2015 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Guillermo Hernangomez To Declare For Draft

April 24th, 2015 at 9:41am CST by Chuck Myron

Spanish center Guillermo Hernangomez will enter this year’s draft, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 6’11” client of agent Guillermo Bermejo has first-round potential, as Givony says in his tweet, though Hernangomez is No. 42 in Givony‘s prospect rankings. Chad Ford of ESPN.com has him 40th.

The 20-year-old Hernangomez averaged 10.0 points and 5.6 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game this season for Sevilla in his native Spain. He put up similar numbers in the Adidas Eurocamp two years ago. His athleticism isn’t ideal, but his size helps, as Ford writes in his scouting report.

Early-entry candidates must formally declare for the draft by 10:59pm Central time on Sunday to be eligible for the draft this year, so that helps explain the flurry of declarations of late. Hernangomez won’t be automatically eligible until next year, and he may withdraw from this year’s draft at any point until the NBA’s June 15th deadline.

Charles Jackson Entering Draft

April 24th, 2015 at 8:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Tennessee Tech junior center Charles Jackson has decided to enter this year’s draft and signed with agent Scott Nichols, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. The 21-year-old, who turns 22 next month, is an unheralded prospect outside the top 100 rankings for both Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.

The 6’10” Jackson was eighth in the nation in double-doubles this season, tied with first-round prospect Christian Wood and ahead of lottery hopeful Kevon Looney, as Charania points out, though Jackson did his much of his damage against weaker competition in the Ohio Valley Conference. He put up 13.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game this season, his only NCAA Division I year after he transferred from junior college.

Jackson intends to stay in the draft, according to Charania, though the RealGM scribe notes that it’s possible he’ll withdraw by the NBA’s June 15th deadline and instead play in the D-League or overseas. He can’t return to NCAA competition if he formally enters the draft or has indeed hired an agent.

Moussa Diagne To Enter Draft

April 24th, 2015 at 8:21am CST by Chuck Myron

Senegalese center Moussa Diagne is entering this year’s draft, the Interperformances agency confirms to Shams Charania of RealGM. The 21-year-old Herb Rudoy client is No. 42 in Chad Ford’s ESPN.com prospect rankings and 56th with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, so it appears Diagne is in line to become a second-round pick. Of course, that’s assuming he stays in the draft and doesn’t withdraw as he did after declaring for last year’s draft.

The 6’10” Diagne has played a reserve role for Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, his Spanish league team, averaging 4.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game this season. He impressed on the boards at last year’s Adidas EuroCamp, a prestigious showcase for overseas players, pulling down 5.7 boards in 16.5 MPG, but his offense lagged behind, as he scored only 4.0 PPG at the event.

The deadline for Diagne and other international prospects to withdraw isn’t until June 15th, so he and Rudoy will have plenty of opportunity to get a better feel for how NBA front offices view him. He’ll probably have the chance to attend this year’s EuroCamp, and he can perform individual workouts for NBA teams. Regardless, it wouldn’t be surprising if he ends up as a draft-and-stash prospect and remains overseas even if he is drafted this year.

