Southeast Draft Notes: Wizards, Magic, Hawks, Hornets
The Wizards have six draft prospects visiting on Tuesday, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. They’ll evaluate Jules Bernard (UCLA), Theo John (Duke), Davion Mintz (Kentucky), Alex O’Connell (Creighton), Nate Roberts (Washington) and Au’Diese Toney (Arkansas).
We have more draft-related news involving Southeast Division clubs:
- Alabama shooting guard Keon Ellis is working out for the Magic on Tuesday, according to Locked On Sports (Twitter link). He’s ranked No. 66 on ESPN’s Best Available list.
- The Hawks are looking at four players on Tuesday, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic tweets. That group includes Alex Barcello (BYU), Marcus Bingham Jr. (Michigan State), JD Notae (Arkansas) and Dereon Seabron (NC State). The latter may be the most interesting name in that quartet, as he’s rated No. 55 on ESPN’s list.
- Barcello visited the Hornets on Monday, the team’s PR department tweets. The other prospects who joined him included Ron Artest III (KW Titans/Canada), Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse), Malcolm Cazalon (Mega Mozzart/Serbia), Christian Koloko (Arizona) and Kur Kuath (Marquette).
Jazz Notes: Snyder, Ainge, Fizdale, Bryant, Cockburn, Barcello
The Jazz could block Quin Snyder from coaching next season, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. Snyder, who resigned on Sunday, has one guaranteed year remaining on his contract, which gives Utah leverage if Snyder seeks another coaching job before the 2023/24 season.
Snyder apparently isn’t in any hurry to patrol the sidelines again. He’s looking forward to spending time with his family, Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do next year, as far as coaching,” Snyder said. “I know I’m going to be at Halloween with my daughter. That’s the silver lining of me stepping down now.”
Jazz executive Danny Ainge expects Snyder to return to coaching “very soon, probably next year,” Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets, though it’s unclear if, by “next year,” Ainge meant next season or 2023.
We have more from the Jazz:
- Despite meeting the media on Monday, Snyder’s motivation for leaving his post remain vague, Walden writes. However, it is clear he – not the team – made the decision and agonized over it for several weeks.
- Minority owner Dwyane Wade might push the front office to strongly consider Lakers assistant and former Knicks head coach David Fizdale as Snyder’s replacement, Marc Stein writes in a Substack post. Knicks assistant Johnnie Bryant is a favorite of Donovan Mitchell, but Ainge may be hesitant to cater too much to his star shooting guard.
- On the draft front, the Jazz are bringing in Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn and BYU’s Alex Barcello for workouts this week, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets.
Southeast Draft Notes: Murray, Hawks, Wizards, Hornets
The Magic hold the No. 1 pick and Iowa’s Keegan Murray isn’t expected to go higher than No. 4 in the lottery. That didn’t prevent Orlando from doing its due diligence on the high-scoring wing. Murray came in for a pre-draft workout on Thursday, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. The two sides also had a discussion during the draft combine in Chicago, Price adds.
We have more developments from the Southeast Division:
- The Hawks have been busy looking at prospects. They brought in Teddy Allen (New Mexico St), JD Davison (Alabama), Henri Drell (Windy City Bulls), Malik Osborne (Florida St.), Matteo Spagnolo (Vanoli Cremona, Italy) and Davion Warren (Texas Tech) on Thursday, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic tweets. The parade of draft prospects will continue on Friday, as they’ll look at Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse), Christian Braun (Kansas), Eli Brooks (Michigan), R.J. Cole (UConn), Lester Quinones (Memphis) and Kai Sotto (Adelaide, Australia) on Friday, Kirschner adds in another tweet.
- The Wizards will also be evaluating six prospects on Friday, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. That group includes Alex Barcello (BYU), Josh Carlton (Houston), Makur Maker (Howard), Jean Montero (Overtime Elite), Charlie Moore (Miami, Fla.) and JD Notae (Arkansas).
- The Hornets hosted six prospects on Wednesday — Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), James Akinjo (Baylor), Luka Brajkovic (Davidson), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois), Trevor Keels (Duke) and Montero – the team’s PR department tweets. They brought in a handful of players on Thursday — Dhieu Deing (UTSA), Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (Florida), Both Gach (Utah), Jalen Johnson (Mercer) and Tommy Kuhse (Saint Mary’s), the team tweets. Villanova guard Collin Gillespie will be coming in soon, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets.