Frank Ntilikina Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Draft Notes: Knicks, Smith, Hornets, Bulls

June 6th, 2017 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

Former North Carolina State point guard Dennis Smith Jr. is in town to work out for the Knicks, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com (Twitter link). Marc Berman of The New York Post tweets that the workout will take place tomorrow.

Smith, who was previously said to have a tentative session lined up with New York, has frequently been mentioned as a potential target for the club at No. 8. By that point, top point guards like Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, and De’Aaron Fox will almost certainly be off the board, but Smith may still be available, and the Knicks are in the market for a point guard of the future.

Here are a few more draft-related notes from around the Eastern Conference:

The Hornets, who have the No. 11 overall pick, are another team that may be seeking a point guard in this year’s lottery, prompting Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer to examine the potential fit for French prospect Frank Ntilikina. New York (No. 8) and Dallas (No. 9) are viewed as possible landing spots for Ntilikina, but if he’s there when Charlotte picks, the Hornets – who have had trouble securing a reliable backup for Kemba Walker – may have to seriously consider him.
Donovan Mitchell (Louisville), Kobi Simmons (Arizona), and Milton Doyle (Loyola) were among the prospects the Bulls brought in to participate in a group workout on Monday, per Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Mitchell could be a target for Chicago at No. 16 if he’s still on the board.
The Wizards conducted a pre-draft workout on Monday and will hold another one today, according to a pair of announcements from the club. The team worked out Frank Mason III (Kansas), Michael Young (Pittsburgh), Tyler Dorsey (Oregon), Isaac Humphries (Kentucky), Ben Moore (SMU), and Moses Kingsley (Arkansas) on Monday. Tuesday’s participants will be Marcus Keene (Central Michigan), Justin Robinson (Monmouth), Przemek Karnowski (Gonzaga), Kris Jenkins (Villanova), Landen Lucas (Kansas), and Xavier Rathan-Mayes (Florida State).

Southwest Notes: Mavs, N. Kerr, Ntilikina

June 4th, 2017 at 6:32pm CST by Austin Kent

A recent Dallas Morning News report has rounded up a number of mock drafts and two common themes prevail as possibilities for the Mavs: Dallas could either draft point guard Frank Ntilikina to ultimately man the franchise’s playmaking duties or take a gamble on Lauri Markkanen, a sharp-shooting forward being likened to Dirk Nowitzki.

In Ntilikina the Mavs could get a potential point guard of the future, one that the team is said to have actively scouted thus far. The guard is being hailed for his perimeter defense, although the rest of the 18-year-old’s game may take time to develop.

Markkanen, in contrast, represents a different course of action for the Mavs. The modern-day stretch four is celebrated for his already impressive ability to shoot the ball and would benefit from the tutelage of Nowitzki.

Other potential Mavs target that come up in the report are Dennis Smith Jr., Jonathan Jeanne and Jonathan Isaac.

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

Nick Kerr will be serving in a video role with the Spurs after this season, Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News confirms. Nick is the son of Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
Vanderbilt center Luke Kornet is expected to work out with the Spurs on Monday, Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News tweets. The 7’1″ senior could be a potential second-round target.
Consider Frank Ntilikina a safer bet than Dennis Smith Jr., says Matt Mosley of the Dallas Morning News. The scribe also mentions that he would be disappointed if the Mavs drafted Lauri Markkanen, citing the difficulties he could have replacing Dirk Nowitzki.
Another Dallas Morning News report takes a good, long look at Frank Ntilikina, collecting analysis published around the web. There’s an element of risk at play if the Mavs draft him, Dallas Morning News reporter Eddie Sefko says.

Southwest Notes: Barea, Dedmon, Spurs, Mavs

May 30th, 2017 at 4:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks guard J.J. Barea aspires to be a basketball coach when his playing career over, and this summer he’ll get a shot to coach a team even before he retires a player. As Tim MacMahon of ESPN details, Barea has been hired as the head coach of Indios de Mayaguez in the Puerto Rican league for the rest of the season, which runs about another month. Barea received clearance from Mark Cuban, Rick Carlisle, and the Mavs, and is excited about the opportunity.

“This is my hometown team, where I played when I was getting started,” Barea said. “I think it’s going to be a great experience for myself and see if I really like this and see what I learn and if it can help me out for the future.”

