2016 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Kaminsky, Draft, Warriors

November 29th, 2015 at 10:30pm CST by Will Joseph

Hornets owner Michael Jordan liked the experience Frank Kaminsky received as a four-year player at Wisconsin and the team has been satisfied with the rookie’s progress so far, Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel relays.

“After summer league, you could see what he could become,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. “Particularly on the defensive end, he’s made such great strides. I think Michael’s big point about him is that so much of the draft now are guys that are freshmen. Frankly, when you’re watching a lot of the college tape, the difficult challenge of the draft is they’re good players, but even on their college teams they’re the third or fourth-best guy.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

LSU freshman Ben Simmons, a point forward, who is listed at 6’10″ and 225 pounds, is already gaining traction as a favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 Draft, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes. Simmons, who is projected to play small forward in the NBA, is averaging 16.2 points, 14.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks through his first five games this season, as Kennedy notes.
Harrison Barnes will be out at least one week after spraining his left ankle, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group details. The Warriors determined Barnes did not suffer a fracture, Leung adds.
Shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whom the Pistons exercised their team option on for the 2016/17 season last month, continues to earn major minutes because of his defensive ability, David Mayo of MLive.com writes.

And-Ones: Stokes, Ingram, Huestis

November 24th, 2015 at 10:24pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Duke swingman Brandon Ingram has struggled early in his freshman campaign, and despite the lofty expectations that preceded his arrival on campus, it will take the young player some time to reach his potential, writes Josh Newman of SNY.tv. “In a couple of years, if he can do what he did in high school, which remains to be seen, preseason picks and ratings are not worth the paper they are printed on,” an NBA scout told Newman. “He is on the biggest stage in college ball, so if he performs at the highest level consistently, he will move up the draft charts. Right now, he is just learning the college game. He has to adjust to playing with big, strong boys before he looks at the men’s league. Remember, NBA stands for ‘No Babies Allowed.’” Ingram is currently the No. 3 ranked prospect by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, while ESPN’s Chad Ford slots him fourth overall.

Here’s more from around the league:

The Heat have assigned power forward Jarnell Stokes to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This is the first trek to the D-League of the season for Stokes, and the 21-year-old also becomes the first player assigned to Sioux Falls this season.
The Thunder assigned Josh Huestis to their D-League affiliate, the team announced (via Twitter). This will be Huestis’ third trip to the D-League of the season.
Trail Blazers big man Meyers Leonard has missed the last seven games after suffering a dislocated shoulder during a contest against the Spurs on November 11th, but the 23-year-old is close to returning to action, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian relays. “It’s hard to put a timeline on it,” Leonard said. “But I’m hoping in the next few games that I’ll have a chance to get back.“

And-Ones: Simmons, Warriors, Pacers, Kings

November 24th, 2015 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

LSU combo forward Ben Simmons made a “major statement” Monday, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress said to Josh Newman of SNY.tv after Simmons had 21 points, 20 rebounds and seven assists in LSU’s loss to Marquette. Simmons is reminiscent of Lamar Odom, as Odom’s name came up in Newman’s story as well as the ones that Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post and Frank Isola of the New York Daily News wrote after the game.

“I think he showed a lot of the same things that we know,” Givony said to Newman. “He’s an elite passer, he’s a tremendous ball-handler, he’s phenomenal in transition, he’s incredibly versatile for his size. He’s a great rebounder.”

Givony has Simmons ranked No. 2 behind Kentucky big man Skal Labissiere, pointing to Simmons’ defense and his failure to attempt a single 3-pointer yet this season, as Newman relays. While we wait to see how Simmons develops over the season, here’s news from around the NBA:

The Warriors are leading the small-ball revolution these days, thanks in large measure to the unique capabilities of $82MM signee Draymond Green, who has the skills of a perimeter player and the wingspan of a center, as Zach Lowe of ESPN.com examines. The team’s brass admits it didn’t know what it had in Green until Steve Kerr put him in the starting lineup last season in David Lee‘s stead, Lowe notes. GM Bob Myers admits trepidation as late as Game 4 of the NBA Finals last season when Kerr replaced Andrew Bogut with Andre Iguodala and the Cavs sprinted to an early lead before the Warriors caught up and Iguodala won the Finals MVP award.
Golden State is prompting front offices to re-evaluate the relative value of big men and wing players, but while Pacers coach Frank Vogel told Lowe he isn’t about to line up Paul George at center, he said the change in philosophy that’s prompted him to give George time at the four predates Golden State’s rise. “It wasn’t even about the Warriors,” Vogel said to Lowe. “It was about not being able to overcome LeBron [James] and Miami three straight years. We couldn’t even throw the ball inside. We had a lot of turnovers just trying to do that.”
The Kings recalled Duje Dukan from the D-League on Monday, according to the RealGM transactions log, though neither Sacramento nor its affiliate made a public announcement. The undrafted combo forward from Wisconsin scored 14 points in 34 minutes in his one appearance with the Reno Bighorns.

