In an article by Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, Charles Barkley opined that this year’s freshman stars will struggle in the NBA. Barkley has long been in favor of players staying in college for a minimum of two years. Barkley was quoted as saying, “I want these kids to stay in school longer because the NBA is as worse as it’s ever been. It’s not good basketball. It’s frustrating for me to watch. These kids aren’t physically or emotionally ready to come and play against grown men. You look at the last two days. We’ve had on paper Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins, they’re supposed to be 1-2, 3 at the latest, they didn’t have very good games. And it’s just one game but if they’re going to struggle against Mercer and Stanford, they’re really going to struggle against grown men.”
More from around the league:
- In a separate article, Zagoria also notes that Jim Boeheim said that none of this year’s freshman are worth tanking for. Boeheim expanded on that by saying, “There’s no player that’s out there on the horizon that’s a Tim Duncan or a LeBron James. I’ve seen all these guys play. I think they’re very talented players. They’re not that kind of player. They’re not transcendent players that are gonna make your franchise into a 10-12-15-year winning franchise because you’re there. I don’t see that.”
- Peter May of Sheridan Hoops analyzes the futures of the Lakers, Knicks, Sixers, and Celtics, and the probabilities of each making a quick turnaround.
- The NCAA tournament plays a big part in NBA scouts making draft assessments. How a player handles the pressure cooker of the one-and-done format shows just as much as analytics in some cases. The crew at Basketball Insiders takes a look at which NBA prospect has the most riding on his tournament performance.
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com, in an Insider-only piece, has the latest updates on which underclassmen are declaring for this year’s NBA draft.