James Wiseman Rumors | Hoops Rumors

NBL Prospects Ball, Hampton Drawing Significant Interest

October 9th, 2019 at 2:52pm CST by Luke Adams

After initially telling NBA teams that they wouldn’t be permitted to scout practices involving top prospects LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton this season due to the league’s no-contact rules, the league office allowed clubs to attend a pair of New Zealand Breakers practices in Memphis this week to get a look at Hampton, according to a pair of reports from Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com.

As Givony details, scouts and executives from NBA teams had hoped to attend a total of five Breakers practices this week in Memphis and Oklahoma City to scout Hampton as part of the New Zealand club’s preseason tour. However, the league prohibited teams from attending sessions on Sunday and Monday morning before opening up Monday night’s practice as well as Tuesday morning’s shootaround. Teams will also be allowed to attend the Breakers’ morning shootaround on Thursday in OKC, Givony adds.

As Givony explains, the NBA’s no-contact rules prohibit teams from having contact with draft-ineligible players outside of a few approved settings, including official games and select college practices. Non-college prospects like Ball and Hampton are still considered draft-ineligible for 2020 at this point since they haven’t officially declared through the league office.

The league’s latest memo related to non-contact rules extensively addressed college and international prospects, but Ball and Hampton technically don’t fall into either category since they’re not attending college and haven’t lived outside the U.S. for three years — they’re essentially in a grey area, leaving the NBA to interpret their status based on the league’s existing rules.

It’s possible the NBA will alter its interpretation of those rules or tweak them slightly to allow teams more freedom to scout Ball and Hampton over the course of the 2019/20 season. Givony points out that 27 NBA scouts attending the NBL Blitz in Tasmania last month and many of those scouts attended practices involving Ball and Hampton, which may lead to fines.

The Breakers practices that were open to NBA execs and scouts this week were heavily populated, according to the NBL, which estimates that over 100 reps from teams were on hand on Monday night to get a look at Hampton. Another top 2020 prospect, James Wiseman, had his pro day at the University of Memphis earlier on Monday, so many scouts and execs attended both events.

Meanwhile, Ball, who is also playing in the NBL as a member of the Illawarra Hawks, is drawing plenty of attention from fans in addition to NBA teams. According to Adam Zagoria of Forbes.com, Ball’s NBL debut became the most-watched game in league history, with one million viewers streaming the game on Facebook in the United States.

Zagoria also wrote in a separate Forbes article that the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Nets, and Raptors are among the teams that have reached out to the Spire Academy in Ohio – where Ball played last season – for information on the young point guard. The Cavaliers have also been evaluating him, sources tell Zagoria.

In ESPN’s latest mock draft, Givony had Wiseman coming off the board at No. 1, followed by Ball at No. 3 and Hampton at No. 6.

And-Ones: Wiseman, Barrett, Dedmon, Barbosa, DeMarco

June 22nd, 2019 at 11:58am CST by Dana Gauruder

The latest 2020 mock draft has Memphis freshman center James Wiseman going to the Knicks with the No. 1 pick. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has Georgia guard Anthony Edwards going to the Cavaliers at No. 2 and North Carolina guard Cole Anthony heading to the Suns at No. 3.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Top pick Zion Williamson and his former college teammate R.J. Barrett could face each other in the Las Vegas summer league opener, the Associated Press reports. The Pelicans’ summer squad will face the Knicks on July 5.
Dewayne Dedmon, Bojan Bogdanovic and Rudy Gay are among the underrated free agents heading to the market, Ameer Tyree of the Sporting News writes.
Former NBA guard Leandro Barbosa will return to the Brazilian league and re-sign with Minas Storm, Sportando reports.
Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco has agreed to become the head coach of the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s national team, according to a report from ESPN’s Marc Spears. The Bahamas did not qualify for the FIBA World Cup this summer but it does have some NBA talent, including Deandre Ayton and Buddy Hield.

Draft Updates: Wiseman, Poole, Lard, More

April 23rd, 2019 at 4:05pm CST by Luke Adams

While most of the draft-related focus these days is on 2019’s event, that didn’t stop ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz from taking an early look at 2020. In an Insider-only story at ESPN.com, the pair of draft experts updates their mock draft for ’20, notably moving up Memphis center James Wiseman from No. 3 to No. 1.

As Schmitz explains, Wiseman has long been considered the most physically gifted prospect in his high school, but his consistency and effort level left something to be desired. That has changed in recent weeks, as he has impressed evaluators with his play on both ends of the floor during the Nike Hoop Summit and Jordan Brand Classic.

Circling back to 2019, here are a few more draft notes:

Michigan sophomore guard Jordan Poole has decided to keep his name in the 2019 NBA draft, the school announced today (via Twitter). Poole ranks just outside the top 60 on Givony’s big board at ESPN.com, but presumably the feedback he has received so far in the pre-draft process was encouraging.
Iowa State sophomore forward Cameron Lard officially announced this week that he has declared for the 2019 NBA draft, posting a message on Instagram to confirm the decision. Lard’s wording suggests that he’s committed to going pro and won’t retain his college eligibility after two up-and-down seasons with the Cyclones, which included multiple suspensions and off-court issues.
German forward Philipp Herkenhoff (born 1999) and German guard Jonas Mattisseck (born 2000) have added their names to the NBA’s early entry list for the 2019 draft, tweets Givony. Both players will have until June 10 to withdraw their names if they decide not to become draft-eligible quite yet.
The following players have also declared for the 2019 NBA draft:
- Nico Carvacho, C, Colorado State (junior) (Twitter link via Carvacho)
- Filip Petrusev, F, Gonzaga (freshman) (Twitter link via Jackson Frank of The Gonzaga Bulletin)
- Laquincy Rideau, G, South Florida (junior) (Twitter link via Rideau)
- Justin Turner, G, Bowling Green (sophomore) (Twitter link via Turner)

And-Ones: New NBAGL Rules, Muhammad, Draft

October 12th, 2018 at 3:33pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA G League often serves as a testing ground for new and experimental rules that the NBA may eventually consider implementing. For the 2018/19 season, the G League will introduce two more of those new rules, the league announced today in a press release.

One of those rules will require the shot clock to be set to 14 seconds – instead of 24 – when a team advances the ball to the frontcourt following a reset or team timeout. The second rule involves a “transition take foul,” when a defender fouls an offensive player during a transition opportunity without attempting to make a play on the ball, as seen here. In that scenario, the offensive team can select any player in the game to shoot one free throw and then gets the ball back.

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

Shabazz Muhammad, waived by the Bucks on Thursday, may end up heading to China for the 2018/19 season, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. A source tells Carchia that Muhammad is leaning toward signing a deal with a Chinese team – possibly Jiangsu – if he doesn’t quickly find a new NBA home.
While some fans may argue that it’s far too early to start talking about the 2019 NBA draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link) is already looking ahead to 2020. Givony’s first mock draft for ’20 features center James Wiseman at No. 1, point guard Cole Anthony at No. 2, and power forward Jaden McDaniels rounding out the top three. All three remain undecided on their respective colleges.
Luka Doncic has received more hype than any other international NBA prospect in recent years, but there are plenty of other players overseas worth keeping an eye on going forward. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press identifies five foreign-born prospects who are on NBA teams’ radars.