Adin Vrabac

Nedim Buza Enters Draft

Small forward Nedim Buza has entered this year draft, agent Alexander Raskovic tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 6’8″ native of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the 38th-best prospect according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, while Givony ranks him 53rd. Buza entered last year’s draft, too, before withdrawing in advance of the deadline to do so. He made last year’s decisions in tandem with OKK Spars Sarajevo teammate Adin Vrabac, who’s since moved on to play in Germany, though Vrabac decided last week to enter the draft again this year.

The 19-year-old Buza, who turns 20 next month, had an expanded role this season with OKK Spars Sarajevo, a club in his home country, averaging 12.0 points and 5.1 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game. He kept up his decent three-point shooting, nailing 35.3% of his attempts. Buza is coming off a six-point, 13-minute performance in the recent Nike Hoops Summit.

Buza scheduled workouts with the Bucks, Timberwolves and Nuggets last year, Raskovic said then, and he figures to draw more predraft auditions this year. He’s not automatically draft-eligible until 2017, so he can pull out again by June 15th if he wants.

And-Ones: HGH Testing, Demps, Simmons

The NBA and the NBPA announced today that blood testing for Human Growth Hormone will commence under the league’s anti-drug program, beginning during the 2015/16 NBA season. According to the official announcement, all NBA players will be subject to three random, unannounced HGH tests annually (two in-season, and one during the offseason), and players will also be subject to reasonable cause testing for HGH. If a player tests positive for HGH, he will be suspended 20 games for his first violation, 45 games for his second violation, and he will be dismissed and disqualified from the NBA for his third violation.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Pelicans GM Dell Demps refuted a report asserting that he and coach Monty Williams were under the mandate this season to make the playoffs or lose their jobs, John Reid of the Times Picayune relays. ”I am hoping to keep the focus on the Pelicans and our playoff run,” Demps said. ”To answer the question, I did not receive a mandate to make the playoffs from ownership or anyone else. That conversation did not happen. Our ownership group has been very supportive, patient and given us all the resources to be successful.
  • 21-year-old Bosnian forward Adin Vrabac, who is currently playing in Germany, will declare for the 2015 NBA draft, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress tweets. Vrabac, who isn’t currently projected to be picked in June, withdrew from last year’s draft after initially declaring his intent to enter.
  • The 2016 NBA draft is projected to be a much weaker field than this year’s, Givony told Josh Newman of SNY.tv (Twitter links). The player pool could improve based on which underclassmen decide to return to school this year, Newman adds.
  • Chris Mannix of SI.com unveiled his initial 2015 mock draft and his top three players are Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, and Emmanuel Mudiay.
  • Despite the 2015 NBA draft still being over two months away, scouts and executives are already turning their gaze toward the 2016 class and Australian Ben Simmons, Howard Beck of Bleacher Report writes. The 6’10” Simmons possesses point guard skills and is the projected No. 1 overall pick next season by Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required), Beck notes. One NBA executive was so enamored with Simmons’ potential, he said that the player was worth tanking for, Beck adds. Simmons will attend LSU next season.

NBA Draft Withdrawal Deadline Updates

Monday was the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft, and the league has announced the list of those who’ve pulled out. The deadline applied mostly to prospects from overseas, since any collegian who takes his name out of consideration at this point isn’t be able to return to NCAA competition. Mychal Ammons of South Alabama is the only U.S.-based player who withdrew, but he’d already signed a deal with an overseas club.

Yesterday’s reports identified several of the prospects taking their names out of the draft, as well as some high-profile players staying in, and we’ve added the previously unreported names of those pulling out to the top of the list below. For the complete register of early entrants denoting those who’ve withdrawn, click here.

Withdrawing from the draft

  • Ammons, Berkay Candan, Tomas Dimsa, Marko Ramljak, Alejandro SuarezDevon Van Oostrum are all out of the draft, the NBA announced.
  • Joonas Caven has pulled out of the draft, agent K.C. Callero tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Matias Bortolin is withdrawing from the draft, his agent tells Sportando (Twitter link).
  • Ilja Gromovs will exit the draft, too, agent Arturs Kalnitis says to Givony (Twitter link).
  • Mateusz Ponitka has removed his name from draft consideration, Givony tweets.
  • Moussa Diagne and Guillem Vives will take their names out of the draft, agent Herb Ruboy says to Givony (Twitter link).
  • Rasmus Larsen has decided to exit the draft, as agent Doug Neustadt informs Givony (Twitter link).
  • OKK Spars Sarajevo teammates Nedim Buza and Adin Vrabac have decided to pull out of the draft, agent Alexander Raskovic tweets.
  • Lefteris Bochoridis has withdrawn from the draft, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.

Remaining in the draft

  • Jokic isn’t the only prospect to flip-flop today.  Damien Inglis changed his mind and has decided to keep his name in the draft, agent Pedja Materic tells Jonthan Givony of DraftExpress (via Twitter).
  • Raznatovic, Saric’s agent, took to Twitter to confirm that his client will remain in the draft (hat tip to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
  • Nikola Jokic has changed his mind and will remain in the draft after all, Raznatovic tweets (hat tip to Chad Ford of ESPN.com).
  • Dario Saric will stay in the draft, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).
  • Vasilije Micic remains in the draft, agent Misko Raznatovic tweets.
  • Clint Capela will keep his name in this year’s draft, agent Bouna Ndiaye tells Givony (Twitter link).

