Andrew White Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Pistons, Pacers, Bucks, Workouts

May 19th, 2017 at 12:36pm CST by Luke Adams

After a disappointing 2016/17 season, the Pistons will be looking this offseason for ways to improve the team’s outlook for next year. However, as Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press details, Andre Drummond doesn’t believe a roster overhaul is necessary.

“I don’t think we need to do any changes,” the Pistons center told reporters earlier this week. “We had a lot of bumps in the road last season with different things going on, and it took everybody out of sync. … With this summer coming up, we have to do a better job staying connected — the more stuff we do together, the better our camaraderie will be.”

Even if the Pistons were interested in making major changes to their roster, they would be tricky to pull off. Detroit has nearly $95MM in guaranteed salary on its books for 2017/18 without counting Aron Baynes‘ $6.5MM player option or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s $9.2MM cap hold, so the team won’t have cap room to work with.

Here’s more from around the Central division:

This week’s draft lottery didn’t include the Pacers, but it might have interesting ramifications for the team, writes Nate Taylor of The Indianapolis Star. Taylor notes that the top three teams in the 2017 NBA draft – the Celtics, Lakers, and Sixers – all made inquiries on Paul George prior to February’s trade deadline and could check in again on the star forward this summer.
In the wake of his workout this week with the Pacers, Sindarius Thornwell spoke to Nate Taylor, who suggests in a separate piece for The Star that the South Carolina combo guard could be a second-round target for Indiana.
The Bucks have been busy this week, working out a series of prospects on Thursday and then bringing in several more on Friday. The 12 participants are as follows: Moritz Wagner (Michigan), Moses Kingsley (Arkansas), Andrew White (Syracuse), London Perrantes (Virginia), Bronson Koenig (Wisconsin), J.J. Frazier (Georgia), Tyler Lydon (Syracuse), Ivan Rabb (Cal), Jaylen Adams (St. Bonaventure), V.J. Beachem (Notre Dame), Dillon Brooks (Oregon), and Matt Jones (Duke). Milwaukee has the 17th and 48th overall picks in this year’s draft.
With Rabb in Milwaukee today for a workout, Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times takes a closer look at the Bucks‘ interest in the Cal big man, which dates back earlier than this year.

And-Ones: Borrego, Onuaku, Swanigan

May 25th, 2016 at 10:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the Grizzlies reportedly offering their head coaching spot to David Fizdale, the Rockets are set to be the lone NBA team without a head coach in place for the 2016/17 campaign. Spurs assistant James Borrego, who appears to have emerged as a serious candidate for Houston’s post, had his scheduled second interview today with team owner Leslie Alexander, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Houston is also believed to be considering Magic assistant coach Adrian Griffin, Sixers assistant Mike D’Antoni, and Hornets assistant Stephen Silas for its head coaching opening.

Here’s more from around the league:

Louisville sophomore center Chinanu Onuaku will remain in the NBA draft and will not return to school for his junior campaign, coach Rick Pitino informed Jeff Greer of The Courier Journal (via Twitter). The 19-year-old is a projected second round pick with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress slotting him as the No. 38 overall prospect.
New Mexico State sophomore power forward Pascal Siakam intends to remain in the 2016 NBA draft, Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com tweets. Siakam is the No. 54 overall prospect according to Givony.
Purdue freshman power forward Caleb Swanigan is withdrawing from the draft and will return to school next season, Rothstein relays (Twitter link). The 19-year-old is ranked No. 83 overall by Givony, who projects Swanigan as a late first-rounder in 2017.
Former Michigan State swingman Denzel Valentine is working his way up draft boards and is now a potential lottery pick, writes Michael Singer of USA Today. Valentine appeared in 31 contest for the Spartans this past season and averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists in 33.0 minutes per outing.
Nebraska junior small forward Andrew White will return to school for his senior campaign, Rothstein relays (via Twitter).
Sophomore point guard Melo Trimble is withdrawing from the draft and will return to Maryland next season, Rothstein tweets.

