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Draft Notes: Combine, D. Jones, O. Moore, McCullar, Phelps

May 24th, 2023 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams

NBA teams and evaluators were a little underwhelmed by last week’s draft combine in Chicago, per Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com (Insider link). A total of 37 prospects opted not to take part in scrimmages, which resulted in some “watered-down” games, Woo writes, noting that executives felt the level of competition was lower than in most recent years.

The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement will introduce guidelines that require top prospects to attend and participate in more aspects of the annual combine, but they still won’t be compelled to play in scrimmages. It remains unclear just how much the new CBA will require of prospects — Woo says it’s hard to imagine the league forcing a top-10 prospect to go through combine drills.

For what it’s worth, while Sam Vecenie of The Athletic believes the scrimmages matter and was “dumbfounded” by the fact that certain players opted out of them, he says that medical evaluations and in-person interviews are the aspects of the combine that NBA teams care about the most.

Here’s more on the 2023 NBA draft:

  • Dillon Jones was the big winner of the G League Elite Camp earlier this month, according to Vecenie, who says the Weber State wing has gone from an afterthought to a prospect who has a very real chance to be a second-round pick.
  • San Jose State forward Omari Moore will keep his name in the draft rather than take advantage of his final year of NCAA eligibility, he tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). The No. 69 prospect on ESPN’s big board, Moore isn’t a lock to be drafted, but is highly regarded enough that he could get an opportunity to make an NBA roster, perhaps on a two-way contract.
  • Kansas guard Kevin McCullar, who ranks right behind Moore on ESPN’s board at No. 70, will use his final year of college eligibility, having decided to withdraw from the draft and return to the Jayhawks for his “super-senior” season, according to a press release from the school. He’ll be automatically draft-eligible in 2024.
  • SMU guard Zhuric Phelps will return to school for his junior year, as Joseph Hoyt of The Dallas Morning News writes. Phelps announced in April that he would test the draft waters, but didn’t show up on the NBA’s official early entrant list last month, so there was some confusion about whether or not he actually declared. Either way, he won’t be draft-eligible in 2023.
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NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2023 Draft

April 26th, 2023 at 10:55am CST by Rory Maher

The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2023 NBA draft, announcing in a press release that 242 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 192 are from colleges, two played in the NBA G League, and 48 are international early entrants.

Those are big numbers, but they fall well short of the 353 early entrants who initially declared for the draft in 2021 and the 283 who entered last year. Beginning in 2021, the NCAA granted players an extra year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in seniors having to decide between staying at college for one more season or declaring for the draft as an “early” entrant.

This year’s total of 242 early entrants figures to shrink significantly by May 31 and again by June 12, the two deadlines for players to withdraw their names from the draft pool. But it still looks like the pool will remain extremely crowded, with the eventual number of early entrants certain to exceed 58, the number of picks in the draft.

Our tracker of early entrants for the 2023 draft is fully up to date and can be found right here.

Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:

Newly added players:

College players:

These players either didn’t publicly announce that they were entering the draft or we simply missed it when they did.

International players:

These players weren’t previously mentioned on our list of international early entrants. The country listed here indicates where they last played, not necessarily where they were born.

  • Miguel Allen, F, Spain (born 2003)
  • Idrissa Ba, C, France (born 2002)
  • Elian Benitez, G, France (born 2003)
  • William Beugre-Kassi, G/F, France (born 2004)
  • Sasa Ciani, F, Croatia (born 2003)
  • Ege Demir, F/C, Turkey (born 2004)
  • Thijs De Ridder, F, Belgium (born 2003)
  • Nikola Djurisic, G/F, Serbia (born 2004)
  • Ruben Dominguez, G, Spain (born 2003)
  • Quinn Ellis, G, Italy (born 2003)
  • Juan Fernandez, F/C, Spain (born 2002)
  • Clement Frisch, F, France (born 2002)
  • Sananda Fru, F, Germany (born 2003)
  • Gloire Goma, G, Spain (born 2003)
  • Hassane Gueye, F, France (born 2003)
  • Ondrej Hanzlik, F, Spain (born 2002)
  • Ilias Kamardine, G, France (born 2003)
  • Konstantin Kostadinov, F, Spain (born 2003)
  • Oleksandr Kovliar, G, Estonia (born 2002)
  • Liutauras Lelevicius, G, Lithuania (born 2003)
  • Gilad Levy, C, Israel (born 2002)
  • Ruben Lopez, F, Spain (born 2002)
  • Assemian Moulare, G, France (born 2003)
  • Daniel Onwenu, G, Brazil (born 2002)
  • Ivan Perasovic, F, Croatia (born 2002)
  • Mantas Rubstavicius, G, Lithuania (born 2002)
  • Musa Sagnia, F/C, Spain (born 2003)
  • Marcio Santos, F/C, Brazil (born 2002)
  • Enzo Shahrvin, F, France (born 2003)
  • Birahima Sylla, G, France (born 2003)
  • Dez Andras Tanoh, G, Hungary (born 2002)
  • Hugo Toom, F, Estonia (born 2002)
  • Armel Traore, F, France (born 2003)
  • Ricards Vanags, G/F, Latvia (born 2002)

