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2018 NBA Draft

And-Ones: NCAA Investigation, Max FAs, Playoffs

February 23rd, 2018 at 4:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The FBI’s investigation into college basketball recruiting has resulted in the discovery of documents and bank records that meticulously detail apparent loans and payments issued from agency ASM Sports to current and former college players, Pat Forde and Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports report. As the Yahoo duo writes, the documents show an “underground recruiting operation” that appears to violate NCAA amateurism rules and could impact many of the top college basketball programs in the country.

While the FBI’s probe is more likely to shake up those NCAA programs, there could be a domino effect on the NBA. According to Forde and Thamel, current college players like Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter Jr., all of whom could be lottery picks this June, are among those linked by the documents to benefits for either the athletes or their family members. We’ll be following the investigation to see whether it impacts eligibility for those top prospects, as it did for USC’s De’Anthony Melton.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • In the wake of Sports Illustrated’s report that described the Mavericks‘ business offices as a hostile environment for women, the NBA is establishing a confidential hotline for league and team employees to report concerns about workplace misconduct. Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press has the details.
  • Tom Ziller of SBNation identifies nine 2018 free agents who should be candidates for maximum-salary contracts, including a pair of restricted free agents.
  • Count LeBron James among those who isn’t fully on board with the idea of reseeding playoff teams one through 16 and removing conferences from the equation. Pointing out that the Western and Eastern Conference have both enjoyed successful runs at various times over the last few decades, LeBron suggests that making such a change would change “the landscape of the history of the game,” per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
  • While James is opposed to significant changes to the playoff format, he was on board with the All-Star changes, as was his good friend Chris Paul. The Rockets guard didn’t play in Sunday’s event but said “from my seat it looked good.” As Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle writes. Paul was happy to spread around the credit for the format changes.
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Top Prospect Michael Porter Jr. Cleared For Basketball Activities

February 23rd, 2018 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

Missouri power forward Michael Porter Jr. has received full medical clearance to participate in basketball activities, a source tells Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports.

Porter, projected to be a top-10 pick in the 2018 draft, underwent back surgery in November that was expected to sideline him for the entire college season. While he has been cleared for full contract, it’s uncertain whether he’ll return to the court for Missouri before season’s end, writes Jeff Goodman of ESPN.

In Porter’s absence, the Tigers have posted an 18-10 record, with an 8-7 mark in SEC play, putting themselves into the conversation for the NCAA tournament. So it’s possible Missouri’s season will run well into March, giving the freshman time to return.

Whether or not Porter plays another college game, his medial clearance represents an important step for his draft prospects. In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link) had Porter coming off the board at No. 6 to the Bulls. However, Givony cautioned that the results of Porter’s medical examination will play a major role in where he’s ultimately drafted. According to Givony, NBA teams don’t currently seem overly concerned about the youngster’s long-term prognosis.

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Potential First-Rounder De’Anthony Melton Leaving USC

February 21st, 2018 at 1:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

De’Anthony Melton, a possible first-round pick in this year’s draft, has announced on Twitter that he is withdrawing from USC.

The sophomore guard hasn’t played this season after being linked to the college basketball bribery scandal that resulted in the indictment of former Trojans associate head coach Tony Bland. The university held Melton out of action for the season’s first 18 games while it investigated, then announced in January that he would be suspended for the entire season after determining that a friend of Melton’s accepted a plane ticket and maybe room and board for an event in Las Vegas, according to Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.

“Being a member of the Men’s Basketball Program has given me an opportunity to develop my skill set at a world-class institution, with access to top-level resources,” Melton wrote in explaining his decision. “However, I have reached a crossroads wherein I have decided to focus on honing my strengths and improving upon my weaknesses for competition at the next level.”

Melton averaged 8.3 points and 3.5 assists in 36 games with USC as a freshman. He was projected to go 27th in the latest mock draft posted by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, who writes that Melton “looked to be on the verge of a breakout season” before the FBI probe, citing his “defensive versatility, toughness and intangibles.”