Western Notes: Scott, Nelson, Draft

May 4th, 2016 at 6:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lakers executive Jim Buss was effusive in his praise for the work Luke Walton did while coaching the Warriors in Steve Kerr‘s absence this season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays. “He was thrust into a situation. People might say, ‘Anyone could coach Golden State with their roster.’ No you couldn’t have,” Buss told Pincus. “There’s a lot of pressure in that. There’s a lot of preparation for that.”

Regarding the Lakers waiting 11 days prior to making a decision on former coach Byron Scott‘s fate, Buss told Pincus he thought he was simply being fair to Scott. “There was a lot to go through before that decision was made,” Buss said. “I’m not going to have a knee-jerk reaction because everybody says, ‘You won 17 games, he’s got to go.’ I made a promise to sit with him and [GM] Mitch [Kupchak] and give him a fair shake.”

Here’s more from out West:

The Jazz have workouts scheduled on Thursday for Ryan Anderson (Arizona), Trey Freeman (Old Dominion), Jaron Blossomgame (Clemson), Thomas Walkup (Stephen F. Austin), Matt Costello (Michigan State) and Andrew White (Nebraska), the team announced.
Former Oklahoma power forward Ryan Spangler has a workout scheduled with the Thunder on Thursday, Royce Young of ESPN.com tweets.
The contributions from Festus Ezeli, in particular, and Ian Clark were vital for the Warriors in their Game 2 victory over Portland on Tuesday, observes Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Both are poised for restricted free agency this summer.
Jameer Nelson still has two seasons remaining on his contract with the Nuggets, but he isn’t keen on remaining on the bench as the team’s third point guard for another campaign, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post in his analysis of the 12th-year veteran. Nelson wouldn’t hesitate to have his agent ask the Nuggets to trade him if it looks like he won’t get more playing time, Dempsey wrote previously. In 39 appearances, Nelson averaged 7.7 points, 4.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. He shot 36.8% from the field overall and 29.9% from beyond the 3-point line.

Draft Notes: White, Taylor, Diop, Sipahi

April 21st, 2016 at 7:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Nebraska junior small forward Andrew White intends to test the waters and declare for the 2016 NBA Draft, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The 22-year-old is the No. 25 ranked junior according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and lands at a less optimistic No. 262 overall according to ESPN’s Chad Ford. In 34 appearances for the Cornhuskers this season, White averaged 16.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals to accompany a shooting line of .481/.412/.775.

Here’s the latest news regarding this year’s draft:

University of Texas point guard Isaiah Taylor intends to hire an agent, which would eliminate the opportunity for him to withdraw from the draft and return to school for his senior season, relays Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (via Twitter).
Turkish point guard Kenan Sipahi intends to enter this year’s NBA draft, agent Misko Raznatovic tweets. The 20-year-old is the No. 18 overall ranked international player in his class, according to Givony.
African center Ilimane Diop and Latvian forward Rolands Smits intend to enter this year’s NBA draft, Eurohopes.com relays (via Twitter). Diop, a native of Senegal, is the No. 13 international prospect born in 1995, according to Givony, who projected him as the No. 50 overall player in the 2017 draft. Smits is the No. 20 international prospect in his class, according to the DraftExpress scribe.
Florida sophomore small forward Devin Robinson underwent surgery to repair a left foot stress fracture and is expected to be out of action for four to six months, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets. The ESPN scribe speculates that this will result in Robinson withdrawing from this year’s NBA draft, though no announcement to that end has been made by the player or the university.
Dayton junior guard Charles Cooke intends to enter this year’s NBA Draft, though he’ll hold off on hiring an agent, which will allow him to return to school if he withdraws prior to the May 25th deadline, Goodman relays (on Twitter). The 21-year-old is a long shot to be selected and doesn’t appear among the top 100 prospects on Givony’s or Ford’s rankings.