Joel Embiid Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Notes: Embiid, Parker, Wiggins, Ross

March 22nd, 2014 at 4:57pm CST by Charlie Adams

Kansas center Joel Embiid won’t be playing against Stanford tomorrow, but Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated doesn’t think his absence should have a major impact on his draft stock (Twitter link). The latest mock draft from DraftExpress has Embiid going second overall. Here’s a look at some more news related to the draft:

Despite yesterday’s crushing loss to Mercer, Jabari Parker is still expected to enter his name into June’s draft, one executive tells Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog. The same executive says he would take Parker at third overall, behind the Kansas duo of Embiid and Andrew Wiggins. If Embiid’s back proves to be an issue, however, he’d take Parker second behind Wiggins.
Ohio State’s LaQuinton Ross still hasn’t made a decision on whether or not he’ll enter the draft, reveals Zagoria. One scout tells Zagoria that Ross would be well advised to stay in school and work to improve his game. Ross would figure to be a mid-second-round pick this June.
University of Arizona coach Sean Miller labeled Weber State forward Joel Bolomboy as an NBA prospect, tweets Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune. Bolomboy average 8.7 points and 11 rebounds per game in 2013/14.
Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders gives his take on how the tournament has affected the top prospects’ draft stocks. Adreian Payne and T.J. Warren are two players who Koutroupis thinks have really benefited themselves from good performances in the early rounds of the tourney.

Draft Rumors: Wilbekin, Young, Sixers, Embiid

March 20th, 2014 at 7:41pm CST by Charlie Adams

March Madness is officially underway, and Chris Dortch of NBA.com has complied a list of players who have the most to gain from a good performance in the NCAA Tournament. Gator seniors Scottie Wilbekin and Patric Young are among the players mentioned, and Dortch thinks a tourney title from Florida would greatly help their stocks. Let’s round up some more draft rumors:

Having lost 22 straight contests and sitting at 15-53, the Sixers are sure to receive a high lottery pick in June’s draft. Rather than addressing needs at a particular position, Philly coach Brett Brown‘s draft strategy is to “take the best player and figure it out,” reveals Tom Moore of the Intelligencer.
Chad Ford of ESPN.com breaks down each tournament team’s prospects (Insider link). The South region has the most NBA-talent, according to Ford, but the Midwest region isn’t far behind.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports gives an NBA scout’s take on 10 potential lottery picks. According to the scout, Joel Embiid will likely be the first player taken if his back problems prove to be a non-issue. “Teams don’t want to draft another Greg Oden,” said the scout. “Embiid will be No. 1 if there is no back issue. There is only one player in the draft that’s a potential franchise player, and that’s Embiid. It’s a deep draft. When I say franchise player, there are only eight or 10 of those in the league. Embiid has the potential to be one.”
The latest mock draft from Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders sees Embiid going third overall, behind Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker.
Adreian Payne‘s 41 point performance today will do nothing but help the MSU Spartan’s draft stock, and Chad Ford tweets that a few more big games out of Payne could help boost him into a lock for the lottery. Ford notes Payne is particularly appealing because there aren’t many stretch fours in this year’s class. Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com thinks Payne will be a mid-first-round pick, but that he won’t end up being a star in the NBA (Twitter link).
Michigan forward Glenn Robinson III needs to have a strong performance in the tournament to prove he’s not just coasting off his family name, opines Howard-Cooper. Robinson is the son of the former All-Star who shares the same name.

Draft Notes: Wiggins, Parker, Embiid, UCLA

March 19th, 2014 at 5:56pm CST by Alex Lee

In his latest chat with readers, Chad Ford of ESPN.com insists that Andrew Wiggins has solidified his position as the No. 1 draft prospect. Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com disagrees, debuting his own Top 30 list based off discussions he’s had with league executives. It has Jabari Parker at the top. Howard-Cooper also touched on a multitude of other draft topics in another post. Let’s sort through his latest and more draft-related stuff here:

Front offices are wavering between Parker and Kansas’ Joel Embiid for the top spot, according to Howard-Cooper. He adds that no one has more at stake in the NCAA Tournament than Embiid, who only has a shot to return from back issues if the Jayhawks advance without him.
Austalian guard Dante Exum is right behind the troika of Parker-Embiid-Wiggins. That foursome is followed by Julius Randle and Marcus Smart, before a big drop off at No. 7.
Jusuf Nurkic is flying up draft boards, according to Howard-Cooper. The 19-year-old Bosnian center, currently playing in Croatia, is in one team’s top ten and may ultimately challenge Dario Saric as the first European off the board.
UCLA’s Zach LaVine has yet to convince scouts that he projects as a point guard in the NBA, Howard-Cooper writes. It doesn’t help than teammate Kyle Anderson has been handling the ball more as point forward lately, presumably boosting his draft stock. LaVine is still an attractive prospect, but his value will take a hit if his future looks to be on the wing. Both Bruins project as mid first rounders should they choose to come out.
USA Today’s Adi Joseph includes Embiid and Anderson on his list of eight NBA hopefuls with the most to gain in the NCAA Tournament, along with Keith Appling, Jahii Carson, Cleanthony Early, Tyler Ennis, Montrezl Harrell and Shabazz Napier.

