Draft Decisions: DeLaurier, Waters, Elleby, Others
As we relayed on Monday evening, Duke is losing one key member of its 2019/20 squad, with center Marques Bolden opting to keep his name in the 2019 NBA draft pool and go pro. However, the Blue Devils did get some good news on the draft front.
According to Jeff Goodman of Stadium (via Twitter), junior big man Javin DeLaurier has opted to withdraw from the 2019 draft and return to school for his senior year.
DeLaurier hasn’t played a huge role for Duke in his first three seasons, but with Bolden out of the picture, he could play more significant minutes in ’19/20. In 38 games (16 starts) last season, DeLaurier posted 3.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 1.3 BPG with a .747 FG% in 16.3 minutes per contest. He had a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks) in Duke’s Elite 8 loss to Michigan State.
Here are more of the latest draft decisions made by this year’s early entrants in advance of Wednesday’s deadline:
- Shaw junior guard Amir Hinton and LSU sophomore guard Tremont Waters are keeping their names in the 2019 draft pool, agent Kim Grillier tells Goodman (Twitter link).
- A pair of Waters’ teammates, junior guards Marlon Taylor and Skylar Mays, will return to LSU for the 2019/20 season after testing the draft waters, a source tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link).
- Kevon Harris, a junior guard out of Stephen F. Austin, is pulling out of the draft and retaining his college eligibility, reports Rothstein (via Twitter).
- After testing the draft waters, Washington State forward CJ Elleby has elected to return to school for his sophomore season, tweets Rothstein.
- We can also remove David DiLeo‘s name from the early entrant list, according to Rothstein, who tweets that the forward is headed back to Central Michigan for his senior year.
Draft Notes: Brazdeikis, Pistons, Pacers, Dort, Wooten
University of Michigan freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis is strongly leaning toward staying the draft, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com tweets. “Definitely leaning toward staying in,” he said while working out for the Pistons on Monday. Brazdeikis’ representatives have told him he’ll go anywhere from No. 20-40 in the draft, Rod Beard of the Detroit News tweets. ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony currently pegs the power forward at No. 46 overall.
We have more developments regarding draft prospects:
- The Pistons brought in two groups of prospects, including Brazdeikis, on Monday, Langlois notes in a separate tweet. The first group included centers Naz Reid (LSU) and Marques Bolden (Duke), point guards Justin Robinson (Virginia Tech) and Andrew Nembhard (Florida) and forward Louis King (Oregon) came in during the morning session; Shooting guards Quinndary Weatherspoon (Mississippi State), Ethan Thompson (Oregon State) and Ahmed Hill (Virginia Tech), forwards Martin Krampelj (Creighton) and Savion Flagg (Texas A&M) and point guard Phil Booth (Villanova) visited during the afternoon session.
- The Pacers will conduct a pair of draft workouts on Tuesday, the team announced in a press release. The first group includes Brian Bowen II (Australia), Ty Jerome (Virginia), Jaylen Nowell (Washington), Josh Perkins (Gonzaga), Dylan Windler (Belmont) and Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra). The second group includes Nicolas Claxton (Georgia), Carsen Edwards (Purdue), CJ Elleby (Washington State), Krampelj, Derrik Smits (Butler), and Lamar Stevens (Penn State). Edwards (No. 25) and Jerome (No. 29) are the highest-rated prospects among those groups, according to Givony.
- Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Luguentz Dort will work out for the Suns, Warriors, Trail Blazers and Jazz next week, Jordan Schultz of ESPN tweets. The 6’5” Dort (Arizona State) is rated No. 27 overall by Givony and No. 7 among shooting guard prospects.
- Oregon forward Kenny Wooten wrote on his Instagram account that he will remain in the draft, Steve Mims of DuckSports.com reports. Wooten averaged 6.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 2.2 BPG in his sophomore year. He is not listed among Givony’s Top 100 prospects.
Southeast Notes: Wizards, Hawks, Hornets
There have been no recent updates on the Wizards‘ search for a new head of basketball operations, leading to speculation that Washington is waiting to make a run at current Nuggets president of basketball ops Tim Connelly.
While Connelly’s Nuggets are still alive in the playoffs, David Aldridge of The Athletic argues that if Connelly is the Wizards’ man, they should go after him now. As Aldridge points out, active postseason runs didn’t stop the Timberwolves from hiring Gersson Rosas, or the Suns from naming Monty Williams their new head coach.
It’s not entirely clear if the Wizards are still targeting Connelly, but Aldridge hears from several sources that Denver’s head of basketball ops would be “delighted” to run the Wizards. A previous report referred to the Wizards’ open position as Connelly’s “dream job.” Connelly is still under contract with the Nuggets, but if the Wizards make an offer that significantly exceeds his current salary – which Aldridge says is “just north” of $2MM per year – then he could go to Denver’s ownership in good faith and ask for the opportunity to run his hometown team.
