2015 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Ashton Pankey To Enter Draft

April 7th, 2015 at 3:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

Manhattan junior forward Ashton Pankey plans to turn pro and enter this year’s NBA draft, as he tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter links). The 6’10” 22-year-old is an unheralded prospect who’s unlikely to be drafted, as he’s unranked in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress listings, and Chad Ford of ESPN.com doesn’t have a profile for him.

Pankey spent his first two years in college at Maryland, including a redshirt year in 2010/11, when he appeared in only one game before undergoing season-ending left leg surgery. He had a limited role on offense the next year, and after sitting out a season as he transferred to the Jaspers, he again had a single-digit scoring average in 2013/14. That changed this season, when he put up 13.4 points on 8.3 shots in 27.5 minutes per game, chipping in 6.7 rebounds per contest, too. He led the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in fouls given this season, but Manhattan won the conference tournament and earned an NCAA Tournament bid, albeit for a play-in game, which it lost to Hampton.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Pankey end up with some predraft workouts for NBA teams and perhaps play in the summer league, but it still seems a long shot that he’ll earn an invitation to training camp. He’ll likely begin his pro career with a season in the D-League or overseas, though that’s just my speculation.

Draft Notes: Kentucky, Johnson, Jones

April 7th, 2015 at 2:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

Kentucky coach John Calipari acknowledged Monday that Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison are all likely to declare for the draft, as Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal relays. Devin Booker and Dakari Johnson are still weighing their options, according to Calipari, Tucker notes, adding that the coach expects that Tyler Ulis, Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee will decide to stay. Calipari later addressed the idea of his own departure for the NBA, downplaying the idea in a piece on his own website, wherein he said he doesn’t have a desire to prove himself in the NBA. A recent report indicated that Calipari “desperately” wants an NBA job, and he apparently still has supporters within the Nets organization. Here’s more on those potentially making the college-to-NBA leap:

Projected lottery pick Stanley Johnson is on the fence as he decides whether to enter the draft this year or return to Arizona for a sophomore year, sources tell Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com, with one source describing him as “really torn.” The small forward is the No. 9 prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and No. 11 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
NBA personnel who spoke with Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com are in wide agreement that Final Four Most Outstanding Player Tyus Jones would go in the final third of the first round this year if he entered the draft, as Goodman writes in an Insider-only piece. Those sources also tell Goodman that the freshman point guard’s stock is peaking and that he wouldn’t benefit from staying at Duke another year, and even Jones’ father is encouraging him to declare. The Pistons, Pelicans, Sixers and Magic are among the NBA teams focusing on the Minnesota native, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
Brice Johnson is returning to North Carolina, multiple sources tell Evan Daniels of Scout.com. The junior power forward was No. 50 in Givony‘s rankings, while Ford had the power forward 82nd.

And-Ones: Rubio, Winslow, Cuba

April 6th, 2015 at 10:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio might not play for the Spanish National Team at the European Championships in September, Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Rubio’s NBA season has been marred by a left ankle injury that limited him to 22 games before he was declared out for the season by Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders over the weekend. Rubio is more concerned with being 100% for training camp than the European championships, Youngblood adds. “Of course the priority this summer is my health,” he said to Youngblood. “I haven’t been healthy, and I owe this team a lot. In four years, I have one good season, an 82-game season.”

Duke freshman Justise Winslow is a better NBA prospect than Wisconsin junior Sam Dekker, Chad Ford of ESPN.com opines in a debate with fellow draft expert Kevin Pelton. Ford has Winslow rated No. 6 on his draft board with Dekker also sneaking into the lottery at No. 13. Winslow’s superior athletic ability and high motor make him the better prospect, Ford argues. Pelton feels both players are somewhat overrated but also has Winslow as the better prospect, despite wild swings in his performance over the course of the season.
The NBA is poised to become the first U.S. professional sports league to visit Cuba since President Barack Obama ordered diplomatic relations between the countries to be restored, Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press reports. The league will hold a three-day development camp and host youth clinics in Cuba next month, according to Mahoney. The NBA and FIBA, basketball’s world governing body, will also invite two players and one coach from Cuba to participate in an upcoming Basketball without Borders camp.
Armon Johnson has signed with the Spurs’ D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, for the league playoffs, Mike Tokito of The Oregonian tweets. Johnson, a point guard, played a combined 39 games for the Trail Blazers during the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons and also appeared in eight games with the Nets during the 2011/12 campaign.