And-Ones: Simmons, Cuban, McHale

November 19th, 2015 at 10:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

A major reason Kevin McHale was fired by the Rockets on Wednesday was the front office’s belief that he had lost the locker room, Chris Mannix of SI.com relays in response to a reader’s mailbag question. Mannix also notes that McHale’s strength as a coach is not in devising strategies or calling plays, but rather in his ability as a motivator. Houston swingman Corey Brewer has gone on record defending McHale, and emphasized that his former coach did not lose the team, and instead placed the blame for the Rockets’ slow start on the players.

Here’s more from around the league:

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, with an assist from three NBA scouts, ran down the top 10 hoops prospects for the 2015/16 season, including Ben Simmons (LSU), Skal Labissiere (Kentucky), and Brandon Ingram (Duke). The top of next year’s draft could be filled with more international players than usual, Spears notes. “The top three picks might not be from the United States next year,” an NBA scout told Spears. “Blame AAU basketball in America for that.”
Simmons had the opportunity to play overseas this season rather than in college, but the talented forward wanted to get a head start on acclimating to the U.S. as well as the style of basketball played here, Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News writes. “I felt like it helped me develop my game more,” Simmons says. “I was able to get the chance to experience different teams, different playing styles. For me it was just more going to high school and competing against the best players every day. It helped me mature, living by myself in Orlando while my parents were back home. A lot of different things come into it: new team, new coaches, different style, system, and living in a different country.”
Mavs team owner Mark Cuban, who isn’t one to mince words, acknowledged that last season’s trade for Rajon Rondo was a risk that didn’t work out as planned for the team, Ben Rohrbach of WEI 93.7 FM relays. “[Expletive] happens, right? There are a lot of risks I’ve taken that have worked out just fine. They’re not all going to work,” Cuban said.
Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant, speaking about his potential retirement during a radio appearance on SiriusXM, said, “If something changes I’ll come back and play next season. If something doesn’t change this is it for me,” Frank Isola of the New York Daily News relays (Twitter link).

2015/16 NBA Reverse Standings

November 16th, 2015 at 12:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

The 2015/16 season isn’t quite three weeks old yet, but many scouts and executives around the league are already preparing for the 2016 NBA draft. They’re no doubt cognizant of how their respective NBA teams are doing as they attempt to get an idea of where they’ll be picking, and with our Reverse Standings, which list the NBA’s 30 teams from worst to first, you can easily follow along, too. Hoops Rumors will be updating these standings daily to reflect the outcomes of the games that took place the night before.

The Reverse Standings take into account playoff teams in each conference, so they’re essentially a reflection of what the 2016 first-round order would look like with no changes to lottery position. Traded picks are included via footnotes. For instance, the note next to the Lakers’ pick indicates that they’ll give up their pick to the Sixers if they finish outside the top three. The Lakers are currently fourth, so that means the Sixers are in line for both the top pick and the fourth overall pick, depending on how the lottery shakes out.

The existence of the lottery means the teams atop the Reverse Standings aren’t guaranteed to draft in the order in which they finish, but the worse a club’s record, the better shot it has at landing the cream of the 2016 draft class. This year’s group of prospects, which includes Ben Simmons, Skal Labissiere, Brandon Ingram and Dragan Bender, is heavy on frontcourt players, and we’ll be finding out more about them in the month ahead with posts under our 2016 NBA Draft tag.

Our Reverse Standings feature can be found at anytime on our right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” It’s a great resource not just for monitoring a team’s draft position, but also for keeping an eye on whether or not traded picks with protection will be changing hands in 2016. Be sure to check back often!

