Theo Pinson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Notes: Ayton, Pinson, Spalding, Amius, Eubanks

May 14th, 2018 at 10:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DeAndre Ayton is the top pick in ESPN Jonathan Givony’s latest mock draft heading into the draft lottery on Tuesday. Givony has the Arizona center going to the Suns, Euro guard Luka Doncic being snapped up by the Grizzlies at No. 2 and Duke big man Marvin Bagley III heading to the Mavericks at No. 3. Naturally, the deck could be shuffled after Tuesday’s results. Michigan State big man Jaren Jackson Jr. (Hawks) and Texas center Mohamed Bamba (Magic) round out the Top 5.

In other draft-related developments:

North Carolina combo guard Theo Pinson will participate in the draft combine in Chicago, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. Pinson is ranked the No. 89 prospect on Givony’s latest Top 100. Louisville’s power forward Ray Spalding has also been invited, Charania reports in a separate tweet. Spalding is currently ranked No. 58 by Givony.
Western Carolina junior forward Mike Amius has hired an agent and will remain in the draft, Jeff Goodman of ESPN tweets. He averaged 12.7 PPG and 5.6 RPG last season. He is not among Givony’s Top 100 prospects.
Oregon State forward Drew Eubanks has signed with agent James Dunleavy and ISE Worldwide, Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal tweets. The junior averaged 13.2 PPG and 6.8 RPG for the Beavers last season.
The Suns will send Josh Jackson and the Kings will be represented by De’Aaron Fox at the draft lottery on Tuesday, Tyler Conway of Bleacher Report relays. The Nuggets’ Jamal Murray and the Pistons’ Luke Kennard are the other current players who will represent their teams in Chicago. The full list of representatives can be found in Conway’s story.

Draft Updates: Pinson, Knicks, Ntilikina, Jeanne

May 3rd, 2017 at 2:27pm CST by Luke Adams

UNC forward Theo Pinson, who had been testing the draft waters, will return to North Carolina for his senior season, the school announced today in a press release.

“It was a dream of mine to play college basketball at the best school and in the best league in the country, and it is a dream of mine to play in the NBA as well,” Pinson said in a statement. “The best path for me to reach the league and have a long career there is to have a great senior season and I am so excited to have that opportunity to play another year for Coach Williams and finish my degree as well.”

Here are a few more draft-related odds and ends, including more news on players withdrawing their names:

The Knicks are currently projected to pick seventh overall, meaning top point guards like Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Dennis Smith Jr., and De’Aaron Fox may be off the board. However, the Knicks like French point guard Frank Ntilikina and would consider him at No. 7, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who reports that GM Steve Mills is overseas scouting the 18-year-old this week. Berman also notes that Ntilikina is among the many top prospects who will miss this year’s draft combine.
Jonathan Jeanne, a 7’2″ center from France, has been invited to the NBA’s draft combine and has tentatively accepted, despite his season not being over, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com. Jeanne, who is the No. 36 prospect on DraftExpress’ big board, is an international early entrant, so he’d have the option of withdrawing his name if he doesn’t get great feedback at the combine in Chicago.
Randy Onwuasor, a Southern Utah shooting guard, has elected to take his name out of the draft and will return to school for his senior year, coach Todd Simon tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Valparaiso junior Tevonn Walker will also be heading back to school for another year, according to Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports, who reports that Walker is withdrawing his name after testing the draft waters. The 6’2″ guard wasn’t expected to be selected if he’d stayed in the draft.

UNC’s Joel Berry, Theo Pinson Testing Draft Waters

April 24th, 2017 at 10:03am CST by Luke Adams

Three University of North Carolina prospects will test the draft waters, the school announced today in a press release. According to UNC, juniors Joel Berry II and Theo Pinson are entering the draft without representation. The Tar Heels also confirmed that freshman center Tony Bradley is testing the draft waters, as had been previously reported.

“We fully support our players taking this step of being evaluated by NBA teams to see where they stand in relation to the Draft,” UNC head coach Roy Williams said in a statement. “All three players have options to do what is best for their careers and going through the evaluation process helps them make the best decision available to each of them.”

Of the three players, Bradley is viewed as the one with the highest upside, but Berry and Pinson are also both solid prospects who played major roles in this year’s championship run. Berry is ranked 86th on DraftExpress’ big board, and comes in even higher on Chad Ford’s board at ESPN, placing 64th. The junior point guard, who turned 22 this month, isn’t considered an elite prospect, but is a solid pure point guard who sees the floor very well, says Ford.

As for Pinson, he comes in at No. 66 on Ford’s big board, though he doesn’t earn a spot in DraftExpress’ top 100. The 6’6″ small forward averaged a modest 6.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 3.7 APG during his junior year, and struggled with his shot, making just 38.1% of his field goal attempts, including 23.7% from three-point range.

In addition to Berry, Pinson, and Bradley, UNC’s Justin Jackson has also declared for the draft — he intends to keep his name in the draft pool and won’t be back with North Carolina next season.