2015 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

R.J. Hunter To Enter Draft

March 30th, 2015 at 11:46am CST by Chuck Myron

11:46am: Hunter confirmed his decision in an interview with Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, adding that he’s been told he’ll likely be drafted between the 15th and 35th overall picks.

8:07am: Georgia State junior shooting guard R.J. Hunter will soon formally announce that he’s entering this year’s draft, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The NCAA Tournament hero is the 20th-ranked prospect on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com list, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him 27th.

Hunter hit a long three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to seal Georgia State’s upset of No. 3 seed Baylor on the first full day of the tournament, sending his father and coach Ron Hunter tumbling on the sidelines and giving March another iconic moment. Still, R.J. Hunter was well-positioned for a shot at NBA glory even before that, having continued to climb prospect rankings this past season. He was 59th among Givony’s top prospects when he declined to enter the draft last year. He cooled after a hot start vaulted him into consideration for a mid-first-round pick earlier this season, but his passing ability has him poised to play a prominent role as an NBA sixth man, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors writes as he ranks him 19th in our latest Draft Prospect Power Rankings.

The 6’5″ 21-year-old averaged 19.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 37.0 minutes per game this season for the Panthers, who compete in the Sun Belt Conference. He made 39.5% of his three-pointers as a sophomore and 35.4% for his college career, but he was just a 30.5% three-point shooter this season.

Myles Turner Announces He’s Entering Draft

March 30th, 2015 at 8:41am CST by Chuck Myron

Texas freshman center Myles Turner has decided to enter the draft, as he announced in a YouTube video (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com). The 19-year-old is a lottery prospect, checking in 10th in Chad Ford’s ESPN.com rankings and 12th on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress list.

The 6’11” Turner blocked an eye-popping 2.6 shots per contest this season, but he otherwise didn’t put up impressive numbers for the Longhorns, posting just 10.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game. Still, Ford and Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM pinned blame for Turner’s shortcomings on Texas coach Rick Barnes, who’s since been fired.

Turner helped the school to an 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament, but Turner had just two points to go along with 10 rebounds off the bench as Texas lost its first game of the tournament to Butler. The Texas native was No. 6 in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school last year, but his stock didn’t change much over the course of his lone college season, as Ford had him ninth prior to tipoff while Givony had him 16th. Turner will take a while to develop in the NBA and his odd style of running is an injury concern, but the rangy scorer has too much upside for lottery teams to ignore, writes Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors in our most recent Draft Prospect Power Rankings.

And-Ones: Lakers, Robinson, Draft

March 29th, 2015 at 7:29pm CST by Will Joseph

Opposing players, according to Byron Scott, have told the Lakers head coach that they’d love to play in the purple-and-gold, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. Scott would not name any players because of tampering rules and did not say how many potential free agents expressed interest to him in joining the Lakers, Medina noted. Still, Scott believes the Lakers “will have a real good summer,” in terms of free agency, according to Medina.

“You have a lot of free agents out there who would love to play for us. They’ve been making it pretty clear,” Scott said. “You have guys during the games come by the bench saying, ‘Hey Coach, I would love to be in L.A. next year.’ That makes you feel good there are players out there that want to be here. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we’re taking it in a different direction. They know this organization and the history of the organization is going to be back.”

Here’s more from around the NBA:

There’s still a chance that the Clippers could sign Nate Robinson for the rest of the season after a 10-day evaluation of Lester Hudson, according to Arash Markazi of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Naturally, their decision on what to do with Robinson will hinge heavily on how Hudson performs.
France’s Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot said he would withdraw his name from the 2015 Draft if he deems workouts with teams after the NBA season unsuccessful, as he told the French outlet Be Basket and as Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia transcribes. The 19-year-old is averaging 7.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in 19 minutes per contest for the Olympique Antibes, according to Carchia. The swingman announced in February he planned to enter this year’s draft.
Daemen College big man Gerald Beverly, who was recently named a Division II All-American, signed with agent Roger Montgomery of the Montgomery Sports Group, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Michael Frazier To Enter Draft

March 27th, 2015 at 5:55pm CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 5:55pm: Frazier confirmed via his Twitter account that he will indeed enter the NBA draft this year.