Draft Rumors: Gordon, Parker, Wiggins

March 17th, 2014 at 1:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Chad Ford of ESPN.com has used his insider-only “Tank Rank” column to pass along rumors connected the plans that teams have for this season, but this week’s edition is all about how clubs view the top prospects for the draft. We’ll pass along the highlights from Ford here:

The Celtics and Jazz are high on Arizona power forward Aaron Gordon, according to Ford.
Ford consistently hears that the Pistons would draft Jabari Parker No. 1 overall if they scored the No. 1 overall pick. That seems to assume that Joe Dumars would still be in charge of the team’s basketball operations, which isn’t a given.
The Pelicans believe Parker would be the “perfect fit” for them, Ford writes.
The Cavs envision using Andrew Wiggins, a small forward, as a shooting guard next to Kyrie Irving if they’re able to land the Kansas star, Ford suggests.
If the Magic wind up with the No. 1 overall pick, they’d probably use it on Wiggins, Ford writes, identifying Dante Exum and Marcus Smart as others the team will likely target.
The Lakers appear to have Joel Embiid, Wiggins, and Exum as their top three prospects, according to Ford, who pegs Parker fourth and Julius Randle fifth on L.A.’s board.

Draft Notes: Wiggins, Embiid, Lakers

March 14th, 2014 at 6:12pm CST by Alex Lee

An NBA executive told Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (via Twitter) that how college players perform in the NCAA tournament plays a large role in how NBA scouts view them leading up to the draft. As more teams secure their spots in March Madness this weekend, let’s take a look at the rumors surrounding this year’s draft class:

The same exec told Amico that junior LaQuinton Ross and senior Aaron Craft of Ohio State are both on his draft board in the early second round (Twitter link).
As Jonathan Givony of Draft Express tweets, Andrew Wiggins has surpassed his Kansas teammate Joel Embiid atop his latest mock draft. As we learned last night, Embiid’s back issues will undoubtedly put the microscope on the talented center when it comes time for medical testing at the draft combine.
Scouts agree with Givony’s projection according to Adam Zagoria, as the SNY insider cites ESPN’s Chad Ford and NBA scouts in a tweet indicating that Wiggins has risen back to the top of many draft boards in light of his 71 combined points in the Jayhawks’ last two games.
One executive that likely saw Wiggins hang 30 on Oklahoma State yesterday was Lakers’ GM Mitch Kupchak, who is in Kansas City this week for the Big 12 tournament according to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. Along with Wiggins and Embiid, Ding mentions the Cowboys’ Marcus Smart as a potential target, also adding that scouting director Jesse Buss (youngest son of Jerry) and assistant scouting director Ryan West (son of Jerry) aid Kupchak in the team’s draft process.

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Embiid, Union, White, Hairston

March 13th, 2014 at 5:55pm CST by Zachary Links

With only three games on the docket on Thursday evening, let’s begin to sort through all that is going on around the Association tonight:

Sean Deveney of the Sporting News asked executives about Joel Embiid’s back injury and what it will do to his stock come draft time. “Obviously he has a ton of talent and he is as promising a big man as you can imagine,” one GM said. “But the back is going to be a question mark, and every team is going to want their doctors to look at whatever information there is now, and whatever comes out of the medical testing at the combine.“
In a piece for ESPN.com, agent Jeff Schwartz opined that the process for the union’s executive director search must change. In his view, there has been a lack of transparency in the search since day one and he notes that even though there are said to be two finalists for the position, the union has yet to publicly acknowledge them.
Royce White‘s stint with the Reno Bighorns was “a positive experience” for both White and the club, despite him not posting impressive numbers there, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (on Twitter).
While P.J. Hairston concedes it has been an adjustment, you can count him among the D-League advocates as well, writes SI.com’s Chris Mannix. The former Tar Heel, banished from North Carolina in December, hit the ground running with the Texas Legends and has all the makings of a first round pick this June.