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

Now that Dewayne Dedmon has opted out of his contract with the Spurs, what sort of offers may he be looking at as a free agent? According to Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link), he’s hearing from NBA GMs that Dedmon could land something in the range of three to four years at $8-10MM annually.
In the wake of last week’s Chris Paul rumors and speculation, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders takes a closer look at the Spurs‘ salary cap situation for this summer, explaining why it will be hard to create a big chunk of space, and identifying alternate targets.
A report from French outlet L’Equipe suggests that the Mavericks are exploring the possibility of adding SIG Strasbourg head coach Vincent Collet to their Summer League coaching staff. As Emiliano Carchia of Sportando observes, such a union would make a lot of sense if Dallas drafts point guard Frank Ntilikina ninth overall in June’s draft — Ntilikina has played under Collet in France for the last two seasons.
The Grizzlies announced today in a press release that director basketball operations Chris Makris will act as the GM for the team’s new D-League club, which will play in Southaven, Mississippi. Glynn Cyprien will coach the squad.

Texas Notes: Ntilikina, Mudiay, Paul, Rockets

May 28th, 2017 at 10:24am CST by Arthur Hill

Several Mavericks executives have traveled to Europe over the past month to watch French point guard Frank Ntilikina, relays Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. At 6’5″, Ntilikina is among the bigger point guards in the draft, and he possesses athleticism and skill to go with his size. Dallas is believed to be targeting point guards after waiving Deron Williams in February so he could sign with a contender. The Mavericks hold the No. 9 pick, and Sefko expects Ntilikina to be among the players considered, along with North Carolina State’s Dennis Smith Jr., Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen and Gonzaga’s Zach Collins.

There’s more news today out of Texas:

The Mavericks have a better shot at solving their point guard problems through the draft than by trading for someone like Emmanuel Mudiay, writes Matt Mosley of The Dallas Morning News. The seventh pick in the 2015 draft, Mudiay was a heralded prospect but has experienced shooting problems through his first two NBA seasons. He is a 37% shooter from the field and was stuck behind Jameer Nelson in the Nuggets’ rotation. Mosley says Ntilikina or Markkanen would be a better gamble with the No. 9 pick.
Signing Chris Paul may not get the Spurs any closer to challenging the Warriors for Western Conference supremacy, argues Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. Adding the All-Star point guard would requiring sacrificing someone like LaMarcus Aldridge, Pau Gasol or Danny Green in a trade, and it would destroy the salary flexibility the team has set up for next summer.
North Carolina center Kennedy Meeks was the biggest name to attend a pre-draft workout for the Rockets this week, relays Tom Miller of The Grand Forks Herald. Also at the session were Quinton Hooker of North Dakota, Paris Lee of Illinois State, JaJuan Johnson of Marquette, Kavin Gilder-Tilbury of Texas State and Tacko Fall of Central Florida, who decided to withdraw from the draft and return to school. “My agent hadn’t said anything about the Rockets’ interest,” Hooker said. “I was anticipating at least one [NBA tryout]. But for the last month, I’ve just been waiting. It was definitely a humbling experience to get that first one and show my talents.” The Rockets own picks 43 and 45 in next month’s draft.

Draft Notes: Fox, Ntilikina, Chartouny

May 20th, 2017 at 7:18pm CST by ChrisCrouse

De’Aaron Fox was eyeing Sacramento as a destination even before the Kings moved up in the lottery, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com tweets. The Kings need a long-term option at the point guard position and Fox could be the answer when they pick at No. 5. Howard-Cooper notes that Fox is friends with center Willie Cauley-Stein.

Here’s more on the upcoming draft:

Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) hears that the Knicks, Mavericks, Sixers and Kings are the franchises which spent the most time scouting Frank Ntilikina in France over the past month. Ntilikina is the 10th best prospect in the draft, according to Draft Express’ Jonathan Givony.
Joseph Chartouny will withdraw from the draft and return to Fordham next season, sources tell Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). The point guard scored 11.9 points and dished out 4.6 assists during his sophomore campaign at the university.
While it appears the Ball family may get their dream outcome of Lonzo Ball playing for the Lakers, Adi Joseph of USA Today lays out four scenarios that could hurt LaVar Ball‘s master plan.

Knicks Rumors: No. 8 Pick, Bradley, J. Jackson

May 17th, 2017 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks haven’t had a whole lot of lottery luck in recent years, and that trend continued in 2017. After finishing this season tied for the NBA’s sixth-worst record, New York lost a tiebreaker to the Timberwolves, then slipped one more spot in the lottery, having been leap-frogged by the Kings. As a result, the Knicks will have the No. 8 overall pick in next June’s draft, and team president Phil Jackson isn’t discouraged by that outcome, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post.