THURSDAY, 11:11am: University of Florida junior shooting guard Michael Frazier will enter this year’s NBA draft, reports Forbes contributor and Sports Agent Blog editor Darren Heitner (Twitter link). Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress also hears from a source who confirmed the news (Twitter link). Frazier will sign with agents Andy Miller and Matt Ramker of ASM Sports, a source tells Heitner.

It’s somewhat of a surprise to see the 21-year-old set to turn pro so soon, as Givony listed him on his mock draft for 2016 rather than this year. He’s Givony’s 79th-ranked prospect overall and checks in at No. 84 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com. Frazier’s not unaware of such projections but is ready to work to improve his standing, a source tells Givony, who believes he’ll generate plenty of interest in spite of a down year this season (Twitter links). The 6’4″ Frazier shot 43% from three-point territory for his college career, as Givony notes, and 38% this season. He averaged 12.1 points and 4.1 rebounds in 29.2 minutes per game for the 2014/15 Gators, who saw their season end with an SEC Tournament loss to Kentucky.

Florida, normally a national power, finished only 16-17 despite the presence of Frazier and fellow pro prospect Chris Walker, whose stock has slipped quite a bit. Frazier’s reputation has remained more or less steady, as he came in at No. 86 on the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school in 2012.

Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Celtics, Clark

March 27th, 2015 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Sixers draftee Joel Embiid‘s weight is finally getting down into the range that the team is comfortable with, which pleases coach Brett Brown, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “He’s ticking boxes in regards to increased time on the court and reduced weight,” Brown said of the rookie center. “His weight is going down. His needle is clearly pointing in the right direction. And you heard me say this a lot lately, he’s setting the stage for a great summer. He sees his reward will be summer league, trying to get ready to actually play again.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal takes a look at how Kentucky junior Willie Cauley-Stein would fit with the Knicks. Herring posits that New York could look to select the big man if they fall out of the top three picks in the draft lottery.
Celtics team president Danny Ainge believes that he’ll learn a lot about the makeup of his players whether or not Boston secures a playoff spot this season, Jimmy Toscano of CSNNE.com writes. “I’m not really hanging on [making the playoffs]. I think it’s a great opportunity for me to evaluate and Brad [Stevens] to evaluate what we’re made of, who can step it up, players that can play meaningful minutes,” Ainge said. “And our young guys can learn through this, you don’t judge them from one game to the next, but see how our guys react and bounce back from difficult losses and bad performances. So far our guys have passed the test. So I’m excited about the next ten games, like you said. We do control our own destiny. We have a tough schedule ahead of us still and I’m excited about that.“
Earl Clark, who inked a 10-day deal with the Nets today, says that he’s surprised to be with the team, Rod Boone of Newsday tweets. Clark says that he was at home working out when his agent called and told him to pack for Brooklyn, Boone adds.

Draft Notes: Mudiay, Maker, Russell, Looney

March 27th, 2015 at 3:09pm CST by Chuck Myron

Emmanuel Mudiay isn’t sure he’d recommend playing overseas to other top draft prospects, particularly those who wouldn’t merit the kind of high-dollar deal he received, but he has no regrets about his decision to play in China instead of at SMU, as he tells Evan Daniels of Scout.com.

“I was playing against 30-year old men that are trying to feed their family,” he said, answering affirmatively when Daniels asked if he feels he has an edge on prospects from the NCAA. “In college, they are trying to get an education and try to get a job after that. I was put in a job position.

