- Jalen Green‘s scoring ability makes him a legitimate candidate for the Pistons to select him with the top overall pick, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. Green, who played with the G League’s Ignite team this season, is the most likely member of this year’s draft class to lead the league in scoring during his career, Langlois notes. At 6’6”, Green also has the size, elite skill level, athleticism and work ethic to be a special player in the league and that would give any team holding the top pick a lot to consider heading into the draft.
- The Pistons shouldn’t consider trading Jerami Grant coming off his career year, Rod Beard of the Detroit News opines. Dealing Grant would send a bad message that Detroit would be willing to flip an improving player who chose the franchise in free agency, Beard notes. Grant, who was recently added to Team USA, would be a top-line scorer and defender on a contending team, Beard adds.
The roster has been released for the U.S. Select Team, which will help Team USA prepare for the Olympics, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Select Team, which will practice with and scrimmage against the national team during the upcoming training camp in Las Vegas, is made up mostly of first- and second-year NBA players. It will be coached by Erik Spoelstra of the Heat.
Making up the roster are:
- Saddiq Bey, Pistons
- Miles Bridges, Hornets
- Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves
- Darius Garland, Cavaliers
- Tyrese Haliburton, Kings
- Tyler Herro, Heat
- John Jenkins
- Keldon Johnson, Spurs
- Josh Magette
- Dakota Mathias, Sixers
- Immanuel Quickley, Knicks
- Naz Reid, Timberwolves
- Cameron Reynolds, Rockets
- Isaiah Stewart, Pistons
- Obi Toppin, Knicks
- P.J. Washington, Hornets
- Patrick Williams, Bulls
There’s a belief that the Pelicans won’t be especially eager to add another rookie to an already young roster, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link), who says the No. 10 pick in next month’s draft, currently held by New Orleans, is considered one of the most available in the lottery.
Within his latest mock draft, Givony also provides some intel on some other picks at the top of the draft, confirming that the Pistons are looking hard at Jalen Green and Evan Mobley, though most executives anticipate they’ll select Cade Cunningham. According to Givony, NBA teams don’t have a good feel for which direction the Rockets will go at No. 2, since the new front office doesn’t have an extensive track record. For now, Givony believes Green would be the pick for Houston over Mobley.
Here’s more on the 2021 NBA draft, which is exactly one month away:
- In a separate Insider-only story for ESPN, Givony and Mike Schmitz break down the winners and losers of last week’s draft combine, noting that Australian prospect Josh Giddey was generating plenty of buzz despite not even attending the event in Chicago. James Bouknight, Sharife Cooper, and Trey Murphy were among the other projected first-round picks receiving positive feedback.
- Speaking of Murphy, he has worked out for the Celtics and Spurs so far in the pre-draft process, as he told reporters. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington has the story on the Virginia forward whose draft stock is on the rise.
- The “rumor in Chicago” was that Oregon’s Chris Duarte, who pulled out of the draft combine, has received a guarantee early in the second round, per Marc Berman of The New York Post.
- Potential first-round pick JT Thor of Auburn is working out for the Pacers, Hornets, Hawks, and Pelicans between now and July 6, as Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report details (Twitter link).
Sources who have spoken to John Hollinger of The Athletic are skeptical that the Pistons, Rockets, or Cavaliers will trade out of the top three spots in the draft.
As Hollinger notes, there are a lot of teams that figure to have interest in moving up in the draft, including several holding multiple first-round picks, such as the Magic, Thunder, and Knicks. However, it’s more difficult to find teams that will give serious consideration to moving down. Any trade up may require a substantial overpay, Hollinger adds.
Here are a few more tidbits from Hollinger following his time at the pre-draft combine in Chicago:
- There’s a “widespread expectation” around the NBA that the Warriors will dangle the No. 7 pick and James Wiseman as they seek immediate roster upgrades, according to Hollinger, who identifies Raptors forward Pascal Siakam as one name to watch.
- League sources widely expect restricted free agent Gary Trent Jr. to re-sign with the Raptors, says Hollinger.
- Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland might’ve boosted his stock more than any other player at the Chicago combine, per Hollinger. However, it was also a good week for Corey Kispert, Joe Wieskamp, Quentin Grimes, Jericho Sims, and A.J. Lawson, among others.
- DJ Steward, Max Abmas, and Johnny Juzang were among the prospects who didn’t help their stock at the combine based on their performances in scrimmages, Hollinger writes.
Four qualifying tournaments to determine the final four teams in the men’s basketball pool at the Tokyo Olympics are set to tip off on Tuesday. In advance of the Olympic qualifiers, the 24 teams involved have officially set their 12-man rosters, according to a press release from FIBA.
More than two dozen current NBA players are participating in the tournament, and 11 of the 24 teams competing for Olympic spots have at least one current NBA players on their respective rosters. Of those clubs, Team Canada has the biggest contingent of NBA players — eight of the 12 players on Nick Nurse‘s squad finished the season on an NBA roster. Turkey is next with four NBA players.
The four qualifying tournaments will take place in Serbia, Lithuania, Croatia, and Canada. Only the winner of each six-team group will advance to Tokyo. Those four winners will join Japan, Nigeria, Argentina, Iran, France, Spain, Australia, and the U.S. in the 12-team Olympic tournament.
The teams that move onto the Olympics may tweak their rosters for Tokyo, depending on the availability of certain players. For instance, if Greece were to win its qualifying tournament, perhaps Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo – who remains active in the playoffs for now – would make an effort to join the team in Tokyo next month.
Here are the NBA players on the OQT rosters:
Belgrade, Serbia
- Italy: Nico Mannion (Warriors), Nicolo Melli (Mavericks/RFA)
- Serbia: Nemanja Bjelica (Heat/UFA), Boban Marjanovic (Mavericks/UFA)
- Dominican Republic, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal: None
Kaunas, Lithuania
- Lithuania: Domantas Sabonis (Pacers), Jonas Valanciunas (Grizzlies)
- Slovenia: Vlatko Cancar (Nuggets), Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- Angola, Korea, Poland, Venezuela: None
Split, Croatia
- Brazil: Anderson Varejao (Cavaliers/UFA)
- Croatia: Bojan Bogdanovic (Jazz)
- Germany: Isaac Bonga (Wizards/RFA), Moritz Wagner (Magic/UFA)
- Mexico, Russia, Tunisia: None
Victoria, Canada
- Canada: Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Pelicans), RJ Barrett (Knicks), Luguentz Dort (Thunder), Cory Joseph (Pistons), Trey Lyles (Spurs/UFA), Mychal Mulder (Warriors/RFA), Dwight Powell (Mavericks), Andrew Wiggins (Warriors)
- Czech Republic: Tomas Satoransky (Bulls)
- Greece: Kostas Antetokounmpo (Lakers/RFA)
- Turkey: Cedi Osman (Cavaliers), Ersan Ilyasova (Jazz/UFA), Furkan Korkmaz (Sixers/UFA), Omer Yurtseven (Heat/team option)
- China, Uruguay: None
There are also many former NBA players among the 24 rosters, including Mario Hezonja (Croatia), Milos Teodosic (Serbia), Jan Vesely (Czech Republic), Timofey Mozgov (Russia), and Anthony Bennett (Canada).
To view the full rosters, be sure to visit FIBA’s official site and click through to each team from there.
- The Pistons should make the obvious choice and take Cunningham with the No. 1 pick, argues Rod Beard of The Detroit News (subscriber only).
The respect that players have for longtime Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was instrumental in getting star players to commit to Team USA for the Summer Olympics, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports. Popovich reached out to players but wasn’t overbearing and that helped gain their trust, compared to prior years when Team USA dealt with dozens of decommitments.
After Damian Lillard and Kevin Durant pledged to participate, Popovich and manager director Jerry Colangelo worked with the two perennial All-Stars to recruit other players.
Windhorst also offered up some other interesting tidbits:
- Lillard was miffed when he missed the final cut before Team USA went to Spain for the World Cup in 2014. That played a role in his decision not to compete for the 2016 Olympic team. With Popovich now coaching the team and knowing this could be a last chance play in the Olympics, Lillard was eager to sign up this time.