And-Ones: Timberwolves, Draft, Hornets

November 13th, 2015 at 2:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

Former Grizzlies front office chief Jason Levien isn’t involved in Steve Kaplan’s bid to own a partial share of the Timberwolves, as Zach Harper of CBSSports.com reports, and his name hasn’t come up in discussions with Wolves officials, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter links). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported earlier that Levien was partnering with Kaplan as part of his effort to get into position to eventually assume full control of the Wolves if owner Glen Taylor relinquishes that. Taylor currently has no plans to sell the team, but he’s preparing for that time to come, writes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.

“It just seems to me if I’m a responsible owner of a team, I should go out there, find someone who is really interested, bring them in and see how it works,” Taylor said. “So if I would die or be in a position where I can’t run it, they’d be in a position to take over and make a smooth transition. I just think it’s something I owe the state because I have the ownership.”

The purchase of a minority ownership, whether by Kaplan or another bidder, doesn’t necessarily guarantee they’ll become majority owners at any point, Krawczynski adds (on Twitter), though the idea of Kaplan owning more than 20% of the team has come up in the talks, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. See more from around the NBA:

LSU small forward Ben Simmons tops the rankings of draft prospects that Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider link) and Chris Mannix of SI.com compiled for college basketball’s opening day, though disagreement exists beyond that. Ford has Kentucky center Skal Labissiere, Croatian power forward Dragan Bender and Duke small forward Brandon Ingram as his next three, while Mannix’s list goes Ingram-Labissiere-Bender.
Simmons isn’t the next LeBron James, but his game is stylistically similar to the four-time MVP’s, as Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com writes in an Insider-only piece that draws comparisons between some of the top prospects and their NBA counterparts. Labissiere is like LaMarcus Aldridge and Ingram resembles Tayshaun Prince, Goodman posits.
Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams, a pair of Hornets poised to become free agents next summer, are off to strong starts, as Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders observes in a story that looks at 15 soon-to-be free agents and how they fared during the season’s first two weeks.

And-Ones: Bryant, Barnes, Pacers

November 9th, 2015 at 10:39pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kobe Bryant would be thrilled to play for USA Basketball in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he told Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. Bryant, who won gold medals the past two Olympics, could end his competitive basketball career in the Olympics if he chooses to retire after this NBA season, Reynolds adds. “It would mean the world to me to be around those guys,” the veteran Lakers’ swingman said. “I think to be able to have a chance to continue the relationship that I already have with most of those guys, talking and just kind of being around each other and understanding that this is it, it’s just us being together, that would be fun.” The 12-player roster is expected to be revealed in June.

In other news around the league:

Dragan Bender, a 7’0” forward who plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv, heads the list of Top 10 NBA prospects compiled by Kevin O’Connor of DraftExpress.com and Celticsblog.com. The 17-year-old could be a draft-and-stash option for the Celtics, who own the struggling Nets’ 2016 first-rounder. The next three players on his list are also 6’10” or taller — LSU point forward Ben Simmons, Kentucky center Skal Labissiere and Duke forward Brandon Ingram.
Matt Barnes is still furious that Knicks coach Derek Fisher went to the authorities after their October altercation at the home of Barnes’ estranged wife, Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times tweets. “We’re two grown men who should have handled two grown men’s business, but he wanted to run and tell the cops and the NBA,” the Grizzlies’ small forward said. The NBA is still investigating the matter, according to Ryan Lazo of the New York Post.
Indiana’s Capital Improvement Board unanimously approved a contract Monday to allow the Pacers to build a $50MM practice facility, Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star reports. The five-story, 130,000-square-foot facility will be located across from Bankers Life Fieldhouse and is scheduled to open in 2017.

And-Ones: Amerileague, Fredette, Draft, Coaches

October 22nd, 2015 at 12:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

The viability of the Amerileague plunged further into question Wednesday as a former spokesperson for the league revealed to freelance journalist Erin Ashley Simon that the league’s CEO was using a fictitious name and is actually Glendon Alexander, a former McDonald’s All-American with multiple fraud convictions. Amerileague operations manager Marcus Bass confirmed the news to Jeff Goodman and Paula Lavigne of ESPN’s Outside the Lines. Alexander has resigned as CEO, reports Adam Johnson of D-League Digest (Twitter link), ending a trail of suspicion about his involvement that Kami Mattioli of The Sporting News first detailed in May. Henry Walker recently became the first player who appeared in the NBA during the 2014/15 season to sign with the Amerileague, but Walker’s agent, Mike Naiditch, tells Hoops Rumors that, “If there was never a league, then [there] was never a deal.”

