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Draft Rumors: Embiid, Huestis, Agents

May 8th, 2014 at 8:30pm CST by Cray Allred

While the NFL draft has the sports world’s attention this evening, the NBA draft lottery is less than two weeks away. Here’s a look at all the latest surrounding the draft:

Joel Embiid is the No. 1 prospect in ESPN Insider Chad Ford‘s [subscription only] ranking of the top 10 big man players in this year’s draft.
Draft prospect Josh Huestis is being worked out by the Jazz, and says he would revel in an opportunity to play for Utah. Huestis tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune that he’s transitioning from a frontcourt player to a small forward to find a role in the NBA. “I’ve been trying to get my handle down, and I think it can still be tighter,” Huestis said. “I’ve gone from never leaving the paint in high school to playing strictly small forward. It’s been a process.” Huestis told Hoops Rumors more about his draft preparation last week.
Jabari Parker has signed with Wasserman Media Group, tweets Darren Rovell of ESPN.com (H/T Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv). He will work specifically with agents B.J. Armstrong and Arn Tellem, per another tweet from Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal. This contradicts an earlier report that the potential No. 1 pick had agreed to be represented by the Klutch Sports Group agency.
Both Patric Young and James McAdoo have signed with agent Jim Tanner of Tandem Sports, reports Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype (via Twitter).

Draft Rumors: Parker, Embiid, Wiggins

April 22nd, 2014 at 11:05am CST by Chuck Myron

Many have assumed that the top overall pick in the draft will be Kansas star Andrew Wiggins or teammate Joel Embiid, but ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman, for an Insider-only piece, surveyed 30 NBA execs and Duke’s Jabari Parker came out on top. Parker got 17 votes while Embiid got eight and Wiggins took home five. The uncertainty surrounding the top of the draft makes for plenty of intrigue with the June 26th event just a little more than two months away. Here’s the latest:

Mouhammadou Jaiteh is withdrawing from this year’s draft, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM, who reported last month that the French center was entering the field. It’s a little surprising to see the 19-year-old withdraw this early, before he had a chance to work out for NBA teams, as he did when he tested the waters last year. He’s ranked No. 63 with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, and 98th with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
Spanish league big man Kristaps Porzingis won’t enter the draft this year, he tells Kārlis Krēgers of Latvian website LETA (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). That sets him up with a strong chance to become a first-round pick in 2015, as he’s ranked No. 15 on Givony’s 2015 mock. Ford has Porzingas as the 65th-best prospect for this year.
There are plenty of high-scoring small forwards available in this year’s class, writes NBA.com’s David Aldridge. Aldridge’s list starts with the obvious (Wiggins, Parker) but goes on to highlight mid-first round types like Duke’s Rodney Hood, N.C. State’s T.J. Warren, and Syracuse’s Jerami Grant.
A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com ranks the top point guards and summarizes their strengths, topping the list with Dante Exum.

Draft Rumors: Embiid, Walker, Randle, Parker

April 9th, 2014 at 6:59pm CST by Cray Allred

The status of this year’s top prospects is still somewhat in the air. Joel Embiid made his entry into the draft official earlier today, while Julius Randle denied reports that he was ready to do the same. Jabari Parker has made housing arrangements at Duke for his sophomore year, a source from the school tells Tom Moore of Calkins Media (Twitter link). Moore notes that the arrangements don’t rule out a decision by Parker to enter the draft, but they do give credence to Parker’s insistence that staying in school another year is a real possibility. Let’s round up the rest of the night’s draft notes:

Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com writes that Randle’s shot at becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the draft is gone, but that the big man has set himself up to stay near the top of the lottery if he does well in pre-draft workouts.
In a separate piece, Howard-Cooper ranks his top 30 draft prospects, placing Embiid in the No. 1 spot.
Chris Broussard of ESPN.com discusses Embiid’s draft stock in an Insider subscription-only video. Broussard says that most GMs that he’s talked to think Embiid will indeed go first overall. If Embiid’s back injury checks out as a non-issue, Broussard thinks the big man will become the odds-on favorite to become the top selection.
As expected, LaQuinton Ross has signed with agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports, per a tweet from Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Freshman Chris Walker announced in a tweet that he will return to Florida next year rather than declare for the draft (hat tip to Chad Ford of ESPN.com). The decision doesn’t come as a surprise, as Walker is projected as a lottery pick in the 2015 class by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.
Xavier Thames has signed with agents Colin Bryant and Valerian Owens, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The guard from San Diego State isn’t projected to be drafted, ranked as just the 50th best senior by Givony.