“Our opportunity (at) seven could have been 10, so eight we’ll live with,” Jackson said. “I think that we’re good at what we do. We look forward to a young player we’ll be able to draft in that spot.”

As Berman and Ian Begley of ESPN.com detail, Jackson added that the Knicks have needs at the guard and wing positions, so those figure to be areas of focus for the franchise as the draft approaches. Here are more Knicks-related rumors and notes, via Begley:

Begley identifies De’Aaron Fox, Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr., and Malik Monk as prospects the Knicks like in the top 10. Fox will likely be off the board by No. 8, however, and a couple of the others could be as well.
The Knicks will begin conducting workouts on Wednesday, and a source tells Begley that UNC center Tony Bradley will be among the players getting a look from the team today.
The Knicks have discussed the possibility of acquiring a second first-round pick in a trade, sources tell Begley. The ESPN scribe notes that some members of the organization like UNC’s Justin Jackson, who will probably be selected somewhere in the middle of the first round.
Walt Frazier, representing the Knicks at the lottery, offered a couple interesting opinions on the franchise, suggesting that he’d like to see Carmelo Anthony remain in New York. That seems to be at odds with Jackson’s vision. As Begley writes, Frazier also said that he doesn’t expect free agent point guard Derrick Rose to return to New York.

Draft Notes: Swanigan, Combine, Knicks, Allen

May 10th, 2017 at 11:36am CST by Luke Adams

There are 14 players attending the NBA draft combine this week despite not having signed with an agent, as Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com details. Getting feedback from NBA teams over the next few days will give those players a good idea of whether they should go pro or return to school for at least one more year — they’ll have until May 24, 10 days after the end of the combine, to make that decision.

Goodman spoke to several NBA executives about those 14 players to get an early idea of whether or not it makes sense for them to keep their names in the draft pool. For the most part, those execs felt that the early entrants could use another year of college seasoning, but they believe Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan is ready to go pro, and were split on SMU’s Semi Ojeleye.

Here are a few more draft-related notes:

The Knicks will have several members of their front office, including GM Steve Mills, in attendance at the combine in Chicago this week, though many of the top prospects on their board won’t be there, says Ian Begley of ESPN.com. According to Begley, outside of consensus top prospects like Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Jackson, the Knicks’ front office has also become fond of guards Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox, and Frank Ntilikina.
As Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders explains, the NBA draft combine generally provides a pretty good picture of which players will come off the board on draft day, despite the fact that some top prospects skip the event. A year ago, 70 prospects participated in the combine and 42 of them were selected in June. Within his piece, Kyler also examines a number of potential misconceptions about the draft.
Chris Haynes of ESPN.com spoke to Texas center Jarrett Allen, who entered the draft after his freshman year, about his decision to leave school, what separates from from other bigs in this year’s draft class, and whether he’s NBA-ready. Allen is expected to be a first-round pick.

Texas Notes: Noel, Ntilikina, Spurs, Capela

May 6th, 2017 at 10:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Mavericks aren’t worried about losing restricted free agent Nerlens Noel, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Noel, who was acquired from the Sixers in a deadline-day trade, has stated that he likes the city and coach Rick Carlisle. The third-year center averaged 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game after arriving in Dallas. The Mavericks can match any offer that Noel gets from another franchise, but Sefko doesn’t think that will be necessary. He expects the parties to work out a long-term deal after the Mavs get a chance to maximize their available cap room.

There’s more news tonight out of Texas:

The Mavericks are very interested in French point guard Frank Ntilikina, Sefko notes in the same story. At 6’5″, Ntilikina’s size and ballhandling skills have impressed Dallas scouts, but there are fears that he might be selected before the team’s pick at No. 9. The Mavericks were hoping to get a closer look at Ntilikina at this week’s combine in Chicago, but he declined an invitation.
The Spurs were able to shake off a season-ending injury to Tony Parker because other players stepped up in his place in Game 3, according to Fran Blinebury of NBA.com. LaMarcus Aldridge had his best game of the series, and Jonathon Simmons and Dejounte Murray both gave San Antonio what it needed in a 103-92 victory. Veteran center Pau Gasol said the team had to get over the mental aspect of not having Parker. “We understand how much Tony means to this team, what he brings to the table and how well he was playing for us in the playoffs, making huge plays at critical points in critical games,” Gasol said. “He will be missed on the floor and off the floor, because he’s an emotional leader for this team. He brings a lot of poise, a lot of leadership.”
Rockets center Clint Capela is making a strong case for an offseason extension with his playoff performance. Akeem Olajuwon was the last Houston center to put up playoff numbers similar to Capela’s 12 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks in Game 3, notes Brett Zwerneman of The Houston Chronicle. “He’s come from sitting on the end of the bench and playing a little bit of minutes to being a force out there,” said coach Mike D’Antoni. “This guy is going to be really good.”