Draft Notes: Cavs, Grizzlies, Randle

The Cavaliers will visit with Joel Embiid in the coming weeks and perform a full physical on the potential first overall selection, reports Andy Katz of ESPN.com. The article notes that Embiid won’t visit another team until the Cavs are given a chance to determine if they will select him with the top pick. Embiid’s representatives and the Cavs are working toward finding an appropriate date, time and place to conduct the interview and physical, notes Katz. Cleveland could still deal the No. 1 pick, which is the primary reason why Embiid’s representatives want to see where the team stands before scheduling further visits or interviews, per the article.

More from around the league:

  • The Grizzlies announced via a press release that they will hold their first pre-draft workouts on Friday. The players scheduled to participate are Clint Capela, Josh Huestis, Joe Jackson, Eric Moreland, Adin Vrabac, and Scottie Wilbekin. The Grizzlies hold the 22nd overall pick in June’s draft.
  • NBA.com released their prospect profile for Kentucky forward Julius Randle. Randle is projected as a probable top five selection in this year’s draft.
  • After participating in a group workout, 7’1″ Russian prospect Artem Klimenko had medical testing and a private workout with the Sixers, tweets Igor Rubin of RU-Basket Management.
  • Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com looks at the effect that returning for his senior season had on Doug McDermott‘s draft stock.

Draft Notes: Hairston, Clarkson, Cotton

Memorial Day brought no shortage of updates on NBA draft prospects and teams as they schedule workouts, and today promises still more clues about the June 26th draft. Here’s the latest:

  • P.J. Hairston will work out for the Suns, Celtics and Hornets in addition to today’s previously reported audition for the Heat, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
  • Jordan Clarkson is also on the agenda for the Heat, according to Goodman, who reiterates that Miami will put Jordan Adams and Jarnell Stokes through workouts, too (Twitter links).
  • Bryce Cotton will also show off for the Heat, as well as the Spurs, his agent tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia.
  • Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel adds seniors Chris Crawford of Memphis and Drew Crawford of Northwestern to the list of the prospects working out today for the Bucks.
  • Jermaine Marshall of Arizona State is working out for the Rockets today, Carchia reports.
  • It appears as though Nedim Buza will audition for the Bucks, Timberwolves and Nuggets, while Adin Vrabac has a workout with the Wolves on tap, according to agent Alexander Raskovic (Twitter links; hat tip to Sportando).

Nedim Buza, Adin Vrabac To Enter Draft

Bosnian small forwards Nedim Buza and Adin Vrabac are entering this year’s NBA draft, agent Alex Raskovic tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Buza is No. 61 on Givony’s list of the top 100 prospects, and while Vrabac doesn’t appear on that list, he checks in 55th in Givony’s 2015 mock draft.

Both play for KK Spars in their native Bosnia. Vrabac has posted better numbers than his more highly regarded counterpart, posting averages of 11.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, while Buza checks in at 8.0 PPG and 2.7 RPG. The difference appears to be Buza’s superior outside shot, as he’s nailed 39.6% of his shots from behind the arc this season, compared to Vrabac’s anemic 23.8% mark from three-point territory.

Vrabac won’t be automatically draft eligible until 2016, and Buza can wait until 2017, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of them withdraw from the draft. International players who don’t play NCAA basketball have the luxury of testing the waters and going through workouts with NBA teams, since the deadline for them to withdraw isn’t until June 16th.

International Prospects’ Draft Decisions

The deadline for international early entrants to withdraw from the 2013 draft arrives today at 4:00pm central time, so plenty of updates are trickling in on players deciding whether they're in or out. We'll track all of those decisions in this post throughout the day, with new updates being added to the top of each list:

In:

  • Lucas Nogueira and Raul Neto are staying in the draft, agent Aylton Tesch tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (on Twitter).
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo will remain eligible to be drafted, his agent announced today on Twitter.
  • German power forward Daniel Theis will be keeping his name in the draft, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.
  • Sergey Karasev will remain in the draft, agent Justin Zanik tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Givony reports (via Twitter) that Alex Abrines and Marko Todorovic are staying in the draft, with agent Igor Crespo saying, "That was the plan all along."
  • French forward Livio Jean-Charles will remain in the draft, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
  • Rudy Gobert will also remain in the draft, according to Ford (Twitter link), which is no surprise, considering he projects as a potential lottery pick.

Out:

  • Mouhammadou Jaiteh has decided to withdraw his name from the 2013 NBA Draft, his agent tells Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld (Twitter link).  He'll return to France for the season.
  • French prospects Louis Labeyrie and Axel Toupane have withdrawn their names from the draft, their agent told Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (on Twitter).
  • Greek small forward Linos Chrysikopoulos has removed his name from the draft pool, agent Mike Main tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Big man Walter Tavares has withdrawn his name, agent Guillermo Bermejo tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Adin Vrabac, Artem Pustovyi and Bogdan Bogdanovic have also pulled out of the draft, reports Givony (via Twitter).
  • Philipp Neumann has withdrawn his name from consideration, tweets Givony.
  • Francois Affia Ambadiang has pulled out of the draft, agent Alex Saratsis tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Givony adds four more names to the list of players exiting the draft: Nemanja Besovic, Matias Bortolin, Djordje Drenovac, and Marko Ramljak (Twitter link).