Mudiay told Daniels that he’s heard that elite 2016 draft prospect Thon Maker is thinking about playing overseas, though Mudiay’s not sure if that’s the case. Either way, here’s more on the draft, with just 12 teams remaining in the NCAA tournament:

Chris Mannix of SI.com looks at Ohio State freshman D’Angelo Russell, Mudiay’s primary challenger to become the first point guard drafted in June and a prospect who’s impressed at least one NBA GM with a level of court awareness beyond his years.
There’s a wide range of opinion on the draft stock of UCLA power forward Kevon Looney, whom Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks as the seventh most well-regarded prospect while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him 19th. Ford and ESPN.com colleague Kevin Pelton debate the merits of the 19-year-old who’ll probably take a while to develop regardless of his potential, as they write in an Insider-only piece.
Stanley Johnson doesn’t have flashy numbers, but he and his game have matured in his freshman season at Arizona, as Zach Hefland of the Los Angeles Times examines. The small forward is the No. 6 prospect in Givony’s rankings and No. 12 with Ford. Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors has him sixth in our Draft Prospect Power Rankings.
Nigel Williams-Goss makes a habit of outperforming expectations, and while he isn’t a highly regarded NBA prospect, there are at least a few people around the game who are confident he can make it in the pros, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group details. The University of Washington sophomore told Haynes that he isn’t sure whether he’ll stay in college another year or declare for the draft.

And-Ones: Mudiay, Thomas, Orton

March 26th, 2015 at 9:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Goran Dragic was a bit shocked that the Suns dealt his former teammate Isaiah Thomas to the Celtics at this season’s trade deadline, Ben Rohrbach of WEEI 93.7 FM writes. “If I’m honest, I was a little bit surprised, especially because I asked for the trade,” said Dragic. “But that’s how the NBA goes. It’s a business. Unfortunately, we had three point guards at the same position and only one ball, so it’s kind of hard to satisfy everybody.”

Presumably, Dragic was talking about his request that the Suns trade him, as they ultimately did when they sent him to the Heat, rather than suggesting that he asked the Suns to trade Thomas, though that’s not entirely clear. Here’s more from around the league:

Metta World Peace‘s deal for the remainder of the season with Italy’s Pallacanestro Cantù is worth approximately $40K plus bonuses, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports.
Projected 2015 lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay has parted ways with agent Raymond Brothers, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports (Twitter link). The guard will now be represented by Jason Martin and Dwon Clifton of Rival Sports Group, Givony adds. Mudiay is currently the No. 3 ranked prospect according to DraftExpress and ESPN.com.
Daniel Orton, who appeared in 22 contest for the Sixers during the 2013/14 campaign, doesn’t look back at his time in Philadelphia fondly, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Orton discussed what it was like to go from the Thunder organization to the Sixers’, saying, “Leaving the Thunder, you see the greater side of the NBA. I went into Philly and a situation where it was the total opposite. You got a team just trying to rebuild basically from scratch and blowing up anytime you had something going good. So you definitely learn the business side of it.” Orton has played in China and the Philippines this season after attending training camp with the Wizards.

Draft Deadlines Facing NCAA Underclassmen

March 25th, 2015 at 11:28am CST by Chuck Myron

The college season is winding down, and with that transition comes the annual influx of underclassmen declaring early entry for the draft. There’s a proposal with strong backing that would make it easier for those players to declare and return to college with their NCAA eligibility intact, but the soonest any such change would take effect is 2016. For now, “testing the waters” remains a practical impossibility, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has explained in-depth each of the past three years after the existing rules were implemented in 2012. Here’s a look at the key dates in the process this year, as mined from NBA.com and a letter that the NCAA sent potential early entry candidates in February that’s posted on NCAA.org:

April 12th: NCAA Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline
April 26th: NBA Draft Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (10:59pm CT)
April 29th: NBA teams can begin conducting and/or attending workouts with early entrants
May 12th-17th: NBA Draft Combine (Chicago)
May 19th: NBA Draft Lottery
June 15th: NBA Draft Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline (4:00pm CT)
June 25th: NBA Draft

The April 12th date is the key. That withdrawal deadline comes three days earlier than it did last year, giving prospects even less time to make a decision. The NCAA has an Undergraduate Advisory Committee, made up of executives from 20 NBA teams, that gives feedback on a player’s draft stock if he applies to receive it, but last year the committee wasn’t obligated to respond until a day before the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline. The NCAA doesn’t allow NBA workouts for early-entry prospects until April 29th, three days after the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft.