- While Kevin Love‘s stature around the league has taken a big hit in recent years, Popovich valued his versatility and shooting. The Cavaliers were also very supportive of Love’s opportunity to play for Team USA.
- Pistons forward Jerami Grant was offered a spot after James Harden declined due his hamstring injury. Lillard and Durant vouched for Grant, which tipped the scales in his favor for one of the last roster spots.
- On the international front, former Mavericks forward Ryan Broekhoff has withdrawn from the Australian national team due to mental health issues, Sportando relays. “My mental health is something I have struggled with for a long time and I think it’s important for me to put my hand up and admit when things aren’t OK and that it is time to seek help,” he said in a statement.
- Lakers guard Dennis Schröder will not play for Germany during the Olympic qualifying tournament next week due to insurance issues, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press tweets. Schroder will be entering free agency this summer.
- Along with mulling what to do with the top pick, the Pistons must decide how high they’re willing to go on restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo, Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link) writes. Diallo is projected to command somewhere in the neighborhood of the mid-level exception, which the Pistons could easily match. Marks also explores the team’s other pending decisions and its cap situation.
Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham has long been considered the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft, and the most likely outcome is that the Pistons will select him. However, we shouldn’t set that pick in stone yet, says Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, who said he got texts from multiple sources after the lottery saying that Detroit is thought to be very high on G League Ignite wing Jalen Green.
James L. Edwards III of The Athletic conveys a similar sentiment, citing sources who say that Green and USC big man Evan Mobley will get “heavy consideration” from the Pistons for the No. 1 pick. General manager Troy Weaver stated following the lottery win that the team will likely look at five players with that selection.
Rumors of the Pistons’ interest in Green or Mobley doesn’t mean the team won’t end up simply drafting Cunningham. But it’s a reminder that the pick isn’t necessarily considered a foregone conclusion like some past No. 1 selections have been. If they like Green or Mobley enough, perhaps the Pistons would even mull the possibility of shaking up the draft by trading down a spot or two.
The Bulls were among the unluckiest teams at the draft lottery, losing their first-round pick to the Magic when it failed to land in the top four, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Chicago wound up sending the No. 8 selection to Orlando as part of the trade deadline deal involving Nikola Vucevic, and it owes another first-rounder to the Magic in 2023.
With only the No. 38 pick remaining in the July 29 draft, the Bulls will have to explore other ways to improve, Mayberry adds. They’re short on trade assets after investing so much in the roster makeover in March, and they may not have enough cap space to add a meaningful free agent.
Mayberry suggests the Bulls may try to trade back into the first round on draft night, using the expiring contracts of Thaddeus Young ($14.19MM) and Tomáš Satoranský ($10MM), both of which are non-guaranteed, as well as Al-Farouq Aminu ($10.183MM).
They may also reach out to a couple of division rivals who had better fortune at the lottery. The Pistons landed the top overall pick and are likely to draft Cade Cunningham, which could make point guard Killian Hayes available in a trade, Mayberry speculates. Meanwhile, if the Cavaliers get Jalen Green at No. 3, they might be willing to part with Collin Sexton, Darius Garland or Isaac Okoro.
There’s more on the Bulls:
- Zach LaVine‘s inclusion on the Olympic team could be good for the Bulls’ future, states Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. He notes that many star pairings in the NBA began when players got to know each other as Olympic teammates. Cowley cautions it might work the other way, and LaVine, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, could get recruited to go somewhere else.
- Ben Simmons‘ playoff struggles and Spencer Dinwiddie‘s decision to turn down his player option for next season create two intriguing options for the Bulls in their search for a point guard, writes Jamal Collier of The Chicago Tribune. Simmons would be an ideal backcourt partner for LaVine, Collier notes, but it would be hard to put together an enticing offer for the Sixers without giving up LaVine in return. Dinwiddie will be seeking more than the $12.3MM he opted out of, but Collier expects concerns about his partially torn ACL to keep the price tag down.
- Thaddeus Young has been chosen as this year’s winner of the NBA Hustle Award, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The honor goes to the player who makes the most energy and effort plays during the season.