Draft analyst Mike Schmitz of ESPN says Melton is “competitive with excellent bball instincts” (Twitter link). He’s 6’3″ with a 6’8″ wingspan and defends, rebounds and plays well off the ball. Schmitz adds that he needs to improve his “ball skills and jumper.”

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And-Ones: All-Star Draft, Team USA, G League

February 21st, 2018 at 11:51am CST by Luke Adams

While it’s not clear how much the new format was responsible for the NBA’s best and most competitive All-Star Game in years, commissioner Adam Silver was happy with the result, telling ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that he was appreciative of the players and thought the game was “incredible.” Silver also suggested that fans’ biggest complaint about this year’s All-Star draft format will likely be addressed for next year’s event.

“When we sat with the union and we came up with this format, we all agreed, let’s not turn something that’s 100% positive into a potential negative to any player,” Silver said. “But then … maybe we’re overly conservative, because then we came out of there, and the players were, ‘We can take it. We’re All-Stars. Let’s have a draft.’ So it sounds like we’re going to have a televised draft next year.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

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Poll: Which Team Will Finish Last In NBA?

February 13th, 2018 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

While the NBA’s trade deadline and buyout season have given several contending teams a chance to load up for the stretch run, they’ve also given a number of teams at the bottom of the NBA’s standings to prepare for a run of their own — with two months left in the 2017/18 season, the race for the league’s worst record is on.

It’s not unusual for lottery-bound teams to be incorporating young players into their lineups and positioning themselves for a run at the No. 1 pick in the draft at this point in the season. But the sheer number of clubs in contention for that top spot in our reverse standings this year is a little out of the ordinary.

Currently, the Kings (17-38) are in pole position in the race to the bottom, but the Suns (18-40), Hawks (18-39), Mavericks (18-39), Magic (18-38), Grizzlies (18-37), and Nets (19-39) are all within one game of them in the standings. The Bulls (20-36) and Knicks (23-35) aren’t currently part of that logjam, but both teams have essentially given up their playoff hopes and wouldn’t mind getting into the conversation for that No. 1 pick down the stretch too.

Those teams all have between 24 and 27 games left in the regular season, which means that any victory from here on out could have a legitimate impact on a team’s lottery odds. It’s hard to imagine any team with more than six or seven wins the rest of the way having a real shot at finishing the season with the NBA’s worst record.

The playoff push from the top teams in each conference over the next two months is probably the race more worthy of attention, but the race to the bottom will be fascinating, and the stakes are significant — barring some major changes on lottery night, the teams that finish with the NBA’s worst records will have a shot to draft a potential star like Luka Doncic, Deandre Ayton, Mohamed Bamba, or Marvin Bagley III. Whereas a team that goes on a hot streak the rest of the way might end up with the eighth or ninth pick, missing out on that group of possible franchise-changers.

Of course, one team whose end-of-season results will be especially fascinating is Brooklyn. The Nets are the only club of those listed above who won’t have their own pick available in this year’s draft — Cavaliers fans figure to be monitoring Brooklyn games almost as closely as Nets fans in the coming weeks.

What do you think? Which team will finish with the NBA’s worst record? Which teams will come closest? And which of the clubs above do you expect to ultimately miss out on a top-five pick? Vote below and join our discussion in the comment section!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

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2017/18 NBA Reverse Standings

February 13th, 2018 at 9:27am CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the 2017/18 NBA season, Hoops Rumors is maintaining a feature that allows you to keep an eye on what the 2018 draft order will look like. Our 2017/18 Reverse Standings tool, which lists the NBA’s 30 teams from worst to first, will be updated daily to reflect the outcomes of the previous night’s games.

Our Reverse Standings take into account playoff teams in each conference, so they’re essentially a reflection of what 2018’s draft order would look like with no changes to lottery position. In addition to not considering the results of the lottery, our tracker lists teams in random order when they have identical records. At the end of the year, those ties would be broken via random drawings.

Traded first-round picks are included via footnotes. For instance, the note next to Oklahoma City’s pick says that the Thunder will send their pick to the Timberwolves if it’s not in the top 14. As of today, the Thunder are tied for 20th in the lottery standings, meaning their pick would head to Minnesota.