Heat Notes: Wade, Bosh, J. Johnson, Draft

May 6th, 2017 at 7:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Udonis Haslem and Tyler Johnson made a public appearance today to help Dwyane Wade sell sneakers, but they avoided questions about whether their former teammate might rejoin them with the Heat, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Wade is considering whether to opt out of his $23.8MM contract with the Bulls for next season. If he does, many believe he will decide to return to Miami, where he spent his first 13 seasons. Haslem and Johnson have both been in touch with Wade since Chicago was eliminated from the playoffs last week. “He’s going to have to make the best decision for him,” Johnson said. “I know he wants to be in a situation where he’s playing for a team that’s kind of established. I don’t think he wants to go through a rebuilding process.”
There’s more news out of Miami:

The Heat are expected to petition the league office soon to have Chris Bosh‘s salary removed from their cap. Bosh was kept on the roster all season after failing a physical in training camp over blood clot problems that have plagued him for the past two seasons. Haslem tells Winderman in the same story that he has contacted Bosh but hasn’t discussed his NBA future. “Chris is one of those guys, when he puts his mind it, he can do anything,” Haslem said. “So he doesn’t lack opportunity. He’s going to have a lot of opportunity to do a lot of things. He’s a very well-rounded guy. And whatever he does, he’s going to be great at it.” If Bosh is able to play enough games for another team, his $52MM salary would be put back onto the Heat’s cap.
Free agent forward James Johnson may not be guaranteed a starting job if he
re-signs with the Heat this summer, Winderman speculates in another piece. With Dion Waiters and Goran Dragic both starting, Johnson may give Miami too many
players on the court at the same time who need to handle the ball. Also, Justise Winslow may claim one of the starting forward slots
when he returns from injury.
Winderman examines who the Heat might take if they keep the No. 14 pick in the May 16th lottery. Players who have been linked to Miami in that spot include Duke’s Harry Giles, UCLA’s T.J.
Leaf, North Carolina’s Justin Jackson, California’s Ivan Rabb, Florida State’s Jonathan Isaac, Gonzaga’s Zach Collins, Indiana’s OG Anunoby, Duke’s Luke Kennard, Wake Forest’s John Collins and two overseas players, Terrence
Ferguson of Australia and Frank Ntilikina of France.

Knicks Notes: Carmelo, Trade Scenarios, Ntilikina

May 5th, 2017 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers have been frequently cited as a potential destination for Carmelo Anthony, assuming the Knicks forward is willing to waive his no-trade clause. But after another early playoff exit, Doc Rivers‘ club will have some major decisions to face even before determining whether an Anthony trade is possible.

As Marc Berman of The New York Post writes, the belief around the NBA right now is that the Clippers will make every effort to lock up Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to new deals, but may not push quite as hard to retain veteran sharpshooter J.J. Redick. If that’s the case, Berman writes, then several NBA executives believe there’s only one trade scenario involving Carmelo and the Clippers that would make sense — signing-and-trading Redick along with Austin Rivers and perhaps Wesley Johnson in exchange for Anthony and maybe one of the Knicks’ two second-round picks.

The math for that hypothetical swap would work, depending on Redick’s new contract, and one NBA executive suggests to Berman that “it’s really the only thing that makes sense.” Another exec believes it would be a good trade for the Knicks, who would get a reliable shooter in Redick and a good sixth man in Rivers. Whether the Clippers, Knicks, and Carmelo could all get on the same page on such a deal remains to be seen, however.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

In a piece for Basketball Insiders, Tommy Beer runs through a number of possible trade scenarios involving Anthony, including theoretical proposals for long-shot suitors like the Trail Blazers, Bucks, and Pistons.
We heard earlier this week that GM Steve Mills was overseas scouting French point guard Frank Ntilikina, and international basketball reporter David Pick reiterates (via Twitter) that the Knicks are fond of the 18-year-old prospect. Knicks scout Makhtar N’Diaye, in particular, likes Ntilikina, according to Pick.
While Ntilikina should still be on the board if New York picks seventh overall, the Knicks would likely be eyeing different prospects if they get some lottery luck and move into the top three. MSG Network analyst and former NBA forward Wally Szczerbiak spoke to Berman (link via New York Post) about some of the top players on draft boards who have a chance to land with the Knicks.