those freshmen play for John Calipari at Kentucky and, outside of projected top five pick Julius Randle, have not lived up to expectations so far in their time in Lexington. Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal caught up with ESPN’s Ford, who says that, while he has downgraded several Wildcats on his Big Board, many scouts still believe in the talent assembled at UK and are willing to be patient.
- Jason King of Bleacher Report pens a lengthy but worthwhile feature on Kansas freshman Joel Embiid, which examines his backstory by way of Cameroon and hits on an idea that we’ve heard more than once lately: that the projectable Embiid could climb his way to the top spot in June’s draft.