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Draft Rumors: Sixers, C’s, Kings, Bucks, Jazz

May 27th, 2016 at 1:31pm CST by Luke Adams

As we passed along earlier today, ESPN’s Chad Ford said during a radio appearance that he believes the Sixers will gauge the trade value of Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor this offseason, with the team perhaps preferring to move Okafor instead of Noel. In Ford’s view, it’s unlikely that both players will be back in Philadelphia next season.

Ford and Marc Stein have now published a full-fledged report on the subject at ESPN.com, citing league sources who say the 76ers will explore trading Noel or Okafor during the lead-up to next month’s draft. While the report reiterates that Okafor is more likely than Noel to be moved, Ford and Stein stress that Philadelphia is considering a wide range of possibilities. In a tweet, Ford adds that the Sixers are looking into getting a top-six pick back for Okafor, since they’re really hoping to land a young guard.

As we wait to see how serious Philadelphia is about trading one of their top picks from the last two years, let’s check in on a few other draft rumors and updates…

As the Sixers explore trade possibilities with their previous top picks, they’re also weighing which player to select first overall this year. According to Ford (Twitter link), Ben Simmons is the current frontrunner over Brandon Ingram. Ford places the odds of a Simmons pick for Philadelphia at 60-40.
The Celtics, Kings, Bucks, and Jazz appear to be the lottery teams most likely to trade their picks, tweets Ford.
Along with Oklahoma’s Isaiah Cousins, whose scheduled workout with Phoenix was previously reported, five prospects are working out for the Suns today, according to the team (Twitter link). Those players are Wade Baldwin (Vanderbilt), DeAndre’ Bembry (St. Joseph’s), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Dorian Finney-Smith (Florida), and James Webb III (Boise State).
The Grizzlies have a workout scheduled on Tuesday, May 31st for the following six players, per a press release from the team: Eli Carter (Boston College), Alex Hamilton (Louisiana Tech), A.J. Hammons (Purdue), Taurean Prince (Baylor), Mike Tobey (Virginia), and Troy Williams (Indiana).

Draft Workouts: Nuggets, Suns, Clippers, Jazz

May 24th, 2016 at 4:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nuggets are well-armed heading into this year’s draft, holding three picks in the top 20 and another two in the second round. With so many selections under team control, Denver figures to take a closer look at a wide variety of prospects in the next few weeks. The team announced today in a press release that they’re bringing in the following six players for a Wednesday workout: Vanderbilt guard Wade Baldwin, Providence forward Ben Bentil, Virginia forward Anthony Gill, UNLV forward Derrick Jones, Colorado-Mesa center Ryan Stephan, and California guard Tyrone Wallace.

Denver is hardly the only NBA team with a full workout schedule, so let’s round up several more updates…

The Suns are conducting workouts with six forward prospects on Tuesday, and announced the full list of participants, via Twitter. Jaron Blossomgame (Clemson), Shaq Goodwin (Memphis), Jake Layman (Maryland), Taurean Prince (Baylor), Pascal Siakam (New Mexico State), and Jarrod Uthoff (Iowa) are working out for Phoenix.
In addition to A.J. English, whose scheduled workout was previously reported, the Clippers will take a closer look at Gary Payton II, Malcolm Brogdon, Danuel House, Marshall Plumlee, and Josh Scott on Wednesday, tweets Dan Woike of The Orange County Register.
The Jazz will also hold a six-player workout on Wednesday, with four guards and two big men taking part. According to the team (via Twitter), Georgia Tech’s Marcus Georges-Hunt, Gonzaga’s Eric McClellan, Notre Dame’s Demetrius Jackson, UNC’s Marcus Paige, Virginia’s Mike Tobey, and Australian Thon Maker will be in attendance for that workout.
Former St. Joe’s wing DeAndre’ Bembry was among the players to work out for the Hawks on Tuesday, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Alex Kirshner of Testudo Times adds the Nets and Mavericks to the list of teams that have recently worked out Maryland junior power forward Robert Carter.
The Celtics will work out Weber State’s Joel Bolomboy a week from Wednesday, sources tell A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com (via Twitter).

Sixers Notes: Embiid, Workout, Carlesimo, Brown

May 20th, 2016 at 1:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Don’t expect to see Sixers center Joel Embiid in this year’s summer league, writes Tom Moore of Calkins Media. Moore said a source called Embiid’s participation “unlikely,” even though new GM Bryan Colangelo mentioned it as a possibility late last month. Embiid underwent bone graft surgery on his right foot last August, and the source said summer league action isn’t “practical” at this point. The Sixers don’t want to take any chance that Embiid might suffer a setback before next season begins. Embiid expects to begin playing two-on-two games this week and is optimistic that he will be ready for opening night.

