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Draft Notes: Hairston, Burton, Wolters, Greek Freak

April 8th, 2013 at 10:58pm CST by Alex Lee

With a blank slate tonight in the professional ranks, expect most NBA fans to turn their attention to the NCAA title game between Michigan and Louisville.  Both teams are loaded with future NBAers.  Let's round up all draft-related news and notes from tonight here:

  • Per the Associated Press (via ESPN), New Mexico guard Tony Snell will enter the NBA draft.  There were reports a few weeks back that Snell was leaning towards the draft and on Monday he made it official, stating at an on-campus news conference, "in my heart, I feel like it's a good decision to leave now."
  • Mitch McGary's NBA draft stock is soaring, writes Adam Zagoria of SNY.  Quoting a pair of pro scouts, Zagoria implies that McGary needs to at least consider leaving Ann Arbor because it is unlikely that his stock will ever be this high again. 

Earlier updates:

  • Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports tweeted yesterday that North Carolina sophomore guard P.J. Hairston will be returning to Chapel Hill.  However, Hairston's mother says that they are still in the process of making that decision, writes Andrew Carter of the Charlotte Observer.  Hairston emerged as a legitimate scoring threat once he was inserted into the starting lineup for the Tar Heels in mid-February.  According to Carter, Roy Williams is optimistic that Hairston, James McAdoo and Reggie Bullock will all return, though he cautioned that no announcement will be made by the school until all three decide. 
  • Nevada's Deonte Burton will return for his senior season, reports Chris Murray of the Reno Gazette-Journal.  The point guard, who averaged 16.3 points and 3.6 assists per game as a junior for the Wolf Pack, was projected anywhere from a late second-rounder to undrafted. 
  • South Dakota State senior Nate Wolters has signed with agent Jared Karnes, tweets HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy, who adds that the Jack Rabbits star is expected to be an early second round pick.  Wolters has been one of the best mid-major players in the country in his career, averaging 19.5, 21.2 and 22.3 points-per-game from his sophomore to senior seasons. 
  • Giannis Antetokoumpo, a 6-foot-10 point guard from Greece with a giant wingspan, is shooting up NBA draft boards, reports Chris Sheridan in a video courtesy of Sheridan Hoops.  As we've seen, the "Greek Freak" is drawing a ton of interest from NBA teams  and Sheridan opines that Antetokoumpo could end up being a lottery pick if he decides to enter this June's draft.
  • Joe Kotoch of Sheridan Hoops shares his latest NBA mock draft here, adding that Antetokoumpo could end up being this year's Bismack Biyombo. 
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Draft Notes: Big Boards, Harris, Adams, Kabongo

March 13th, 2013 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

A week from now, we'll be gearing up for this year's NCAA Tournament to get underway in earnest. In the meantime, here's the latest on a number of the prospects whose teams will be participating in March Madness:

  • Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Chris Mannix of SI.com have both published the fifth editions of their respective big boards for the 2013 draft. Both scribes have Ben McLemore, Nerlens Noel, and Marcus Smart ranked first, second, and third respectively.
  • Within Ford's big board, he reports that Gary Harris, Ford's No. 10 prospect, is "strongly contemplating" returning to Michigan State for his sophomore year. Pittsburgh's Steven Adams, ranked No. 23, is also a good bet to return to school next year, according to Ford.
  • Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com also updated his list of top 100 prospects for 2013, which still has Noel in the top spot, despite yesterday's knee surgery.
  • Ford's weekly chat at ESPN.com included plenty of interesting draft-related tidbits. Among the highlights: A number of GMs believe Texas' Myck Kabongo could be a great value in the 20s or 30s, and Ford believes that James Michael McAdoo of UNC is one player whose stock would benefit significantly from a strong showing in the NCAA Tournament.
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Odds & Ends: Oden, Elson, McAdoo, Draft

January 14th, 2013 at 4:58pm CST by Luke Adams

As we prepare for an eight-game evening slate that includes the Hawks and Bulls jockeying for Eastern Conference positioning in Chicago, let's check out a few odds and ends from around the NBA:

  • No one team tops Greg Oden's wishlist, including the Heat, says TNT's David Aldridge on NBA.com. Oden isn't even planning to compile a list of possible destinations until he's 100% healthy — if he can't get there, he won't come back, according to Aldridge.
  • The next stop for veteran NBA big man Francisco Elson could be in Iran, according to a MehrNews.com report (hat tip to HoopsHype). The sporting director for Mahram, a team based in Tehran, Iran, says Elson will train with the team this week and possibly sign a contract later this month.
  • ESPN.com's Chad Ford and Jay Bilas both identify UNC's James Michael McAdoo as one of the most overrated prospects in college basketball in their latest Insider-only piece.
  • Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer also explores the 2013 draft class, hearing from two scouts that work for teams with potential top-10 picks. Neither scout was overly impressed with this year's prospects, with one opining: "I don’t think this is a good draft. This is the year you should consider trading your draft pick — no matter where it is."
    Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/13/3786420/scout-recommends-charlotte-bobcats.html#storylink=cpy
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Odds & Ends: Spurs, Varejao, Draft, Fisher

November 30th, 2012 at 4:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, I asked Hoops Rumors readers whether Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was in the wrong for sending his star players home before last night's game against the Heat. Over 83% of respondents so far have sided with Popovich rather than with commissioner David Stern, who called Pop's decision "unacceptable." Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports agrees with you in his take on the subject, calling Stern's statement a "temper tantrum that left everyone around him embarrassed, humiliated and wondering why he insisted on staying until February of 2014."

