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Dillon Jones

And-Ones: Jones, All-NBA, Bad Contracts, Replays, Stackhouse

March 21st, 2024 at 9:33am CST by Dana Gauruder

Big Sky Player of the Year Dillon Jones is declaring for the 2024 NBA draft and is expected to sign with the Roc Nation agency, according to basketball analyst Jeff Goodman (Twitter link).

The 6’6” Jones averaged 20.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists for Weber State. He’s a potential first-round pick — Jones is currently listed as No. 32 overall and No. 9 among small forwards on ESPN’s Best Available list.

We have more news from around the basketball world:

  • With the new CBA stipulating that players must appear in 65 games to be eligible for postseason awards, there could be numerous newcomers to the All-NBA teams. HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina lists several players who could be first-time All-NBA honorees, including Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards and Zion Williamson.
  • Bradley Beal tops Keith Smith’s list at Spotrac of the worst value contracts in the league, opining the Suns wing isn’t worth an average annual value of over $50MM per season, considering his production level and injury issues. Jordan Poole and Zach LaVine also rank high on Smith’s top 10 list.
  • Following a contest against the Lakers in which the last two minutes took 20 minutes in real time due to clock malfunctions and replay reviews, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said replays are destroying the rhythm of the game. “I’m not a fan of replay. I think we should have replay just for the buzzer beaters,” he said, per Sportskeeda. “The whole goal with replay is to try to get everything right. There’s 100 plays at each end every night that are subjective. It’s not a game. It’s not tennis. It’s not a Hawk-Eye on whether it’s in or out. There’s all kinds of subjective stuff. We’re never going to get everything right. But I think the flow of the game is way more important.”
  • Being a former NBA star isn’t enough to attract top recruits and transfers when it comes to Division I coaching. In recent weeks, Michigan fired Juwan Howard and Vanderbilt parted ways with Jerry Stackhouse. NIL and the transfer portal have completed altered the college landscape, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe notes. “Used to be where you could go, you make all the calls, you go show kids as much interest as you can, do all those type things,” Stackhouse said. “Now you’ve got to reach out to their agents. You know what I’m saying? That’s where it is in order to really get in the door.”
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And-Ones: LeBron, Bronny, Draft, Stephenson, Cap Space

February 27th, 2024 at 9:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

LeBron James was unhappy that son Bronny James was removed from ESPN’s 2024 draft projections and instead placed in a 2025 mock draft, according to Alex Andrejev and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. The ESPN story had the younger James going in the second round in 2025.

“Can y’all please just let the kid be a kid and enjoy college basketball,” LeBron wrote in since-deleted posts on social media, adding, “These Mock Drafts doesn’t matter one bit! I promise you! Only the WORK MATTERS!! Let’s talk REAL BASKETBALL PEOPLE!”

LeBron has often stated he wanted to stay in the league long enough to play with his son. Bronny, a freshman at USC, is averaging a modest 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game through 19 contests and is no longer considered a lock to be a one-and-done prospect.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • Speaking of this year’s draft class, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo address a number of topics, including the potential of UConn’s Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan, Houston’s Jamal Shead and Weber State’s Dillon Jones.
  • Lance Stephenson, 10-year NBA veteran, is currently playing for the NBA G League’s Iowa Wolves. Stephenson feels he could help an NBA team in numerous ways if given a chance to play in the league again. “Leadership. Definitely, helping young guys. Winning mentality, just that edge on the defensive end,” Stephenson told Sam Yip of Hoops Hype. “A lot of teams need help with defense, especially during the playoffs. Tough guys that can play defense and lock down and win games. I can bring any edge that a coach needs.”
  • Several teams could have major cap space this summer, with the Sixers, Pistons, Raptors and Magic well-positioned to do some major spending. Hoops Hype’s Mark Deeks breaks down what every team’s cap situation will look like when the offseason arrives.
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Draft Decisions: A. Jackson, Edey, Beekman, More

May 31st, 2023 at 11:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

Andre Jackson Jr., who helped lead Connecticut to a national title, has opted to keep his name in the draft rather than return to the Huskies for another season, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Jackson is projected to be taken late in the first round or early in the second round, Wojnarowski adds. The junior shooting guard ranks 32nd on ESPN’s big board and is projected to go to the Pacers with the 32nd pick in the latest mock draft by Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

“My time at UCONN has been filled with ups and downs but through it all I built relationships with my teammates, coaches, friends and fans that will last forever,” Jackson wrote in a Twitter post. “I’ve made so many memories playing in that jersey and I will miss it. But I’ll always be a husky. Thank you.”

Jackson averaged 6.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.3 steals in six tournament games and was believed to have raised his draft stock significantly, although questions remain about his outside shooting. He took part in the draft combine and went through individual workouts with several teams, including the Hawks, Celtics, Nets, Pacers and Trail Blazers, according to Wojnarowski.

Dozens of draft decisions were announced Wednesday ahead of the 11:59 pm EDT deadline to return to school without losing eligibility. Most late deciders opted to pull out of the draft, but a few prominent names will remain in the pool. They are:

National Player of the Year Zach Edey will withdraw from the draft and return to Purdue for another year, according to Jeff Borzello of ESPN. The 7’4″ center averaged 22.9 points and 12.9 rebounds as a junior while shooting 60.7% from the field. Even so, his draft status wasn’t certain as he’s No. 47 in the ESPN rankings.

Another prominent player pulling out of the draft is Virginia’s Reece Beekman, the ACC’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Givony reports. Beekman hopes to boost his draft stock for 2024 after coming in at 43rd in ESPN’s rankings. “I’ve decided to go back to UVA to work towards being a first-round draft pick next year and finish my degree,” he said.