There’s more out of Philadelphia:

The Sixers are holding a predraft workout today with St. Joseph’s Isaiah Miles, Baylor’s Taurean Prince, Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet, Columbia’s Maodo Lo, San Diego State’s Winston Shepard and Clemson’s Jaron Blossomgame, Moore writes in the same story.
If top assistant Mike D’Antoni lands the head coaching job in Houston, P.J. Carlesimo would be a potential choice to replace him on the Sixers’ bench, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The 66-year-old last coached with the Nets in 2013.
Sixers coach Brett Brown says the team isn’t leaning toward Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram or anyone else as the No. 1 pick in the draft, tweets Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com. “This is a massive decision,” Brown said. “It comes with a lot of responsibility. It will receive the time that is required.”
Brown’s connections with Simmons’ family date back to 1988 when he was an assistant coach with the Melbourne Tigers, writes Henry Abbott of ESPN.com. “Each of the teams in Australia were allowed to have two American imports,” Brown said Thursday on ESPN’s TrueHoop podcast. “And one of the American imports we had was a player named David Simmons, from Harlem, New York — who is Ben Simmons’ father. The cheerleader — you can’t make this stuff up — the cheerleader that was the head cheerleader of that team ended up marrying David Simmons, our import, who I coached for five years with Lindsay Gaze, and had Ben Simmons, their son.”
Colangelo is looking forward to another shot at the No. 1 pick after taking Andrea Bargnani first overall in 2006, relays Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star. “There’s no comparison of the draft classes [of 2006 and 2016],” said Colangelo, who was GM of the Raptors at the time. “Going into that [2006] draft, there was no consensus No. 1 pick. I think this year, if you poll league-wide, there are two consensus No. 1 picks.”

Celtics Notes: Ainge, Olynyk, Draft Workouts

May 18th, 2016 at 10:45am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Celtics were unable to jump ahead of the Sixers and Lakers to snag the No. 1 overall pick in Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery and the team will draft third as a result. With Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram likely to be off the board when Boston picks, team executive Danny Ainge indicated that he doesn’t know who the team will look to select, Mike Petraglia of WEEI 93.7 FM relays. “We don’t know that yet. We’ll obviously explore that,” Ainge said. “We’re in the middle of that process right now of figuring out who’s in the draft and who’s the best fit for us. We’ll also probably get some calls for that pick I’m guessing, so there’ll be discussion of that too. But right now we’re really in the mode of preparing for the draft.”

Regarding the talent level of the second-tier of players in this year’s draft, Ainge told reporters, “Last year at this time I think everybody saw that [talent drop-off] and it sort of changed between what everybody thought at this time and what happened in the draft. So it’s still too early. There’s still a lot of evaluation. When you’re looking and evaluating in some cases 18 and 19-year-old kids there’s a lot that changes between the end of their college careers and the draft, so I wouldn’t say anything is in stone in how the draft order is gonna go. We’ll just evaluate them all and see how it falls.”

Here’s more out of Boston:

Center Kelly Olynyk underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair damage to his right shoulder, and though the Celtics didn’t announce a timetable for the big man to return to action, Ainge estimates Olynyk will be out for approximately five months, Petraglia relays in a separate article. A recovery time of that duration would mean Olynyk could return during the preseason and potentially be available to start the 2016/17 campaign.
The Celtics are hosting two group workouts today that will include 12 players, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com relays (Twitter link). Displaying their wares for Boston will be Abdul-Malik Abu (NC State), Trevon Bluiett (Xavier), Nigel Hayes (Wisconsin), Malik Pope (San Diego State), Zhou Qi (China), James Webb III (Boise State), DeAndre Bembry (St. Joseph’s), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Josh Hart (Villanova), Jake Layman (Maryland), Abdel Nader (Iowas State) and Taurean Prince (Baylor), Forsberg notes.
Former Louisiana-Lafayette center Shawn Long has a workout scheduled with the Celtics on June 9th, Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe tweets.