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA as we prepare for the weekend:

  • While Anderson Varejao has been a popular topic of trade speculation lately, the Cavaliers have no plans to move him, writes Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio. In any case, most teams who would be interested in Varejao don't have the assets to acquire him or aren't willing to part with them, says Amico.
  • In his latest draft blog at ESPN.com (Insider only), Chad Ford examines a few players whose stocks have slipped early in the season, including UNC's James Michael McAdoo and Tony Mitchell of North Texas.
  • A pair of Dallas Morning News scribes offer up opposing takes on the Mavericks' signing of Derek Fisher, with Eddie Sefko noting that signing Fisher as a starter will make the team's bench stronger, while Kevin Sherrington says it's a patchwork move in another year "about nothing."
  • Within Sam Smith's latest mailbag for Bulls.com, he writes that Carlos Boozer "basically cannot be traded" unless it's for a contract that's as bad or worse than his.
  • NBA.com's Fran Blinebury wonders if it would be in the Trail Blazers' best interests to consider trading LaMarcus Aldridge this season.
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Draft Updates: McAdoo, Poythress, Noel

November 21st, 2012 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

When we unveiled our 2012/13 reverse standings feature last week, a way to track the tentative 2013 NBA draft order, we noted that it was still way too early for most fans to be thinking about the draft. Of course, when you're ESPN.com's Chad Ford or another draft scribe, there's no such thing as "too early." Here's the latest from Ford and others on this year's draft class:

  • Reviews for UNC's James Michael McAdoo at the Maui Invitational were poor, with one GM telling Ford: "He looks good in a basketball uniform. But after that, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to like. He’s a pretty good athlete, but he isn’t very skilled and he doesn’t go hard all the time. There’s not one thing he does that really stands out about his game. He certainly hasn’t played like a top-five pick."
  • In addition to sharing his observations from the Maui Invitational, Ford fielded questions in a chat with readers this afternoon. Among the highlights: He views Alex Poythress of Kentucky as a darkhorse for the No. 1 overall pick in 2013, and isn't sure any of the top three prospects in this year's class would've cracked the top seven in the 2012 draft.
  • Chris Mannix of SI.com spoke to a Western Conference GM, an Eastern Conference scout, and another pair of NBA execs to get their impressions on this year's group of Kentucky freshmen, which includes Poythress and Nerlens Noel.
  • We also passed along a set of draft links yesterday.
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Florida Notes: Heat, Magic, Big Three, Harris

August 18th, 2012 at 5:28pm CST by Zachary Links

Let's take a trip to the Sunshine State to check in on the Heat and Magic..

  • Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel takes a look at a few college players Magic fans should keep an eye on this season, including Nerlens Noel, Cody Zeller, Shabazz Muhammad, and James McAdoo.
  • Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel looks ahead to the summer of 2014 where the Heat's big three could be the biggest gets on the open market.  Winderman sees the Magic as a potential threat to poach Miami's talent as they'll have the cap space to sign two top-tier free agents.  The Lakers will also have payroll flexibility once the contracts of Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant expire and as unlikely as it seems that they would part with Kobe, Winderman notes that they are the same club that traded Shaquille O'Neal.
  • More from Winderman, who is surprised that the Heat have yet to re-sign guard Terrel Harris.  The 25-year-old is seeking a contract with some amount of guarantees, but the club may be holding its remaining two spots open for a different combination of players which may include Juwan Howard.
  • Undrafted free agent Charlie Westbrook has agreed to a three-year deal with Italian team Tezenis Veronia, tweets Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld.  Westbrook, who was in summer league with the Magic, tweeted earlier this week that he would be passing on two training camp opportunities to play overseas.
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Draft Update: Melo, McAdoo, Canaan

April 5th, 2012 at 4:14pm CST by Sean Highkin

The latest news about the 2012 NBA draft from around the web:

  • The Associated Press reports (via ESPN) that Syracuse center Fab Melo will enter the draft, as expected.
  • North Carolina forward James Michael McAdoo will return to UNC for his sophomore season, TarHeelBlue.com reports.
  • Isaiah Canaan is also returning to Murray State for his senior season, tweets Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com.
  • HoopsWorld's Yannis Koutroupis lists Iowa State forward Royce White, St. Bonaventure forward Andrew Nicholson, and Kentucky guard Marquis Teague among several other players who may have played themselves into first-round pick status over the course of the NCAA tournament.
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Draft Updates: Brown, Plumlee, Watford, McAdoo

April 2nd, 2012 at 2:14pm CST by Luke Adams

As we prepare for tonight's NCAA National Championship in New Orleans, let's round up the latest draft-related items….

  • Junior guard J'Covan Brown has decided to forgoe his senior year at Texas and enter the draft, the school announced today. Brown appears to be a borderline second-round pick, ranking 67th on DraftExpress' list of top 100 prospects and 91st on Chad Ford's ESPN.com list.
  • Two other juniors, Duke's Mason Plumlee and Indiana's Christian Watford, are still weighing their options and are torn on entering the draft, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
  • James McAdoo of North Carolina will make a decision this week on whether to enter the NBA draft early, his father told Robbi Pickeral of ESPN.com. The freshman is ranked seventh among draft prospects by Ford and 16th by DraftExpress.
  • TNT's David Aldridge takes an extended look at this year's point guard class, with quotes and opinions from a number of NBA executives and scouts.
  • Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News weighs in with his predictions for sleepers and busts among this year's draft class.
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Odds & Ends: Garnett, Spurs, Randolph, Howard

March 29th, 2012 at 4:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The top of this year's draft figures to be particularly UNC-heavy, with three Tar Heel underclassmen declaring their intentions to enter the draft earlier today. Harrison Barnes, John Henson, and Kendall Marshall will join senior Tyler Zeller as potential North Carolina lottery picks. And as ESPN.com's Chad Ford writes, the Tar Heels could make it five first-rounders if James McAdoo decides to enter the draft as well (Insider link).

Here are a few more afternoon links from around the Association:

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