Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times tweeted last night about the workout the Bucks have scheduled today for wing players Will Barton and Evan Fournier, as we noted in our roundup of Friday's draft rumors. Woelfel has a full report today on those two and fringe draft pick Ramone Moore, who's also working out for the Bucks today. He also shares news from around the league on a possible extension for Brandon Jennings, teams willing to trade draft picks, and rising and falling draft stocks.
Today marks the NCAA's deadline for underclassmen to withdraw their names from consideration for this year's NBA draft. As we previously outlined, today isn't necessary a hard deadline, but plenty of prospects will be announcing their decisions today, if they haven't already. We'll track those decisions here, with the latest up top:
- B.J. Young, who previously entered the draft, has withdrawn his name from consideration, according to an Associated Press report (via ESPN.com). The Arkansas freshman was able to back out because he hadn't hired an agent.
- Jeremy Lamb of Connecticut will enter the draft, according to UConn's assistant director of athletic communications Phil Chardis (via Twitter). The sophomore guard is ranked as the 12th-best prospect by both DraftExpress and ESPN.com.
- Junior forward Mason Plumlee has decided to return to Duke for his senior season, according to Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com.
- Oregon State guard Jared Cunningham will forgo his senior year and enter the draft, according to Gary Horowitz of the Statesman Journal. The junior figures to be a second-round pick at best, ranking 66th on DraftExpress' top 100 prospects list and 96th on Chad Ford's ESPN.com list, but he must have liked what he heard when he tested the draft waters.
- Vanderbilt's John Jenkins announced Monday that he will enter the draft, according to The Tennessean. The junior guard ranks 36th on DraftExpress and 40th on ESPN.com.
- Junior forward Christian Watford will return to Indiana for his senior year, reports Jeff Rabjohns of Peegs.com (via Twitter). Watford's teammate, freshman Cody Zeller, will also return to school, the team announced today (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports via Twitter). The freshman was projected to be a potential lottery pick.
In what's somewhat of a surprising decision being that he was projected to be a first round pick, North Texas freshman Tony Mitchell will return to school, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle's Brett Vito. Mitchell averaged 14.7 PPG, 10.3 RPG and was named the Sun Belt Conference's Freshman of the Year.
According to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, sources say Vanderbilt junior John Jenkins and Villanova junior Dominic Cheek will soon declare for the draft, but Duke junior Mason Plumlee will go back to school.
Jenkins averaged 19.9 PPG on 43.9% shooting from beyond the arc last season and is projected to be an early second round pick. Cheek put up averages of 12.5 PPG and 3.9 RPG. In a separate report, Steve Wiseman of The Herald Sun writes that Plumlee still has not decided whether or not he'll enter the draft. Plumlee has until April 29th to make a decision.
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.
Earlier this afternoon, we looked at a number of deadlines facing NCAA underclassmen as they decide whether to declare for this year's draft. We also covered a report suggesting Kentucky's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will enter the draft. Those aren't today's only draft-related updates though, so let's round up a few more, as June 28th creeps ever closer….
- Anthony Davis of Kentucky remains undecided on whether or not he will declare for the NBA draft, according to Rick Bozich of Courier-Journal.com.
- Maalik Wayns of Villanova will hire an agent and remain in the draft pool, says Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Said Wayns of the decision: "The NBA has been a lifelong dream of mine and I have decided now is the time to pursue it." One NBA scout told Zagoria that Wayns might be drafted in the "bottom half of the second round" (Twitter link).
- Memphis guard Will Barton will announce his intentions to enter the draft today, according to Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. Barton will hire an agent and has no plans to withdraw by April 10th.
- Duke's Mason Plumlee will test the NBA waters, according to Steve Wiseman of the Herald-Sun.
- Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld identifies some potential 2012 draftees to keep an eye on during the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen this weekend.
- The latest mailbag from Keith Langlois of Pistons.com is heavy on questions about what Detroit will do in this year's draft.
- Tom Ziller of SBNation looks at the current draft lottery odds, noting that the Blazers could end up with multiple top-ten picks in June.