Duke center Wendell Carter Jr. has workouts on tap with six lottery teams in this year’s draft, he told reporters today. Carter, whose first workout of the pre-draft process took place today with the Bulls, also has auditions lined up with the Mavericks, Grizzlies, Magic, Knicks, and Cavaliers, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
It’s not clear if Carter will ultimately add more workouts to his schedule after completing those six sessions, but the teams he named today present a pretty clear picture of when he can expect to be drafted. Each club on his list holds a top-10 selection, ranging from No. 4 (Memphis) to No. 9 (New York). Ian Begley of ESPN.com tweets that several people in the Knicks’ front office are “enamored” with Carter.
In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has Carter coming off the board at No. 7 to the Bulls. For his part, the young center said today he has heard he could be drafted anywhere from No. 3 to No. 12, Friedell notes.
A freshman for the Blue Devils last season, Carter averaged an impressive 13.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.1 BPG, and 2.0 APG in just 26.9 minutes per contest. He also recorded a solid .561/.413/.738 shooting line in his first and only year at Duke.
Wendell would make a great fit on the Knicks alongside Porzingis but knowing the Knicks they’ll draft Trae Young. If I was the Knicks I would draft Miles Bridges though, that type of athleticism and versatility is what is valuable in today’s game. He could be the Knicks’s PJ Tucker.
lol
It’s not nice to laugh at the handicapped.
I think Miles Bridges will be disappointment unless you draft him in the teens. Going to be like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who does it all can’t shoot a lick.
Because he’s the 5th best big (and the 3rd best C only big), in this draft class I could see Carter sliding to the Knicks. It wouldn’t be a bad pick (solid value at #9 objectively). But one position bigs have to be special talents to have a lot of value. Plus, it will be at least a few years before he can give the Knicks what Kanter gave them last year, and I think putting a 19 year old next to KP right now isn’t a good development situation for either guy.
I don’t think KP6 will play much next year, so they wouldn’t play much for Carter’s first year. Anyway I do think New York is not at the stage of drafting what they need the most, for now & the near future they have to draft the best player available & keep stashing them or trading for assets.