The Amerileague draft was to take place today, but Bass tells Johnson that the event is on hold (Twitter link). See more from around basketball:

An unwillingness to adjust his freewheeling college game to the NBA style of play led to Jimmer Fredette‘s lack of success in the league, one of his former NBA assistant asserts to Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. The Spurs waived Fredette on Wednesday, though four other NBA teams still reportedly have some level of interest in him.
Vanderbilt junior center/forward Damian Jones says he plans to enter the 2016 draft, as Adam Sparks of The Tennessean relays. Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks the 6’10” Jones as the 14th-best draft prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him at No. 16.
Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson, Magic assistant Adrian Griffin and Pelicans assistant Darren Erman are future head coaching candidates to watch, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com. Heat assistant David Fizdale draws an honorable mention on Mannix’s list.

And-Ones: Malone, Draft, D-League, Amerileague

October 13th, 2015 at 3:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Michael Malone was an assistant coach on teams that featured LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, so he’s using that experience to draw the attention of rookie Emmanuel Mudiay, as Malone explains to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. The new Nuggets head coach is getting a second chance to lead a team after the Kings fired him this past December, and Malone reiterated his feeling that the turmoil Sacramento endured after his dismissal served to validate the work that he and his staff had done.

“By the end of it, I looked like John Wooden,” Malone said to Simmons.

Malone will seek to right a franchise that had its share of upheaval last season. See more from around NBA circles:

UNLV is the latest school to organize a preseason showcase for NBA scouts, joining Kentucky and LSU, reports Jeff Borzello of ESPN.com (ESPN Now link). A handful of UNLV players are drawing looks from NBA personnel, Borzello says, but only Stephen Zimmerman, a 7’0″ freshman center, appears in the top 100 prospects for 2016 that Jonathan Givony compiles for DraftExpress or on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com Big Board.
The Timberwolves will speak with organizers in Omaha who say they’ve secured a commitment for a D-League franchise there at some point, but the Wolves would prefer their eventual one-to-one D-League affiliate be closer to Minneapolis, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. The Wolves are less likely to end up with a D-League affiliate in the near future than any team except the Bulls, opines Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. Johnson identifies the Hornets as the team most likely to have its own D-League team soon, probably by the 2016/17 season.
The Amerileague, a startup domestic minor league with six teams, is handing out contracts worth as much as $50K per month, notes international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). That’s about twice as much as D-Leaguers in the top salary tier make for an entire season.

And-Ones: Clippers, Paul, Union, Gentile, Bender

October 6th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers acknowledges that if the team doesn’t break through this season, it would be reasonable to conclude that this core of players never will and that major changes are necessary, as he tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe.

“We’re all on that edge together,” Rivers said. “I believe we’re gonna be really good. But if we’re not, it depends on how we play, and what the reason is. That’s what would make you make a big decision.”

See more Clippers-related news amid our look around the league:

Clippers point guard Chris Paul is taking a determined stance in his role as president of the National Basketball Players Association as labor talks with the league approach, writes Kurt Streeter of ESPN the Magazine. Paul’s serious, no-nonsense demeanor helped lead the union to the hiring executive director Michele Roberts, as Anthony Tolliver, one of the union’s vice presidents, explains to Streeter. “At first there was a little bit of, um, hesitancy to elect a woman,” Tolliver said. “Not because we’re sexist, but we just weren’t quite sure how our guys were going to react to that. But Chris was adamant. He thought she’d be the best leader. By the end of the process, every single guy on our committee thought she was the best candidate. Chris said that from the beginning. We ended up following his lead.”
Roberts earned $1.2MM in her first year on the job, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal, who writes in a subscription-only piece.
The Rockets will try to sign draft-and-stash swingman Alessandro Gentile next summer, and a decent chance exists that they’ll make it happen, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com amid a piece on draft prospect Dragan Bender, who dominated Gentile last week in an exhibition between their European teams. Bender wouldn’t be selected lower than third overall if he enters the 2016 draft, Stein believes. Gentile was the 53rd overall pick in 2014 and is under contract with Italy’s EA7 Milano through 2018, as Mark Porcaro shows in our Draft Rights Held Players database.