Jaime Jaquez

Central Notes: Pacers, Pistons, Duren, Cavs

Indiana will be hosting six prospects on Friday for the team’s first pre-draft workout, the Pacers announced in a press release.

The six players are UConn’s Andre Jackson, UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez, Missouri’s Kobe Brown, Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma, North Dakota State’s Grant Nelson, and Liutauras Lelevicius, a Lithuanian prospect who played for Zalgris II this past season.

Jackson (30), Jaquez (32), Brown (43), Kaluma (90), and Nelson (94) all appear on ESPN’s top-100 prospects list, while Lelevicius is unranked. The Pacers control their own lottery pick, two late first-rounders (26th and 29th), and two second-round picks (either 50th or 32nd, plus 55th).

Here’s more from the Central:

  • Hiring the right head coach, having a successful draft, and acquiring forward depth in free agency are among the top offseason priorities for the Pistons, according to Mike Curtis of The Detroit News (subscriber link), who thinks the team should pursue Nets restricted free agent Cameron Johnson.
  • Pistons center Jalen Duren, who was recently named to the All-Rookie Second Team, was mostly pleased with his debut season, but he’s going to work on his conditioning and consistency in year two, Curtis writes in another subscriber-only story. “Consistency is a huge word,” Duren said. “To be great, you have to be consistent. For me, it’s honestly just being locked in and trying to understand what’s going on. ‘Being where my feet are,’ I like to say, and try to take over games, dominate games and affect games in any way possible. … I feel like that will come. I’m excited about what I can be in this league.”
  • Josh Richardson, Kelly Oubre, Max Strus, Gary Trent Jr. and Jalen McDaniels could be the types of wings the Cavaliers choose to go after in free agency with their mid-level exception, Kelsey Russo states in a mailbag for The Athletic. I don’t see Trent falling to that price point, especially since he could just opt in to his $18.8MM player option if he isn’t confident about getting a better payday, but the other four might be attainable (whether or not they’d be a good fit is another story).

NBA Reveals Players Expected At 2023 Draft Combine

The NBA has announced 78 players that are expected to attend this year’s draft combine, scheduled for May 15-21 at in Chicago, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets.

Additionally, a select number of standout players from the G League Elite Camp, which takes place May 13-14 in Chicago, will be invited to participate in the combine.

Players will have interviews with NBA teams and participate in five-on-five scrimmages, as well as shooting, strength and agility drills. Some top prospects opt out of the scrimmages.

Victor Wembanyama, the projected top pick, is not on the list. His French League season is still ongoing.

The list of invitees is as follows:

Kris Murray, Jaime Jaquez, Oscar Tshiebwe Entering Draft

Iowa forward Kris Murray, a projected first-round pick who is currently ranked No. 26 on ESPN’s big board, has declared for the 2023 NBA draft, he announced via Twitter. Murray’s statement doesn’t say anything about maintaining his college eligibility, so we’re assuming he plans to stay in the draft and turn pro.

As a junior for the Hawkeyes, Murray averaged 20.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.2 blocks on .476/.335/.729 shooting in 29 games (34.9 minutes). He was named to the All-Big 10 First Team for his efforts. Murray is the twin brother of Kings rookie Keegan Murray, who was the No. 4 overall pick last year.

UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez is also entering the draft and will forgo his final year of eligibility, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Jaquez, considered a fringe first-round pick, currently ranks No. 34 on ESPN’s board.

As a senior for the Bruins, Jazquez averaged 17.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals on .481/.317/.770 shooting in 37 games (33.2 minutes). He was named Pac-12 Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-America Second Team.

Wherever I get drafted, I don’t care,” Jaquez said. “I’m going to make some sort of impact. People are going to feel like I impacted their organization. (Former No. 30 overall picks) Jimmy Butler, Josh Hart … those are the guys I study. They have a different mentality; they play to win.”

Here are a few more early entrants for the 2023 draft:

  • Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe, who was the 2021/22 AP Player of the Year, is entering the draft while maintaining his final year of college eligibility, he announced on Instagram. Tshiebwe averaged 16.5 points, 13.7 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.0 block while shooting 56% from the field and 72.9% from the line in 32 games (33.6 minutes) as a senior. He is ranked No. 74 on ESPN’s board and considered a fringe second-round pick.
  • Wake Forest’s Bobi Klintman (link via Sam Vecenie of The Athletic), Arizona State’s Warren Washington (Instagram link), and San Diego State’s Jaedon Ledee (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports) are all entering the draft while maintaining their eligibility. Vecenie believes Klintman, a 6’10” freshman wing from Sweden, could be a first-round pick in 2024. Washington and Ledee are both seniors who have one year of eligibility left due to the pandemic.

And-Ones: Mills, Presti, Cunningham, Jaquez

Nets guard Patty Mills has won this season’s Sportsmanship Award, according to a league press release. The annual award is designed to honor a player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court.

Each NBA team nominated one of its players for the award and current players selected the winner from the list of six finalists. Bam Adebayo, Mikal Bridges, Darius Garland, Jeff Green and Jaren Jackson Jr. were the other finalists.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • Thunder general manager Sam Presti is a proponent of an in-season tournament, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman notes, saying it shows the league is “thinking big picture.” Presti called an in-season tournament “necessary to have a better business and a better game in the future.” He feels that it would appeal to a non-traditional or younger fan base as well as improve competitive parity.
  • Overtime Elite has landed the top recruit in ESPN’s Class of 2024. Naasir Cunningham told ESPN’s Jonathan Givony about his reasons for joining Overtime Elite, which was confirmed in a press release. “This is best place for me to develop as a player, while getting the right education to fall back on at the same time,” the 6’7” Cunningham said. “Overtime built a relationship with my family and I, which was a big factor in trusting them with my future.” Cunningham will be the first player to decline a salary by OTE, which should preserve his eligibility to play college basketball after graduating from high school.
  • While many players are testing the draft waters, some prominent prospects have chosen to return to college. Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Wood looks at five such players, including UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez and UConn’s Jordan Hawkins.