2014 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Alex Kirk Declares For Draft

April 11th, 2014 at 2:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

New Mexico junior Alex Kirk has officially declared his intent to enter this year’s NBA draft, the school announced (Twitter link; hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com). Jeff Borzello of CBSSports.com was the first to report the news. The center is No. 132 in the rankings that Chad Ford of ESPN.com compiles, and he’s on the list of the top 100 prospects that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress puts together. Givony has him as the 28th best prospect among college juniors.

The decision is surprising, and while it’s possible that he could still withdraw between now and Tuesday’s deadline to do so, there’d be little reason for him to declare at this point and pull out so soon. Kirk averaged 13.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game for the Lobos, who lost their first game of the NCAA tournament to Stanford, a contest in which Kirk scored just three points before fouling out.

The 7-footer has struggled with back issues, as Ford points out, though he’s appeared in at least 32 games in each of his three college seasons. His signature performance this year was a 32-point, 11-rebound, five-block effort against Massachusetts, a fellow NCAA tournament team, Borzello notes.

Jarnell Stokes Declares For Draft

April 11th, 2014 at 12:27pm CST by Ryan Raroque

FRIDAY, 12:27pm: Stokes confirmed his decision in a press conference today, as the school’s website details.

THURSDAY, 9:19pm: Tennessee power forward Jarnell Stokes is planning to announce his decision to declare for the 2014 NBA Draft during a press conference on Friday, reports Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. According to Parrish, Stokes is expected to be taken in the late first or early second round. ESPN Insider Chad Ford has the 6’8 Stokes ranked No. 31 on his list of top 100 prospects for 2014, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has Stokes at No. 65.

The Memphis native has played a total of three seasons for the Volunteers, increasing his scoring average by roughly three points per game since his freshman season. As a junior, he posted averages of 15.1 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 53.1% shooting from the field, and a 69.6% clip from the charity stripe on 6.2 FTA per contest.

Stokes strung together a few dominating performances during the NCAA tournament this year, helping Tennessee reach the Sweet 16 with averages of 18.0 PPG and 12.7 RPG through four games. Ford shows some concern about Stokes being a bit undersized for the pro game, but lists his strength and rebounding skills as major positives to look out for.

Joonas Caven To Declare For Draft

April 11th, 2014 at 10:42am CST by Chuck Myron

Finnish power forward Joonas Caven will enter this year’s draft, agent K.C. Callero tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 6’11” 21-year-old shoots well, though neither Givony nor Chad Ford of ESPN.com have him among their top 100 prospects for this year’s draft. Givony ranks Caven the fifth-best prospect among those born in 1993.

Caven plays for FIATC Mutua Joventut, a team in Spain’s top-flight league. He joined the team midseason after having played for CB Prat Juventud, a Spanish minor league team. Caven has averaged just 2.0 points in 5.4 minutes per contest for his current team, nailing 36.4% of his 1.8 three-point attempts in a small six-game sample size.

International early entrants can withdraw any time before the June 16th deadline, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Caven pull out. He’ll be automatically draft-eligible next year, but declaring this year gives him a chance to go through predraft workouts an extra time, if nothing else.

And-Ones: Vesely, Age Limit, Woodson

April 9th, 2014 at 10:42pm CST by Cray Allred

Adam Silver tells Darren Rovell of ESPN.com that the NBA is willing to consider subsidizing costs for collegiate players’ career insurance and basic living necessities, as part of the league’s push to increase the age limit for the draft. “It does, in my mind, need to be a three-way conversation,” Silver said. “You heard college administrators at press conferences around the [NCAA] tournament say that it’s the NBA’s problem or the union is putting up resistance. It’s a more complex problem than that.” Here’s more from around the league:

Nuggets forward Jan Vesely has many fans among Denver’s brass, tweets Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post. Vesely, who came over to the Nuggets at the trade deadline, will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders says that the Bobcats owe most of their dramatic turnaround to the addition of Al Jefferson, who signed a three-year, $40.5MM contract with Charlotte last summer. Kennedy argues that Jefferson’s impact has been worthy of MVP consideration.
Mike Woodson tells Al Iannazzonne of Newsday that he still hasn’t had a sit-down with Knicks president Phil Jackson, but insists he’s focused on the immediate future and trying to get New York into the playoffs. “I gather he’s kind of staying out of the way and letting me do my thing in terms of trying to get this team in the playoffs,” Woodson said. “That’s okay. I’m sure when the time comes he and I’ll have a chance to sit down and talk and see where we are.”
Woodson also responded to Larry Brown‘s recent comments, which were critical of the treatment Woodson has received from the Knicks. “Larry’s his own guy and I have a great deal of respect for Larry,” Woodson said. “But Mike Woodson’s his own guy as well. For me, it’s been a roller-coaster year — for all of us. I’ve never shied away from taking responsibility of this team. I’m the coach of this team and I take great pride in that.”

Eastern Notes: Sanders, Sixers, Cavs

April 9th, 2014 at 8:37pm CST by Cray Allred

Larry Sanders‘ five-game suspension began tonight, per Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sanders was already ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury, but a source tells Gardner that Sanders received medical clearance so that the league would allow his suspension to begin now. The Bucks have five games remaining, so Sanders won’t miss any time to begin the 2014/15 campaign. The Bucks will have Sanders, if healthy, available to start the season, and the big man will lose significantly less in prorated pay by serving the suspension on the last year of his rookie scale deal ($3.1MM) rather than the first year of his hefty extension ($11MM). Here’s more from around the East:

Coach Brett Brown told Tom Moore of Calkins Media that it’s “really important” that the Sixers find a star in the draft this summer. Philly could wind up with two top-10 picks, one of which could become the No. 1 overall selection if the ping pong balls bounce in their favor.
Brown also told Moore that it’s too early to project whether rookies Michael Carter-Williams or Nerlens Noel could become stars in their own right. “Stars want to play with stars. And it’s too early to say anything about Michael (Carter-Williams) or what you can project Nerlens (Noel) out to be. Just because somebody’s chosen high in the draft doesn’t mean they’re going to be a star, either,” said Brown.
In a video spot, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, says that the Sixers should keep Henry Sims around next year. Sims is under a non-guaranteed, $0.9MM contract for next season, and the second-year center has averaged 11.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this season.
The Cavs recalled Scotty Hopson and Sergey Karasev from their D-League affiliate prior to tonight’s game, per a tweet from Bob Finnan of The News-Herald.

Draft Rumors: Embiid, Walker, Randle, Parker

April 9th, 2014 at 6:59pm CST by Cray Allred

The status of this year’s top prospects is still somewhat in the air. Joel Embiid made his entry into the draft official earlier today, while Julius Randle denied reports that he was ready to do the same. Jabari Parker has made housing arrangements at Duke for his sophomore year, a source from the school tells Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter link). Moore notes that the arrangements don’t rule out a decision by Parker to enter the draft, but they do give credence to Parker’s insistence that staying in school another year is a real possibility. Let’s round up the rest of the night’s draft notes:

Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes that Randle’s shot at becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the draft is gone, but that the big man has set himself up to stay near the top of the lottery if he does well in pre-draft workouts.
In a separate piece, Howard-Cooper ranks his top 30 draft prospects, placing Embiid in the No. 1 spot.
Chris Broussard of ESPN.com discusses Embiid’s draft stock in an Insider subscription-only video. Broussard says that most GMs that he’s talked to think Embiid will indeed go first overall. If Embiid’s back injury checks out as a non-issue, Broussard thinks the big man will become the odds-on favorite to become the top selection.
As expected, LaQuinton Ross has signed with agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports, per a tweet from Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Freshman Chris Walker announced in a tweet that he will return to Florida next year rather than declare for the draft (hat tip to Chad Ford of ESPN.com). The decision doesn’t come as a surprise, as Walker is projected as a lottery pick in the 2015 class by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.
Xavier Thames has signed with agents Colin Bryant and Valerian Owens, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The guard from San Diego State isn’t projected to be drafted, ranked as just the 50th best senior by Givony.

Julius Randle Denies Draft Decision

April 9th, 2014 at 6:24pm CST by Cray Allred

6:34pm: Randle has denied having made his decision yet in a tweet (H/T Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv). Randle says the report is false, and that he hasn’t made the decision with his family at this time.

6:22pm: Sources tell Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com that Kentucky power forward Julius Randle will declare for the 2014 NBA Draft. Randle has always been expected to follow the one-and-done path that many Wildcats have taken under coach John Calipari in recent years. Goodman’s sources tell him that Randle is a lock to go in the top 10, and is likely to get selected in the top five of the draft.

Joel Embiid Declares For Draft

April 9th, 2014 at 2:15pm CST by Cray Allred

WEDNESDAY, 2:15pm: Embiid formally announced his decision to enter the draft in a press conference today, as the school’s Twitter account confirms.

TUESDAY, 8:57pm: Joel Embiid will declare for the 2014 NBA Draft, sources tell Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Embiid is expected to make his announcement at a press conference tomorrow at 2:00pm Central time. Embiid has publicly maintained that he is undecided on his plans all season, even refuting a recent report that had him headed for the draft. The latest news is more concrete, but we will know by tomorrow whether Embiid is prepared to officially announce his intentions.

We profiled the 7-footer in our Prospect Profile series, whose stock has risen throughout the year. It was unlikely before the season that Embiid could challenge either Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins at the very top of the draft, but now that possibility isn’t out of the question. In a recent Hoops Rumors poll, our readers voted Embiid the third most likely prospect to be selected No. 1 overall this summer.

If he does declare, the most pressing concern for the big man will be proving the back injury that held him out of the NCAA tournament is not serious. Nerlens Noel was projected as the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, but fell to No. 6 after suffering a torn ACL. Former No. 1 overall selection Greg Oden‘s unfortunate, injury-plagued career path is also still on the minds of many front office executives when evaluating incoming centers.

T.J. Warren Declares For Draft

April 8th, 2014 at 10:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Tuesday, April 8, 10:49pm: Warren’s decision was announced in an official statement from the school today, per Aaron Beard of The Associated Press.

March 24, 1:11pm: North Carolina State forward T.J. Warren has decided to enter the draft, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The sophomore will make a formal announcement in the next few days, according to Wojnarowski. Warren is rated 18th on Jonathan Givony’s list for DraftExpress, while he checks in 20th on Chad Ford’s Insider-only ESPN.com rankings.

Ford and Givony both acknowledge Warren, at 6’8″, is something of a tweener, but he’s had no trouble scoring this season, racking up 24.9 points in 35.4 minutes per game. He increased his ratio of three-point to two-point attempts after going 14 for 27 from behind the arc as a freshman, but that small sample size didn’t carry over to this season, when he shot an abysmal 26.7% on 3.3 three-point looks per contest.

Warren picked the hometown choice for college, so he’ll have to make an adjustment as he leaves the confines of North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham area to play in the NBA. The Wolfpack lost Thursday in the NCAA tournament, so his collegiate career appears to be over, unless he withdraws before the deadline. It doesn’t appear likely he’ll change his mind, as he’s already meeting with agents, Wojnarowski notes. A player may not return to college once he signs with an agent.

Draft Rumors: Saric, McDaniels, Agents

April 8th, 2014 at 7:00pm CST by Cray Allred

Now that March Madness is over, buzz surrounding the 2014 NBA Draft will no longer be generated by recent performances in the spotlight, but by workouts, interviews, game film, and team needs. Here’s the latest on the draft:

Chad Ford of ESPN.com updated his Insider-only Big Board today, noting that Dario Saric would be higher than No. 14 if there were more clarity on whether he intends to play in the NBA next season. Multiple sources tell Ford that he won’t, even though he’s reportedly leaning toward declaring for the draft. That seems to suggest that Saric may enter the draft, be selected, and still sign overseas.
Several GMs tell Ford that K.J. McDaniels is the “real sleeper” in the draft, as Ford writes in the same piece.
Cory Jefferson of Baylor has signed agents Mike Silverman and Brandon Grier to represent him heading into the draft, per Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link). Jefferson is currently projected as a second round pick.
Kentucky’s Julius Randle selected agent George Bass to represent him, and Washington’s C.J. Wilcox will be represented by Aaron Mintz of Creative Artists Agency, per a tweet from Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. Randle is projected as a high lottery pick; Wilcox is projected to be taken in the second round.
St. John’s Orlando Sanchez has signed with agent B.J. Bass of RBA Sports, per a tweet from Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.