Still, a player can retain flexibility if he doesn’t officially declare for the draft until April 26th, the last day the NBA permits early entry, so there’s incentive to wait, as Givony has pointed out. That’s nonetheless a stark contrast to the NBA’s June 15th deadline for early entrants to pull out of the draft, a date that applies mostly to international prospects, since a college player couldn’t return to NCAA ball if he were to withdraw at that point. Only one college player withdrew from the draft after declaring last year, and that was because he’d signed with an overseas team.

The system makes it difficult for college prospects to receive first-hand information on how highly they’re likely to be drafted or whether they can expect to be drafted at all, as Givony has detailed. That’s not an issue for top underclassmen, like Jahlil Okafor, Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, who’ll clearly be taken near the top. Second-tier early-entry prospects are those who feel the effect, and it’s a large group. There are only 18 college seniors among Givony’s top 100 prospects.

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2015 NBA Draft

Jarell Martin To Enter Draft

March 25th, 2015 at 8:45am CST by Chuck Myron

LSU sophomore power forward Jarell Martin will enter the NBA draft, two sources tell Randy Rosetta of The Times-Picayune. The 6’9″ 20-year-old, who’ll turn 21 in May, is the 29th-best prospect on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and the 35th-best with Chad Ford of ESPN.com, making him a fringe first-round candidate. Martin has until April 26th to officially enter the draft, though he can withdraw and retain his college eligibility no later than April 12th.

Martin played a face-up game last season with current Bucks big man Johnny O’Bryant and fellow top prospect Jordan Mickey on the interior, but with O’Bryant gone this year, LSU moved Martin inside midway through the season, as Rosetta details. That sparked an upturn that helped him to averages of 16.9 points and 9.2 rebounds in 35.1 minutes per game, making him the team’s leading scorer. He put up 16 points and 11 rebounds in LSU’s loss to N.C. State last week in the opening game of the NCAA tournament for both teams.

Martin was the 12th-ranked prospect coming out of high school in 2013, according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, a few spots ahead of late-bloomer Joel Embiid, last year’s No. 3 overall NBA draft pick. Mickey, Martin’s LSU teammate, was No. 38 on that recruiting list, and he’s reportedly leaning toward declaring for the draft, too.

And-Ones: Draft, McRoberts, Beverley

March 24th, 2015 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Josh McRoberts is traveling with the Heat for the first time since tearing the meniscus in his right knee in early December, Jason Lieser of The Palm Beach Post writes. “He’s progressing very well, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves right now and I wouldn’t look too much into this road trip,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s really to help him with his spirits being around the team, and we’re enjoying that, but the larger picture is he’s going to be able to do more work with our training staff. The last couple road trips we left him back there to work with our trainers, but we’ve had so many injuries that we need our full staff here right now. That means Josh has to come with us. But he will not be working with the basketball coaches, not yet.”

When asked about the possibility of McRoberts returning to action this season, Spoelstra said, “He’s still not working with coaches. Everything is with trainers right now. I check in with him every single day. Most of the work is in the training room and the weight room. I’m not thinking about him playing this year.”

Here’s more from around the league:

The Rockets will learn on Wednesday if Patrick Beverley will need season-ending surgery on his injured wrist, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter links). The guard is waiting for doctors to inform him if continued play will risk further ligament damage before making his final decision, Spears adds.
The Wizards and the Nets are both interested in one-to-one affiliations with D-League teams, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets. Both franchises currently share the Fort Wayne Mad Ants with the 11 other NBA teams also without one-to-one affiliations.
LSU sophomore forward Jordan Mickey is leaning toward entering the 2015 NBA draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Mickey averaged 15.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game for the Tigers this season. The 6’8″ big man is currently ranked as the No. 81 prospect by DraftExpress.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News looked at 10 players whose performances in the NCAA Tournament improved their NBA draft stock. Deveney’s list includes Justise Winslow (Duke), Terry Rozier (Louisville), Jerian Grant (Notre Dame), and Jakob Poeltl (Utah).