Protected 2015 Second-Rounders Up For Grabs

April 6th, 2015 at 5:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

The regular season ends a week from Wednesday, and by now most of the playoff spots and non-lottery draft order have been decided. A team’s place in the draft order can mean a lot when there are protections attached to a pick that’s been sent out in a trade. There are two first-round picks that could change hands or stay put based on the final days of the regular season, as we chronicled last week, and there are also second-round picks still up in the air. The protection clauses attached to some of them are complex, so we’ll dive in and analyze each of the three cases individually:

The Clippers owe their second-round pick to the Lakers if it falls from No. 51 through 55 and the Nuggets if it’s 56th through 60th. The Clips can’t finish with a record outside of the top 10 in the league, which they’d need to do to keep the pick. Still, whether it goes to the Lakers or the Nuggets is anybody’s guess. It would go to the Nuggets as it stands, but the Clippers are only a half-game better than the Spurs, with the Blazers and Cavs right behind them. So if any of those teams passes the Clippers, the pick goes to the Lakers.
The Wizards owe their pick to the Celtics, but only if it falls from No. 50 to No. 60. Washington would pick 49th if the season ended today, but the Raptors are only one game better, and the Mavericks and Bulls are tied at one game above Toronto. So, while the Wizards could improve their playoff seeding, it could cost them their second-rounder. Washington’s obligation to the Celtics would end if the pick doesn’t convey this year, so it all comes down to the final games of the season.
The Trail Blazers and Bulls will be giving up their second-rounders this year, but the teams that get those respective picks could switch places. The Magic get whichever pick is better, and the Cavaliers get the other one. Chances are that Chicago’s pick will be going to Orlando and Portland’s to Cleveland, since the Blazers have a four and a half game lead on Chicago. Still, the Bulls aren’t mathematically eliminated from passing the Blazers just yet.

RealGM was used in the creation of this post.

Kevon Looney Declares For Draft

April 6th, 2015 at 3:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

MONDAY, 3:54pm: Looney will enter the draft, he and the school announced (hat tip to RealGM).

WEDNESDAY, 10:50am: UCLA freshman power forward Kevon Looney is planning to declare for this year’s draft and is close to an agreement with an agent, sources tell Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). He’s something of a polarizing prospect, having risen to No. 7 on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com rankings while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him 20th.

The 6’9″, 19-year old is a raw talent who nonetheless averaged 9.2 rebounds in 30.9 minutes per game this year. He scored 11.6 points a night and while he displayed an accurate touch from the outside, hitting 41.5% of his three-pointers, he did so on only 1.5 such attempts per game. His impressive ball-handling and passing skills, rare qualities for a big man, helped him to a No.9 ranking when Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors compiled our latest Draft Prospect Power Rankings.

Looney was the 11th-rated prospect in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school, but the gap between projections before this season was even wider than it is now, as Ford had him eighth during the preseason while Givony listed him at No. 45. He became UCLA’s most well-regarded NBA prospect this year, and while the Bruins were a controversial selection for the NCAA Tournament, Looney pulled down double-digit rebounds in UCLA’s first two tournament games to help the team advance to the Sweet 16.

Cameron Payne To Enter NBA Draft

April 6th, 2015 at 3:48pm CST by Eddie Scarito

MONDAY, 3:48pm: Payne is indeed entering the draft, he announced at a press conference today, as KFVS-TV relays.

FRIDAY, 4:15pm: Murray State sophomore guard Cameron Payne plans to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Payne is working toward hiring an agent and formalizing a decision with an expected announcement to come after the NCAA Final Four, Wojnarowski’s sources tell him. Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) lists Payne as the No. 23 overall prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress pegs the guard at 32nd overall.

Some NBA executives from teams expected to pick in the draft lottery told Wojnarowski that they anticipate Payne to be a prospect they will consider selecting in those slots, though most draft projections have Payne listed as a mid-first-rounder. Several NBA executives are comparing his possible climb in the first round to that of Magic guard Elfrid Payton, another smaller school underclassman who rose all the way to the 10th selection in the 2014 draft, the Yahoo! scribe adds.

Payne appeared in 69 games in two seasons for Murray State. The 6’2″ guard’s career numbers are 18.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists in 32.4 minutes per game. His career shooting numbers are .432/.359/.781.

Draft Notes: Towns, Okafor, Winslow, Simmons

April 6th, 2015 at 8:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Tonight’s NCAA championship won’t offer the epic matchup between Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor that would have taken place if Wisconsin hadn’t beaten Kentucky on Saturday, but Towns and Okafor still have a score to settle when it comes to the No. 1 overall pick. The centers are the leading candidates, and it seems as if it’s a close call among NBA executives and scouts. The same is true among SI.com’s panel of experts, who narrowly favor Towns. However, it’ll be Okafor with a chance to make a statement on a grand stage tonight. Here’s more on the draft:

Scouts have compared Okafor to Al Jefferson and, less optimistically, Carlos Boozer, Pete Thamel of SI.com writes, calling Towns a less perimeter-oriented LaMarcus Aldridge.
Duke small forward Justise Winslow would be in the running to become the No. 1 overall pick if not for the presence of Towns and Okafor, as one Eastern Conference GM tells Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, praising the freshman’s versatility and upside. Winslow will go head-to-head tonight against Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker, another fast riser during the NCAA Tournament, as Scotto details, echoing an earlier dispatch from Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
Combo forward Ben Simmons made an impression on NBA personnel like no one else during practices for the McDonald’s All American Game last week, as Chris Mannix of SI.com chronicles. One NBA GM called Simmons, a 2016 draft prospect, “an absolute stud,” Mannix relays. Simmons is No. 2 behind small forward Jaylen Brown on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress 2016 mock draft.

Draft Notes: Cauley-Stein, Towns, Okafor

April 5th, 2015 at 10:26am CST by ChrisCrouse

Center Willie Cauley-Stein hasn’t made it official, but he is leaning toward turning pro, Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal writes. “It’s time to take another step,” Cauley-Stein said. “I mean, obviously, I’m not 100 percent on it, but I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do. Gotta talk to a couple more people, but probably was my last game here.” Several scouts believe there isn’t a safer bet in this year’s draft than the 21-year-old, who is the sixth best prospect, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and eighth best prospect according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com.

Here’s more on the draft:

Karl-Anthony Towns hasn’t made a decision about whether he will enter the draft yet, but he left the door open to returning to Kentucky next year, Tucker writes in the same piece. “I can’t even think about that. I just lost in the Final Four with my brothers,” Towns said about the possibility of staying another season. “We could be really good, but we just need to make it further than we did this time. We gotta get it all the way this time. We need to do better. We could be really good, though.” Towns has a good chance to be the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft, which makes it unlikely he stays.
Provided both players opt to enter the draft, it’s likely Towns and Jahlil Okafor will go No. 1 and No. 2 in some order. In a quick poll of seven NBA scouts and personnel people, Towns received four votes for the top spot, while Okafor got three, according to Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated.
Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders looks at how staying in school can damage a prospect’s stock. Dowsett acknowledges that many prospects seem undeveloped and are unproven after just one year of college, but he believes those prospects would benefit more from being around professionals in the NBA than from staying in college and playing against lesser competition.

And-Ones: Kentucky, Ballmer, Clarkson, Burke

April 4th, 2015 at 11:09pm CST by Arthur Hill

There should be a mass exodus of Kentucky players to the NBA after Saturday’s loss in the NCAA semi-finals, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. He speculated that the list of departing Wildcats should “minimally” include Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles, Dakari Johnson and Devin Booker.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

Steve Ballmer’s bold $2 billion bid to purchase the Clippers last year was an “outlier,” writes Mike Ozanian of Forbes. Ozanian notes that Mikhail Prokhorov has been unsuccessful in his attempts to sell the Nets and the Barclays Center, while the highest current bid for the Hawks is $800MM.
The “Gilbert Arenas provision” applies to the Lakers‘ Jordan Clarkson after next season, note Eric Pincus and Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times, giving the Lakers an edge in keeping the young point guard long-term. Because Clarkson was a second-round pick, the provision limits the offers other franchises can make to four years and a projected $57MM. With a non-guaranteed contract for 2015/16 at the league minimum for a second-year player ($845,059), Clarkson is almost certain to return to the Lakers next year.
Jazz point guard Trey Burke is part of the reason the future is bright in Utah, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The second-year player out of Michigan has been a key part of the team’s second half surge, and he is looking forward to improving this summer. “I know that I have a high ceiling and have more potential to grow,” he said. “Like I said, this summer and this offseason will be very big for me. I look forward to coming back even stronger and even better next season. Being a young player, I know that these offseasons are really important in how much I’ll grow.” Burke is still on his rookie contract, which runs through 2016/17, and he’s under the team’s control through 2017/18.

Domantas Sabonis To Return To Gonzaga

April 4th, 2015 at 3:03pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Gonzaga freshman Domantas Sabonis intends to return to Gonzaga for his sophomore season, coach Mark Few told Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The 6’10” forward is the son of former NBA big man and FIBA Hall-of-Famer Arvydas Sabonis. The elder Sabonis played seven seasons for the Trail Blazers and owns career averages of 12.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks over 470 NBA contests.

The decision to return to school for another season could boost the draft stock of the versatile forward, whose play helped Gonzaga reach the Sweet 16 in this year’s NCAA tournament. Sabonis is currently ranked No. 29 overall by Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) and comes in at No. 43 for Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.

Sabonis appeared in 38 games for the Bulldogs this season, averaging 9.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 21.7 minutes per night. His slash line on the season was .668/.000/.664.