So far, the Wizards have interviewed Danny Ferry, Tommy Sheppard, Troy Weaver, and Rosas for the front office vacancy, Aldridge confirms.
As we wait to see what the Wizards do to replace Ernie Grunfeld, here’s more from around the Southeast…
- The first priority for the Wizards‘ next head of basketball operations will be establishing a culture of accountability, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post, who provides a detailed account on how such a culture has been lacking in D.C. for years.
- It has been a busy week of pre-draft workouts for the Hawks, who have brought in prospects like Duke forward Javin DeLaurier, Kansas guard Quentin Grimes, and Gonzaga guard Zach Norvell Jr. on Wednesday and Thursday, and plan to bring in several more on Friday. According to the team, the full list of prospects to work out during that three-day stretch for Atlanta also includes Phil Booth, Reggie Perry, Justin Simon, Max Strus, Lagerald Vick, Ahmed Hill, Skylar Mays, Markis McDuffie, Dylan Osetkowski, Tyler Cook, CJ Elleby, Terance Mann, Matt Mooney, Tanor Ngom, and Myles Powell.
- The Hornets‘ pre-draft workout schedule has also been full this week. Donta Hall (Alabama), Nick Perkins (Buffalo), Kerwin Roach Jr. (Texas), Kenny Williams (UNC), Ahmed Hill, and Markis McDuffie auditioned for the team on Wednesday, while Shaqquan Aaron (USC), Kyle Alexander (Tennessee), Kavell Bigby-Williams (LSU), and Caleb Martin (Nevada) were among those who did so on Thursday.
- In his latest mailbag, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer discusses Jeremy Lamb‘s free agent value, potential backup plans for the Hornets if Kemba Walker leaves, and much more.
NBA Announces 80 Players For G League Elite Camp
The NBA has announced in a press release that 80 players are set to participate in its G League Elite Camp next week in Chicago from May 12-14. The event will include 40 prospects who are eligible for this year’s draft, as well as 40 standout prospects from the 2018/19 G League season.
Heading into this spring, the NBA revamped its G League Elite Camp, which in past years has simply showcased some of the NBAGL’s top performers. That aspect of the event will still exist, but G League players will only participate in the first two days of the event.
The second half of the event will feature 40 draft-eligible prospects who aren’t among the 60 prospects invited to the actual draft combine. The list of participants was determined by an NBA team vote, and those prospects will work out and scrimmage during the final two days of the event — there will be no overlap with the G League portion of the event.
As this week’s announcement confirms, a select number of draft-eligible prospects participating in the G League Elite Camp will also be invited to attend the combine itself, which takes place from May 15-19 in Chicago.
Here are the list of draft-eligible prospects who are expected to participate in the 2019 G League Elite Mini Camp, per the NBA:
- Tyus Battle (Syracuse)
- Bennie Boatwright (USC)
- Phil Booth (Villanova)
- Oshae Brissett (Syracuse)
- Bryce Brown (Auburn)
- Zylan Cheatham (Arizona State)
- Chris Clemons (Campbell)
- Amir Coffey (Minnesota)
- Tyler Cook (Iowa)
- Jarron Cumberland (Cincinnati)
- Aubrey Dawkins (Central Florida)
- Javin DeLaurier (Duke)
- Mamadi Diakite (Virginia)
- CJ Elleby (Washington State)
- Tacko Fall (UCF)
- Robert Franks (Washington State)
- Jared Harper (Auburn)
- Ethan Happ (Wisconsin)
- Dewan Hernandez (Miami)
- Amir Hinton (Shaw (NC))
- DaQuan Jeffries (Tulsa)
- Sagaba Konate (West Virginia)
- Matur Maker (Mississauga Prep (Canada))
- Terance Mann (Florida State)
- Caleb Martin (Nevada)
- Cody Martin (Nevada)
- Luke Maye (North Carolina)
- Trey Mourning (Georgetown)
- Andrew Nembhard (Florida)
- James Palmer Jr. (Nebraska)
- Josh Perkins (Gonzaga)
- Reggie Perry (Mississippi State)
- Jalen Pickett (Siena)
- Myles Powell (Seton Hall)
- Justin Robinson (Virginia Tech)
- Marial Shayok (Iowa State)
- Max Strus (DePaul)
- Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State)
- Kenny Wooten (Oregon)
- Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)
Here are the 40 G League players set to participate in the G League Elite Camp:
- Josh Adams (Raptors 905)
- Jaylen Barford (Greensboro Swarm)
- Amida Brimah (Austin Spurs)
- Jared Brownridge (Delaware Blue Coats)
- Antonius Cleveland (Santa Cruz Warriors)