Our Reverse Standings tracker can be found at anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site, or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu. 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 2018. So be sure to check back often as the season progresses!

Note: Mobile users are advised to turn their phones sideways when viewing the Reverse Standings in order to see team records and lottery odds.

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And-Ones: Sports Betting, Trade Targets, Mock Drafts

January 25th, 2018 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA is on board with allowing consumers to bet on its games, but only if the league gets a piece of the action. As Brian Windhorst of ESPN lays out, the NBA formally requested on Wednesday that a set of laws be put into place if sports wagering is legalized nationally. One of the league’s requests? It wants to receive 1% of every bet placed on an NBA game.

Such a system would create a massive revenue stream for the NBA and other professional sports leagues, particularly if lawmakers open up additional paths for placing wagers on games. According to Windhorst, the league – represented by attorney Dan Spillane, who made his case to a New York State Senate committee – suggested that fans should be able to make legal bets on smartphones and kiosks, rather than just at casinos and racetracks — the U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing a case to make sports betting at casinos and racetracks outside of Nevada.

“We have studied these issues at length,” Spillane said in his statement. “Our conclusion is that the time has come for a different approach that gives sports fans a safe and legal way to wager on sporting events while protecting the integrity of the underlying competitions.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:

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And-Ones: Predictions, Discipline, Prospects

January 19th, 2018 at 8:02pm CST by Austin Kent

In a debut installment of a new feature, Marc Stein of the New York Times made a number of predictions for the upcoming year in basketball. The scribe ventures a guess that this is the year the Trail Blazers blow up their backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

Stein writes that dealing one of the star guards would be the easiest way for the Blazers to balance their roster, something that could come in handy if the organization seeks to go in a new direction. Bear in mind, however, that Stein’s prediction applies to this year and not necessarily to this season.

Stein also makes a series of arguments that a pair of big names stay with their current teams, despite ongoing speculation to the contrary. The Times journalist says that LeBron James to the Lakers is no guarantee and that Cleveland stands a legitimate chance of retaining the King.

On a similar note, Stein reasons that DeMarcus Cousins isn’t likely to find the market teeming with attractive salary offers this season and that he’ll end up staying put with the Pelicans.

There’s more from around the league:

  • One possible solution to curb the growing tension between NBA players and referees is to ramp up the discipline assigned to players who act hostile to officials. “The hammer has to drop from above,” one Western Conference team official told Ken Berger of Bleacher Report. “When you had David Stern and Rod Thorn there, none of this stuff was going on because they weren’t going to put up with it. I think we’ve gotten away from that. There’s something every night.“
  • Four active front offices have made a dozen or more trade deadline deals over the course of their tenures, Bobby Marks of ESPN weighed in on them and the rest of the league’s executives in his latest for ESPN Insiders.
  • There has been plenty of movement among the DraftExpress team’s list of the top 100 NBA prospects. Jonathan Givony of ESPN recently broke down a number of NCAA players who’ve recently seen their values rise dramatically.
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Checking In On Traded 2018 First Round Picks

January 18th, 2018 at 10:30am CST by Luke Adams

While it’s possible that more 2018 first round picks will be on the move at this season’s trade deadline, nearly one third of the NBA’s teams have already moved their own first-rounders. In total, eight of 30 first-rounders for 2018 are owed to new teams, and many of those picks include conditional protections. As such, it’s worth checking in on the likelihood of all those selections actually changing hands this June, now that we’re more than halfway through the 2017/18 season.

With the help of our 2017/18 Reverse Standings, let’s dive in and see where things stand for those eight traded picks…

No drama:

  • Suns to acquire Heat‘s pick (top-seven protected). Currently projected to be No. 23.
  • Hawks to acquire Timberwolves‘ pick (lottery-protected). Currently projected to be No. 25.
  • Nets to acquire Raptors‘ pick (lottery-protected). Currently projected to be No. 27.
  • Hawks to acquire Rockets‘ pick (top-three protected). Currently projected to be No. 28.

