According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Indiana freshman Noah Vonleh is strongly leaning towards entering this year’s NBA draft. This information was also confirmed by Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Vonleh, who averaged 11.0 PPG and 9.0 RPG, was selected as the Big Ten Conference’s Freshman of the Year. College underclassmen have until April 27th to apply for the draft to meet the early entry eligible deadline. NBA front office executives expect Vonleh, a 6’10” forward, to be selected somewhere between the 7-12 picks in the draft.
There is widespread agreement his potential far exceeds his performance and preparedness for the NBA, according to Wojnarowski. Vonleh doesn’t turn 19 until late August, but has shown impressive maturity during this season with the Hoosiers. His shooting has improved, but several league executives told Yahoo! Sports they have concerns about his position in the NBA, as well as a lack of assertiveness that sometimes causes him to drift through long segments of games.
According to the article, one NBA GM said, “He’ll spend a lot of time in the D-League next year. He’s nowhere near ready to play, but there’s no doubt he’s got great potential, along with very good character.”