Caleb Houstan Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Notes: J. Williams, Sasser, LaRavia, Houstan, Minott, More

May 27th, 2022 at 2:22pm CST by Luke Adams

Santa Clara wing Jalen Williams was perhaps the standout of last week’s draft combine in Chicago, while Houston guard Marcus Sasser looked like the best player at the G League Elite Camp, John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic write as part of their analysis of the combine.

Hollinger and Vecenie suggest that Williams’ stock has “exploded into the stratosphere” as a result of his performance in Chicago and that he looks like a safe bet to be a first-round pick. As for Sasser, he got “nearly unanimous praise” from scouts, who believe he has a chance to start his rookie season on a standard NBA contract, rather than a two-way deal.

The Athletic’s duo shares several more combine-related tidbits in their full story, including identifying Wake Forest forward Jake LaRavia as a prospect who is drawing legitimate interest from contending teams in the last 10 picks of the first round.

Hollinger and Vecenie also say that chatter about Michigan forward Caleb Houstan having received a promise continues to circulate among league insiders. Those insiders have speculated that Oklahoma City at No. 30 could be the team eyeing Houstan, given the Thunder‘s history of shutting down their targets well ahead of draft night.

Here are a few more draft-related notes:

Josh Minott, the No. 48 player on ESPN’s 2022 big board, will be keeping his name in the NBA draft, according to his uncle (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports). The freshman forward played fewer than 500 total minutes in his first and only college season at Memphis in 2021/22.
Wyoming guard Hunter Maldonado tells Rothstein (Twitter link) that he’ll withdraw from the draft and use his final year of NCAA eligibility. Maldonado had a big senior year in 2021/22, averaging 18.5 PPG, 6.3 APG, and 5.7 RPG and making the All-Mountain West Conference first team.
George Washington junior guard James Bishop will withdraw from the draft and return to school for at least one more year, tweets Rothstein. Bishop has been the Colonials’ go-to scorer since transferring for his sophomore season, averaging 17.6 PPG in 47 games over the last two years.
Senior guard Emmanuel Bandoumel will also withdraw from the draft as he transfers from SMU to Nebraska, tweets Rothstein.
Former Louisiana senior center Theo Akwuba has withdrawn from the draft and Oklahoma State junior guard Avery Anderson III and Tennessee junior guard Santiago Vescovi are expected to do the same, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium (all Twitter links). Goodman notes that Akwuba will be transferring to Ole Miss for his final college season.

Draft Notes: Robinson, Scheierman, Daye, Murray, Houstan

May 17th, 2022 at 11:55am CST by Luke Adams

Fresno State center Orlando Robinson intends to remain in the 2022 NBA draft and hire an agent, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The No. 75 prospect on ESPN’s big board, Robinson declared for the draft after averaging 19.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 2.9 APG on .484/.352/.716 shooting in 36 games (33.2 MPG) as a junior. He’s participating in the draft combine in Chicago this week.

Meanwhile, three more prospects have opted to stay in the draft after declaring as early entrants, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (all Twitter links), who reports that UTSA guard Dhieu Deing, Wake Forest big man Dallas Walton, and UC Irvine forward Collin Welp are going pro.

Deing is coming off of his junior year, while Walton and Welp were seniors in 2021/22 — they won’t take advantage of their extra year of NCAA eligibility that was granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. None of the three prospects are on ESPN’s top-100 list.

Here are a few more draft-related updates:

Having spent the first three years of his college career with South Dakota State, forward Baylor Scheierman has committed to Creighton for 2022/23, but he’ll remain in the draft if he gets a promise that he’ll be selected, per Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com. “Ultimately, I want to stay in the draft obviously,” said Scheierman, the No. 76 prospect on ESPN’s board. “If I can get picked, I’m going to stay in. And then the undrafted waters, I’ll have to talk to my agent and what not.”
After declaring for the draft as early entrants, Coastal Carolina guard Antonio Daye and Rider guard Dwight Murray Jr. will withdraw from this year’s draft and return to school, using their final year of college eligibility, according to Rothstein (Twitter links).
Iowa’s Kris Murray and Michigan’s Caleb Houstan are among a very small group of players that declined invites for this year’s draft combine, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz (Insider link). Givony and Schmitz suggest Murray will likely return to school and say that some NBA teams think Houstan may have a first-round promise.

Draft Notes: Houstan, Molinar, Aluma

April 25th, 2022 at 10:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

University of Michigan swingman Caleb Houstan has declared for the draft but is maintaining his NCAA eligibility while exploring the pre-draft process, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony tweets. He’s the second Wolverines freshman to make such a declaration on Monday — forward Moussa Diabate will also test the draft waters.

Houstan, a 6’8” wing, averaged 10.1 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 34 starts this season. He made 35.5% of his 3-point attempts. He’s currently ranked No. 64 on ESPN’s Best Available list.

We have more draft decisions:

Mississippi State’s Iverson Molinar is staying in the draft and will hire an agent, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets. The 6’3” guard is ranked No. 62 on ESPN’s big board. He averaged 17.5 PPG and 3.6 APG in his junior year.
Virginia Tech forward Keve Aluma will enter the draft and hire an agent, he confirmed on his Twitter page. He averaged 15.8 PPG and 6.5 RPG in his senior year. The Wofford transfer started both of his seasons with the Hokies.
In case you missed it, AJ Griffin joined four Duke teammates in declaring for the draft.

And-Ones: Overtime Elite, 2022 Draft, Worst Offseasons, Taxpayers

August 23rd, 2021 at 2:04pm CST by Luke Adams

The new Overtime Elite league for teenage prospects has made another noteworthy addition, securing a commitment from five-star recruit Tyler Smith, writes ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. The 6’9″ Smith, who ranked No. 8 on ESPN’s list of 2023 recruits, said he signed a two-year “seven-figure” deal with Overtime Elite, per Givony.

“This is different and new,” he said. “I wanted to be a pro already, working on stuff that NBA players work on. In high school, you can’t work out as much as they do at OTE.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report highlights five prospects projected to be part of the 2022 draft class who have generated buzz at the U19 World Cup and other recent events, including Michigan forward Caleb Houstan and G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels.
In the first article in a three-part series, David Aldridge of The Athletic ranks the 10 teams that have – in his view – had the worst offseasons in 2021. The Trail Blazers (28th), Kings (29th), and Timberwolves (30th) occupy the bottom three spots on Aldridge’s list.
According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter links), teams that finished in the tax in 2020/21 had their taxable salary adjusted downward by 28.9% to account for lost revenue. For instance, the Warriors finished the season about $37MM above the tax line, but were treated like a team over the tax by approximately $26MM — Golden State paid about $69MM in tax penalties, says Pincus.