Aaron Harrison Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Age-Limit, Harrisons, Bucks

April 19th, 2014 at 10:41pm CST by Cray Allred

The first day of the postseason is almost in the books, with the Thunder trying to avoid being the fourth home team to lose. Here’s a roundup of notes from around the league:

Rick Buchanan oversees the NBA’s drug-testing program, and he defended the league’s process to Sam Amick of USA Today. “[The NBA’s protocol] is as good or better than the programs in the other leagues, but we’ve kind of been given a bit of a hard time about that,” Buchanan said. “And then we have a positive [testing] situation, and a penalty, and the questions then go in another direction, which is, ‘Gee, isn’t this harsh?’…We can’t seem to catch a break.” The player’s union came out strongly in opposition to the suspension of Nick Calathes handed down yesterday.
Following this week’s owners meeting, Adam Silver said that the league is prepared to make raising the age limit for draft entry its top priority, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Silver and the owners also discussed a variety of ways to ease the transition from college hoops to the pros, including lowering the college shot clock and providing financial incentive to stay in school.
Changing the lottery format to increase the incentive for all teams to field competitive teams was also an item of discussion, with plans including the draft “wheel” and a postseason play-in tournament on the table, the ESPN scribe adds.
Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel thinks that the Bucks could turn around their franchise and parallel the success stories of the Thunder and Bobcats, but opines that the rebuild will take years and require patience.
Andrew and Aaron Harrison are waiting for NBA feedback before they decide whether to enter this year’s draft, the twins’ father tells Mark Berman of MyFOXHouston.com (H/T Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv). “I just sent the paperwork in two or three days ago,” said Aaron Harrison, Sr. “I talked to a gentleman at the NBA and he said he would get it to me as fast as possible and then we’ll go from there. It’s important. You’re trying to find out what the prospects are for them and where they’ll be drafted and all those things.”

And-Ones: Draft, Bucks, Cavs, Pistons

April 18th, 2014 at 9:13pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors weighed in on the Eastern Conference playoffs as a guest on The Baseline podcast at Shaw Sports.

More from around the Association and college ranks:

Kentucky coach John Calipari has no idea if Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison will declare for this year’s NBA Draft, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Calipari said, “They have ‘til the 27th to make a decision. I don’t even know what the NCAA date is because we don’t worry about it. It has nothing to do with us. The only date they have to be concerned about is the 27th, when they have to put their name in or they don’t put their name in.” Draft Express has Andrew ranked as the 39th best prospect and Aaron as the 53rd.
The NBA Draft Experts at ESPN.com examine the scouting report and draft prospects of Kentucky’s James Young, who has announced that he will enter this year’s draft. Young ranks 15th on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s Big Board.
Duke’s Rodney Hood also gets profiled by ESPN.com’s draft experts. Hood has declared he’s entering the draft this year, and Ford has him ranked 22nd. You can also check out our prospect profile on Hood.
Adam Silver doesn’t anticipate any issues affecting league approval of Herb Kohl’s sale of the Bucks to Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry, as the commissioner told reporters today, including Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Silver informed fellow Journal Sentinel scribe Charles F. Gardner that he expects approval to occur within a month (Twitter link).
Despite the talk that Cavaliers guards Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters don’t get along, Luol Deng has said the two players “love” each other, writes Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal.
Part of the reason the Pistons had such a poor season was due to bad chemistry, writes Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press. Ellis’ article speculates as to what caused this issue.
Larry Coon of the CBA FAQ Blog (via RealGM.com) is reporting that the 2014/15 salary cap is now projected to be $63.2MM and the tax level is projected to be $77MM. The numbers for 2015/16 are now projected to be $66.5MM and $81MM, respectively. This season’s figures are $58.679MM for the salary cap and $71.748MM for the luxury tax level, so the cap projection for next season is a 7.7% increase over this year’s.

Draft Notes: Harrison Twins, Johnson

April 12th, 2014 at 4:55pm CST by Charlie Adams

Both Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison fared well in NCAA tournament play, and they’re leaning toward entering the draft, a source tells Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. We heard Wednesday that their teammate and projected top-5 pick, Julius Randle, had yet to make his decision. Here’s more on the draft:

Arizona junior Nick Johnson is also unsure whether he’ll enter the draft this year, he said in an interview with ESPN LA 710 (transcription via Evan Triantafilidis of ArizonaSports.com).
Chad Ford of ESPN.com uses a series of videos to take a look at the prospect profiles of Tyler Ennis, Gary Harris, Noah Vonleh, and Aaron Gordon, all of whom project to be first-round picks if they declare for the draft.
We heard earlier this afternoon that Eric Moreland and Ilja Gromovs would be entering their names into the draft.

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

Draft Notes: Saric, Napier, Harrison Twins

April 8th, 2014 at 11:47am CST by Chuck Myron

Connecticut finished off a surprise run to the NCAA title on Monday, and with the college basketball season in the books, the focus on the June 26th draft sharpens. Underclassmen who’ve declared for the draft have just one more week to withdraw without losing their NCAA eligibility, so decision time is drawing near for many. Here’s the latest:

Agent Misko Raznatovic of BeoBasket says he’s become the new representative for lottery prospect Dario Saric, adding that he expects to make an announcement about Saric’s future in the next couple of days (Twitter links; hat tip to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). He’ll partner with Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. A report last month indicating that Saric had agreed to a deal that would keep him in Europe prompted Carchia to tweet shortly thereafter that he expected Saric to sign with Raznatovic, but the European deal never came to fruition, and Saric said a few days ago that he’s leaning toward entering the draft.
Shabazz Napier won the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award, but several NBA executives tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders that they still see the point guard as a second-round pick (Sulia link).
NBA types also continue to downplay the prospects of Kentucky freshman twins Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison, as Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv details.