Other notable draft-eligible early entrants:

The NBA typically sends its teams a list of “also-eligible” names. That list isn’t public. However, we’re assuming that at least one projected top-three pick is on it: Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite. Overtime Elite standouts Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson would also be on this list, as would Henderson’s Ignite teammate Leonard Miller.

Players removed:

Despite reports or announcements that the players below would declare for the draft, they didn’t show up on the NBA’s official list.

That could mean a number of things — they may have decided against entering the draft; they may have entered the draft, then withdrawn; they may have had no NCAA eligibility remaining, making them automatically draft-eligible; they may have incorrectly filed their paperwork; or the NBA may have accidentally omitted some names.

In any case, we’ve removed the following names from our early entrant list, at least for the time being.

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Draft Updates: Bailey, Tubelis, Sanogo, Phelps, Johnson

April 14th, 2023 at 7:42pm CST by Rory Maher

UCLA guard Amari Bailey is declaring for the 2023 NBA draft and will forgo his remaining college eligibility, his mother, Johanna Leia, tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link).

As a freshman for UCLA in 2022/23, Bailey averaged 11.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.2 APG and 1.1 SPG on .495/.389/.698 shooting in 30 games (26.9 MPG). He helped lead the Bruins to a 31-6 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they ultimately lost in the Sweet 16 to Gonzaga.

In his analysis at ESPN, Givony writes that Bailey was a projected first-round pick entering the season who had a rough start to his freshman campaign, particularly pointing to his questionable jump shot and uneven decision-making.

However, according to Givony, Bailey had a strong finish to the season and could see his stock rise if he performs well in pre-draft workouts. He is currently No. 42 on ESPN’s big board.

Here are some more early entrants for the 2023 draft:

  • Arizona junior Azuolas Tubelis (No. 68 on ESPN’s board) is entering the draft, he tells Givony, who adds that the Lithuanian forward is expected to forgo his eligibility and turn pro. Tubelis had an impressive junior season for the Wildcats, averaging 19.8 PPG, 9.1 SPG, 2.0 APG and 1.1 SPG while shooting 57% from the field and 76.4% from the line in 35 games (30.1 MPG). According to Givony, Tubelis plans to play at the NBA draft combine next month in an effort to boost his stock.
  • UConn big man Adama Sanogo, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament after leading the Huskies to the championship, plans to enter the draft, sources tell Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com (Twitter link). It’s unclear if Sanogo, a junior, will be testing the draft waters or keep his name in and go pro. He averaged 17.2 PPG and 7.7 RPG on .606/.365/.766 shooting in 39 games (26.5 MPG) this season. Sanogo is ranked No. 87 on ESPN’s board, so he’s considered a long shot to get drafted.
  • SMU guard Zhuric Phelps is entering the draft while maintaining his college eligibility, as is San Diego State forward Keshad Johnson, who is also entering the transfer portal, the two players announced on social media (Twitter links). Phelps averaged 17.5 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.2 APG and 2.3 SPG on .394/.309/.609 shooting in 30 games (31.4 MPG) as a sophomore for the Mustangs. Johnson, a senior who has one year of eligibility left due to COVID-19, averaged 7.7 PPG and 5.0 RPG on .532/.262/.648 shooting in 39 games (22.2 MPG) for the Aztecs, who made it to the title game for the first time before losing to UConn. Neither player is ranked on ESPN’s board.
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