Atlantic Notes: Jackson, Poeltl, Selden, Ellenson

May 13th, 2016 at 10:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the annual NBA Draft Combine in full swing this week, here are the latest updates regarding the teams of the Atlantic Division:

Knicks team president Phil Jackson is still not among those representing New York at the combine, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets. Assistant GM Allan Houston and interim coach Kurt Rambis have been observing workouts and speaking with players in Jackson’s absence.
LSU junior combo guard Tim Quarterman has a workout set for May 20th with the Nets, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders relays (Twitter links). The team interviewed former Oregon small forward Elgin Cook, Hamilton adds.
Former Gonzaga power forward Kyle Wiltjer has a workout scheduled next week with the Sixers, Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly tweets.
The Knicks interviewed Kansas junior shooting guard Wayne Selden, Zagoria tweets. The interview was conducted by Houston, the scribe notes.
The Celtics have a workout scheduled on Wednesday with North Carolina State sophomore power forward Abdul Malik-Abu, Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald tweets.
Utah sophomore center Jakob Poeltl met with representatives from the Sixers today, Derek Bodner of Philadelphia magazine relays (on Twitter).
Former Baylor small forward Taurean Prince has a workout set with the Sixers for May 20th, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays (Twitter links). The scribe also notes that the team interviewed Marquette freshman big man Henry Ellenson.

Draft Updates: Ferrell, Ndiaye, Moore, Hawks

May 9th, 2016 at 4:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

A major draft-related event takes place this week, as scouts, executives and these prospects will gather for the NBA combine in Chicago from Wednesday through Sunday. Teams will start working out players in earnest after that, though some auditions have already taken place. Here’s the latest on that front with the June 23rd draft little more than six weeks away:

The workouts that former Indiana University point guard Yogi Ferrell has with the Lakers and Clippers are slated for May 16th and 18th, respectively, tweets Jonathan Goodman of ESPN.com, advancing an earlier report from Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Ferrell will also work out for the Suns on the 20th, Jazz on the 22nd, Bulls on the 23rd, Hawks on the 25th, Mavericks on the 26th, Pistons on the 31st, Wizards on June 2nd, Nets on June 8th, and Knicks on June 10th, Goodman reveals. Ferrell is trying to work his way into the second round, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranking him No. 66 while Chad Ford of ESPN.com rates him only 99th.
Massive UC Irvine center Mamadou Ndiaye will work out for the Rockets and Lakers, Goodman tweets. Givony, who ranks him the 30th-best prospect among juniors, lists Ndiaye at 7’6″, while Goodman says he’s 7’5″. Ford, who also lists him at 7’6″, ranks him the 136th-best prospect overall.
Utah State small forward Jalen Moore will work out with the Grizzlies on May 16th, the Timberwolves on the 18th and the Nets on the 23rd, as he tells Goodman (Twitter link). Moore is Givony‘s 69th-best junior and Ford‘s 190th prospect overall.
The Hawks worked out Taurean Prince, Justin Jackson, Nigel Hayes, Pascal Siakam, Alex Hamilton and Wes Washpun on Saturday, a source told Jake Fischer of SI Now (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Hield, Burke, SuperSonics, Huestis

March 31st, 2016 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Buddy Hield’s outstanding performance in the NCAA Tournament may not be helping his draft position as much as casual fans would assume, according to Jonathan Givony of The Vertical. The high-scoring Oklahoma star has led the Sooners to the Final Four, but an unidentified GM says teams knew what Hield was capable of doing even before the tournament started. Hield had considered declaring for last year’s draft, but feedback from teams placed him in the middle of the second round at best. Now he projects as a top-10 pick.

There’s more from around the world of basketball:

Hield has impressed NBA executives and scouts who talked to Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, and one Western Conference exec thinks he could go as high as No. 3. Scotto has Hield atop his list of prospects who have improved their draft stock in the tourney, followed by Gonzaga’s Domantas Sabonis, North Carolina’s Brice Johnson, Baylor’s Taurean Prince and Iowa State’s Georges Niang.
Jazz point guard Trey Burke has seen his playing time cut since the trade for Shelvin Mack, but he’s trying to stay positive, according to The Associated Press. “I know I’ll have a long career in this league, regardless of what anybody says,” Burke said. “That’s my mindset. It is a little frustrating because you want to be out there. You know you can help the team. But, for me, I’m looking at the big picture. I don’t really look at the temporary situation. I just try to get better every day. Be the best version of me that I can be.”
The annual trip to Portland makes Celtics guards Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley nostalgic for the Seattle SuperSonics, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Both Pacific Northwest natives were just teenagers eight years ago when the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City. “That hurt kids’ childhoods, man, not growing up with a professional basketball team like everyone else had,” Thomas recalled. “It’s tough now, and Portland is the closest team to them. I’m glad I was raised on Sonics basketball.”
The Thunder have assigned Josh Huestis to their Oklahoma City Blue affiliate in the D-League, the team announced today. Huestis is averaging 13.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.52 blocks in 23 games with the Blue.