Draft Notes: Dinwiddie, Smart, Kentucky

April 1st, 2014 at 7:29pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Colorado junior Spencer Dinwiddie is leaning heavily toward leaving for the NBA, writes Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The 6’6″ guard, who tore the ACL in his left knee on January 12th, will likely will forgo his final college season, unless the NBA evaluation he receives back says he does not have a chance to go in the first round of the draft, reports Goodman. Dinwiddie was averaging 14.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 3.8 APG at the time of his injury. He is currently ranked as the 46th best prospect by Chad Ford of ESPN.com.

More news related to draft matters:

Marcus Smart is close to signing with Wasserman Media Group, notes Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Zwerling also notes that Jay-Z and Bill Duffy are candidates to sign Andrew Wiggins.
As many as eight Kentucky players might declare for this year’s NBA Draft. Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders breaks down each candidate and what their draft prospects are. Koutroupis has also released his latest mock draft.
Chad Ford (Insider subscription required) breaks down which players have moved up and which have moved down his draft rankings based on their NCAA Tournament performances.

And-Ones: Izzo, Harrison Twins

March 30th, 2014 at 10:51pm CST by Cray Allred

Most people close to Tom Izzo think the coach would entertain NBA offers, but wouldn’t leave Michigan State in the vulnerable situation they face next year, per ESPN Insider Jeff Goodman [subscription only]. Here’s a roundup of the rest of the night’s notes:

Kentucky coach John Calipari has previously indicated that Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison would return for their sophomore seasons, but a source close to the process tells Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that the twins have not made their decision.
NBA GMs and scouts tell Deveney they expect the Harrisons to declare for the draft, and think their performance in the NCAA tournament has significantly bolstered their value.
Many league executives tell Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com [subscription only] that their opinions of the Harrisons have changed for the better over the course of the tournament, but most still have them ranked in the 20-40 range of the 2014 draft.
Goodman says that the twins are polarizing for talent evaluators, and quotes some executives who are more pessimistic about drafting the brothers due to doubts of whether they could play well apart from each other.

Draft Rumors: Minimum Age, Exum, Saric

March 12th, 2014 at 2:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The NBA’s minimum age won’t change in time for this year’s draft, but if it did, Chad Ford of ESPN.com, writing in an Insider-only piece, thinks Marcus Smart would be the No. 1 overall pick, followed by Doug McDermott, Rodney Hood, Nik Stauskas and Gary Harris. It illustrates how reliant the league has become on freshman talent, and how profoundly a rule change could devastate the draft the year it takes effect. There’s more on the minimum-age front and other news from Ford amid the latest on the draft:

Commissioner Adam Silver says he’s sought the input of NCAA president Mark Emmert on the effort to raise the NBA’s minimum age, tweets Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Silver also wants to discuss the way the draft affects players’ NCAA eligibility, as Michael McCann of SI.com notes via Twitter.
Ford doesn’t believe teams are too concerned about the notion that Dante Exum would try to force his way to the Lakers, as Ford writes in his latest chat with readers.
Dario Saric has hurt his draft stock with hints that he might stay in Europe, according to Ford, who suggests in his chat that teams might worry that Saric will become the next Nikola Mirotic. The Bulls have waited while Mirotic has remained overseas for the past three years, meaning he’s no longer subject to the rookie scale and can demand higher salaries to join the team this summer.
Most of the NBA prospects on Kentucky’s roster, including brothers Aaron and Andrew Harrison, want to enter the draft this year, Ford writes, adding that Julius Randle is nonetheless the only lock to declare.

Draft Rumors: Harrison Twins, Wiggins, Parker

January 30th, 2014 at 6:47pm CST by Ryan Raroque

In studying NBA history, one would be hard-pressed to find a championship team that didn’t draft and develop at least one star player who eventually led them to the Larry O’Brien trophy. As far as recent history is concerned, the 2003/04 Pistons appear to be an exception and Kobe Bryant technically wasn’t selected by the Lakers (he was traded for on draft night), but for the most part, fostering homegrown talent has been an undeniable component of the title equation.

Although not every team finds their future franchise cornerstone in every draft, the possibility of finding a young prospect who shows promise or presents a skill set that fills a need is enough to make the event an important one for the development of every NBA franchise. Sean Deveney of the Sporting News passes along the latest of what he’s heard regarding the 2014 Draft, and you can find it below:

Kentucky coach John Calipari has been telling people from around the NBA that his twin recruits, Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison, won’t be entering the 2014 NBA Draft. Deveney adds that many of the mock drafts worth reading have already moved the two to their 2015 projection.
With that being said, a source with knowledge of the situation doesn’t think the Harrison twins should be counted out of this year’s draft just yet. Both are still reportedly giving strong consideration to entering their names for 2014, and while Calipari will be influential, their family – who played a big part in their commitment to Kentucky last year – will help make the final decision.
Although there are restrictions against college players accepting anything from agents, there is no rule prohibiting them from forming relationships, even during the college season. According to Deveney, it’s no secret that potential number one pick Andrew Wiggins has been tied with Rich Paul of LRMR Marketing, the same agency that represents LeBron James. Most fellow agents expect the Kansas star to sign with Paul once he declares for the draft.
Paul is also believed to be a candidate to represent Duke’s Jabari Parker, although Deveney writes that former Bulls guard B.J. Armstrong – an associate of reputable longtime NBA agent Arm Tellem – is also in the mix, especially since Parker is a Chicago native.
Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State – currently projected to be a top five pick – has been linked to Aaron Mintz of the CAA, who represents Pacers star Paul George among others.