- Charles Cooke (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- Cody Demps (Stockton Kings)
- Aaron Epps (Northern Arizona Suns)
- Abdul Gaddy (Oklahoma City Blue)
- John Gillon (Greensboro Swarm)
- Kaiser Gates (Windy City Bulls)
- Isaac Haas (Salt Lake City Stars)
- Johnny Hamilton (Grand Rapids Drive)
- Dusty Hannahs (Memphis Hustle)
- Zak Irvin (Westchester Knicks)
- Peter Jok (Northern Arizona Suns)
- Matt Jones (Stockton Kings)
- Marcus Lee (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- Zach Lofton (Grand Rapids Drive)
- Tahjere McCall (Long Island Nets)
- Brandon McCoy (Wisconsin Herd)
- MiKyle McIntosh (Raptors 905)
- Jordan McLaughlin (Long Island Nets)
- Jaylen Morris (Erie BayHawks)
- Mychal Mulder (Windy City Bulls)
- Malik Newman (Canton Charge)
- Retin Obasohan (Northern Arizona Suns)
- Chinanu Onuaku (Greensboro Swarm)
- Norvel Pelle (Delaware Blue Coats)
- Darel Poirier (Capital City Go-Go)
- Billy Preston (Texas Legends)
- Desi Rodriguez (Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario)
- Kenneth Smith (Grand Rapids Drive)
- Richard Solomon (Oklahoma City Blue)
- Emanuel Terry (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- Juan Toscano-Anderson (Santa Cruz Warriors)
- Dakarai Tucker (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
- Andrew White III (Maine Red Claws)
- Thomas Wimbush (Long Island Nets)
- Todd Withers (Grand Rapids Drive)
Draft Workouts: Raptors, Lamb, Sixers, Hawks
The Raptors will bring in six players in their first pre-draft workout on Tuesday, Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweets. They’ll take a look at center/power forward Josh Sharma (Stanford) and Tanor Ngom (Ryerson in Canada), forward Tres Tinkle (Oregon State), swingmen Jordan Davis (Northern Colorado) and DaQuan Jeffries (Tulsa) and point guard Daishon Smith (Louisiana-Monroe).
We have more draft info:
- Vermont junior forward Anthony Lamb (Vermont) will work out for the Cavaliers and Celtics this week, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets. Lamb previously worked out for the Hawks. Lamb averaged 21.2 PPG and 7.8 RPG in his junior season.
- The Sixers held their first pre-draft workout on Monday, Lauren Rosen of the team’s website reports. Forwards Oshae Brissett (Syracuse), CJ Elleby (Washington State) and Tinkle, and guards Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra), Ronshad Shabazz (Appalachian State) and Andrew Nembhard (Florida) were the participants.
- The Hawks will bring in four guards among six players they’ll workout on Tuesday, the team’s PR department tweets. The backcourt group includes Allen-Shabazz, Aubrey Dawkins (Central Florida), Marial Shayok (Iowa State) and Quinndary Weatherspoon (Mississippi State). Forward Mamadi Diakite (Virginia) and center Trey Porter (Nevada) will also pay the Hawks a visit.
Draft Notes: Reid, Knight, Enoch, Elleby
LSU freshman big man Naz Reid is expected to declare for the draft, Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com reports. The 6’10” Reid averaged 13.7 PPG and 7.2 RPG for the Tigers, who were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by Michigan State on Friday.
“Yeah, we’re expecting to lose him,” LSU assistant Greg Heiar told Zagoria. “If you’re a top-20 pick in the draft, you need to go.”
Reid has some work to do to reach that status. He’s rated No. 48 overall on ESPN’s Jonathan Givony’s list of the top 100 prospects. Reid told Zagoria that he would “think things over” in the next few weeks before making a final decision (Twitter link).
We have more draft news:
- William & Mary 6’10” junior Nathan Knight has declared for the draft but will leave open the possibility of returning to college, Jeff Goodman of ESPN tweets. Knight averaged 21.0 PPG, 8.6 RPG and 3.5 APG this season.
- Louisville center Steven Enoch will test the draft waters, Jeff Greer of The Athletic tweets. The 6’10” junior transfer from the University of Connecticut averaged 9.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG in 34 games this season.
- Washington State freshman CJ Elleby, who broke Klay Thompson‘s freshman scoring record, will enter his name into the draft pool. “I will use the new NCAA rule allowing me to have representation while maintaining my college eligibility,” he told ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony (Twitter link). The 6’6” swingman averaged 14.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 3.0 APG this season.