And-Ones: Monroe, Rondo, Draft

April 23rd, 2015 at 10:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Pistons haven’t given up hope that they can re-sign unrestricted free agent Greg Monroe this summer, Terry Foster of The Detroit News writes. In a letter sent to the team’s season ticket holders, coach/executive Stan Van Gundy indicated that Monroe was one of the players whom the franchise hoped to build around, Foster relays. “We have a nice young nucleus forming with Andre Drummond [22 years old], Reggie Jackson [24 years old], Kentavious Caldwell-Pope [22 years old], Greg Monroe [24 years old] and Spencer Dinwiddie [21 years old],” Van Gundy wrote. “We will continue to build around this young group with quality veterans cut from the same mold as Caron Butler, Tayshaun Prince, Joel Anthony and Anthony Tolliver.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Brad Stevens, Rajon Rondo‘s coach while a member of the Celtics, said he was shocked with all the difficulties Rondo has had with the Mavs, Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com writes. “Yeah. I am,” Stevens said when asked if he was surprised by his former point guard’s issues in Dallas. “And I haven’t paid as much attention or read every article or even really watched anything on it. So yeah I was a little bit surprised.”
Coach Rick Carlisle says he was simply being truthful when he said that he didn’t expect to see Rondo in a Mavericks uniform again during an appearance on “The Afternoon Show with Cowlishaw and Mosley” (hat tip to the Dallas Morning News). “Well it’s highly unlikely, to be honest,” Carlisle said. “I think it’s important to be truthful in these situations. But here’s the other fact: this is a guy that’s going to have a lot of free-agent options in the summer. If we wanted to get him back, we were going to be bidding against multiple other teams with a lot of cap space, and there’s going to be a big market for him So that’s where all that stuff is at, but right now our attention and focus has got to be on Game 3.”
Greek power forward Dimitrios Agravanis intends to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress tweets. The 20-year-old isn’t expected to hear his name called in June’s draft after averaging 4.4 points and 2.7 rebounds for Olympiakos this past season.
Serbian point guards Miroslav Pasajlic (20) and Nikola Radicevic (20) will enter the 2015 NBA draft, Givony reports (Twitter link). Neither player is projected to be drafted come June.

Shawn Long Declines To Enter Draft

April 23rd, 2015 at 8:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Louisiana-Lafayette forward/center Shawn Long intends to return to school for his senior season and bypass this year’s draft, Luke Johnson of The Acadiana Advocate tweets (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com via Twitter). Long’s play helped the Ragin’ Cajuns notch a record of 22-14 this past season.

The 22-year-old was projected to be a borderline second-rounder if he entered this year’s NBA draft, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress rating him the No. 58 overall prospect. Long does not appear on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s list of his top-100 college prospects (Insider subscription required).

In 34 games this past season, the 6’9″ Long averaged 16.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 28.0 minutes per contest. His career averages are 16.8 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 1.0 APG, and 2.1 BPG. Long’s career shooting percentages are .496/.360/.674.

Stanley Johnson To Enter NBA Draft

April 23rd, 2015 at 5:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Arizona freshman forward Stanley Johnson intends to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The University has scheduled a press conference for later this evening when the 18-year-old is expected to announce he is leaving the Wildcats after a single season.

Johnson is an anticipated lottery pick in this June’s draft, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranking him as the No. 9 overall prospect, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) places him at No. 11 overall.

The 6’7″ forward appeared in 38 contests for the Wildcats last season, averaging 13.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in 28.4 minutes per game. His shooting numbers were .446/.371/.742.

Mario Hezonja To Enter NBA Draft

April 23rd, 2015 at 3:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Croatian shooting guard Mario Hezonja intends to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports (Twitter link). The Wasserman Media Group client spent the past season playing for Barcelona of the Euroleague, and he is projected to be a lottery pick come June. Givony ranks the 20-year-old as the No. 7 overall prospect in this year’s draft, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) places Hezonja at No.8.

In a draft class that is relatively weak at the shooting guard spot, the 6’8″ swingman is likely to be the third backcourt player selected after D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay. There is no doubt that Hezonja possesses the necessary athleticism to play in the NBA, but his maturity has come under question by some international scouts. Hezonja has had minor chemistry issues in the past with teammates, and has been labelled a selfish player by some of those same scouts, which could negatively impact his draft slot.

In 22 Euroleague contests this season, the 6’8″ guard averaged 7.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 16.5 minutes per contest. His overall shooting numbers this season were .462/.382/.750.

Tyrone Wallace Decides Against Draft

April 23rd, 2015 at 3:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:09pm: Wallace has formally announced his decision to pass up the draft, as the school tweets (hat tip to Rothstein).

2:53pm: Second-round prospect Tyrone Wallace will return to Cal rather than enter this year’s draft, sources told Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). There’s a wide disparity on just what sort of NBA player Wallace projects to become, as the junior combo guard is 34th in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress prospect rankings and No. 63 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.