And-Ones: Draft, Dragic, Neal

March 12th, 2014 at 10:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA draft is still more than three months away but the debate on who will be the first player taken rages on. According to Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times, scouts have told him that if the draft were held today, the first overall selection would either be Kansas center Joel Embiid or Duke forward Jabari Parker. While Embiid and Parker represented the top tier in this poll and Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle and Dante Exum represented the second tier, the six through ten choices were all over the board according to the article. There is a chance that neither Embiid, if his back proves too problematic, or Parker, if he decides to play one more season as he’s hinted, will even declare for this year’s draft.

And-Ones: LeBron, Embiid, Diawara, Johnson

March 10th, 2014 at 9:47pm CST by Zachary Links

There has been some chatter that former GM Chris Grant could have been the key to bringing LeBron James back to the Cavs but that is nothing more than a tall tale, writes
Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio. If Grant had a grand plan to bring LeBron back to Cleveland, Amico surmises, then he probably would have made that known to owner Dan Gilbert . Here’s tonight’s look around the Association..

Top draft prospect Joel Embiid will miss the Big 12 Tournament thanks to a back injury and at least one GM believes that it’s now a three-horse race for the No. 1 pick, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
Yakhouba Diawara officially parted ways with French team Gravelines-Dunkerque, writes Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The French forward was averaging 11.9 PPG and 3.5 RPG in Pro A and 12.9 PPG in Eurocup. The four-year NBA veteran last appeared in the league with the Heat in 2010.
Undrafted forward Karron Johnson has signed a contract in the NBA D-League, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (on Twitter). Johnson, a product of Shaw University (Division II), left his Polish team last week.
Thanks to the tremendous play of Al Jefferson, the extraordinary coaching of Steve Clifford, and the impressive development of Kemba Walker, the Bobcats have positioned themselves in the playoff hunt, writes Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.

Draft Notes: Wiggins, Embiid, Cuban

March 8th, 2014 at 11:27am CST by Cray Allred

One NBA GM tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that uncertainty about entering the draft recently expressed by Jabari Parker, along with similar sentiments from Joel Embiid earlier this year, are par for the course. He says the high profile players will all say they are considering staying in college until after the NCAA season, when they will all declare for the draft (Twitter links). Here are more rumors surrounding the draft:

Mark Heisler of The Orange County Register says that not one NBA source he’s talked to likes Andrew Wiggins as a sure-fire blue chip player. Heisler says NBA personnel people are now only in agreement on Embiid as a top-level prospect.
Still, an anonymous Eastern Conference scout tells Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders that the 2014 draft class is much better than last year’s, and should be important for the league. The scout also gives his take on Wiggins, Parker, Embiid, Dante Exum, Julius Randle, Marcus Smart, and Noah Vonleh.
Adi Joseph of USA Today looks at the draft stocks of Andrew Harrison, Rodney Hood, and Bryce Cotton.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban told reporters, including Dwain Price of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that he wishes there were additional rounds in the NBA draft. “I’d like to see four rounds so you can draft guys overseas, get more guys drafted that are your property so you can try to develop them,” Cuban said. “You’ve got to realize that toward the bottom of the second round there are teams that pick for financial reasons, and that takes advantage of guys that might have otherwise been picked.”

Draft Notes: Saric, Stauskas, Lakers

March 7th, 2014 at 5:57pm CST by Cray Allred

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak and vice president of player personnel Jim Buss are expected to scout the Big 12 tournament next week, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (via Twitter). Prospects in the Big 12 for the 2014 draft include Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins, Marcus Smart, Isaiah Austin, Cory Jefferson, LeBryan Nash, and Markel Brown. Embiid, Wiggins, and Smart are projected in the lottery, where L.A. will likely be picking. The Lakers owe their second round pick to the Bucks, although they could certainly acquire one on or before draft night. Here are more rumors surrounding the draft:

Turkish team Anadolu Efes is set to offer NBA draft prospect Dario Saric a five-year deal worth 6 million euros, or about $8.32MM, a source tells Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia, who notes that there are rumors the offer would cover only three years. Saric, a potential lottery pick, is undecided about whether to enter the draft this year, but he’s seriously considering the offer from Turkey, Carchia hears. The deal would include an NBA escape clause for 2016, when Saric will be automatically eligible for the NBA draft.
Saric is expected to hire a new agent at the end of the season, and his choice figures to significantly impact his call on his decision to declare for the draft, Carchia tweets.
Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com has Saric at No. 10 on his latest draft board, which features Jabari Parker on top.
An NBA scout tells David Mayo of MLive.com that Michigan shooting guard Nik Stauskas would likely go in the late teens or early-20s if he entered the draft this year.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.