Adreian Payne Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Notes: Embiid, Parker, Wiggins, Ross

March 22nd, 2014 at 4:57pm CST by Charlie Adams

Kansas center Joel Embiid won’t be playing against Stanford tomorrow, but Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated doesn’t think his absence should have a major impact on his draft stock (Twitter link). The latest mock draft from DraftExpress has Embiid going second overall. Here’s a look at some more news related to the draft:

Despite yesterday’s crushing loss to Mercer, Jabari Parker is still expected to enter his name into June’s draft, one executive tells Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog. The same executive says he would take Parker at third overall, behind the Kansas duo of Embiid and Andrew Wiggins. If Embiid’s back proves to be an issue, however, he’d take Parker second behind Wiggins.
Ohio State’s LaQuinton Ross still hasn’t made a decision on whether or not he’ll enter the draft, reveals Zagoria. One scout tells Zagoria that Ross would be well advised to stay in school and work to improve his game. Ross would figure to be a mid-second-round pick this June.
University of Arizona coach Sean Miller labeled Weber State forward Joel Bolomboy as an NBA prospect, tweets Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune. Bolomboy average 8.7 points and 11 rebounds per game in 2013/14.
Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders gives his take on how the tournament has affected the top prospects’ draft stocks. Adreian Payne and T.J. Warren are two players who Koutroupis thinks have really benefited themselves from good performances in the early rounds of the tourney.

Draft Rumors: Wilbekin, Young, Sixers, Embiid

March 20th, 2014 at 7:41pm CST by Charlie Adams

March Madness is officially underway, and Chris Dortch of NBA.com has complied a list of players who have the most to gain from a good performance in the NCAA Tournament. Gator seniors Scottie Wilbekin and Patric Young are among the players mentioned, and Dortch thinks a tourney title from Florida would greatly help their stocks. Let’s round up some more draft rumors:

Having lost 22 straight contests and sitting at 15-53, the Sixers are sure to receive a high lottery pick in June’s draft. Rather than addressing needs at a particular position, Philly coach Brett Brown‘s draft strategy is to “take the best player and figure it out,” reveals Tom Moore of the Intelligencer.
Chad Ford of ESPN.com breaks down each tournament team’s prospects (Insider link). The South region has the most NBA-talent, according to Ford, but the Midwest region isn’t far behind.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports gives an NBA scout’s take on 10 potential lottery picks. According to the scout, Joel Embiid will likely be the first player taken if his back problems prove to be a non-issue. “Teams don’t want to draft another Greg Oden,” said the scout. “Embiid will be No. 1 if there is no back issue. There is only one player in the draft that’s a potential franchise player, and that’s Embiid. It’s a deep draft. When I say franchise player, there are only eight or 10 of those in the league. Embiid has the potential to be one.”
The latest mock draft from Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders sees Embiid going third overall, behind Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker.
Adreian Payne‘s 41 point performance today will do nothing but help the MSU Spartan’s draft stock, and Chad Ford tweets that a few more big games out of Payne could help boost him into a lock for the lottery. Ford notes Payne is particularly appealing because there aren’t many stretch fours in this year’s class. Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com thinks Payne will be a mid-first-round pick, but that he won’t end up being a star in the NBA (Twitter link).
Michigan forward Glenn Robinson III needs to have a strong performance in the tournament to prove he’s not just coasting off his family name, opines Howard-Cooper. Robinson is the son of the former All-Star who shares the same name.

Adreian Payne To Return To Michigan State

April 28th, 2013 at 9:10pm CST by Zachary Links

Michigan State forward Adreian Payne has decided to return to school for his senior season, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The 6'10" power forward would've been selected in the first round of the June draft according to Wojnarowski, though DraftExpress has him rated as a second round talent.

The forward struggled with his decision and went back and forth several times in recent weeks. Payne finally began to clue people in on his decision hours before the midnight deadline for draft entry on Sunday, according to sources. Payne averaged 10.5 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Spartans and will head back to school along with fellow talented underclassman Gary Harris.

Draft Updates: Hardaway, Larkin, Early Entrants

April 17th, 2013 at 8:53am CST by Luke Adams

The NCAA's withdrawal deadline for early entrants passed by yesterday, but the real deadline is still to come. NCAA underclassmen who haven't declared for the draft yet can still do so by the NBA's deadline of April 28th, so a few decisions are still on the way in the next week and a half. Let's check in on a couple of those decisions in our latest round of draft updates….

Tim Hardaway Jr. of Michigan has a press conference scheduled at 2:00pm CST today to announce his decision, according to Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com (Twitter link), who says he'd be very surprised if Hardaway doesn't go pro.
ESPN.com's Chad Ford (Twitter link) hears that Miami sophomore Shane Larkin is leaning strongly toward declaring for the draft, which has Ford moving him to the "one foot in" section of his in-or-out list.
A few other players besides Hardaway Jr. and Larkin that have "one foot in," according to Ford: Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk, Washington's C.J. Wilcox, and Adreian Payne of Michigan State. All three players are juniors at their respective schools.