The 6’5″ Wallace was fourth in the Pac-12 in points per game this season at 17.1, but he led the conference in total turnovers with 94, a figure that worked out to 3.3 a game. Wallace endured a heavy workload that saw him take 14.8 shots and dish out 4.0 assists in 34.9 minutes per contest. He excels on defense, as Ford writes in his scouting report, pointing to inconsistency as his primary flaw. Wallace isn’t a strong outside shooter, making only 31.8% of his three-point attempts this season and 29.1% for his college career.

The 20-year-old, who turns 21 in June, showed steady improvement during his time at Cal, and he improved his stock after he was only 94th in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school. Givony’s ranking suggests the first round isn’t out of reach in 2016, and he’ll be relatively young for a senior, turning 22 only weeks before next year’s draft.

And-Ones: Porzingis, Bjelica, Stevens

April 22nd, 2015 at 10:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Projected 2015 lottery pick Kristaps Porzingis indicated that he withdrew from last year’s draft because he felt he wasn’t yet ready to compete in the NBA, Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype relays. “As soon as I declared for the draft, I knew that I wanted I to stay one more year in Spain to get better,” Porzingis said. “Now looking back I think we made the right decision. I had a bad start of the season – individually and as a team. I could have played much better, but I think I have improved my consistency and I have picked it up since the bad start of the season. This season has been tough, but I want to say thanks to coach [Scott] Roth for the work he did with me in Seville. I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and I wish him the best.” The seven-footer also indicated that he no longer had doubts regarding entering the NBA, Sierra adds.

Here’s more from around the league:

According to Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter links), two assistant coaches who will be in play this offseason for available head coaching vacancies are the Pacers‘ Dan Burke, and the Hawks‘ Kenny Atkinson.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens has his team ahead of schedule in its rebuilding process, which is a testament to his abilities as a leader, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. Stevens stressing unselfishness and creating opportunities for teammates appeals to Boston’s players, Zillgitt adds. “All these guys are in the NBA for a reason, and they’re really, really good at something,” Stevens said. “If you can separate yourself at being one of the best at the things you do well, then you always have a spot where people are going to value you. It just makes sense to a be a superstar in your role.”
Former NBA GM and current coach of the Turkish club Eskişehir Basket Brad Greenberg has high praise for Wolves‘ draft-and-stash pick Nemanja Bjelica, David Pick of Basketball Insiders writes. While Greenberg believes Bjelica is ready to play in the NBA, he’s not sure if the big man will head to the U.S. to play in the near future, Pick adds. “Can Bjelica be on an NBA team? Sure. Will he? I don’t know,” Greenberg said. “Like all high-level Euroleague players who make a lot of money overseas, it has to be a situation that makes sense financially, and where he gets an opportunity to play. Europeans don’t want to give up something that is comfortable, good and financially rewarding for a ‘what if?’ situation. Bjelica is talented enough to be in an NBA gym and not look out of place. That’s for sure.”

Christian Wood To Enter NBA Draft

April 22nd, 2015 at 9:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

9:40pm: Wood has evidently changed his mind and will enter this year’s draft after all, as he revealed in a YouTube video and on Twitter (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com via Twitter).

3:12pm: First-round prospect Christian Wood has decided to return to UNLV rather than enter this year’s draft, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The sophomore power forward was the 23rd-best prospect for this year according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com listed him at No. 27.

In what is a crowded field for big men, returning to college for another campaign could serve to boost the 19-year-old’s stock. The 2016 NBA draft is currently projected to be a weaker one than this year’s event. A strong, injury free junior season could bump Wood into being a top-20 selection come next June.

The 6’11” Wood appeared in 33 contests for UNLV last season, averaging 15.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks in 32.7 minutes per game. His career numbers are 10.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.9 BPG. Wood’s career shooting numbers are .477/.261/.747.