Joel Embiid Declares For Draft

April 9th, 2014 at 2:15pm CST by Cray Allred

WEDNESDAY, 2:15pm: Embiid formally announced his decision to enter the draft in a press conference today, as the school’s Twitter account confirms.

TUESDAY, 8:57pm: Joel Embiid will declare for the 2014 NBA Draft, sources tell Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Embiid is expected to make his announcement at a press conference tomorrow at 2:00pm Central time. Embiid has publicly maintained that he is undecided on his plans all season, even refuting a recent report that had him headed for the draft. The latest news is more concrete, but we will know by tomorrow whether Embiid is prepared to officially announce his intentions.

We profiled the 7-footer in our Prospect Profile series, whose stock has risen throughout the year. It was unlikely before the season that Embiid could challenge either Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins at the very top of the draft, but now that possibility isn’t out of the question. In a recent Hoops Rumors poll, our readers voted Embiid the third most likely prospect to be selected No. 1 overall this summer.

If he does declare, the most pressing concern for the big man will be proving the back injury that held him out of the NCAA tournament is not serious. Nerlens Noel was projected as the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, but fell to No. 6 after suffering a torn ACL. Former No. 1 overall selection Greg Oden‘s unfortunate, injury-plagued career path is also still on the minds of many front office executives when evaluating incoming centers.

Poll: Who Should Be The No. 1 Pick?

April 8th, 2014 at 1:38pm CST by Chuck Myron

The college season is over, and the time for evaluating top prospects in live game conditions is through. The 2014 draft class didn’t live up to astronomically high expectations, but it still appears to be the best group in the past few years. There will be a lot riding on the decisions that teams holding lottery picks will have to make, and the greatest amount of pressure will rest on the shoulders of the GM with the No. 1 overall pick.

Andrew Wiggins entered as the most ballyhooed of them all and a surefire top overall pick, but he stumbled, and found himself behind Kansas teammate Joel Embiid, a relative basketball neophyte from Cameroon who surged to the No. 1 spot on draft boards in the middle of the season. Jabari Parker was up and down, but he appears more NBA-ready than Wiggins and Embiid. All three have been the leading candidates for the top pick for much of the season.

Chad Ford of ESPN.com has moved Wiggins back to No. 1 in his latest rankings, and that’s where Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him, too. Still, Wiggins is third behind Embiid and Parker on Aran Smith’s board at NBADraft.net. Teams remain undecided, and the Kings apparently have Wiggins outside their top three picks, according to Ford.

Much depends on the health of Embiid’s injured back, and the identity of the team picking first overall won’t be known until the May 20th draft lottery. There are plenty of variables that will go into the equation in the 79 days remaining before the draft, but if you were the GM picking first overall and the draft were tonight, whom would you select?

Feel free to consult our prospect profiles on Embiid, Parker and Wiggins to help you make your decision. When you’re ready, cast your vote below, and explain your choice in the comments.

Draft Notes: Kentucky, Wiggins, Magic, Kings

April 7th, 2014 at 2:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

There are no NBA games scheduled this evening as the spotlight falls on the NCAA title game between Kentucky and Connecticut. Eight players on the rosters of the two teams are among the top 61 prospects in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, though potential lottery pick Willie Cauley-Stein is injured and won’t play for the Wildcats. It’s nonetheless a bevy of talent on display, and with multiple sources telling Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times that just about every one of Kentucky’s decorated freshmen will declare for this year’s draft, it looks like it won’t be long before that talent is in the NBA (Twitter link). Here’s the latest on the next wave headed for the Association:

The Magic have Andrew Wiggins, Dante Exum, Jabari Parker and Marcus Smart, in that order, atop their draft board, Chad Ford of ESPN.com reports in his latest Insider-only “Tank Rank” piece. Exum also has “some traction” with the Sixers, and the Lakers are high on him, too.
The Kings don’t have Wiggins within their top three prospects, Ford hears. The ESPN.com scribe makes note of the draft plans for several other teams, too, though some of it appears to be educated guesswork.
Wiggins has chosen BDA Management’s Bill Duffy for his agent, sources tell Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling (Twitter link). Duffy beat out Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports, and Wiggins was also linked to Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.
Parker, Randle and Joel Embiid are all expected to sign with Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group, Woelfel tweets. Woelfel includes Smart’s name on that list, too, reiterating what Zwerling reported last week.
TNT’s David Aldridge ranks the shooting guards expected to be available for the draft in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com, giving Michigan’s Nik Stauskas the slight edge for the No. 1 spot over Gary Harris of Michigan State.

Prospect Profile: Joel Embiid

April 6th, 2014 at 6:21pm CST by Zachary Links

This wasn’t the year that Kansas had envisioned for themselves at the outset and it certainly wasn’t the season that Joel Embiid had hoped for. At least, it’s not how he wanted it to end. The 7-foot center saw his draft stock steadily rise throughout the year but the back injury he suffered earlier this year might eliminate him from contention for the first overall pick. Out of action since March 1st, the big man is now unsure of whether he will enter the June draft at all.

If Embiid decides to go pro, he’ll go through an medical exam that is stringent even by NBA Draft standards. He’ll also have to go in with absolute confidence in his ability to perform in workouts. Embiid could probably keep away from live competition and still land in the top three, but he’ll at least have to audition for teams and show that his mobility is still there.

In a season that was supposed to be all about teammate Andrew Wiggins, Embiid averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks in 23.1 minutes per game. While the preordained No. 1 overall pick in the draft failed to display a killer instinct at crucial times throughout the year, Embiid likely made scouts drool with his athletic ability. He could probably stand to add some weight to his 250 pound frame, but the 7-footer boasts a 7’5″ wingspan that allows him to disrupt any offense he goes up against.

On the other side of the ball, Embiid’s agility allows him to move quite well in transition for easy buckets. Meanwhile, in the halfcourt set, Embiid probably offers more low post ability than your average college big man. He can also convert from mid-range, making him a tough assignment for any center.

For all of the praise that Embiid received throughout his freshman campaign, no one has accused him of being a polished product. The 20-year-old came off of the bench for the first eight games of the KU season and while he took off like a rocket ship from that point, it’s clear that he still has a long way to go. In any given draft, you’ll find that the top prospects available were veterans of the AAU circuit with an eye on the NBA dating back to middle school. In Embiid’s case, the Cameroonian has only been playing hoops since 2011. That should mean a high ceiling for the Jayhawk, but it could also signal some rough patches early on in his NBA career.

Will Embiid ultimately enter the draft? Back in January, he confessed that he wasn’t sure if he was quite ready to make the jump and he sounds just as conflicted today. However, as Marcus Smart has reminded all of us, staying in school can be a risky and somewhat regrettable move. Sometimes life offers us opportunities before we’re actually ready for them and, usually, you can’t put them on hold. Embiid may not feel like he’s ready, but the only logical choice for him is to dive into the deep end and become a top pick while it’s still a lock. Returning for his sophomore season may be the more comfortable option, but it’s not the wise one.

Draft Rumors: Wiggins, Robinson, Harrison

March 29th, 2014 at 8:50am CST by Cray Allred

Chris Mannix of SI.com released a new mock draft, with Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, and Jabari Parker in the top three spots. Here are more rumors surrounding the draft:

Several executives tell Mannix that the poor tournament performances of Wiggins and Parker won’t impact their draft stock, but that concerns over Embiid’s back injury could significantly affect his value.
Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times discusses how Wiggins would fit with the Bucks in a video interview.
Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com thinks Zach LaVine is over-hyped as a prospect, saying that the guard out of UCLA looks like a D-League player despite his first-round projections (Twitter link).
Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com thinks that Michigan’s Glenn Robinson III needs to finish the tournament with a big performance, because his lack of assertiveness and spotty play has caused him to slip down draft boards from a potential lottery pick to a late first-rounder.
Scouts tell Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that Kentucky’s Andrew Harrison would go in the 25-30 range in the draft, and that he needs to stay for another year and improve his stock (Twitter link).
Chris Mannix agrees with that take, tweeting that Harrison has the tools to become a lottery pick in the 2015 draft.
An NBA scout tells Mannix that UConn’s Shabazz Napier already has better ball handling ability than a lot of NBA backup point guards (Twitter link).
An NBA executive tells Mannix that Baylor’s Isaiah Austin is another player who should stay in school for another year, pegging the center as a late first rounder at best in the 2014 draft class (Twitter link).
Louisville’s Russ Smith made the right choice to stay in college after last year’s national championship, writes Adi Joseph of USA Today. Smith will likely be selected in the second round of the draft, and Joseph envisions him as a bench player who could eventually earn a starting job in the NBA.

Joel Embiid To Enter Draft?

March 27th, 2014 at 11:09am CST by Chuck Myron

11:09am: Embiid says via Twitter that he has yet to make a decision (hat tip to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders).

8:08am: Potential No. 1 overall pick Joel Embiid has decided to enter the draft, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, with a formal announcement to come soon. The Kansas freshman center hasn’t played since March 1st with a stress fracture in his back. Jayhawks coach Bill Self maintained that Embiid could have played in the later rounds of the NCAA tournament if Kansas had advanced, but NBA teams have some concern about the injury, which will undergo close scrutiny during predraft medical evaluations.

Embiid was widely considered the slight favorite to become the top pick before the injury. The native of Cameroon is the No. 2 pick on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress board and Chad Ford of ESPN.com rates him third. The 20-year-old is a raw talent and came off the bench for the first eight games of the season, but he has shown vast potential on both sides of the ball. He averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 23.1 minutes per game this year.

The 7-footer gave indication in January that he wasn’t sure about heading for the draft, but it appears the chance to go in the top three picks, if not first overall, is too appealing to pass up. A loss to Stanford this weekend knocked Kansas out of the tournament, likely ending his college career. He has yet to select an agent, but this week he’s made progress toward a decision, according to Wojnarowski.

Draft Rumors: Wiggins, Vonleh, Randle, Saric

March 25th, 2014 at 8:48pm CST by Charlie Adams

The latest mock draft from Jake Henson of Sheridan Hoops runs down Henson’s take on the likely 2014 lottery picks. Each player has a best and worst case scenario player comparison, and Henson opines that Andrew Wiggins‘ ceiling is around Tracy McGrady‘s talents, while his floor might project around Rudy Gay‘s skills. Let’s round up the latest rumors on the 2014 NBA draft:

Front offices around the league are intrigued by Noah Vonleh‘s size and upside, writes Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider link). He might not be polished enough to have a strong rookie year, but it’s possible he has more potential than Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon, says Ford. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders says he would still take Randle over Vonleh (on Twitter).
Kyler goes on to peg Randle as a mix between Zach Randolph and Paul Millsap (Twitter link). Randle has averaged 15.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in his freshman year at Kentucky.
Dario Saric isn’t entering the 2014 draft, and Kyler believes his decision was based on money. Given the talent of this year’s draft class, Kyler notes Saric is due for a higher selection and a bigger payday if he waits to enter the draft until next season (Twitter links).
Ford, in another Insider piece, passes along that Wiggins is believed by executives around the league to be the number one pick, pending an absolute clean bill of health from Kansas teammate Joel Embiid.
Scouts believe Aaron Gordon is likely to return for his sophomore year at Arizona, says Ford, but the same scouts say if he declares for the draft, he’s likely to be selected as a mid-to-late first-round pick. Hoops Rumors’ Eddie Scarito recently profiled Gordon’s game.
Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe argues that the days of the polished NBA rookie are dying, as most one-and-done players who enter the league now need a few years to develop their game. Washburn points to the NCAA tournament performances of Wiggins, Marcus Smart, and Jabari Parker as evidence.