10:43am: Oubre’s father tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that his son is indeed declaring for the draft (Twitter links).
10:04am: Lottery prospect Kelly Oubre is planning to enter this year’s draft, a source tells Evan Daniels of Scout.com (Twitter link). The Kansas freshman small forward has disappointed this year, but he’s still the 12th-best prospect in the rankings that Chad Ford of ESPN.com compiles and No. 13 on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress list.
The 19-year-old’s inconsistency is a sign that he’d benefit from another year with the Jayhawks, Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors wrote as he rated him 11th in our Draft Prospect Power Rankings, but it’s long seemed likely that he’d turn pro. He played fewer than 10 minutes in five of the team’s first seven games and finally broke out with a 23-point, 10-rebound performance in 25 minutes against Lafayette, an eventual NCAA Tournament team, in late December. The 6’7″ Oubre saw more playing time in other games as the season wore on, but he never scored as many points or pulled down more rebounds. He wound up averaging just 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in 21.0 minutes per game, troubling numbers offset to some degree by respectable 35.8% three-point shooting.
Oubre was a projected top-five pick in both the Ford and Givony rankings prior to the season, though he was a more modest No. 8 in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school last year. He had the burden of replacing Andrew Wiggins at his position for Kansas, but Oubre’s team went just as far in the NCAA Tournament as Wiggins’ Jayhawks did, with both losing in the round of 32. This year’s Kansas squad also featured Cliff Alexander, Givony’s No. 33 prospect and Ford’s No. 39, though it’s unknown whether he’ll join Oubre in the 2015 draft.