Here are some more players who decided late Wednesday to take their names out of the draft:

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Draft Notes: Combine, D. Jones, O. Moore, McCullar, Phelps

May 24th, 2023 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams

NBA teams and evaluators were a little underwhelmed by last week’s draft combine in Chicago, per Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com (Insider link). A total of 37 prospects opted not to take part in scrimmages, which resulted in some “watered-down” games, Woo writes, noting that executives felt the level of competition was lower than in most recent years.

The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement will introduce guidelines that require top prospects to attend and participate in more aspects of the annual combine, but they still won’t be compelled to play in scrimmages. It remains unclear just how much the new CBA will require of prospects — Woo says it’s hard to imagine the league forcing a top-10 prospect to go through combine drills.

For what it’s worth, while Sam Vecenie of The Athletic believes the scrimmages matter and was “dumbfounded” by the fact that certain players opted out of them, he says that medical evaluations and in-person interviews are the aspects of the combine that NBA teams care about the most.

Here’s more on the 2023 NBA draft:

  • Dillon Jones was the big winner of the G League Elite Camp earlier this month, according to Vecenie, who says the Weber State wing has gone from an afterthought to a prospect who has a very real chance to be a second-round pick.
  • San Jose State forward Omari Moore will keep his name in the draft rather than take advantage of his final year of NCAA eligibility, he tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). The No. 69 prospect on ESPN’s big board, Moore isn’t a lock to be drafted, but is highly regarded enough that he could get an opportunity to make an NBA roster, perhaps on a two-way contract.
  • Kansas guard Kevin McCullar, who ranks right behind Moore on ESPN’s board at No. 70, will use his final year of college eligibility, having decided to withdraw from the draft and return to the Jayhawks for his “super-senior” season, according to a press release from the school. He’ll be automatically draft-eligible in 2024.
  • SMU guard Zhuric Phelps will return to school for his junior year, as Joseph Hoyt of The Dallas Morning News writes. Phelps announced in April that he would test the draft waters, but didn’t show up on the NBA’s official early entrant list last month, so there was some confusion about whether or not he actually declared. Either way, he won’t be draft-eligible in 2023.
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Draft Notes: Wembanyama, Henderson, Combine, Roach

May 15th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Victor Wembanyama will be the grand prize at Tuesday’s draft lottery, so Brian Windhorst and Jonathan Givony of ESPN took a look at the decade-long development of the French phenom. Long before he grew into a 7’5″ international star, Wembanyama was considered a special prospect even at age eight. The authors cite a YouTube video in which he intercepts a pass in a 2012 game and covers about 30 feet in two dribbles before laying the ball into the basket.

Wembanyama grew up in an athletic family near Paris with his mother playing basketball professionally before becoming a youth coach and his father competing as a long jumper. Wembanyama also learned the game from Karim Boubekri, a coach who developed his strategies by watching Pete Maravich and the AND1 Mixtape stars. That brought a level of creativity to Wembanyama’s game that he was determined to preserve, even if it meant battling with his coaches.

“I was probably born with that will to do things differently and do things my way,” he said. “I’m really glad I kept that willpower, to not (let) sometimes coaches put me in a box. That’s really an everyday fight.”

There’s more draft news to pass along:

  • G League guard Scoot Henderson, who’s a strong candidate to be taken second overall, is receiving assistance from Stephen Curry‘s training team as he prepares for his NBA future, writes Janie McCauley of The Associated Press. Henderson and his sister Moochie, who will play at Georgia State, have partnered with Curry’s company, SC30 Inc. “Just getting this early training and early knowledge from Steph mentoring me and the people around him, it’s a blessing,” Scoot Henderson said. “Me just turning 19, just getting that knowledge early, it’s really cool.”
  • Wembanyama and Henderson occupy the top two spots in the latest mock draft issued by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Brandon Miller, Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson round out the top five.
  • With the NBA Draft Combine starting today, eight players have been called up from the G League Elite Camp, Givony tweets. They are Jazian Gortman of Overtime Elite, Sir’Jabari Rice of Texas, Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall of Clemson, Johni Broome of Auburn, Tosan Evbuomwan of Princeton, Kendric Davis of Memphis and Dillon Jones of Weber State.
  • Jeremy Roach has elected to pull his name out of the draft and return to Duke for another season, tweets Jeff Goodman of Stadium. Roach wasn’t listed on ESPN’s big board and was considered unlikely to be drafted.
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50 Prospects Reportedly Invited To G League Elite Camp

May 5th, 2023 at 8:12am CST by Luke Adams

A total of 50 prospects for the 2023 NBA draft have been invited to the NBA’s G League Elite Camp, according to reports from Adam Zagoria of Forbes and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter links).

Those players are as follows:

The name of the G League Elite Camp is a bit of a misnomer — when first introduced, the event showcased NBAGL players, but the field of participants now consists exclusively of draft prospects. The event will take place on May 13 and 14 in Chicago, ahead of this year’s draft combine.

Like the combine, the Elite Camp brings young players to Chicago to meet NBA teams and participate in drills and scrimmages. While the combine focuses on the top prospects in a given draft class, the Elite Camp generally features prospects who are trying to break into that upper echelon of prospects but are more likely to go undrafted. The top performers at the event typically receive invites to the combine.

Of the 50 G League Elite Camp invitees, 15 show up on Jonathan Givony’s list of this year’s top 100 prospects at ESPN.com. However, no Elite Camp invitee ranks higher than No. 58 (Hart) on ESPN’s board.

The G League Elite Camp will give the invitees who declared for the draft as early entrants an opportunity to see where they stand ahead of the draft withdrawal deadline on May 31. Not all of the players who participate in this event will remain in the draft pool.

Some NBA players who have participated in past G League Elite Camps include Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado, Pacers forward Oshae Brissett, Clippers guard Terance Mann, and Heat wing Max Strus.

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