We’ll start with the picks that are locks to change hands. The four selections listed above appear very likely to fall somewhere in the 20s, well out of their protected ranges.

Given how streaky the Heat have been over the last year and a half, it’s possible they could slip down the standings a little, but their pick is extremely unlikely to land in the top seven, so the Suns will get it this season. That actually could be good news for the Heat, since it would create a little flexibility for them when it comes to trading future first-rounders going forward.

Worth watching:

  • Cavaliers to acquire Nets‘ pick (unprotected). Currently projected to be No. 7 or 8 (tie).
  • Timberwolves to acquire Thunder‘s pick (lottery-protected). Currently projected to be No. 21 or 22 (tie).

Since the Nets‘ first-rounder is unprotected, there’s no question that Brooklyn will lose it, but it’s still a pick worth monitoring all season. Its value could increase or decrease significantly depending on how the Nets play in the second half, and there’s also no guarantee that the Cavaliers will still own it by the time June rolls around.

As for Oklahoma City’s pick, we nearly put the club in the “no drama” list above, but OKC is only two games ahead of the ninth-seeded Nuggets. Even though the Thunder seem very likely to hang onto a playoff spot in the West, it’s probably a bit premature to call them a lock. Nonetheless, the Timberwolves should get that pick.

Very much up in the air:

  • Sixers or Celtics to acquire Lakers‘ pick (Sixers receive it if it’s No. 1 or between 6-30; Celtics get it if it’s between 2-5). Currently projected to be No. 5.
  • Suns to acquire Bucks‘ pick (top-10 protected and protected between 17-30). Currently projected to be No. 16, 17, 18, or 19 (four-way tie).

The fate of the Lakers‘ 2018 pick is one of the most fascinating off-court storylines of this season. Both the Sixers and Celtics have very solid foundations of young talent in place already, so acquiring another top-10 pick would just be an added bonus for either team. The Lakers currently have the fifth-worst record in the NBA, but even if they finish the season in that same slot, the lottery could flip the pick from Boston to Philadelphia — the Sixers would get the pick if the Lakers won the lottery, or if another team leapfrogged L.A. and slid the Lakers’ pick out of the top five.

Meanwhile, while the Bucks have been up and down this season, they seem like a good bet to make a second-half push and avoid finishing in the middle of the pack. For now though, their first-rounder is still very much in play for the Suns, who would receive it if it falls in the 11-16 window.

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And-Ones: Non-Guaranteed Deals, Maker, Morris

January 5th, 2018 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets‘ release of Bobby Brown today may be the first in a series of roster moves made by NBA teams before Sunday night. Sunday (January 7) is the last day for clubs to waive a player on a non-guaranteed contract to avoid having that player’s salary become fully guaranteed for the season.

We’ve compiled our own list of players on non-guaranteed contracts to keep an eye on, but over at ESPN.com, Bobby Marks goes one step further, running through each team in an Insider-only piece and assessing each non-guaranteed player’s chances of surviving the cut. As Marks details, some of the players on non-guaranteed salaries, such as Spencer Dinwiddie in Brooklyn, are in no danger of being cut. But others, like Bucks swingman DeAndre Liggins, may be holding their breath until that deadline passes.

Here are a few more odds and ends from across the NBA:

  • Thon Maker‘s brother Matur Maker will bypass college and enter his name into the 2018 NBA draft pool, according to reports from Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com and Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com. The younger Maker almost certainly won’t be a lottery pick like his brother in Milwaukee, but he’s hoping to make a similar prep-to-pro leap. He plans on hiring an agent in the spring, guardian and mentor Ed Smith tells Daniels.
  • Earlier today, we passed along word that former Suns guard Mike James was being eyed by China’s Guangdong Southern Tigers as a potential replacement for Edwin Jackson. However, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays, it appears Guangdong will sign another ex-NBA guard, Darius Morris, rather than James.
  • While you could make a case for several other players, including Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, there’s no question that Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma and Warriors big man Jordan Bell have been two of the biggest steals from the 2017 draft. Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) examines what lessons NBA front offices and scouts can learn from Kuzma and Bell.
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