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And-Ones: Thunder, Batum, 2016 Draft

August 27th, 2015 at 9:59am CST by Eddie Scarito

The ESPN Summer Forecast panel tabs the Thunder as the team most likely to vault in the standings this year, which is no surprise given the return of Kevin Durant and the team’s decision to match the Blazers’ offer sheet for high-scoring big man Enes Kanter . The Heat, who re-signed Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic and get Chris Bosh from his blood clot ailment, and the Jazz, who surged late last season, also appear in the top three.

There’s more on Oklahoma City amid other NBA-related news:

The Thunder allowed a trade exception that had been worth $1.25MM to expire when they didn’t make a move by Wednesday’s deadline to use it. It was a vestige of the trade that sent Hasheem Thabeet to Philadelphia. Oklahoma City still has other trade exceptions, the largest of which is worth $2.75MM thanks to the last of this summer’s many deals involving Luke Ridnour.
Hornets coach Steve Clifford says that he envisions Nicolas Batum having a more prominent offensive role in Charlotte than he did with the Blazers last season, as Adi Joseph of The Sporting News relays (via Twitter). Charlotte acquired Batum, 26, from the Blazers in June as part of the trade that shipped Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson to Portland.
ESPN’s Chad Ford (Insider subscription required) released his initial mock draft for 2016, and snagging the top spot is LSU freshman small forward Ben Simmons, followed by Kentucky big man Skal Labissiere and California swingman Jaylen Brown.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Draft Notes: Stanley Johnson, Kris Dunn, 2016

April 13th, 2015 at 12:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

Sunday was the NCAA’s deadline for early entrants to the 2015 NBA draft to withdraw and retain their college eligibility, though that deadline isn’t one that spurred a lot of action. That’s because players who haven’t formally declared or signed with an agent don’t need to make a final decision until April 26th, the deadline the NBA has set for underclassmen to enter. In essence, prospects can just hang low until that deadline even if they’ve made up their minds so that they can turn back if they have a change of heart. Here’s the latest on a couple of players still weighing their options:

Arizona freshman Stanley Johnson is looking for assurances that he’ll be a top-10 pick this year before he declares for the draft, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress hears (Twitter link). Still, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com would be shocked if he stayed in school (Twitter link). Johnson, who was reportedly “really torn” as he pondered the decision last week, is Givony‘s ninth-ranked prospect while Chad Ford of ESPN.com lists him 11th. Jay Z has met with Johnson to try to recruit him to his Roc Nation Sports Agency, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.
Providence is pressing sophomore point guard Kris Dunn to return to school, telling him that he’d go late in the first round this year but would be a top-five pick in 2016, as Givony hears (Twitter link). NBA executives nonetheless view Dunn as a late lottery pick this year, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, backing up Givony‘s ranking of the 21-year-old as the 14th-best prospect. Ford has him 20th.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, in a pair of pieces, profiles the versatile and deft-passing combo forward Ben Simmons and the slick-shooting forward/center Skal Labissiere, two of the prime contenders to become the No. 1 overall pick in 2016.